the HSG test

Ever since I referenced the hysterosalpingogram (HSG) test in this post I’ve been thinking about this very odd experience.

The test was performed at a hospital and not in the fertility clinic. The HSG test needs to be performed at a certain time during your cycle but they’re always booked so it took me about 3 months to get an appointment. I had heard about this infamous test from a friend of mine and was quite nervous as it was supposed to be pretty painful.

This is my experience.

I got called from the waiting room to an area in the back where I was sent to a change room which had a gown for me and a locker for my clothes. After donning the gown I was instructed to sit in the chairs lined up against the wall in a semi-private hallway. After changing and taking my seat I realized that I was one of four women in the same predicament.

So there we sat. Four infertile women, shivering (seriously, why must they keep it so cold?!) on green plastic chairs with only a thin hospital gown to keep us warm. We sat against the wall in a row, facing our changing rooms. We were all bonded together in some strange sort of way. But no words were spoken by any of us that afternoon. Although I’m sure we were all thinking similar thoughts, such as: "wonder how long they’ve been trying" "where is she in the process of testing" "how much is this test going to hurt." To top it off this hallway wasn’t private, hospital staff walked past our little group and I wondered if they knew why we were all there. The lack of privacy made it worse.

Then one by one we were called into the testing room. And one by one each of us made our way from the test room to the bathroom and back into the hallway where the rest sat waiting our turn. I wanted to shout to the first victim…"how was it? does it really hurt as bad as they say?!"….but I stayed quiet, not breaking the silence, taking my cues from the other two sitting beside me. And then it was my turn. I won’t get super graphic here but imagine someone injecting dye up your vajayjay to check for any blockages in the fallopian tubes. Not my idea of a pleasant afternoon activity. The neat thing, which totally distracted me from the procedure, was that I got to watch the monitor which showed the dye travelling through my tubes. That was actually pretty cool although I wouldn’t recommend this experience just for kicks! In the end I felt hardly any pain which was a great blessing since I have a negative pain threshold!

And when I moved from the bathroom back into the hallway to my change room there was no one left of my foursome. I’ll never see those women again (I don’t even remember what they looked like since we were sitting side by side and didn’t dare look at one another!) but for a moment we shared an intimate time together. A time of vulnerability. And even though no one voiced this fact on that sunny summer afternoon, I will never forget it.