RE Appointment

To put it simply, we had a wonderful experience with the RE yesterday.  We walked into a beautifully decorated office and were greeted by a warm, caring staff.  After doing the usual blood pressure and weight and stuff, we were escorted to Dr. K's office.  He greeted us with a kind smile and we immediately started talking.  He had read over my records and I showed my photos from the surgery.  He thought that my doctor had done well with my surgery and that her decision with my left ovary and such was a good idea--he would have done the same thing.

After a quick exam he was happy to report that my left ovary is healing great from the surgery. Still a big larger than the right one, but he was happy to find that is was shrinking and that it was not attached to anything.  He said that the Science of our situation is that my hormones are good, my egg reserve is good, Zach's semen is good.  The endometriosis is the only problem.  Not blocked tubes or anything like that.  He feels that my tubes were never blocked, they were just constricted.  He said that the endo is the only reason why we are not getting pregnant.  Zach asked about trying on our own.  He said the chances are slim b/c of the severity and proximity of the endo.  He said I have a chemical problem.  The endo causes problems with the egg and sperm uniting and sometimes even with ovulation and the egg dropping.  He said that he understood why my doctor wants to do the Lupron-- b/c there is still endo in my body that she could not get.  and that it would supress that endo.  but he also said that while the Lupron would do just that, it would also come back strong as ever the month after the medicine was out of my system, thus creating a short timeline for us to try to get pregnant on our own before the endo started causing problems again.  He also said that the Lupron would be doing the exact opposite of what Zach and I wanted-- it would put our baby dreams farther away.  He said the "cure" for endo is pregnancy. He said a 9 month full term pregnancy followed by breast feeding would be the best thing that could happen to my body.  And that for many women (25% of his patients are there b/c of endo) the pregnancy made the endo practically go away.  He said immediately after I stop breast feeding I will have to go on birth control pills to keep the growth of the endo down.  Then we found out our plan.

Our Plan:
1.  Zach gets another semen analysis done (Dr.K likes to have 2 normal readings--long explanation / story to type)

2.  I get an ultrasound done between days 7-10 of my August cycle.  He will be looking to see if there are any polyps or endometriomas IN my uterus or ovaries.

3a.  If there are NOT any polyps or endometriomas (or if they are very small) we will proceed with one round of Clomid and an IUI (artificial insemination)-- this is what he is hoping for. He says it's the least invasive, most cost effective, and easiest way to get pregnant

3b.  If there are polyps or endometriomas, then we will move straight to IVF (in January for insurance reasons).  In the meantime I will have to go on birth control pills or 3 months of Lupron to keep the endo at bay while we wait.


So, in the end, he said that while IUI would be his preferred way to go (for many reasons), we are excellent candidates for IVF due to our health and age and so forth.  He said that he will be able to get us pregnant and as soon as I have that ultrasound next month we'll be able to pick a route and get started.  He wrote me a prescription for prenatal vitamins (EEEEEK!!! :) ) b/c he likes for them to be in my body working and for me to be in the habit of taking them and then he walked us down to Julie for us to check out.  We shook his hand and thanked him for his time (we were there 2 hours).  He gave us a smile and 2 thumbs up and he was off.  With the nurse we went over the timeline for having Zach's test done and I got the directions for how to schedule my ultrasound and we were all done.

I walked out of there on cloud 9.  I had been so nervous and stressed and scared of the unknown and had been immediately comforted by Dr. K and his nurses upon meeting them.  They seemed to really care about us and about our dreams of a baby.  We both felt very comfortable and confident in Dr. K and we are excited about the events to come.  Zach later told me that he had been watching me during our meeting and that he could just see the stress melt off of me, that he could see my old self come back through. That my color was returning to normal and that my eyes and face looked happy again.  Words can't express how much that meant to me and what Zach means to me.  He has been so wonderful through all of this-- he is such a blessing to me.

Mission Accomplished

The RE appointment has finally been made!  Woohoo!  SO glad to have that off of my 'to-do' list.  Guess how quick they are getting us in... 1 week!!!  7 days!!!  NEXT TUESDAY!  I can't believe it!  I'm so excited I don't know what to do first to prepare!  I've got my records, test results, and surgery photos in a folder ready.  Anything else I need???

*sigh...

What a relief it is just to know that an appointment is made. A bonus is that they told me that we WILL HAVE A PLAN OF ACTION before we leave that day!!!  Wow!

I'm so happy that I forgot how scared I was about ttc this month and we gave it a go!  (hope that's not tmi!)  

;-)

No Appt Yet & Should We Give it a Try on Our Own this Month?

Well I still don't have an appointment scheduled with the RE.  I started trying to make one at 10:15 this morning.  After lots of online registration forms and such and waiting for their lunch break to be over and waiting for my online forms to be printed and reviewed in the office, I was told around 2:00 that I would be called back shortly.  Well they closed at 3:30 and I never got called.  So we know what I'll be doing first thing in the morning.  She did say that she wants to get me in this month, though, so that's a relief!

In other news, we are trying to decide if we should 'give baby making a try this month'.  My gynecologist told us at the post-op appointment that we could try but that she didn't see it being successful due to my bum (but self-healing) left ovary.  She mentioned that we don't know which side will be ovulating this month.  And she also mentioned something about it 'creating a toxic environment for eggs'.  That scares me a bit.  But at the same time, I know my tubes are freshly cleared and I hate to let another month go by.  And, I am ashamed to say, we have not had sex since my surgery.  I know, I'm a bad wife.  I mean, he is fine thanks to 'other stuff' (*wink, wink) but I've just been a little scared.  I don't exactly what I'm scared of though. Another BBT stalking, pseudo pregnancy symptom, hopeful month only to be greeted by AF in August.  Scared it might hurt (seems like it should feel better now that the endo is cleared out).  Scared of an egg surviving the 'toxic environment' and making it--only to result in a miscarriage weeks later.  Or, scared of it actually working.  Scared that after all of this, our dream of a baby might actually come true.

Silly, isn't it? 

Scheduling a consult w/ an IF specialist

Well, after some good days and major freak out days, I am still not at peace with the Lupron decision.  I have put a hold on filling the prescription and Zach and I have decided to seek out the opinion of an Infertility Specialist.  My doctor referred one to us and it happens to be the same one that wonderful friends (and new parents) of ours used to!  I am filling out paperwork tonight and we're hoping to get an appt quick.   I have called my insurance company to verify IF coverage. I don't have any IF coverage.  sadness...

I've noticed on some of your blogs that the IVF meds are like $4000 but then you still have to pay the doctor and the actual procedures and stuff too...

Can anyone tell me about how much to expect to pay out of pocket?