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Once she’s gone, I hop down and grab my phone, messaging Adam that the IUD is missing and they’re doing an ultrasound. He tells me to keep him informed and apologizes for Ethel and Dori, as always.
Sarah comes back in five minutes later and walks me to the ultrasound room. I’m still wearing the gown, and Ethel and Dori watch me pass.
“She has a nice figure,” Dori says to Ethel.
“No wonder Adam can’t keep his hands off her and they’re in this predicament.”
My face heats, but Sarah is nice enough to pretend she didn’t hear them.
An ultrasound tech welcomes me into the darkened room and Sarah shuts the door when she leaves. Man, my vagina is getting the whole workup today. Last night it got plenty of attention from Adam, and now Stella’s said hello. Soon the ultrasound tech, Kit, will pay her a visit. The joys of being a woman. Modesty has no place here.
Twenty minutes later, I’m back in the exam room, waiting for Stella and trying to decide if I should get another IUD or go back to the pill. The IUD was much easier than the pill, but if Adam and I want to start a family, then I don’t need something semipermanent inside me. Though I’m probably rushing things thinking about kids. Hello, he was going to divorce me only seven weeks ago. But Adam’s always wanted a family of his own. I could get the IUD out in a year. I shake my head, trying to clear my racing thoughts. I’ll just ask Stella for guidance when she comes back.
Someone knocks on the door and Stella comes in, shutting the door behind her. She sits on her chair and I detect something different in her demeanor this time. She’s not as smiley as she was the first time we met.
“So good news, we didn’t see the IUD on the ultrasound. You more than likely dislodged it and maybe never saw it in the toilet.”
“Last night?”
“My best guess is that it was at least a week or more ago, which is why you’re spotting. Can I ask you a question, Lucy?”
I don’t like how she asks that. I nod.
“Were you only on the IUD for period issues or was it for birth control?”
“Just to manage my period. I wasn’t sexually active when I got it since I didn’t even remember my husband at the time, but I am now. Oh god.” My eyes flare and I clasp my hand over my stomach. “Am I pregnant? Did I miscarry? Is that what the cramps were?”
I stare at my stomach as though I should’ve known I had a baby in there. How do I tell this to Adam? He’ll be devastated. I’m devastated.
“No. You’re just having your period.”
I blow out a relieved breath. “Oh, good. I mean, if I was pregnant, that’d be great too. I mean, Adam wants kids. I want kids. We both want kids.” I force myself to stop rambling to allow her to talk.
Her smile softens and she walks over to me, reaching for my hand. “I received your medical history from Dr. Ramirez’s office. Lucy, has anyone ever told you that you have endometriosis?”
“What?” I frown.
“It’s a condition where tissue grows outside your uterus, and sometimes it can block your fallopian tubes. I know you had the accident and you don’t recall this, but Dr. Ramirez met with you and sent you for a hysterosalpingogram test where dye is inserted into your vagina by a catheter. Then X-rays are taken to see where the dye goes. Lucy, your dye didn’t freely go into the abdomen, which means you have blockages in both your tubes.”
My stomach turns over. “Meaning?”
“Meaning that in order to conceive, you’d most likely be looking at fertility treatments and probably have to go straight to IVF. The problem with endometriosis is that we can go in and remove it, but it can come back. It leaves you at a high risk for an ectopic pregnancy, which is automatically not a viable pregnancy, plus it’s a potentially life-threatening situation for the mother. Not to mention that if we didn’t catch an ectopic pregnancy in time, you could lose an ovary and a fallopian tube.” She pats my leg. “This is a lot of information for you to get all at once. Do you want me to have Adam come down or call Ethel in?”
I shake my head, coming out of a fog. “You said Dr. Ramirez told me this?”
“Yes, but obviously because of your accident, you don’t remember. Now, I suggest just restarting the pill at this point. Let’s have you go home, talk to Adam, then we’ll get back together. There are some great surgeons and fertility treatments available.”
“What are the chances of them being successful?”
She sighs. “You need to go through more tests, Lucy. More recent ones. Dr. Ramirez put your endometriosis at stage four. We need to see if surgery is even an option.”
“How could I have not known this?”
“Well, you’ve had painful periods and the pills, and the IUD probably helped you with the pain. But sometimes women just don’t feel it. The symptoms come and go, and most chalk it up to a stomach issue rather than a reproductive issue. But we’ll figure this out.”
“Can I see the notes from Dr. Ramirez?”
She hems for a moment. “Sure. They haven’t been scanned in yet, so give me a second.”
She leaves, and thank God Ethel doesn’t try to come in. My phone pings in my purse, but I ignore it, hopping down to get dressed while I wait.
Stella returns right after I get my second shoe on. I stare at the date on my last visit with Dr. Ramirez and bile rushes up my throat. Last March.
“Thank you,” I say.
I walk out of the room, past Ethel and Dori, past the damn waterfall, and once I’m outside, I bend over and throw up in the trash can. I finally have the answer, but it’s far from the one I wanted.
