Thursday, July 29, 2010
A Breakthrough
Thank God! Finally we have a breakthrough and I have amazing news report. Thanks to a generous donation, we will be proceeding with IVF as soon as possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! Since we have to do some testing prior, we will be looking forward to a September/October IVF. I am praying that this will result in a little bundle of joy next summer. If we conceive, it will put my due date in June or July, depending on the exact dates we end up doing things. I just feel so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity. My gratitude cannot be put into simple words. I'm shaking right now and can barely contain myself. The mere thought of being a mommy in a year's time tickles me to death! It's been far too long awaited...
Monday, July 26, 2010
New Doctor
My appointment with my new doctor was today. LOVE HIM! I am a very straight forward factual person and he gave me just that. FACTS! I needed facts, I'm so sick of doctor's beating around the bush with me trying to sugar coat all of this. Nothing about it can be sugar coated. After a long consultation and reviewing my personal medical history, we're all in agreement that IVF will be the best route for us. I pretty much wasted a whole lot of time and money with the other doctor which infuriates me, but it is what it is.
Today I had an ultrasound and was once again told that my one good ovary looked great! That it was big and healthy and basically made up for my little dysfunctional one. He expects it to respond wonderfully. By the way, my cyst is already gone. Figures............... 8-12 weeks? Try 9 days. WHATEVER. I'm so over it and glad to be in good hands now.
I have to wait for this cycle to end then I will go in for a sonohysterogram which will evaluate my uterine cavity to make sure there are no irregularities that would interfere with embryo implantation.
I will also have a trial embryo transfer which allows my doctor to determine the length and direction of my cervical canal to determine placement of the embryos. To clarify, no actual embryos will be in the catheter at that time. We're simply doing a mock transfer.
Anyway, love the doctor, love all of his nifty technology, love the office and I feel good about this. We've officially made up our minds to change doctors and go forward with this.
Today I had an ultrasound and was once again told that my one good ovary looked great! That it was big and healthy and basically made up for my little dysfunctional one. He expects it to respond wonderfully. By the way, my cyst is already gone. Figures............... 8-12 weeks? Try 9 days. WHATEVER. I'm so over it and glad to be in good hands now.
I have to wait for this cycle to end then I will go in for a sonohysterogram which will evaluate my uterine cavity to make sure there are no irregularities that would interfere with embryo implantation.
I will also have a trial embryo transfer which allows my doctor to determine the length and direction of my cervical canal to determine placement of the embryos. To clarify, no actual embryos will be in the catheter at that time. We're simply doing a mock transfer.
Anyway, love the doctor, love all of his nifty technology, love the office and I feel good about this. We've officially made up our minds to change doctors and go forward with this.
Monday, July 19, 2010
A Clean Slate
I called to make my appointment with the new clinic first thing this morning! I am proud of myself for taking initiative and leaping out of my comfort zone. I'm so thankful that my husband works very hard to provide for us so that I am able to focus on getting pregnant and not be preoccupied by a job. It wouldn't be possible for me to make the many trips to these appointments if I was, because some weeks it requires seeing the doctor every single day for monitoring. That along with a 2.5 hour drive simply wouldn't work out. My consultation with the new RE will be THIS COMING MONDAY, the 26th in Dallas! I am pleasantly surprised at how quickly they are fitting me in and I am very pleased with the courtesy of the clinic. They have a financial adviser to assist couples in their financing options for procedures, as well as a mind-body counseling program to target the emotional aspect of infertility. I'm hoping we can get all of this figured out very soon and get the ball rolling. It's time to get a baby or two in this belly of mine!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
UMM WHAT?!?!
Today I went for my CD2 baseline ultrasound. To say that things didn't go well would be a serious understatement.
First off, I have a 46x38mm cyst on my left ovary. My doctor believes this cyst will take 8-12 weeks to shrink and go away because of it's size. Just like before, this means TTC will be put on hold until the cyst is gone. Luckily, this time I won't have to take birth control pills. I HATE those things, they make me literally nuts.
After my laparoscopy in November, we were told that my doctor had to remove my right fallopian tube. We were assured however, that my left tube was open and along with my left ovary, 100% healthy. All these events can be tracked just by reading previous posts in my blog. At this ultrasound appointment today, while I was asking my doctor questions I was informed that my one "good" tube on the left side isn't so "good" after all. Yes it's open, but apparently that doesn't mean it's healthy. Apparently, it isn't healthy at all. Apparently this little sucker is sick and abnormally shaped. Apparently my doctor knew this back in November. SO WHY WASN'T I INFORMED???????????????
GET THIS! I don't have unexplained infertility. Nope, I have "tubal factor infertility."
Even worse, turns out our chances of conceiving on injectable medication with IUI are no higher than our odds of conceiving with no medical intervention at all. WTF!!! I mean I guess if you take into account that I had 2 follicles instead of one, the chances improve a little, but basically it would be about the same as our odds if we just tried naturally for two months. If my fallopian tube is a toxic environment for sperm, eggs and embryos, it most likely won't end well even if a sperm does manage to reach an egg. So that's crap and my odds suck. My question is why on earth have I been paying thousands of dollars for monitoring and medicine, not to mention injecting myself in the stomach and ass for the past two months for NOTHING!? I am livid about this. Is somebody money hungry...? Perhaps but I'd hate to point fingers.......
And lastly, because of this sick tube my odds of having a tubal pregnancy increase to about 15%. SUPER!
Now let me tell you what all this information means. Fortunately, tubal factor infertility patients are excellent, if not the best candidates for IVF. Lucky (if I dare say it) for me, my uterus is "beautiful" and my egg quality is "excellent." That I have been told by two different doctors. At least I have that going for me. If you're not familiar with how IVF works, it is the only fertility treatment that bypasses fallopian tubes completely. With IVF, fertilization and early embryo development that usually happen inside the fallopian tube, take place outside of the body in a lab. They then transfer the resulting healthy mature embryos back into the uterus. At this point, it's up to God whether the embryo will implant itself into the uterine lining and result in pregnancy. People are misinformed and believe that this will cause a litter of babies, but that isn't true. Actually, IVF is a lower risk of high order multiples than IUI because they only transfer a certain number of embryos based on each patients individual case. I would assume on me they would transfer two meaning no more that twins at best. That is unless the hypothetical embryos decided to split and create an identical twin, but the risk of that is no more than the average person.
Anyway, IVF is very expensive and not covered by my grand ol' insurance plan so we will be saving up for a while. At the very least it would cost us around $10,000 but usually costs much more. Anyone care to donate? Sadly enough, I'm not even kidding............... I guess I'm officially desperate.
At this point, we agree it would be a wise decision to see another RE for a second opinion. My mom's already done the research for me and found a clinic in Dallas that is among the top 10 in the US. I plan to make an appointment immediately. It usually takes months to get in so I expect to wait a while. Story of my freaking life. I'll probably make an appointment with a mental health professional in the meantime (not a joke). Why the hell not? Pretty sure I'm losing it. Thanks infertility!
I don't even want to talk about my emotions. There aren't sufficient words anyway.
First off, I have a 46x38mm cyst on my left ovary. My doctor believes this cyst will take 8-12 weeks to shrink and go away because of it's size. Just like before, this means TTC will be put on hold until the cyst is gone. Luckily, this time I won't have to take birth control pills. I HATE those things, they make me literally nuts.
After my laparoscopy in November, we were told that my doctor had to remove my right fallopian tube. We were assured however, that my left tube was open and along with my left ovary, 100% healthy. All these events can be tracked just by reading previous posts in my blog. At this ultrasound appointment today, while I was asking my doctor questions I was informed that my one "good" tube on the left side isn't so "good" after all. Yes it's open, but apparently that doesn't mean it's healthy. Apparently, it isn't healthy at all. Apparently this little sucker is sick and abnormally shaped. Apparently my doctor knew this back in November. SO WHY WASN'T I INFORMED???????????????
GET THIS! I don't have unexplained infertility. Nope, I have "tubal factor infertility."
Even worse, turns out our chances of conceiving on injectable medication with IUI are no higher than our odds of conceiving with no medical intervention at all. WTF!!! I mean I guess if you take into account that I had 2 follicles instead of one, the chances improve a little, but basically it would be about the same as our odds if we just tried naturally for two months. If my fallopian tube is a toxic environment for sperm, eggs and embryos, it most likely won't end well even if a sperm does manage to reach an egg. So that's crap and my odds suck. My question is why on earth have I been paying thousands of dollars for monitoring and medicine, not to mention injecting myself in the stomach and ass for the past two months for NOTHING!? I am livid about this. Is somebody money hungry...? Perhaps but I'd hate to point fingers.......
And lastly, because of this sick tube my odds of having a tubal pregnancy increase to about 15%. SUPER!
Now let me tell you what all this information means. Fortunately, tubal factor infertility patients are excellent, if not the best candidates for IVF. Lucky (if I dare say it) for me, my uterus is "beautiful" and my egg quality is "excellent." That I have been told by two different doctors. At least I have that going for me. If you're not familiar with how IVF works, it is the only fertility treatment that bypasses fallopian tubes completely. With IVF, fertilization and early embryo development that usually happen inside the fallopian tube, take place outside of the body in a lab. They then transfer the resulting healthy mature embryos back into the uterus. At this point, it's up to God whether the embryo will implant itself into the uterine lining and result in pregnancy. People are misinformed and believe that this will cause a litter of babies, but that isn't true. Actually, IVF is a lower risk of high order multiples than IUI because they only transfer a certain number of embryos based on each patients individual case. I would assume on me they would transfer two meaning no more that twins at best. That is unless the hypothetical embryos decided to split and create an identical twin, but the risk of that is no more than the average person.
Anyway, IVF is very expensive and not covered by my grand ol' insurance plan so we will be saving up for a while. At the very least it would cost us around $10,000 but usually costs much more. Anyone care to donate? Sadly enough, I'm not even kidding............... I guess I'm officially desperate.
At this point, we agree it would be a wise decision to see another RE for a second opinion. My mom's already done the research for me and found a clinic in Dallas that is among the top 10 in the US. I plan to make an appointment immediately. It usually takes months to get in so I expect to wait a while. Story of my freaking life. I'll probably make an appointment with a mental health professional in the meantime (not a joke). Why the hell not? Pretty sure I'm losing it. Thanks infertility!
I don't even want to talk about my emotions. There aren't sufficient words anyway.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Disappointment
It looks like I'm not pregnant this cycle either. I have no idea what I'm going to do... I feel that I was probably correct about my follicles being too small. The RE office is already an hour away so it isn't like I can easily get a second opinion. The next closest office is in Dallas 2-3 hours from my house. Having to go several times weekly makes it difficult to travel that far. I have always been able achieve anything just by putting forth my best effort, but not with this. This is completely different, I feel so helpless...........
Friday, July 2, 2010
IUI #2
Today I had my IUI. The count was 44.6 mil post wash this time which is still excellent. All went well and now we just have to wait and see if it takes. Next Friday I will return to have my progesterone level checked. Please pray for us! I am physically, emotionally and financially exhausted from all of this.
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