[Lani]

Sounds like you need info so you feel secure in where you should and shouldn't go with this as personalities are involved

Since the Drs are leut colonels I guess they don't have many female gyns--how about any female nurse practitioners?

I unfortunately have had 3 pelvic ultrasounds myself. The first part is no big deal, they just put the ultrasound probe on your belly and move it around inspecting you from the outside in with ultrasound.

Part two which has lasted between 35 and 45 minutes (I watch the clock to decide how to psyche myself into lasting the whole time) consists of inspecting you from the inside out. The "wand" is hard. solid and of considerable diameter. This is the same procedure many states are trying to legislate every woman considering abortion undergo. The examination is performed by an ultrasound "wand" placed in the vagina which is moved around in order to look right, left, backwards, forwards to identify the uterine walls, ovaries and anything else it can see (eg babies, tumors etc)

The first tech told me she had refused to have that part done when she needed to have a pelvic ultrasound herself. Says a lot. She invited me to insert it myself.

The second tech (for the second ultrasound about 6 years later)admitted after I asked, had had one herself while she was pregnant and was understanding but kept not letting me know what percent of the procedure was already behind us (that helps me psyche myself into tolerating it as long as I know when it will end)

When I told the third tech about the first techs comment she laughed. She was not as slow and did not attempt to be as gentle as the secon in how she moved the wand, but after some banter I got her to be more thoughtful in how she carried out the procedure and finally, finally got her to say when we were more than 75% done. Don't know why that is so hard. I know they don't know exactly how hard each part will be fore them and how long it will be before they get all things into view, but I was only asking for an estimate based on their considerable previous experience. No guarantees to be given or implied!



It is definitely doable. But as in most things having the information ie, knowing that they will be Ultrasounding from the inside out and not just from the
outside in helps you psyche yourself into it. They do use lubricating jelly and you need to be in control about telling them to slow down, let you help with the
insertion if you don't trust them to be slow, gentle and listening to you. Ask them to do it where you can see the clock and ask them to estimate what percentage of the procedure is over.

One needs to drink lots of water one hour before AND NOT LET YOURSELF GO to the bathroom or they have to cancel the procedure and reschedule. Not so easy, if as in your case you have frequent urination.

Call back and ask to talk either with a nurse practioner in the gyn department or someone in the ultrasound division of the radiology department and discuss your concerns.

It is definitely doable there is no discomfort that lasts and the information the gain can tell them if the endometrial lining is thickened, if there are fibroids and/or a polyp and if an endometrial biopsy is likely to be needed...but//ooops...you already had that.

Blind endometrial biopsies are around 94% accurate for catching endometrial cancer. Biopsies done under hysteropic observation (a telescope looking up there which usually requires anaesthesia) seem to be the next step if you don't want to go to hysterectomy.

I tried to read about the topic just like you seem to (starting at wikipedia and proceding to pubmed), but I had to experience the pelvic ultrasound myself to comprehend the nitty gritty of how it is done, what it feels like, how to use the clock and questioning of the tech to psyche myself through it and that there is remarkably little soreness even a few minutes thereafter.

None of this seem well covered on the web (another reason to start that board/thread I suggested earlier about procedures (gammaknife/cyberknife/lumbar puncture/bone marrow aspirate/etc) to help prepare others

The part about not urinating was not explained to me the first time and poorly the second (and so much time had elapsed between the two I really hadn't thought much about it)

Those who have had lots of children may have an entirely different experience and as with everything , everyone experiences things differently and tolerates things differently.

Again, perhaps we could add this to the list of procedures we LIST in a thread for those inquiring what they are like (like the gamma knife'cyberknife procedure)... Starting with the official NIH description for patients and then adding personal experiences

This is one procedure I DO know about. My experiences may not be (and probably are not) typical. It is certainly very low down on my list of discomforts suffered in life, but even so, information helps one tolerate it and cooperate to ensure the most information is gained from the test.

Anyone else want to chime in?