Our Journey...well up until now...Part 6

On September 1st (2009) I started my period.  I started all by myself...again.  I was a little concerned that my previous cycle was only 21 days long, but I didn't dwell on that too much. I wanted to see if my body would ovulate on it's own again.  I felt confident that it would.  I had started taking Fertile Aid (instead of a pre-natal) and was just so optimistic that I would have sucess. 

I started doing ovulation tests on cycle day 8.  I knew that they would be negative...it was too early.  The first few didn't bother me. On day 10 I had an ultrasound in Dr. Swanson's office. Janelle did the scan and we didn't see anything. I have to admit...I was discouraged.  She said it might just be too early and we scheduled a second ultrasound for Monday the 14th.  I saw Jane on Monday and when we did the scan we saw no eggs again. 

Jane went to talk to Dr. Swanson and before I knew it he was in there with Jane and he was looking at the scan too. He said I most likely was not going to ovulate, but since I have ovulated anywhere from day 12 to day 21 he said that I could continue to test on my own.  If I got a positve I should call the office right away and they would get me in to scan ASAP.  They wanted to see what side I was ovulating from.  If it was Left we were good to go ; ) If it was Right...No go...we'd have to sit this month out.

As Dr. Swanson continued to talk I remember him saying, "my feeling is that you won't ovulate this month though."  He continued..."If that's the case we can try Clomid again for a few months at 150mg and see if we can get that left ovary stimulated, but my feeling is that if the right ovary is so sensitive to stimulation we will probably get eggs on both sides."  I remember him saying something like, "I can't in good conscious keep stimulating you if we can't isolate the left side...."

The next thing I know he's talking about GIFT.  Gamete intrafallopian transfer is a procedure where eggs are removed from a woman's ovaries, and placed in one (the left in my case) of the Fallopian tubes, along with the man's sperm. This procedure allows fertilization to take place inside the woman's body (instead of in a lab...like IVF).  He said if we keep stimulating with medication and we keep getting eggs on the right they could take the eggs from the right ovary and put them into the left tube.

Dr. Swanson gave me some paperwork on the procedure and gave me a referral to a clinic up in San Francisco that has a high success rate and he highly recommends.  I started crying and felt for the first time that Dr. Swanson was kind of giving up.

I called Lou from the parking lot and told him want the doctor said.  He is always so sweet about the whole situation.  He is the first one to say that everything will be okay and that he will make it happen. After telling him everything I called Luna.  We talked for a long time and then I realized I needed to get back to work and we ended our conversation. 

Once I got back to work I called the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco and asked them some questions about everything.  I was surprised to find out that I could get an appointment in as early as two weeks. I didn't make one.  I wasn't ready. As I talked to Susan at the center I broke down crying.  I felt so overwhelmed by everything that she was saying.  When I started this whole fertility journey I thought there were so many things between the beginning (Clomid) and in vitro fertilization.  How had I suddenly jumped from one end to the other.  Weren't there any other options?  Other medications? Cheaper procedures?

Susan at PFC sent me an email of information (includng a quote) about the clinic and the procedure.

Oh!  One thing I forgot to add...Most clinics don't do GIFT anymore.  It's considered "out dated." In vitro fertilization has become more popular, and also more successful over the years so this was most likely the route doctors would lean towards.

That didn't really matter to me so much...at this point BOTH were OUT of our price range. 

The quote I received from the San Francisco clinic...$19,000.00. It includes a refund program...not a FULL refund program, but a partial refund program.

Within the next few days I was taking ovulation tests two and three times a day hoping for a positive and that things just might work out the "cheaper" way.  All negative...one right after the other. 

I had received a few emails and phone calls from people (friends) who had suggestions and when I heard about Dr. Synn I almost cried with joy.  Dr. Synn is 1) local. 2) cheaper. 3) is used to dealing with my insurance. 4) the only guy in the area that does IVF and GIFT.  I called his office and made an appointment to see him. I called Swanson's office and requested copies of all my medical records.  I researched Dr. Synn online...I was excited about my journey again. 

I did ovulation tests all the way up until day 21.  I finally got so depressed over all the negative tests I just gave up on them.  If my body was going to ovulate after day 21 I wasn't going to know.  I almost didn't care about those tests anymore. 

One night in all this craziness Lou and Jackson and I went to dinner at some of our friends home.  We were not the only guests...I was excited that their friend Sharon would also be joining us for dinner.  I had met Sharon before and I knew that she was an OB.  I had told her before that I was seeing Dr. Swanson and she said he was well respected among other doctors in the community.  I told myself that I was not going to take advantage of Sharon and smother her with all my "work related" questions, but one thing led to another and before I know it we are full on in "fertility mode."

I have to say she was very kind and didn't seem to mind sharing her opinion with me.  I was happy to hear that she agreed with Dr. Swanson's decision to move forward with the GIFT or IVF.  Because another ectopic pregnancy would cause more harm than the first, and could ultimately kill me it would not be wise to continue to stimulate if the outcome is always follies on the right.  Anyway, Sharon did know about Dr. Synn, but hadn't heard too much about him.  I didn't dwell on the subject...after all it was her evening with friends too..I am sure she didn't think she'd be talking about work over dinner.  Although she was oncall and left after dinner to go deliver a baby....

So today...was my appointment with Dr. Synn.  I am day 32 of my cycle...no period yet, but some menstral cramps over the last few days...we'll see if she actually comes. 

Okay so my appointment...I felt like Dr. Synn (the other Dr. S.) was quite nice.  He is definitely well educated and knows his subject very well.  He explained everything to me perfectly and I feel mostly good about what we talked about.  He read over ALL my medical records and asked me about four questions (for clarification).  This is what he said:

A regular fertile couple (maybe I shouldn't use "regular," but it's all I can think of right now) has a 20% chance of getting pregnant each month.  No one has 100% chance of getting pregnant.  When a fertile couple decides to have a baby they try for a few months and usually within about 6 months they are pregnant. (This is what he said...not me).

So fertile couple...20%.  Me...2%. Yeah...I didn't leave off the 0...it's actually 2 percent.

With Clomid (which I was taking) I had about an 8% chance of getting pregnant every month...And we did get pregnant (I had to make that mental note).

With other medications...injectables (he didn't specify which ones exactly) we have 15% chance of getting pregnant.

With in vitro fertilization we have a 40% chance "double mother nature."

There are three things he needs...1) blood work-up...got it!  Dr. Swanson actually did all that so we are good there.  2) Semen analysis...we didn't do that yet.  Dr. Swanson was never really too concerned about Lou since we knew that the problem was ME not ovulating.  But Dr. Synn needs this and so we will comply. 3) A hysterosalpingogram (HSG)...an X-ray test that looks at the inside of the uterus and fallopian tubes and the area around them. During a hysterosalpingogram, a dye is put through a thin tube that is put through the vagina and into the uterus. Because the uterus and the fallopian tubes are hooked together, the dye will flow into the fallopian tubes. Pictures are taken using an X-ray as the dye passes through the uterus and fallopian tubes. This way he can tell if my tubes are blocked and if so how badly they are blocked. 

The HSG will be done on the 7th day of my next cycle.  Since today I am at 32 Dr. Synn said to wait until Wednesday of next week.  If I do not start my period I will take a pregnancy test and if it is negative I will call the office and they will prescribe Provera to induce my period.  I will go for the HSG test on day 7 after my cycle starts and then I will do a follow up appointment with Dr. Synn to go over all the findings.

If the tube is not blocked he is comfortable to try injectables before IVF.  If the tube is as blocked as Dr. Swanson thought it would be we will have to go the IVF route...that's the only route.  He went over cost with me and it is significantly less than San Francisco...let's just say that.  A lot less.  It's still not doable right this minute, but it is probably doable.

His office does IVF procedure in cycles...their next cycle is in November (we will not be ready for a November transfer), but there is another one in January and also in March of next year.  As of right now I am hoping that the tube is not blocked and I can give the injectables a try first...since insurance will cover that cost. 

I have to say the financial stress of infertility is probably the worst part of the whole thing...well it's high on the list.  This is a whole other post entirely...I'm not getting into it now.  All I want to say is that if I had known when I was younger that I would have this kind of expense...I would have saved...BIG time.

So that's it...All caught up on our journey so far.  We'll see where it takes us next.