New RE, surgery talk, and left is right

So, I liked her. Much better experience than the scary fertility clinic in the scary suburbs back in January. This new RE was much more suited for my temperament. Which is good. She was a little funky and a bit odd, I guess. Smart. Thorough. Matter of fact. That's the way I like them. Not bejeweled with big hair and make-up like the scary 45 yr. old cheerleader I saw in the scary suburbs. And we talked about rape as a war crime and international criminal tribunals (she volunteered with a UN trip of women doctors and lawyers to Bosnia years ago, and this is very related to the work I do in my real life as a non-profit girl wonder). And the whole lesbo thing was a non-issue.

She wants a CD3 FSH check/test. Totally to be expected. And am now mad at myself for not demanding it months ago from the feminist clinic. Because the problem now is going to be waiting for the next CD3 when I'm not traveling/out of the country. F*ck.

And then, the rest of it is a little scary. She had the films from the HSN in January, but not yet the films for the HSG in April. And she wasn't willing to throw out too many scenarios without reading the HSG films. I wanted her to say, "oh, one of your tubes is open? Great, we'll just insem when you've got eggs on that side." Or maybe, "we'll give you drugs to make you produce eggs on both sides and then insem like crazy." And she did say that was one possibility. But she also said that more likely she'd want to do a laparoscopy. Go in there surgically and see how bad the blockage was on the left tube. Could it be repaired? Could she at least drain it? (It's full of fluid - a "hydro.") Is it bad enough that it's going to interfere with the right side, or will some of that fluid drain back into the uterus and interfere with any future pregnancies? (If so, she'd probably recommend snipping the left tube off!!) .... And she also wants to see how good the right tube is. As in, sure it's open, but is it functioning well? Otherwise there is no point. So, she has to look at the films and then we have to talk about possible laparoscopy surgery. Double f*ck. With my upcoming travel, her being in the office only one day a week (!!), various holidays and other stuff, the next appointment (where she interprets the results and tells me if we need to do surgery, what she'll be looking for, and sweetie and I decide what she is allowed to do once she gets in there, how far we'd want her to go or how much snipping we'd want her to do, based on various scenarios) will not be until mid-June. And then the surgery would be some indeterminate amount of time AFTER that. Triple f*ck. So .... anyone out there had laparoscopy? Advice? What to expect?

In a related note, I am really pissed that I didn't have the HSG films going into this appointment. It's my fault. The nice feminist clinic hadn't received them yet (they wrote the order for the procedure so they were set up to receive the results) so I assumed (yes, I'm an idiot) that they weren't ready yet. This new RE, however, is right at the hospital where I did the HSG. So after my appointment, I marched my ass over there and asked for the results and the films. I had to visit three offices and sign my name a million times but in the end it took less than an hour to get them. Lesson learned. Just because the nice, calm feminist clinic didn't have them doesn't mean that they weren't available. Note to self (again): the nice feminist clinic is too calm and slow about everything. So I got the films, and I took them back over to the RE and dropped them off for her review. Had I done that this morning before my appointment, I would have gotten so much more out of my first meeting with her. Quadruple f*ck. When will I ever learn that I have to be aggressive at EVERY turn? I'm just sitting here watching May and June melt away.

And then (are you still with me?) ... the last turn of events. The films from the HSG came on a CD-rom which I obviously didn't look at. But I also got a copy of the written "final report" from the radiologist who did the HSG. The "findings and impressions" are three sentences long. Seriously. For more than $1000? You'd think he could have been more verbose. I'm mean, for godssake, I'm up to 8 sentences in this freakin' paragraph alone. AND his "findings" say the right is blocked, left is open. Now, in case you haven't been following along, that is exactly the OPPOSITE of what I know from a) the pain on my left side, b) the HSN in January, and c) what the radiologist fucking said to me himself on the day he did the HSG. So, basically I think he got it BACKWARDS in his final report. (Unless there is some special doctor code like stage right, stage left in theater and when he says right fallopian tube, all the doctors know that he means left!?!?!?) So, my new RE will look at the films herself, not just his written backwards 3 sentences. But if he did fuck it up and write the wrong one in the final report from my procedure (that I'm paying for out of pocket), what do I do??? What recourse do I have? Am I seriously expected to pay $1000 if the doctor can't tell is right from his left? Do I need to correct it in my medical records? Is this how patients go in to have their left leg amputated and come out of surgery with the right one missing? Should I call the hospital and ask to talk to the radiologist? Should I have my RE talk to him after she reviews the films? I seriously want to milk this for some money back if I can. If he was wrong. That's total bullshit, right?

What am I up to now? Quintuple f*ck?