Quick post today.. First, our IVF meds will be delivered tomorrow. I'll take a picture and post sometime over the weekend of our PLETHORA of medication.
The pharmacy called today to confirm delivery (thank you! That definitely helps my neurosis!!). Anyway, they also wanted to let me know the total that will be billed to my credit card. The total he gave me was two cents less than the original total when I placed the order. I told the guy this and he said, "Must be your lucky day!".. Ummm, no. "Lucky" would be if the total suddenly dropped $1000 OR if we won the $220 Million Powerball drawing last night.. but I'll still take the 2 cent discount!!!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
We have a diagnosis
Dr. A called last week to discuss the results of my bloodwork. Pretty much everything came back normal... pretty much. I tested positive for "ICC".. couldn't find a single thing on-line about ICC, found plenty about the International Cricket Club though!!.. and my NKa counts came back super high. From what I could find about NKa, my body identifies an embryo as a foreign object and attacks it before it can even implant. So, I may have been pregnant, several times... but my body rejected it even before I got a positive pregnancy test.
Dr. A is recommending 2 rounds of IVIg, which is terribly terribly expensive and quite possibly our only hope of getting and STAYING pregnant. We found a pharmacy in Chicago where we can get IVIg for the bargain price of only $82/gram. My counts were so high, he is also recommending that I get twice the normal amount of IVIg, so I'll need a total of 80g.. LOVELY.
It took a few days for all of the information to soak in.. and I had a meltdown last Thursday night. Throughout all of this, I have felt immense guilt. Guilt for being the one with 'the problem', Guilt for having to spend so much money on doctor bills, Guilt for being the one keeping Superman from being a Dad. The news that our cheap, low stim IVF cycle was now going to cost us more than a regular IVF cycle put me over the edge. I could not stop crying, no, I could not stop BAWLING. It wasn't a pretty cry either. It was a snotty, hiccuping, blubbering sob fest. I'm one of those criers whose face gets red, eyes swell, throat closes up and head starts throbbing when I have a massive cry session. Superman insisted that I take the following day off from work and use the gift certificate that my MIL gave me as a 'stress reducer' gift a few weeks ago. He even arranged for my little sister to meet me for a pedi after my massage. It was much needed- Thanks Superman and MIL!
Thinking positively, we do have lots in our favor. Our age, Supermans' super spermies, my hormone levels and health.. all signs that we should be successful. We also identified the problem BEFORE we began expensive IVF treatments. Had we have stayed with Dr. J, goodness knows how many thousands of dollars we would have spent without being successful.
Dr. A is recommending 2 rounds of IVIg, which is terribly terribly expensive and quite possibly our only hope of getting and STAYING pregnant. We found a pharmacy in Chicago where we can get IVIg for the bargain price of only $82/gram. My counts were so high, he is also recommending that I get twice the normal amount of IVIg, so I'll need a total of 80g.. LOVELY.
It took a few days for all of the information to soak in.. and I had a meltdown last Thursday night. Throughout all of this, I have felt immense guilt. Guilt for being the one with 'the problem', Guilt for having to spend so much money on doctor bills, Guilt for being the one keeping Superman from being a Dad. The news that our cheap, low stim IVF cycle was now going to cost us more than a regular IVF cycle put me over the edge. I could not stop crying, no, I could not stop BAWLING. It wasn't a pretty cry either. It was a snotty, hiccuping, blubbering sob fest. I'm one of those criers whose face gets red, eyes swell, throat closes up and head starts throbbing when I have a massive cry session. Superman insisted that I take the following day off from work and use the gift certificate that my MIL gave me as a 'stress reducer' gift a few weeks ago. He even arranged for my little sister to meet me for a pedi after my massage. It was much needed- Thanks Superman and MIL!
Thinking positively, we do have lots in our favor. Our age, Supermans' super spermies, my hormone levels and health.. all signs that we should be successful. We also identified the problem BEFORE we began expensive IVF treatments. Had we have stayed with Dr. J, goodness knows how many thousands of dollars we would have spent without being successful.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
We celebrated Mother's Day for Supermans' family yesterday afternoon. I was in charge of dessert- my favorite!, so I got up early to make cake balls for my in-laws. Superman had already gotten up WAY early to go turkey hunting with my SIL's bf.. ANYWAY, cake balls take some time, but are definitely worth the work. I had already baked the cakes Friday night and got up to roll and dip the balls before I headed out to the in-laws. I rolled about 6-7 dozen balls and jumped in the shower when I realized that I needed to run to a Quest center to have day 3 bloodwork drawn. Oh shoot! This was totally going to put a cramp in my schedule for the morning!
I quickly dressed and through on some make up and drove to the closest Quest office- watching the clock the whole time. There wasn't single person in the waiting room when I got there- SCORE! I checked in and was in a room within 5 minutes. Awesome, right on schedule! I gave the nurse my name and waited for her to poke me while she looked my file up on the computer... frowning, she asked me my name, drs name, dob.. oh, they didn't have the request that Dr. A's office was supposed to fax on Thursday. The woman asked if Dr. A's office was open on Saturdays and I said yes, I think they do some procedures on Saturdays.. so she left the room to go call the office, only to return and say that they were closed. (Here comes the part that I'm not so proud of....) I BURST into tears and told the nurse that it's a timed test and I was going to have to wait another MONTH to take it if blood wasn't drawn today. She apologized and said there was nothing to do and that she felt terrible.. I threw on some sunglasses and left.. tears streaming down my face. On my way home, I called my drs office thinking that there HAD to be an off hours exchange and within 5 minutes was connected to my nurse "A". She said that this happens ALL the time with Quest and told me to ask them if they could take a verbal order... UMM, I was in my car, not at the office.. ARGH!!!
So I drove back to the place where I had just made a huge embarrassing scene. Luckily, A knew all of the correct codes for all of the tests I had to have done- at least 7-8 of them, and my blood was drawn. I apologized to everyone for being the high-maintenance customer for the day and left with a band-aid on my arm.
By this time, I needed to be heading to the in-laws, but my cake balls weren't finished. I packed up the dog, the balls and the chocolate bark for the balls, thinking I could finish them at their house. About 2/3's of the way to their house Superman called to say that the festivities wouldn't take place at my MIL's, they had been moved to his grandparents' house, who HATE dogs. I explained to him my frustrating morning, how the balls weren't done, and that the dog was sitting in the seat next to me. Okay, "explained" probably isn't all that correct. I think it was maybe more along the lines of 'Bitched'... a teenie, tiny fight ensued.. maybe a tear or two more was shed... In the end, Superman waited for me at his parents house, helped me with the balls, and a crate was found so the dog wouldn't destroy my in-laws house while we were gone.
I'm not sure I was hormonal or if the tears and frustration were because it was Mothers Day, a not so fun holiday for us infertiles.. Either way, it was a rough day and I'm glad it's over! I'm definitely looking forward to Mother's Day next year and hoping that I'll be the one receiving gifts and love and praise.. not crying and fighting with Superman.
I quickly dressed and through on some make up and drove to the closest Quest office- watching the clock the whole time. There wasn't single person in the waiting room when I got there- SCORE! I checked in and was in a room within 5 minutes. Awesome, right on schedule! I gave the nurse my name and waited for her to poke me while she looked my file up on the computer... frowning, she asked me my name, drs name, dob.. oh, they didn't have the request that Dr. A's office was supposed to fax on Thursday. The woman asked if Dr. A's office was open on Saturdays and I said yes, I think they do some procedures on Saturdays.. so she left the room to go call the office, only to return and say that they were closed. (Here comes the part that I'm not so proud of....) I BURST into tears and told the nurse that it's a timed test and I was going to have to wait another MONTH to take it if blood wasn't drawn today. She apologized and said there was nothing to do and that she felt terrible.. I threw on some sunglasses and left.. tears streaming down my face. On my way home, I called my drs office thinking that there HAD to be an off hours exchange and within 5 minutes was connected to my nurse "A". She said that this happens ALL the time with Quest and told me to ask them if they could take a verbal order... UMM, I was in my car, not at the office.. ARGH!!!
So I drove back to the place where I had just made a huge embarrassing scene. Luckily, A knew all of the correct codes for all of the tests I had to have done- at least 7-8 of them, and my blood was drawn. I apologized to everyone for being the high-maintenance customer for the day and left with a band-aid on my arm.
By this time, I needed to be heading to the in-laws, but my cake balls weren't finished. I packed up the dog, the balls and the chocolate bark for the balls, thinking I could finish them at their house. About 2/3's of the way to their house Superman called to say that the festivities wouldn't take place at my MIL's, they had been moved to his grandparents' house, who HATE dogs. I explained to him my frustrating morning, how the balls weren't done, and that the dog was sitting in the seat next to me. Okay, "explained" probably isn't all that correct. I think it was maybe more along the lines of 'Bitched'... a teenie, tiny fight ensued.. maybe a tear or two more was shed... In the end, Superman waited for me at his parents house, helped me with the balls, and a crate was found so the dog wouldn't destroy my in-laws house while we were gone.
I'm not sure I was hormonal or if the tears and frustration were because it was Mothers Day, a not so fun holiday for us infertiles.. Either way, it was a rough day and I'm glad it's over! I'm definitely looking forward to Mother's Day next year and hoping that I'll be the one receiving gifts and love and praise.. not crying and fighting with Superman.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Here We Go!
Our financial meeting went well. We're crossing our fingers that all of our tests are 'normal' and we qualify for the low stim IVF cycle. The low stim cycle will cost about $8500, as opposed to the full IVF $17K.. Superman said that even though he was holding a bill for almost $9K, he felt like he won the lottery.. but we still need to qualify :)
I'm off fore more blood work tomorrow- FSH, LH, TSH, Prolactin, etc., and Monday both of us have appts for different tests- u/s and b/w for me and another analysis for him. I also picked up a prescription for BC pills yesterday. How weird is that?!? We decided LONG ago that BC was pretty much a waste of money for us.. and yet, in order to have a baby, I'm back on BC.. at least insurance covers THAT prescription!
I'm off fore more blood work tomorrow- FSH, LH, TSH, Prolactin, etc., and Monday both of us have appts for different tests- u/s and b/w for me and another analysis for him. I also picked up a prescription for BC pills yesterday. How weird is that?!? We decided LONG ago that BC was pretty much a waste of money for us.. and yet, in order to have a baby, I'm back on BC.. at least insurance covers THAT prescription!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Apointments, Apointments
Last week, Superman and I were scheduled to go speak with someone in Dr. A's office about finances.. not sure what the talk would entail specifically, but I'm sure it's something along the lines of, "we require payment at the time of service, no credit cards, money orders only..etc". Anyway, our appt was cancelled 45 minutes before it was supposed to start. We each ended up with an afternoon off, which we promptly filled by meeting with a representative from our mortgage bank to discuss getting a home equity loan. Exactly what I wanted to do on a warn sunny day! The meeting was successful, but we're still only about 1/2 way there..
We're rescheduled for this Thursday to have our finance conversation, but I feel like we're about as prepared as we can be at this point.
I am also waiting patiently for CD 1 so I can call Dr. A's office and schedule our next round of tests- b/w & u/s for me and another s/a test for superman.
We're rescheduled for this Thursday to have our finance conversation, but I feel like we're about as prepared as we can be at this point.
I am also waiting patiently for CD 1 so I can call Dr. A's office and schedule our next round of tests- b/w & u/s for me and another s/a test for superman.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
IVF with New Doc.
Superman and I met with Doc #3 this morning. We were still considering staying with Dr. J but after a nice long meeting with Dr. A, we've decided he's our man. He does his own u/s and is present for pretty much every appointment I'll have. We also got the impression that he is very aggressive in his treatments- something I felt was lacking with Dr. J. We have a "Financial Consult" appointment on April 29th and have a list of pre-cycle tests that need to be done before we start our first IVF. Ideally, we'll start our first cycle the last week of May.. Holy Bajolies, we might be preggo by the end of the summer. That is totally cool with me because last Fall I bought a few shirts that would be GREAT maternity shirts for college football games. They're super cute and just happen to be the appropriate school colors :) 
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Navigating IVF
Cycle #4 was a bust. No surprise there, but I was still bummed to see AF all the same. Luckily, our consult with Dr. P was moved to Monday. Superman and I talked with him for about 45 minutes, tried to make sense of all of his analogies and keep up with his fast paced talk.. Whew. I was soo happy Superman was able to be there with me because there is no way I could have repeated everythink that Dr. P said!
We went home that night and poured over all of the information we received from Dr. P, Dr. J and Dr. A (granted, Dr. A's info is a copy of someone else's info in my fabulous Resolve group, we're meeting with him next week). Now, I'm totally confused! If we want to do a single cycle, Dr. J is the way to go. If we want to do 3 cycles, Dr. A is our man. Two cycles? Yep, you guessed it, Dr. P. One of the comments left on a previous post said 'not to put all of our eggs in one basket', and I think that will be my mantra as we go through the rest of the journey. Although, last night Superman was trying to cheer me up and asked if he could get me anything. I asked for a Magic 8 Ball (sidenote- I googled Magic 8 Ball to get an image to post into the blog and found several sites that have electronic versions where you type in your questions and hit "ask" to get the Magic 8 Ball's response. I asked if one IVF cycle would be enough to get pregant. The response? "Maybe".. sigh...)
I've made 2 more appointments with other area doctors, mainly to gather pricing and package information. We have noticed that a lot of packages have 'hidden costs'- anesthesia, ICSI, Assisted Hatching, Meds, etc. I'm curious to hear if anyone can provide information on other hidden costs we should be aware of..
We went home that night and poured over all of the information we received from Dr. P, Dr. J and Dr. A (granted, Dr. A's info is a copy of someone else's info in my fabulous Resolve group, we're meeting with him next week). Now, I'm totally confused! If we want to do a single cycle, Dr. J is the way to go. If we want to do 3 cycles, Dr. A is our man. Two cycles? Yep, you guessed it, Dr. P. One of the comments left on a previous post said 'not to put all of our eggs in one basket', and I think that will be my mantra as we go through the rest of the journey. Although, last night Superman was trying to cheer me up and asked if he could get me anything. I asked for a Magic 8 Ball (sidenote- I googled Magic 8 Ball to get an image to post into the blog and found several sites that have electronic versions where you type in your questions and hit "ask" to get the Magic 8 Ball's response. I asked if one IVF cycle would be enough to get pregant. The response? "Maybe".. sigh...)
I've made 2 more appointments with other area doctors, mainly to gather pricing and package information. We have noticed that a lot of packages have 'hidden costs'- anesthesia, ICSI, Assisted Hatching, Meds, etc. I'm curious to hear if anyone can provide information on other hidden costs we should be aware of..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)