Today was my doctors appointment to discuss our IUI. I brought Chase to this appointment because it takes two to er tango as they say...or in our case three.
I wrote down as many questions as I could think of plus like 150 more I thought of in the office. Chase was quite annoyed with how many questions I asked. Men need to ask but two questions. 1. How much is this going to cost? 2. When do you need my sperm? Lesson learned.
So bottom line is he doesn't know why this is happening. I'm ovulating perfectly, more than likely 2+ eggs each cycle on meds. So this is not an ovulatory issue anymore. Chase's sperm, while not stellar isn't enough to stop me from getting pregnant.
It's just a mystery.
He also told me that a majority of my questions were why questions. He said in the fertility world they try not to ask why questions because it does no good. They don't know why. They just ask what they can do. We need to give my body every opportunity to do it's job and thats all they can do.
At this rate he gives us a 3-5% of concieving on our own. With the IUI it will give us a 20% shot each month (the same shot every normal healthy couple has). If we don't concieve within 3-4 cycles of IUI then he said we actually have the same 3-5% of that working and that we would need to move on to IVF and even that only has a 40-50% of working. Injectables + IUI would be, in my case, crazy because of the chance of multiples and I'm already so high risk. IVF is just not in the cards for us. IVF is upwards to $15,000+. We would just put our effort into adoption but thats what he would recommend if the IUIs don't work for us.
(I can't believe this isn't a hellish dream I'll wake up sweating from. I never thought I'd hear the words IUI or IVF in refernce to me. I always felt so bad for people like me. Pityed them, really.)
So we're going to do 3 cycles of IUI (perhaps 4 if I can talk Chase into it and I'm up for it) and then we're done. We're putting our weapons down and just surrendering. It's both scary and reassuring. Either way this all will be over soon.
Good news is that the IUI will not be as much as we thought it would be. He said that every cycle is about $550-600. About $350 of that is sperm preperation and isn't through him but through the lab at the hospital. He said that they hate worrying about sending the bill off to insurance and would rather just take the money up front. If we did that then they give us a 40% discount and it would only be $200. Then the rest would be added to that with the ultrasound (about $150), my hcg trigger shot, p4 lab, and the actual IUI procedure.
On top of that since we are poor (my words not his, but I'm sure he figured) he said we could talk to his office manager about financial assistance since they have programs set up for couples like us. I'm not sure how much we are talking but hey I hear the word discount and I'm game.
He is rad. I'm so lucky to have a doctor that truly cares about his patients and is empathetic to how much money this costs couples. He told me he's seen patients who have had 20+ IUIs with no success.... which is crazy. But some doctors just see $$$ and say "oh yeah sure this should work this time" when in reality their chances are slim to none.
I'm also going to look into doing acupunture since he thinks its actually good. If not for conception but for health overall; physical, mental, spiritual, etc.
I'm due for my AF this upcoming Saturday or Sunday and then will start the letrozole again and set up my ultrasound unless by some freaking miracle I got pregnant naturally this cycle. If that happens then I'll give my uterus a good cursing session and then thank her tremendously. But seriously 3-5%...I highly doubt I'm that lucky. If I do I better hit Vegas STAT.
And so the beginning of the end begins....
I wrote down as many questions as I could think of plus like 150 more I thought of in the office. Chase was quite annoyed with how many questions I asked. Men need to ask but two questions. 1. How much is this going to cost? 2. When do you need my sperm? Lesson learned.
So bottom line is he doesn't know why this is happening. I'm ovulating perfectly, more than likely 2+ eggs each cycle on meds. So this is not an ovulatory issue anymore. Chase's sperm, while not stellar isn't enough to stop me from getting pregnant.
It's just a mystery.
He also told me that a majority of my questions were why questions. He said in the fertility world they try not to ask why questions because it does no good. They don't know why. They just ask what they can do. We need to give my body every opportunity to do it's job and thats all they can do.
At this rate he gives us a 3-5% of concieving on our own. With the IUI it will give us a 20% shot each month (the same shot every normal healthy couple has). If we don't concieve within 3-4 cycles of IUI then he said we actually have the same 3-5% of that working and that we would need to move on to IVF and even that only has a 40-50% of working. Injectables + IUI would be, in my case, crazy because of the chance of multiples and I'm already so high risk. IVF is just not in the cards for us. IVF is upwards to $15,000+. We would just put our effort into adoption but thats what he would recommend if the IUIs don't work for us.
(I can't believe this isn't a hellish dream I'll wake up sweating from. I never thought I'd hear the words IUI or IVF in refernce to me. I always felt so bad for people like me. Pityed them, really.)
So we're going to do 3 cycles of IUI (perhaps 4 if I can talk Chase into it and I'm up for it) and then we're done. We're putting our weapons down and just surrendering. It's both scary and reassuring. Either way this all will be over soon.
Good news is that the IUI will not be as much as we thought it would be. He said that every cycle is about $550-600. About $350 of that is sperm preperation and isn't through him but through the lab at the hospital. He said that they hate worrying about sending the bill off to insurance and would rather just take the money up front. If we did that then they give us a 40% discount and it would only be $200. Then the rest would be added to that with the ultrasound (about $150), my hcg trigger shot, p4 lab, and the actual IUI procedure.
On top of that since we are poor (my words not his, but I'm sure he figured) he said we could talk to his office manager about financial assistance since they have programs set up for couples like us. I'm not sure how much we are talking but hey I hear the word discount and I'm game.
He is rad. I'm so lucky to have a doctor that truly cares about his patients and is empathetic to how much money this costs couples. He told me he's seen patients who have had 20+ IUIs with no success.... which is crazy. But some doctors just see $$$ and say "oh yeah sure this should work this time" when in reality their chances are slim to none.
I'm also going to look into doing acupunture since he thinks its actually good. If not for conception but for health overall; physical, mental, spiritual, etc.
I'm due for my AF this upcoming Saturday or Sunday and then will start the letrozole again and set up my ultrasound unless by some freaking miracle I got pregnant naturally this cycle. If that happens then I'll give my uterus a good cursing session and then thank her tremendously. But seriously 3-5%...I highly doubt I'm that lucky. If I do I better hit Vegas STAT.
And so the beginning of the end begins....
Sounds like you have a good game plan. :). I had acupuncture a few times during my last pregnancy and I highly recommend it. I went to Dr. Anderson, she is awesome. Here is her website if you're interested: http://stgeorgechiropractic.com/
ReplyDeleteDeffinetly sounds like you have a good plan moving forward. Your husband sounds like mine with his two questions "How much and when do you need my sperm?" Geesh, and yet there I am with a list of questions a mile long, men! I really hope that the first time is the charm and you get your sticky bean right off the bat! Sending you sticky babydust as always!
ReplyDeletePS-Loved the easter pics, Jayda is too cute!