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Tubal reversal

36K views 52 replies 26 participants last post by  WillardGuzman 
#1 ·
Was wondering if anybody had any info on having a tubal litigation reversed?

Had mine done at age 25 after having my youngest. I am regretting my decision badly. I realize now that I was much to young to have made that decision and also that the main reason that i made it was because I didn't want to have anymore children with my ex.

Now at 38, I find myself divorced, dating a man 5 years younger then myself and with no kid's of his own. I have also realized that I would love to have another child well before I left my ex. Some people say I am crazy as my daughter's are 19 and 13. And some say I am empty-nesting as my oldest is now on her own.

I say that I have loved every single step in my childrens lives. They have brought a joy and peace to my life that for many years I was unable to find anywhere else. There have been momments in my life where I felt that all was lost. Then I held one of my girl's and everything made sense again.

It is something that I have been thinking about for the last few years. It isn't a whim. It isn't the baby blues. I know what a having children has brought to my life. And I know what I can give to a child. I realize that I have other options besides have a child by birth but I would love to experience the whole process again.

Has anyone had a similiar experience? Does anyone have any info on the process of having a tubal reversed?

Any help would be great!

Love and Peace

Meg
 
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#2 ·
I just had my tubal reversed December 27th, and I am SO happy with the decision! I only had mine for 4 years- but knew immediately after I got it that it was a terrible decision. I ovulated only days after the procedure and felt for the first time like my body was back to normal again. Plus the reality of just knowing that you CAN conceive makes you feel...different, I guess. Like a weight lifted. We cant TTC yet- not for 3 months after surgery.

I really suggest making a consult with a local fertility doc. There's a lot to consider- what procedure you had done, age, weight, partners age and sperm count, etc. All these things effect whether they will recommend you have the reversal or get In-vitro.
 
#3 ·
My SO and I have just decided to have my tubal reversed, soon, I hope. I had my tubal over seven years ago, I was single when my last children were born and I was fairly certain I would not be having any more children. I guess I was wrong. My SO and I have been together almost four years and we realized that the one thing we are missing in our already happy family is a baby together.

I am just in the beginning stages of planning it myself. I know that the type of reversal, as Dashley111 said, has a big impact on the success of the reversal.

Dashley111, what type of surgery did you have, if you don't mind my asking? Was it laparoscopic or a larger incision?
 
#7 ·
Hi Meg, My story is almost exact to yours. I had mine ringed when i was 24. i had already 2 children but wanted no more with the man i was with. After our separation, i met a great man (my husband now). Hes a few years older than me. we discussed getting my tubes reversed in 2007 but we ended up buying a house instead. we discussed it quite a few times but in April 2011 i said its now or never. I'm 38 yrs old, my current children are aged 20 and 17 and i went and had my tubes reversed. We are very excited at what the future may bring us.

janet
 
#8 ·
hi, i was just looking through the posts- i had a TR in May and no luck yet, I just turned 40 ;-( and like you have older kids and a new partner. Have you had any luck yet? Have you had an HSG?
 
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#9 ·
I had my tubal done after my son was born I was 23. The moment I woke up I knew I made the wrong decision. 5 years later my husband and I were in such a better situation and we started looking into reversal and ivf. We decide to go the ivf route. After consulting with fertility doctors ivf was a better option for us. The cost was about the same with minimal recovery time and less complications. We have a healthy baby girl and fingers crossed we will adding another one or two the family. We just did an FET about 8 days ago.
It took me an entire year to make this decision. I wish you luck in your decision... Sending happy baby thoughts your way
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#11 ·
That is how mine was done also. The recovery is different for everyone- I know women who felt recovered in days, but for me personally it took a week. I took pain killers around the clock, and was able to stay in top of the pain but I was completely useless for 5 days- couldn't do a thing. One thing I was not prepared for was the bloating and gas build up, it caused me to have shoulder and abdominal pain pretty bad.

The actual surgery is just an hour or two, and waking up and getting around afterwards to get home is not too bad. Just stay on top of your pain meds, and you will be fine
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Congrats!
 
#12 ·
Awesome.. Thanks for the relief dashley11!!! This is def going to be an experience. Also if you don't mind me asking; there are so many different MD opinions out there. Mine said I could start trying to conceive after 4 weeks. I'm thinking that may be a little to soon, but that also may be me just stressing. What do you think?
 
#13 ·
Honestly? I was part of a support group for tubal reversals before/during/after my surgery. I saw a lot of girls try right away or after 4 weeks, and their miscarriage rate and tubal pregnancy rate was really high. My doc recommended waiting 3 months. Out of the 30 ladies in the group, I was the only one who got pregnant my first cycle trying (3 months 2 weeks post surgery) and had a successful pregnancy. I was SO glad I waited! I know that at 4 weeks I was still sore and not completely healed. I can't imagine it's safe putting a growing being into an unhealed body. That is just my 2 cents.
 
#14 ·
That's what I thought too, but i'm a worry wort lol. I guess that's why the good lord gave us instincts. I believe were going to go with my gut and your opinion.. Thanks for talking with me dashley111. You have been helpful. It's good to talk to someone who has experienced this already...
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#18 ·
Like so many people, I have regretted my decision to have my tubes tied and dreamed of having just one more child before I got too old. When I got my tubes tied it felt like the right decision. But now, years later, I've remarried and want to have a child with my new husband to celebrate our love. Unfortunately, like many of you, financial issues made getting a reversal difficult. It was because of this that I was drawn to getting my procedure done in Mexico. The price was less than half of that in the states and I had read about so many positive experiences others had when going into Mexico (at a different facility).

I went through a company called Medical Tourism Corporation. This is a middleman that puts you in contact with participating hospitals for your procedure. Through them I was linked up with Hospital de la Familia in Mexicali, Mexico. The price was right and I couldn't find anything negative about them. That, coupled with the positive experiences others had posted about at Rio Bravo with Dr. Perez, I figured I was on to something.

I was contacted by their rep Julio Basaldua. He was extremely helpful and seemed very eager to facilitate the process and get us there ASAP. The hospital was nice enough and I can't say I have any complaints about my stay, but what happened after I left was where the nightmare began.

Keep in mind, we were led to believe this was a microsurgery, comparable to what we would have had in the US. It was not. I had a full blown incision almost the size of my c-secttion across my stomach. The Dr. assured me the procedure went exceptionally well so I was appeased. During discharge, the nurse told me to take it easy for a couple of weeks and IF I WANTED, I could wear an ace bandage around my stomach for support but this was only optional, since the wound would heal just fine with the regular cleaning and changing of the gauze and the support of the stitches.

I am paranoid. So I took it exceptionally easy. Total bed rest for two days and short walks as instructed. On the second day when I went to remove the bandage, clean the wound and change the gauze, I felt a bit more discomfort and moisture on my stomach. I looked down and saw a gaping hole on my stomach. My stitches had come undone and I was terrified. I went to the emergency room and the doctor gave me the bad news. They had used dissolvable stitches on a very flexible area, which is not good, and because it had come undone, it could not be restitched without a high risk of infection. I now had to leave a hole open in my stomach and allow it to heal from the inside out while cleaning and changing the bandages 3 times a day. My recovery went from a couple weeks to more than a month with constant vigilance.

I contacted the hospital and they told me i had to come in to them or they wouldn't do anything Orr help. This was a shock so I contacted Julio at Hospital de la Familia and he seemed to want to help. "I'm shocked!", "This has never happened before!" "I will call you every day to see how things are going and we will ask for pictures periodically to check on the healing". I felt great, he was meeting with the doctor and would get back with me at noon to advise me.

Noon came and went. That evening I called and Julio told me they wanted me to come back down to Mexico and they would put in new stitches. I told him I was unsure of that because the ER doctor, my primary care physician who I had called by now, and all the compulsive Internet research I had done that day indicated that was a horrible idea! Julio told me he'd talk to the doctor and call me right back. He never did.

We followed up the next day and now he was telling me he spoke to the doctor and instructed me to clean the wound and tape it shut for three days.... I was shocked. Tape it shut? That's the worst thing to do according to my doctor. It's an infection waiting to happen.

I could go on and on about the daily conversations we've had with Julio for the past two weeks but the gist of it is he's promised to help, to call, to follow up, and to secure some sort of compensation for me, but he has done nothing. He's never called even once. Every time he says he will call back, he never does. It's always us calling to find out why he didn't. Most of the time it goes to voicemail and we've resorted to calling from private or random numbers so that he will answer.

In no way am I saying to stay away from Mexico for your procedure. So many people have had positive results there. But I am saying to stay away from Hospital de la Familia. They are super helpful when it comes to getting your money, but when issues arise, they suddenly forget who you are and leave you hanging out to dry. A simple phone call would have spoken volumes but the absence says more than anything. I understand when dealing with Mexico, my options are limited, but hopefully reading this will keep someone from going through what I did. I still worry every day how will this heal and I can't help but fear that the procedure itself won't have worked and ill be left having to get another surgery.

Good luck to everyone. I hope your experience is smoother than mine.
 
#19 ·
Wow stormy what an ordeal! I had mine in Virginia. About 5k including hotel and post hsg. It was a microsurgery. Just a few banbaids. Mine closed a year later most likely related to a bad diverticulitis and pelvic inflamation. The doc there was so great he agreed to redo the surgery at no cost. We did that in July. I got my first bfp 2 days ago. I am 41, overweight and boderline pcos. I was so happy with my experience!

Stormy will you have an hsg at 3 months? I wish you all the best of luck!
 
#20 ·
Your situation sounds exactly like mine! I had my TL in 1994 a few months after my second child. I had my TR last year. What they don't tell when you have your TL is the post tubal-ligation syndrome issues. Here is a website with a lot of symptoms that you may or may not have: http://tubal.org/symptoms_of_pts.htm A lot of my symptoms subsided after my second AF cycle. I had my TR done at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal center in Durham, NC and it was money well spent. I wanted to go somewhere that only specialized in that. My OB sent me to a specialist in Seattle who told me that he had only preformed one other TR and that was 2 years previous; no thanks! They were wonderful and even months after, have been outstanding with their help. They also have message forums there for the ladies to talk on. Here is CHTRC's website: http://www.tubal-reversal.net/

I got pregnant on my 3rd cycle of AF while using an OPK by Clearblue Easy, I purchased my monitor used on eBay and just buy the sticks locally (yea they are expensive but 30 sticks lasts 3 months give or take). I was charting but not was not temping. I miscarried but hey at least we know, we can still get pregnant!

Good Luck and hope this helps!

After thought: I also wanted to add that CHTRC was way, way cheaper and better equipped to handle all types of TL sutures than the local fertility doc could do. CHTRC cost $6000, fertility doc wanted to bill us $15,000 plus the hospital stay. After all was said and done, it cost us a total of $7000 including airfare, hotel stay and food flying from Seattle to Durham, NC.
 
#21 ·
My story is much like the OP. I had four children. My former husband and my OBGYN convinced me to have a tubal with my fourth. I immediately regretted it. I have suffered from tubal ligation syndrome symptoms since I had it done which adds insult to injury.

I found myself divorced and remarried to a man 8 years younger than myself. He has never been married and has no children of his own. I want to share that joy with him, Plus I never really felt like I was done with babies. My youngest is turning 11 in March. My oldest will turn 18 on the 29th.

I have been accepted by the Drs at North Carolina Center for Reproductive Medicine for a reversal. Now I just need to pay for it and get my travel expenses together. I am using our tax refund money to pay for the surgery 4550. Travel will add another $1000. Well worth it to have a chance at another little blessing :)
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsustanley View Post

I am having a reversal this Wednesday at the Cleveland clinic...nervous about being put to sleep, but super excited about having it done...Dr told me to wait for 2 Cycles before trying..I can't wait.....literally, iI m 40lol
Best wishes for a successful surgery and fast recovery so you can get to BDing ASAP. I am turning 37 on Monday....I can't wait much longer either....literally! And gosh 2 cycles, that is just too longggggggg. Ugh!
 
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#25 ·
I had my surgery...all went well, except the pain.!!?!?!...they didn't mention that when alaproscopic procedure is done, they use carbon dioxide gas to make more room in your abdomen or wherever...anyway, I had excruciating pain the night of procedure & next day. The doctor said it was common & would last a day or two...it is over now, but honestly, that pain was worse than any of my c section recoveries. It is worth it, just be prepared for that...it is a positional pain, so you can move to where it is less, but...ouch!
 
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