Interesting lap findings

I had the laparoscopy this week.  My RE wasn't sure if I needed one, but I felt that something wasn't right so I went ahead with it.  Boy, am I glad I did.

The surgeon was very surprised by the findings. He removed a very large endometrial nodule (the size of small orange) that was impacting on the uterus and some other internal organs.  He was able to remove all of it, and he doesn't think it will grow back again.  Most likely I've had it since a teenager, and it's been a significant part of my infertility.  It was evidently missed by the previous surgeon who diagnosed moderate endometriosis back in 2008 (how he could have missed a nodule the size of an orange was beyond the comprehension of my current surgeon!)

He seems to think that now the nodule has been removed, we have a good change of conceiving naturally.  As thrilling as it was to hear that (and it was very exciting to be told that after years and years of infertility treatments), I haven't taken it to heart.  The surgeon doesn't know my DH's sperm issues and high fragmentation rate meaning that it's unlikely we'll fall pregnant naturally.  But anyway - it was a lovely thing to hear after waking up from surgery "we've found something significant that's likely been the cause of your infertility - we've removed it and you've got a good chance of conceiving naturally now." 

The surgeon also took a biopsy to test for natural killer cells, to see if immune issues may be a problem.  It will be good to get these results back too.

The findings from the laparoscopy are significant step forward for us, and explain why the last three IVF cycles haven't felt right (and have been negative).  It also gives us hope for moving forward from here. 

The next step?  I'll go and see my RE in a few weeks after I'm feeling better physically.  We'll discuss the surprising results of the laparscopy, and re-evaluate future treatment with this new knowledge (maybe now we're just dealing with male factor issues, rather than my issues too). 

Then I'll go back to the surgeon and get the results of the natural killer cell test.  He also wants to show me some photos of the surgery.  Apparently it was quite something.

I also want to get the surgeon's opinion about moving forward from here.  I want to discuss DH's sperm issues with him and get his perspective. Does he REALLY think we can conceive naturally even with DH's issues taken into account?  It just doesn't seem possible to me, after dealing with infertility for so many years.

I'm feeling a bit sore now, but very very thankful.  I feel I've been lucky.  That our unexplained infertility issues are finally coming to light and being resolved.  Surely this makes us one step closer to having a baby?