Infertility specialist

Today was the big day where Tom and I found out more information about Infertility and what our next option is going to be. It was a very informative session and I'm glad Tom was there with me. Even though he was super tired, I was glad he was there.

I left work at 11:00 to go home and pick up Tom, he got about 3 hours of sleep and slept for a little while in the car on the way down to Davenport. We got  there with 20 minutes to spare but we decided to go in early anyway. We seemed to be the only ones in the place but that was OK so they could give us their full attention. The first thing the secretary said to us was we tried calling you yesterday to talk to you about your insurance. I said "well, you didn't leave a message" she like "no I didn't leave a message". Instantly Tom was pissed, thinking we were not going to proceed with this consultation. So the doctor asked if I knew about my insurance and that I have to be employeed for one year before they will cover any infertility treatments. Well I told them I knew about the insurance but when I talked to the nurse who set up my appointment, they said I could go to the consultation since there was nothing they were going to do except talk to me about my next step. So we'll see what happens, but if my insurance doesn't cover it we'll get a bill for about $250, oh well, it's all worth it but I have a feeling they will pay for it. My year with McGraw-Hill will be March 1st, that's why I made the appt. in February so come March we can proceed.

So we met with the nurse, she was kind of ditzy but she kept it interesting. She discussed and asked questions about our history and all the test we've already done and thank God we have most of the testing all done! Doctor Figge came in and discussed what we should do next and since I have been on Clomid for a while he thinks it's best to go ahead with IVF - invitro fertilization, but we are going to try one more IUI! But first Tom has to have another semen analysis since he's only had one and it's been about a year ago. They are hoping for something to be a little higher than the last but we'll see. I think the shape of the sperm was not the best but it was OK. I don't know, but it's crazy talking about sperm. LOL

So since I just got over my last cycle and since I'm going to be traveling next week and it's supposed to be my time of ovulation, go figure, so I didn't take any Clomid this cycle and it's probably a good thing because the doctor wants me to still take an ovulation test and if it's positive to call and 7 days after a positive test to go give blood so they can test my HSG. I guess this determines if I've truly ovulated, so let's hope I do. The only thing that sucks is I will have to do this during my training but it only takes a couple of minutes, should be interesting. This is pretty serious because they were saying if the day I ovulate and the 7 days after, if I was still in Chicago that I could go to a lab there to give blood to test my HSG levels, crazy..I said I will be back in DBQ when that happens, thank God. How would I explain that one? So, so far it's working out good and since I'm going to be gone all week, that means abstinence for Tom and I so when I get home, I won't get home until late Thursday night, so Friday we will do Tom's sperm analysis. Works out great! LOL

So my next cycle, they want me to take another dose of Clomid and to do the same process as this month. Plus they want me on day 3 to do an ultrasound and check something in or around my fallopian tubes. I just read one of my handouts, they look at my uterus and ovaries and then once I have a positive OV test we will do one more IUI. They wanted me to do this in Davenport, but thank God we talked them into letting us do it here in DBQ, for one thing its about $100 cheaper to do it in DBQ plus we don't have to drive an hour. So they agreed that would be fine, so tomorrow I have lots of calling to do to set all this up. The biggest things are the blood work on certain days and the semen analysis. I'm not 100% sure where we have to go for that or where we have to take it but I'll find out.

The next step after that, hopefully the IUI will work, but if not, I will have to meet with the IVF team that comes to Davenport every Wednesday and that will be in Davenport and all future procedures will be in Davenport other then the egg retrieval, if needed, will be in Iowa City. So please keep your fingers crossed!

We left the doctor's office very convinced that IT will happen!

We made use of our time in Davenport and hit Red Lobster, oh man, we love that place. I had shrimp scampi, lobster tails and grilled shrimp. Tom had the same other then the shrimp scampi, he had scallops. It was so good. We headed home after dinner and go home about 5:15.

It was a good day and we're glad to be home, Tom's taking a nap before he has to go into work tonight and I'm going to relax on the couch.