Friday, December 29, 2017

Ending 2017... and Begining 2018

The end of 2017 is rapidly approaching and I can't say I'm sad about it. It's by far been the hardest year of my life. From trying to adjust to married life, to discovering our infertility and dealing with that, I've cried more this year than probably most of the other years of my life combined. I've spent probably hundreds of dollars on pregnancy tests, OPKs, and apps to help track my ovulation. We've already spent almost $2,000 on fertility treatments and we haven't even started the real process yet. I was expecting to be able to start IVF in just 1-2 weeks form now, but now it's pushed off until February. I feel like all of 2017 has been a long waiting game. Waiting to see doctors, waiting for tests results, waiting to see if Clomid worked; it's just really sucked.

I'm excited for 2018. I hope with all of my heart that I end 2018 with a baby in my arms, or at the very least, a baby in my stomach. Trying to conceive is not fun. It really sucks and takes all the fun out of marriage at times. I'm trying to learn to enjoy this time with just my husband and to not think constantly about how bad I want to be a mom.

I hope baby dust falls on all of us infertiles this new year, and that we all find happiness no matter what happens.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Tubal Disease? Say what?

I called my local RE to let them know that DH was back to 0 viable sperm again and we would most likely be going back to donor sperm IUI in February if his next test shows the same thing. They then decided to finally tell me that the doctor recommends I still move straight to IVF, because apparently during my laparoscopy he noticed I have a tubal disease called salpingitis isthmica nodosa or SIN for short, which lowers my success rates for IUI and increases my risk for an ectopic pregnancy. I was so shocked as he never mentioned this to me or my husband after my surgery, not even at my post-op appointment.

The only slightly silver lining to doing donor sperm was that it would be cheaper ($2,000 per try versus $9,000). But now, we have to do the more expensive option plus use a donor which I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with again. It all just really sucks.

We do have a donor picked out. We plan on doing one last semen analysis next month and then make a decision. If his count stays at basically 0, we will do IVF with donor sperm. We'll go ahead and have him give a sample just in case by some miracle he has sperm on the day of retrieval.

Monday, December 18, 2017

I'm so tired of bad news

We got DH's 4th semen analysis results. 0 sperm again. I'm so frustrated and broken. I don't understand why he had 800,000 just one month ago and now he's back to 0. He's still been taking his medicine every day. I just don't get it. I have no idea where we're going from here.

Monday, December 11, 2017

An IVF update... plus expected IVF costs

I have a couple of IVF updates. First, DH did his fourth semen analysis on 12/8. We had to trek through the snow to do that, which wouldn't be a big deal for most people, but we live in Louisiana so it was a huge deal for us. We will receive those test results on 12/15. This will determine if: A. The Clomid has stopped working and we have to go back to the donor sperm route, B. The Clomid has increased his counts enough that we can try naturally for a while or do IUI, or C. His counts are still around the same as last time and we will proceed forward with our IVF plans.

We of course expect it to be option C, which is fine now that we've already come this far. We are saving every bit of money that we can for IVF and we are just ready to start a family.

Our second update is that my local RE is insisting upon me getting a follow-up ultrasound before they will monitor me for my out-of-state IVF cycle. The problem is, they can't do the ultrasound until CD 6-10 of my next cycle, which overlaps with when I should be starting IVF stims.

However, my amazing New York RE is allowing me to take birth control for about a week after my next cycle starts to give me time to do the ultrasound and then start stims immediately after. I'm very happy with this solution!!


Now on to the "fun" stuff - insert sarcasm here. IVF costs a crazy amount of money as most people know. My local RE is great, but he's very, very expensive. Here are the costs if I did IVF locally:

Cycle Cost including ICSI: $15,200.00 (includes 1 retrieval and 2 transfers if the first doesn't work)
Pre-Cycle Tests: $1,200.00
Medications: $3,000.00 (estimated)
Total: $19,400.00

We just can't swing that, and even if we could, that's a LOT of money! So I searched elsewhere and stumbled upon CNY Fertility Center. Now I've read some less than stellar reviews on their success rates, but for their amazing price, I can do 2 cycle there for less than the price of 1 cycle locally so I feel like it's a gamble I'm willing to take. Here are the estimated costs for doing IVF in New York:

Cycle Cost: $3,900.00 (includes 1 retrieval and unlimited free FETs for up to one year after your retrieval)
Pre-Cycle Tests: $150.00 (they let me waive almost all of the testing)
Monitoring: $1,000 (doing this at my local RE)
Medications: $2,100.00 (they let me order from overseas which saved a ton of money!)
Travel: $1,500.00 (this includes flights, hotel room, food, car rental, etc.)
Total: $8,650.00

This is still a lot of money obviously, but I'm saving almost $11,000!!! We have been saving every bit of money that we can, including asking our families to just give us money for Christmas and getting a loan from a family member. But it's all going to be worth it!

Thursday, December 7, 2017

One step closer to starting IVF

So my body decided to be completely crazy and start my period a whole 8 days early! Not sure what happened, but I'm assuming it's still messed up from the surgery. Anyways, this means if I have a normal month long cycle, that I'll be starting IVF in less than a month now!! It really hit me today and now I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed.

DH has another semen analysis tomorrow to make sure nothing has changed on that part. So unless he either has 0 count again or his count has drastically went up, I'll be ordering medications once we get his results back and making travel arrangements.

Monday, December 4, 2017

IVF Medications Explained

Even though I'm still approximately 42 days away from beginning my IVF medications, I've already begun to research the best pricing and purchasing the ones that are covered by my insurance since I have 100% coverage through the rest of the year. I'm super Type A and research and spreadsheets just make me so happy. I'm actually planning on ordering 4 of my medications from overseas to save money. Here is my list of medications with prices:

5 Gonal-f 450 Pens - $1,250.00 (saved approx. $869.50)
10 Menopur vials - $270.00 (saved approx. $559.00) (I am using the generic brand - Merional)
6 Cetrotide boxes - $330.00 (saved approx. $261.30)

I will be ordering these medications from IVFmeds.com soon. In all I will save about $1,689.80!!! That's a lot of money that can go towards the actual IVF cycle!

I will be ordering the Lupron trigger from Cornerstone Pharmacy for $118.00.

I also have to order some more medications from my local pharmacy. All but one (PIO) are covered by my insurance at 100%.

63 Prometrium capsules (the generic for Endometrium progesterone capsules) - $40.00
60 Estradiol capsules - $10.00
10 Doxycycline capsules - $15.00
60 Prednisone capsules - $10.00
1 tube of vaginal antibiotic gel (generic for Cleocin) - $35.00
32 Prograf capsules - $20.00
2 Progesterone In Oil vials - $12.00

My total amount that I plan to spend on IVF medications after insurance coverage is $2,079.00 after shipping. It's still so much money, but I'm thankful that my doctor will allow me to order from overseas.

Friday, December 1, 2017

IVF Consult completed; 1 month until we start our first IVF cycle!

I had my phone consultation with Dr. Michael Grossman at CNY Fertility Center this morning. He told us we can start with my period in January. I have to call them with my December period to start doing the necessary blood tests and ordering my medication. I'm beyond excited! He answered all of my questions and was super nice. He did say I could choose to transfer two embryos if I wanted, and I can choose to do a fresh transfer, although he does recommend 1 embryo and a frozen transfer. We'll make those decisions when the time comes. He was very realistic about our chances, especially with the severity of our male factor. I can't wait to start the process. I have to call the financial team when I get off work at noon today to discuss those aspects of the process, but it looks like I'll be able to borrow the rest of the money needed from a family member so I don't have to do any financing. I'll continue to update the blog with any new news. Hoping for an October 2018 baby!!