#bisalp

Hello everyone- the following is a link to a Google doc containing hundreds of doctors in the US, Canada and Europe who are willing to perform female sterilization on individuals who are 21+ regardless of marriage or parental status.

This list has existed for years and is a collaborative effort from patients all over the world to assist people in controlling their own fertility.

This is the document that allowed me to get sterilized this year, as a woman in her 20’s with no partner or children- one 15 minute appointment, one two hour-long hospital visit, and one 15 minute post-op a few weeks later.

The document refers to tubal ligation, however they may offer other methods- for example, bilateral salpingectomy (aka “bisalp”) which is more effective and is becoming more popular with doctors than ligation.

If you know a doctor who performs female sterilization, and they are not on this list, please submit their name and location to the email provided at the top of the document.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14ZhfMB-NdUPnYZxCkytS_IESS9GIRr4jZgLJX4QRDkU/edit

PLEASE SHARE THIS WHEREVER YOU CAN.

The surgery is done and I'm home! I got it this morning and I'm officially fixed with minimal pain!

I'm so happy about this, the staff of the hospital treated me like a king and were very professional and careful of my consent on everyting! I even got a croissant as breakfast lol

As for the pain, it feels like an annoying period but nothing hardcore. The sore throat and the catheter were more painful and annoying than the incisions themselves.

I am SO happy I finally got this surgery! Since my teen years I've been wanting since young. It's so freeing and it feels like a new chapter in my life. Love to my family, my friends, and all the medical staff for being so accepting of my choices and identity! <3

We need more bilateral salpingectomy celebration pics! I'm here to provide hehe

If you are comforable, can you talk about what the surgery meant? Like, was ut anything painful, were there complications, something unexpected?

I’m so so happy to answer questions about this and I hope if anyone is on the fence about it that I can give you some perspective if it helps to make a decision! I do want to wait a little longer and make a bigger post about it with some resources once I can confidently discuss the entire recovery and make sure all the billing gets sorted, but I can share some info now, too!

The surgery I had is called a Bilateral Salpingectomy, which is the removal of Fallopian tubes. A lot of providers are switching to this as the standard of care over doing a tubal ligation—my doctor doesn’t do tubal ligations at all anymore! I originally called and tried to make a consult to ask if one was better than the other to have her help me decide which one to do, but she doesn’t even do ligations anyway. Removing the tubes completely is also a HUGE reduction in the risk of ovarian cancer because most ovarian cancer starts in the Fallopian tubes.

You do keep your uterus and ovaries, so you’ll still get periods, and you won’t go into menopause or anything and if you’re a person who likes your ovary hormones you won’t have to take hormones. Everything still works down there, you just won’t have tubes letting eggs loose in your uterus!  This also means that if you changed your mind you can still do IVF later in life if you want to carry a child.

If you’re in the United States and you have insurance, CHECK YOUR INSURANCE because this might be completely covered! If your plan is ACA compliant it’s required to cover sterilization as a form of birth control. There are some weird loopholes and we know that insurance will try to dick around and wiggle out of paying, but if everything is in place and it’s coded correctly you might even be able to have this surgery for free. There are TONS of resources and posts on Reddit that can help, and some info here from the National Women's Law Center (pardon the gendered language, if you are a guy!!!!!) 

r/childfree on Reddit also has a huge directory of providers who will not give you a hard time about getting sterilized, since so many people have had to navigate doctors refusing to do it or making them jump through hoops if they’re too young or unmarried or whatever. One of the doctors on this list is in my insurance network so I gave her a call. I WAS A LITTLE WEIRDED OUT BECAUSE THE OFFICE WHERE SHE WORKS IS “FAITH BASED” AND THEY HAVE LIKE BIBLES AND PRAYERS ALL OVER THE PLACE???? But tbf that’s pretty common in my area and despite the creepy presence of Jesus in the gynecologist’s office, it was SO easy and she was so friendly and there was no hassle at all and she didn’t push back on me ONCE. I went in and she told me the whole process, answered some questions, and we got to scheduling right away. 

From the time I called until the day of surgery it was about two months! I didn't need to do pre-op bloodwork because I had done it recently and my labs all looked fine last year, but I did have an appointment last month for an ultrasound because I had told my doctor about some issues I was having and she had offered to take a look in case there was anything that needed surgical intervention so that she could maybe do it while she was in there doing the bisalp lol, but I didn't need any extra surgery! 🥳

So far I didn’t have any complications and nothing unexpected! The surgery itself took about 45 minutes, and I was at the hospital for about 4 hours. I arrived two hours early to do paperwork and get prepped for surgery (cleaning the incision site, changing into the hospital gown, urine test, pre-op medication, IV, etc) and then I was in recovery for about an hour afterwards before I went home. I remember being awake and talking to the nurse and my sister-in-law and I remember looking at the clock and thought I was in recovery for like 30 minutes but then later on in the day she told me I had been awake for about an hour on and off but I kept falling back asleep. I was in a complete blackout LOL she told me all the stuff I was saying and the jokes I was making and I’m like, yeah that sounds like me LOL but I have ZERO recollection.

A) removed both my fallopian tubes

B) Finally found and excised the endometriosis I've been unknowingly living with for years

C) Ablated my uterus so no more periods 4 lyfe