A Bad Day at the OB/GYN

I am going to have to reassess my stance. I used to let anyone that was residency trained and board-certified in OB/GYN be my doctor, be it male or female. After todays experience I am SERIOUSLY re-considering my previous decision.

I had been seeing a woman who I really liked a lot. I have been having some, ahhh, let's say, heavy flow issues, to put it lightly. After discussing many options we decided on an IUD. This is supposedly simple thing to get. Great. I was given the instructions and came in when I was supposed to. When I arrived at the doctor at 9:15 I was surprised to learn that I was going to be seen by a guy that I have never met before. Being fairly pragmatic about all this I was fine with this. I went in, he explained what would happen and then it was time. I won't go into graphic detail but I will tell you that one only has so much space in there and he, shall we say, seemed to be trying to put it ALL THE WAY in there. I was in excruciating pain. They said that the cramping should pass in a few minutes and I would be ready to go.

After about a half hour of pain that was making me dizzy, nauseaus and totally incapacitated they said, "This isn't normal." When they checked on the IUD's location they couldn't find it. I could have told you that because it was in so far that it couldn't be located. They then said that I needed to go to have a tech give me an ultrasound. "They have better equipment." They can't make an appointment for me but they'll try and fit me in. Great. So I get to lay there in pain and wait. I lay on the exam table for 2 and a half hours....freezing. It didn't occur to me to ask for a blanket.

I call Bob, he drops everything and comes to rescue me. There is no way I could drive when I called him. He comes in. Of course there is nothing he can do but I am so grateful he came and can handle the kids for the rest of the day. I had already called the boy's school and got them some aftercare incase I couldn't get Bob. So he leaves after about 2 hours of watching me in pain and goes to get the boys. I walk over to the ultrasound area thinking maybe they'll take pitty on me.

I finally get in to have my ultrasound at about 2 pm. And have I mentioned???? I am still in pain. The tech says something like, "Wow. That is REALLY high up there." And she can't even get a picture of the whole thing. She goes to see the radiologist who also agrees.....it's really far in there. Great. They send me back to the OB area.

The doctor that I had seen wasn't there any longer so I would now be seeing a different OB/GYN that I also don't know. On the plus side, it was a woman. I waited about 45 minutes and was feeling less like I was going to die. When she came in we talked and she said that it was probably fine but there was a chance that it had perforated my uteris. I could heal fine OR it could go through my uterus and go into my abdomin. Hummmm, what to do, what to do. We agree the best thing to do is take it out. I then ask, "Is it going to hurt?" She says it might for about 2 seconds but it shouldn't be anything like I had been going through. She was right and it wasn't bad. Afterward we discuss my options. She says we can try again in a month or two. I tell her thanks but no thanks. I do NOT want to even take a chance that something like this will happen again. She understands and says that is why she never got one. She was afraid it would hurt. I assured her that it does! A lot! I now have a plan for a couple months from now and that plan does not include an IUD.

So ladies. I am here to tell you that if your OB/GYN does not have a uteris you may want to reconsider your options. I can't believe that a woman would have done that to me as I writhed around in pain. I think a woman would have stopped before it got so bad and that a woman would have known how far something would go in to a uteris. I have had men OB/GYNs in the past and not had a problem but now I am am seriously reconsidering.