Soooooooooo.........
Turns out that appointment tomorrow may be for something other than an endometriosis scope.
I had a positive pregnancy test today. The last week or so I've noticed that my whole body just felt different - not good, not bad, just different. Since today was 4 weeks since my last period I tested on a whim. Color me shocked.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Spit Test Results
I got the results of the "spit test" today. I am not a carrier for anything in the "top 16." That means my hubby doesn't have to do the test.
Hey! I passed a medical test! ;) Some of the things that are in the "top 16" test were pretty much 1 in a million anyway, due to my ethnicity, but it's a package deal. The big one they wanted to check on was CF, due to the locations in Europe my ancestors lived. Genetics is a crazy business.
Beta Thalassemia
Bloom Syndrome
Canavan Disease
CF
Familial Dysautonomia
Fanconi Anemia Type C
Gaucher Disease
Mucolipidosis IV
Niemann Pick Disease Type A
Sickle Cell
Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Tay Sachs
Hey! I passed a medical test! ;) Some of the things that are in the "top 16" test were pretty much 1 in a million anyway, due to my ethnicity, but it's a package deal. The big one they wanted to check on was CF, due to the locations in Europe my ancestors lived. Genetics is a crazy business.
Beta Thalassemia
Bloom Syndrome
Canavan Disease
CF
Familial Dysautonomia
Fanconi Anemia Type C
Gaucher Disease
Mucolipidosis IV
Niemann Pick Disease Type A
Sickle Cell
Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Tay Sachs
Friday, January 14, 2011
Hurry Up And Wait
I couldn't get an appt with the OBGYN until Jan 31! That's forever away. I want to get this show on the road.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Moving Forward
We were supposed to have a follow up visit tomorrow to discuss all the test results (Even though we know them) and the plan moving forward. However, it snowed today. So when I got up and saw that the regular roads were fine for driving (helps to back to a real road in this case!) I called and asked if anyone had made a snow cancellation that we could have. Luckily, they did, and luckily, my husband was able to move his hours off to today as well so it all worked out. It helps that the Towson office is really close to his job.
So, we fall into that category of "Unexplained." Surprise! Actually, that's not completely true. Now that we have ruled out everything else, my mysterious pain comes back into the picture. Dr. K gave us two path options, but recommended we take the path that gets me scoped for endometriosis. Since this is what another doctor recommended almost a year ago, we are going to go that route. The reason that this now comes back into play is that the endo dx could help me "earn" more treatment in the fertility area.
He spent 30-40 minutes explaining the path in detail. I was trying to keep my mind on the scientific side, and look at it medically - but it's so damn depressing. This isn't how it is supposed to be. You're supposed to realize you're late & pee on a stick - not have everything on a calendar and worry about sick days and substitutes and sub plans and scientists! I did however, learn a lot today and as usual, generic internet reading gave me some misconceptions that have now been cleared up.
So here's the plan - presented in "Board Game" fashion with little to no scientific stuff:
Step 1 - Go directly to your regular OBGYN. Have her scope you for endometriosis. If your test is (-), advance one space to step 2pills. If your test is (+), advance to step 4.
Step 2
Take out your calendar. In your cycle, mark off days:
3 (baseline ultrasound - make sure you don't have any regular ole cysts, etc.)
5-9(take a Clomid pill to beef up your eggs)
12-14(ultrasounds and blood work- they make sure you have the right amount of eggs beefed up - too many could cause dangerous multiples, and so they stop you here. If you have the right amount and the bloodwork doesn't show ovulation, then you get a shot to make it happen.)
16 (IUI - because bedrooms no longer have a place in creating life)
26-28(blood work to see if the whole thing worked - 12% success rate - The "I Did this 4 Times" success rate is about 35%. From the successful pregnancies, only 5% are twins and only 1% are triplets.)
Bonus: Make up something health related to tell your carpool mate, attendance secretary, and principal, or finally fess up about what is going on.
Step 3 - FSH (Injection version of 2) - Same calendar as above, but you get to shoot yourself instead of taking a pill.
Plus: Higher success rate of 18%
Minus: Successful pregancy multiple rate: 15% twins, 4-5% triplets. (That is uncomfortably high, in my opinion.)
Step 4 - IVF
This one starts off the same as the others - but instead of doing the IUI, they go in and take the eggs out of you. The multple rate is lower because they have a choice of how many eggs to fertilize instead of worrying about how many eggs get beefed up from medication. When we went into this, the line that made me feel most comfortable in the original literature was that very few people need this step. But now that I've heard everything - this step isn't THAT much scarier than the others. In our state (MD) you do not qualify for IVF without hitting one of 4 qualifiers - tube problems (don't have them!), problems on the guy's side (don't have those!), endometriosis (seeing the point of step 1 here now?), or you've been trying for 2 years. (We're not there yet.)
Many people do step 2 about 4 times - My insurance covers it twice. So there's the financial decision that plays into this as well. My insurance also covers IVF twice. It makes me angry that money plays a role, but it is what it is. It feels like gambling. If you win - you really really win! But if you lose, you really really lose, and you don't have the money to spend on alternative options to winding up with a child. Makes me want to punch something, actually...
Edit: Did some $$ research by lurking on some message boards, turns out that the lab work and the testing and all that is covered, it's just the actual IUI procedure that wouldn't be covered after two times, and that's just a few hundred bucks. That makes me breathe much easier!!
So, we fall into that category of "Unexplained." Surprise! Actually, that's not completely true. Now that we have ruled out everything else, my mysterious pain comes back into the picture. Dr. K gave us two path options, but recommended we take the path that gets me scoped for endometriosis. Since this is what another doctor recommended almost a year ago, we are going to go that route. The reason that this now comes back into play is that the endo dx could help me "earn" more treatment in the fertility area.
He spent 30-40 minutes explaining the path in detail. I was trying to keep my mind on the scientific side, and look at it medically - but it's so damn depressing. This isn't how it is supposed to be. You're supposed to realize you're late & pee on a stick - not have everything on a calendar and worry about sick days and substitutes and sub plans and scientists! I did however, learn a lot today and as usual, generic internet reading gave me some misconceptions that have now been cleared up.
So here's the plan - presented in "Board Game" fashion with little to no scientific stuff:
Step 1 - Go directly to your regular OBGYN. Have her scope you for endometriosis. If your test is (-), advance one space to step 2pills. If your test is (+), advance to step 4.
Step 2
Take out your calendar. In your cycle, mark off days:
3 (baseline ultrasound - make sure you don't have any regular ole cysts, etc.)
5-9(take a Clomid pill to beef up your eggs)
12-14(ultrasounds and blood work- they make sure you have the right amount of eggs beefed up - too many could cause dangerous multiples, and so they stop you here. If you have the right amount and the bloodwork doesn't show ovulation, then you get a shot to make it happen.)
16 (IUI - because bedrooms no longer have a place in creating life)
26-28(blood work to see if the whole thing worked - 12% success rate - The "I Did this 4 Times" success rate is about 35%. From the successful pregnancies, only 5% are twins and only 1% are triplets.)
Bonus: Make up something health related to tell your carpool mate, attendance secretary, and principal, or finally fess up about what is going on.
Step 3 - FSH (Injection version of 2) - Same calendar as above, but you get to shoot yourself instead of taking a pill.
Plus: Higher success rate of 18%
Minus: Successful pregancy multiple rate: 15% twins, 4-5% triplets. (That is uncomfortably high, in my opinion.)
Step 4 - IVF
This one starts off the same as the others - but instead of doing the IUI, they go in and take the eggs out of you. The multple rate is lower because they have a choice of how many eggs to fertilize instead of worrying about how many eggs get beefed up from medication. When we went into this, the line that made me feel most comfortable in the original literature was that very few people need this step. But now that I've heard everything - this step isn't THAT much scarier than the others. In our state (MD) you do not qualify for IVF without hitting one of 4 qualifiers - tube problems (don't have them!), problems on the guy's side (don't have those!), endometriosis (seeing the point of step 1 here now?), or you've been trying for 2 years. (We're not there yet.)
Many people do step 2 about 4 times - My insurance covers it twice. So there's the financial decision that plays into this as well. My insurance also covers IVF twice. It makes me angry that money plays a role, but it is what it is. It feels like gambling. If you win - you really really win! But if you lose, you really really lose, and you don't have the money to spend on alternative options to winding up with a child. Makes me want to punch something, actually...
Edit: Did some $$ research by lurking on some message boards, turns out that the lab work and the testing and all that is covered, it's just the actual IUI procedure that wouldn't be covered after two times, and that's just a few hundred bucks. That makes me breathe much easier!!
Monday, January 10, 2011
No More Holes!
The advantage of the HSG test today was that they G did not have to make any holes that my body doesn't normally have. I was happy to find out the contrast didn't have to go through an IV because I still have a little bruising from my colonoscopy IV in December. Woohoo! They just used a thin tube and shot it in through a catheter. I found the test interesting, because it had almost a video xray. When I laid down, I saw hips on the screen - so I shook my hips to see if the screen's image would move. They did - video xray! Super awesome. :) They injected the contrast (Did you know your uterine cavity is a triangle? I did not. It looked like a glowing arrowhead. Crazy!) and everything was where it belonged. It was not completely pleasant - definitely some cramping, but only for a few seconds. Not as bad as I thought it might be from reading about it ahead of time. Apparently if there is a problem and the dye can't get through, then it can really hurt. So I'm good.
Bonus good thing of the day - the parking garage attendant was backed up so he let a bunch of us leave without paying, just saying "Have a pleasant day!" as we pulled up to the window.
Bonus good thing of the day - the parking garage attendant was backed up so he let a bunch of us leave without paying, just saying "Have a pleasant day!" as we pulled up to the window.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Spitting For Science
As part of our initial meeting, Dr. K talked about genetic testing. It isn't a requirement that we do it, but it is a requirement that they mention it. They start with me, then if I test as a carrier for something, they test him. It's amazing what they can learn from a vial of spit! We decided it would be silly to not know, if it's that easy to find out...so today, my spit test came. I had to spit into a test tube, screw on the top which made some kind of solution mix into the spit, shake it 5 times (not 6, not 4! :) and send it back to to the company.
We had an exciting scavenger hunt through the courthouse area in town - the website said there was a FedEx box at that address with a late pick up time, but it was really well hidden down an exterior corridor and around a corner. If anyone saw me darting around courthouse square before, I'm sure they were greatly amused at me!
We had an exciting scavenger hunt through the courthouse area in town - the website said there was a FedEx box at that address with a late pick up time, but it was really well hidden down an exterior corridor and around a corner. If anyone saw me darting around courthouse square before, I'm sure they were greatly amused at me!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Baseline Testing
Today was test number 1! Simple ultrasound and a quick blood stick. I did get to meet the lady who is our primary nurse, the financial counselor, and the PA who does a lot of the testing. They were both friendly, but there wasn't a lot of time for chit chat because the place was hopping this morning. I guess lots of these tests must or can be done in the early morning, because there were droves of women hanging out in the waiting room this morning. I have 9 follicles on one side and 10 on the other which makes 19 - much bigger than the 10 that they want you to have as a minimum. Therefore, so far there is nothing wrong. That's a good thing. :) However, nothing showed on the ultrasound that could be the cause of the pain - AND the simple wanding ultrasound hurt like a giant spike inside. What could be causing this?!?! I do like that I was able to go at 7am, because it means no time off from school. Plus, my carpool mate couldn't ride with me today so I didn't have to inconvenience anyone.
This afternoon they called with my blood work numbers -
E2: 31 (Should be under 50)
FSH: 9.8 (Should be under 12)
PRL: 25.8 (Should be onder 25, but that little bit over is ok)
So everything is all good there too so far.
This afternoon they called with my blood work numbers -
E2: 31 (Should be under 50)
FSH: 9.8 (Should be under 12)
PRL: 25.8 (Should be onder 25, but that little bit over is ok)
So everything is all good there too so far.
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