Who: Dr Gil Hatayama & Amy Chen What: Discussing ultrasounds and scheduling operations. When: Jan 7, morning. Where: Seattle Medical Rating: PG Status: Complete
Friday next week came and went and Amy neither had time to do the ultrasound nor the inclination to put herself through a test that could prove her anything but viable as a mother. After a weekend spent dreading her future, she finally got up the nerve to do the ultrasound on Monday and by Wednesday, she was back at the hospital, this time with no gel and no ugly green grown - just an ugly green suit that had the advantage of being the comfiest piece of clothing she wore and a good luck charm. She had worn it for her exams in college and she had worn it for interviews before. Maybe if she wore it now, Dr Hatayama would tell her she was in perfect health.
Yeah right. Hands folded over her chest, she took a deep breath and met his eyes over the desk. Found she had to look up a little because even sitting the man was tall. Thought about telling him to give it to her straight, hard and strong but bit her lip at the last moment, blushing at the connotations. Smiled instead. "So, Doctor, how does it look?"
Gil folded his arms over Amy's chart and leaned forward on his desk. He had mastered the art of adjusting himself in his chair so that he didn't have to look down at his patients while talking to them.
"The results came back positive for a didelphic uterus." he explained with a smile, his voice being more confident than with his initial diagnosis. Now that all was certain, it was all a matter of what she wanted to do next. "This is good, the chances of conceiving and carrying a child to term is higher than that of of uterine septum."
Ah." Amy gaped, the corners of her mouth alternatively going up and down. "Okay. So it's good news." And she allowed herself a sigh of relief, posture relaxing slightly in the chair. It wasn't ideal, she wasn't healthy, but it was the lesser of two evils.
The lucky suit strikes again, she told herself, nodding for the Doctor to continue. "I did a bit of reading at home and the success rate for a pregnancy is 60%, yes? And surgery is possible? If I go under the knife, will I have a better chance of having a baby?"
Gil nodded. "That's without any surgery done prior to conception. If you were to get pregnant, it would be high risk. The success rate is a little higher if you have the second uterus removed, it would lower the probability of implantation in the less viable one."
"I want to have the surgery before conception, then," Amy decided quickly, not seeing any reason to waver and hesitate. She knew what she wanted and what she wanted was to be able to conceive. The fact that her motives were entirely selfish didn't bother her much. "I haven't been selected for the lottery yet, but the sooner we can schedule it, the happier I'll be. I understand there are more medical tests performed once a woman is married. I wouldn't want them to find anything dubious."
"You are aware that you could still be able to conceive without the surgery, yes?" he repeated, not wanting her to feel that her only choice was for him to operate. Not that he had any doubts in his skills, but he knew the procedure was a large expense.
Amy nodded, but her mind was already settled on the most straight-forward of two options. "I don't have a very high income, but I have insurance and I work for a law firm. If they refuse to cover medical costs for something like this, they'll attract more bad press than they'll know what to do with." She smiled, self-confident in her ability to use reason more than she ever would her looks. "I want to have the surgery."
"Very well." he grinned and pulled out pre-printed brochures from the drawer in his desk. Gil handed them over to look through. "The procedure is done laproscopically, we go through three small incisions. Two on either side above your pubic bone and one through your belly button.
This leaves minimal if any scarring, and the recovery takes only a matter of weeks. If you are selected during that time, a medical waiver will be given to extend the waiting period for your first injection. You would still have to marry that week, with the only exception being the week after a surgery, of course."
Amy took the brochures with no small amount of excitement. It felt like she was picking out a new hairstyle rather than aiming to fix a part of herself that had been born wrong. One of the many parts of her that had that problem.
"Is the recovery at all painful? Will I be able to work?" She couldn't afford the time off and she didn't want to take any regardless. This was important but not important enough to mess up her very busy schedule. She lived to fulfill her goals.
"Recovery varies for everyone," Gil mused, tilting his head to the side as he pondered the question. "I've had patients who can resume light activities in a week and managing their pain with over-the-counter medications. Others will have to take two weeks or more before they feel well enough to work. Overall, the recovery isn't painful at all. Typically these are outpatient procedures, but I like to keep patients over one night."
"Ah," she gaped again, a bad habit if there ever was one. "Could you... make a prediction? I have a lot of work to do and this isn't the best time for me to take a break. It's not lugging bricks around or anything like that. It wouldn't put a strain on me. Just lots of sitting in a chair..." It dawned on her that she was bargaining her recovery time with the good doctor even as he had no hand in it. "Sorry," she smiled, a little sheepish even as she pulled out her agenda. "I'm becoming a nuisance. When would it be best to schedule the surgery for?"
"The only advice I could say is if you can manage your pain with two acetaminophen every four hours, you would be fine to go to work. The pain medications with narcotics in them would make any person useless in a work setting. Since your job is sedentary, I see no problem." Gil turned his chair to his PC and sat up to his full height to use the keyboard and read the monitor correctly. "Typically in the mornings, how soon can you be available? If we can get all of your processing and presurgery done completed, we could schedule you for this Friday or Wednesday next week."
This Friday was the day they announced the numbers. Like buying a lottery ticket, you could buy your luck. But if she got picked in the Monday draw, this would give her time to prepare herself to meet her future husband. Take it easy and not have to fear him looking at her weird when she tried to explain that she needed surgery to have one of her two wombs removed. "This Friday suits me perfectly," she decided, blocking a space in pen in her agenda. "Will I have to stay the previous night as well or just the one?"
Gil shook his head. "You'll check in Friday morning and we'll discharge you Saturday afternoon."
"Excellent," Amy smiled, genuinely pleased. This gave her more time to finish up her work before she needed to 'take it easy'. "And you'll be performing the surgery, yes?" She had asked him the last time too, but she needed to be sure.
"I will be performing the surgery. Don't worry, I'll be with you every step of the way." Gil said, smiling. "If you could leave me with your insurance information, I can take care of the authorizations for you."
She returned the smile, understandable reassured at the knowledge that there would be someone there she trusted holding a scalpel over her skin. "Really? Excellent, I was going to do what I did last time and talk to reception. But that would be fantastic." She closed her agenda with one hand, reaching in her bag for the wallet that kept both money and the tiny health card that contained all her medical history. A powerful little tool, if it happened to be stolen.
Gil took the medical card and swiped it on the reader by his desk. He filled out his end of the order and then attached it to an email to the hospital billings department.
"There we go. This way it will be put in priority over the ones we send through reception. " he said, handing the card back to Amy.
She took it back daintily even if she was anything but and wondered at the spring in her step. She was going to go under anesthesia and she was going to undergo surgery and yet she was flying high as a kyte. No doubt the panic would strike later. "Thank you very much, Dr Hatayama. I'll see you Friday, then."
"You're welcome, Ms. Chen. I'll see you Friday." Gil reached across the desk to offer his hand to shake. "You should probably expect a presurgery phonecall from the hospital tomorrow and at the reception make sure they give you the packet of information regarding all of our surgeries. If you have any questions, please call or reach me by email."
She shook his hand with a happy 'I will', rising from the chair carefully. Her bag was heavy and the last thing she needed was to get a back ache before the big day. "Thanks again," she added before making her way out into the corridors and taking a right. Walking a few steps and realizing reception was in the opposite direction. She waved as she passed by his still open door, pamphlets clutched to her chest.