Tubes reversed and tubes untied. This was the plan of Lisa and Marshall in January of 2009 that brought them to A Personal Choice.
I had the pleasure of meeting the couple for a pre-operative visit to discuss tubal ligation reversal surgery. Initially, Lisa and Marshall chose to attempt pregnancy through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and Lisa underwent a single cycle of IVF, which was not successful.
After their IVF cycle, Lisa and her husband, Marshall, made the decision to have her tubes untied and reversed so they could attempt to conceive naturally.
Together they traveled to A Personal Choice from Orlando Florida (FL) for a tubal ligation reversal. Here is their story…
After Tubal Ligation: Lisa’s History
Lisa is a 41 year old manager of attractions at Epcot Center in Disney World. She has three children (ages 22,17,15) from a previous marriage. She had a postpartum ligation and resection tubal ligation 16 years ago. Marshall is a 31 year old investment manager at a prominent bank in central Florida. They previously lived in Southern California, but have recently moved to Florida for a better lifestyle. They have been married for three years and they desire a child together.
Tubal Reversal Or IVF: Which Is Better?
Lisa initially wanted to have a tubal ligation reversal procedure when she first began looking into alternatives for pregnancy. She contacted A Personal Choice, but decided to explore reversal surgery closer to home.
She visited two infertility specialist in southern California and both of them told her in vitro fertilization (IVF) would be a better option for her than tubal ligation reversal.
As a result of two medical opinions, Lisa chose to have IVF. Lisa had a great response to the hormonal medications given to her during IVF. Twenty mature eggs were harvested and fertilized. Four Grade A fertilized eggs were placed into Lisa’s uterus.
One week later Lisa was not pregnant – the eggs either never attached or miscarried very early. Lisa chose not to have a second IVF cycle.
Tubal Ligation Reversal: A Better Choice
After an unsuccessful IVF cycle, Lisa put tubal reversal in the back of her mind. She and Marshall decided to leave the hectic lifestyle of Southern California for a better life in Florida. After relocating to Orlando, Lisa received a follow-up email from A Personal Choice inquiring about her previous interest in reversal surgery. For Lisa the receipt of this email was a sign she should attempt a tubal ligation reversal. After the unsuccessful IVF cycle, Lisa and Marshall made the decision that tubal ligation reversal surgery was going to be the better choice for them.
Having Tubal Reversal Surgery
Lisa sent us her tubal ligation operative report and tubal ligation pathology report. We determined she was a candidate for having her tubes untied. Lisa had larger segments removed during her tubal ligation than most patients so she opted to begin her surgery with a screening laparoscopy to make sure her tubes could be reversed before having a major incision.
During the screening laparoscopy, we are able to look at Lisa’s tubes and determine her tubes were going to be very repairable.
Lisa then underwent a small abdominal incision and bilateral tubal anastamosis. Both tubes were repaired: her right tube measured 3 cm and the left tube was 4 cm. Her surgery, including the screening laparoscopy procedure, lasted approximately 80 minutes.
Tubal Reversal Recovery Of Lisa
Lisa’s tubal reversal recovery went very smoothly. She recovered from anesthesia in our recovery room and after approximately 1 hour she was discharged to the local Sheraton Hotel. A staff member evaluated her the next day and she was doing well. In fact, she was doing so well she was able to have breakfast with the other women who had similar tubal reversal surgeries the day before. After a leisurely breakfast, Lisa was doing well enough to return home to Orlando with Marshall by plane.
We hope Lisa and Marshall will report a pregnancy to us within the next year.
Advice On Tubal Ligation Reversal
Readers who want more information about tubal ligation reversal are invited to visit our Tubal Reversal Message Board or to view the daily submitted Patient Satisfaction Messages.
We strongly encourage readers to read a previous blog, Tubal Reversal Sisters: A Journey Together. This article features Lisa and her three other tubal ligation reversal sisters who met each other the day before their surgeries. They also had dinner together the night before and and breakfast the day after their tubal reversal surgeries.
This blog series and the stories of women over 40 attempting pregnancy through tubal reversal is being dedicated to older women who are considering having tubes untied. The first article in this series is Tubal Ligation Reversal After 40| Introduction.
Tubes Untied. Tubes Reversed…
A must read story is the story of Dawne, Natural Pregnancy At 46 After Tubal Reversal, who became pregnant at the age of 46 after having her tubes untied and tubes reversed.
Submitted by Dr. Charles Monteith
