surgery before IUI?

[Lux8027]

Hi i am 27 with severe endo found in 2006 lap. did 6 once monthly shots of lupron depot followed by 4 months of once daily shots of lupron depot. it did nothing i had heavy break thru bleeding and loads of pain while on it. I did a second lap in may of 07'. didn't do any hormone treatments after that. Now i am back where i was a year ago with the pain and bowel probs which i knew would happen. But we wanted to try on our own. we have decided that ivf isn't something we want to do. My re is great and is willing to give the iui a chance but has explained to differance in success rates between iui and ivf. So my big question is whether to do a lap to have all the scar tissue and endo cleaned out and to deal with the pain before the iui. Also my thoughts are that i had to have a d&c done during my last lap for uterine lining issues so I am wondering if that would be another reason to do that lap before hand? Any thoughts, insight or experiances would be a great help ladies:)
Thanks ahead of time and best of luck to all of you!

[juliesmom]

Amen sister!  It's a good thing we have each other.

[Lux8027]

Oh **** if i had a penny for every time someone said those things to me we would be able to afford IVF! You kno what I hate is trying to explain endo to someone who knows nothing about it. They for some reason believe that surgery can fix it. Just have to dr. take it out and you will be fine, no big deal. If only it were that easy. Then the flip side to that is people who thinks your dr. is wrong and you need another 10 opinions. There is no mistaking endo and women who live with the pain and frustration every day kno that.  They kno what its like to have good days when you can get thru the day without thinking about it a thousand times. And they know the bad days when you fight not cry every time you look in the mirror and ask why me.

[juliesmom]

I know what you mean, I am an only child but my husband has 5 siblings, 2 full sisters, 1 step sister and 2 step brothers.  All three of the girls can get pregnant at the drop of a hat...I'm so sick of hearing about it all the time.  I know that people are excited when they're pregnant but they could have the decency to control that around those of us who have struggled with the heart breaking fact of infertility.  And now, to top it all off, the guy in the office next to me just found out his wife is expecting for the first time and that's all I hear about...makes me want to scream!  They just look at you like there's something horribly wrong with you and it makes you feel like dirt.  And that thing about, "Well, you're trying to hard, it'll happen when the time is right."  That is so wrong to say to someone who's spend their lifes savings on fertility treatments, surgeries, ovulation kits and home pregnancy kits to just be let down again and again.

[Lux8027]

Thanks so much for your thoughts. As much as I wish no one had to live thru this, it is a comfort to kno others understand and I am not alone. Our chances are also lower with IUI then normal too due to the extent of the endo. My first lap in 06' was an emergancy surgery  done due to a complete blockage of my bowel and organ failure due to the endo. They had to put a tube down my throat when  I was admitted to empty my stomach because the blockage wouldn't let anything pass. The nite before the lap I was given my last rites because they were certain I wouldn't live thru the nite to make it to the surgery. Ivf isn't our budgets either so I kno how u feel there. And my Dh and I have decided the IVF roller coaster is a ride we don't want to get on.  Its kinda of a kicker for me because my parents have seven children.All seven are their biological kids. None adopted or from other marriages. And i hear it alot that well your mom had so many so there prolly isn't anything wrong with you. Your prolly just thinking about it to much! Not helpful! Thanks so much ladies I appreciate you thughts and I'll keep you both in my prayers:)

[mkseym]

I know how hard of a decision this is.  I did have surgery when I was trying to get pregnant.  The first surgery (not first surgery but first for trying to get pregnant) did not work but the second surgery I had (about 8 months later) I did get pregnant 3 months after that with clomid.  I now have a baby but it was a very difficult pregnancy.  So I do believe the surgery helps.  Actually I got pregnant after the first surgery also but I did miscarry (2nd miscarriage).  Now I am trying to get pregnant again and am having the same dilema, whether to have surgery agian or not.  I went on clomid for 3 months and no luck getting pregnant.  I opted for the Lupron in lieu of the surgery and will try again to get pregnant in July.  The reason I opted against surgery was my doctor said that the more surgeries you have the more scar tissue you get and therefore the less pain relief you will get when you finally have the hysterectomy.  So I am doing Lupron and it is not really helping.  Actually I am going in for an U/S in a week to see whether or not my ovary is to enlarged from cysts.  Hoping it is not because I really don't want to have surgery right now.  So I guess there are pros and cons to the surgery.  Maybe it will help but I guess I am just saying keep that scar tissue idea in mind.  I had never thought about it but it makes sense.  Surgery is necessary sometimes though.  Good Luck!

[juliesmom]

Your chances of conceiving are always increased in the first 6 months post-op.  Personally, it didn't make any difference for me...my endo is so far gone that when I asked my RE about IUI, he said that the chances of conception are less than 5%...I had my last lap in Nov 07.  I decided that for me it wasn't something I could handle emotionally right now, we've been TTC on our own for about 4 years with no luck...thanks again endo!  I can't deal with the hopefullness and let down that is sure to come for me.  My RE said he would certainly do IUI if that's what we wanted to try though and even went ahead and gave me a script for clomid to take home with me if we decided to do it.  IVF is our only option, but it's not in our budget...we've got a 14 year old who would like to go to college in a few years.  Even with IVF, due to the extent of my endo our chances are only about 45%.  He is very caring but also gives me the info I need without sugar coating it so I don't get all excited and then disappointed.  You're quite a bit younger than me so I've got my age working against me too...you don't have to worry about that.  I hope for you that IUI works and you can have the baby that you've wanted for so long now...good luck and hugs to you!
Shelley