Our First IUI

Last Friday at the doctor, my follicles weren't mature yet, so I had to continue taking the Follistim injections on Friday night and Saturday morning, and then Saturday night I had to get my HCG trigger shot to make me ovulate.  Wednesday and Thursday night when I had to start taking my Follistim injections in the thigh with the bigger needles instead of my stomach with the injection pen, I wasn't sure about doing it and went to my friend Heather's house and her sister, and my friend, Brandi came over and gave them to me.  Friday night I braved up and did it myself.  I can definitely say I prefer Nurse Brandi doing them.  HAHA!  After I filled the syringe and put the needle on, I turned it upside down and lost almost all the medicine and had to start over.  Thank goodness I bought the extra vial, just in case I had anymore mishaps! I also didn't stick myself hard enough in the thigh, so I had to do it again.  Yikes!  Saturday afternoon's injection went alot better!  Saturday evening I did have to go to Heather's and have Brandi come over and give me my trigger shot.  It had to go in my hip so I wasn't sure about doing that one myself.  

This morning Shawn and I had our doctor appointment for our very first, and hopefully only, IUI.  Once again another successful doctor appointment!  While I was excited to do this IUI, my biggest fear going into this appointment was whether or not they would be able to cath me to do the insemination.  We went to see Dr. Gentry almost two and a half years ago to do artificial insemination and at that time, Dr. G wanted to do a hysterosalpingogram on me to make sure my tubes weren't blocked.  At that procedure, because of the fibroid's and my tilted uterus, he wasn't able to cath me then and said that since he couldn't cath me then, he wouldn't be able to cath me to do the insemination.  Thus began the journey of "the surgery from h3ll" and another fibroid surgery.  

We had to be at the doctor's office at 8:30 this morning.  When we got there, there was three other couples in there, so needless to say, I knew we wouldn't get called back right away.  When we did get called back, we had to sign a consent form allowing them to inject Shawn's semen into me.  We were given a number that we needed to use to verify everything when the actual procedure took place.  Shawn went and collected his specimen, and then we left while they washed it and had to come back in an hour.  We went and had breakfast at Hardee's and then drove around the Evansville State Hospital grounds.

Once back at the doctor's office, there was more waiting in the lobby and then we were called back for the insemination.  You can't tell in the picture, but I have a serious nervous belly!  

The nurses came in and Shawn had to verify his number against a dozen different papers, tubes, etc.  The insemination itself was went quick and smooth.  The worst part was the nurses trying to put the speculum in.  She tried the longer metal one first just because my uterus is tilted and my cervix hard to get too.  When that didn't work, she used the shorter plastic one and that worked great.  She was able to get the cath in really quick and easy, so that was awesome in my book.  She injected the semen and that was it.  Quick and easy.  After the insemination, I had to lay with my hips tilted for 20 minutes and then Shawn and I were free to go. 

My view for the next 20 minutes!  HAHA!

 I did have some mild cramping and have had some cramping and aches in my abdomen most of the day.  I know it's because of the insemination and ovulating.  We got our homework instructions, Thursday I start using the Progesterone inserts, and then it's just a waiting game.

Insurance has paid for the ultrasounds and blood tests for the IUI, but not the actual IUI itself.  I learned at the check out that if we paid cash, it would be $40 cheaper than paying with a debit card, so I had to run down to the ATM and get some greenbacks!

I can't say enough how much we appreciate everyone's prayers, thoughts, phone calls, and texts during this trying time for us. The last 7 years of TTC has definitely taken a toll on the both of us, both mentally, physically, and financially.  I'm so thankful that God has provided for us, he's a miracle working God!

2nd Follicle U/S = Blessings!

Today's doctor appointment went SO.MUCH.BETTER than I could of ever dreamed off!!  So many times we've left that office with such disappointment!  But today, oh, be still my heart!

Remember back to Wednesday this week at my follicle u/s appointment, I had one 10mm follicle (it needed to be about 18mm in order to trigger) and my estrogen blood draw level was 111 (for every 100 you have one mature follicle).  I had to take two more days of Follistim injections (plus order another 300 unit vial in case I needed some more tonight....more on that later!), and I started taking them in my thigh instead of my stomach. By injecting them in the thigh muscle, the body absorbs it better the nurse told me.  THANKS SO MUCH to my friend Brandi who is a nurse and has been giving me those injections, and to my friend Heather for letting me use her house as a meeting point and not charging me a facility charge!  HAHA!!  I'm fine with using the small needle for the stomach, but that bigger needle in the thigh seriously has me concerned.

Fast forward to this mornings follicle u/s appointment.  Today I had THREE follicles!!  THREE!  Are you kidding me? I've never had THREE.  I've been lucky to have one!!  Their sizes were 10mm, 12mm, & 14mm.  The nurse said I was really responding to the medicine in the thigh!  Since they aren't mature just yet (they grow about 2mm a day), I have to take another Follistim injection tonight in my thigh and again tomorrow morning in the thigh (I *might* try to attempt these myself).  Tomorrow night between 8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. I will have to get my trigger shot in my hip (I'll ovulate 24-36 hours after getting it, which is why it has to be administered at a specific time).  The nurse already has that medicine mixed up for me.  I'm definitely going to have to call on a nurse friend for that one though.  Shawn said he could do them.  I said no way Jose!  We also have our "homework" plan too!  Monday morning we go in at 8:30 a.m. to begin the actual artificial insemination (IUI) process.  PRAY PEOPLE PRAY!!

I also left with a prescription for Progesterone that I'll have to use for 2 weeks after the insemination so I've been calling insurance and pharmacies to see if my insurance covers it and and where to get it.  And three pharmacies later, I found one that has a supply of them so after work I'll go get that prescription filled.

Remember how I mentioned earlier I needed to order another vial of the Follistim medicine, just in case I needed it for another day or two.  I thought for sure I had some leftover, or even a new vial of it, at home in the cabinet from 2 years ago when we were doing the injections, but neither Shawn nor I could find it.  The drug company called on Wednesday to verify the order and collect payment...almost $300.  Well that night I was at home and I had a light bulb go off....why don't you look in the actual injection pen that you used for the injections.  Sure enough, there it was, and it had about 300 units of medicine in it still!  And guess what....it expires this month so it is STILL good!  I thought, oh Shawn is going to kill me!!  He didn't thankfully!  HAHA!!  I called the drug company first thing yesterday morning to see if I could refuse the package and the unopened package of medicine be returned to them and get a refund for the $300, but she said it couldn't since it has to be refrigerated.  I reminded her that it actually doesn't need to be refrigerated, and that they say that and put it on ice so that it isn't getting contaminated sitting in a hot warehouse or a hot delivery truck.  She said they still couldn't accept it back.  Well I tried.  So I'll use the medicine that expires this month first, and then use the new vial if needed.

Follicle u/s = good news & bad news

Shawn and I headed to Dr. Gentry's office for my follicle u/s this morning.  My appointment was at 8:30 a.m. I had my estrogen (E2) blood draw first and then the nurse called me back for my u/s.  Luckily for me there was only one nurse working on me, unlike last time when I had a nurse using the "Bob Barker's microphone from the Price is Right" digging in me to try and see my ovaries and another nurse standing over me pressing on my ovaries!

I'm going to be honest in saying that I went into the appointment already discouraged, defeated, and not feeling hopeful.  Probably comes from all the times when it's been like that.  It's hard to be excited for something that, in the past, has always been disappointment!  I did get a little bit of good news though.  I had one follicle that they could see.  Granted it wasn't mature enough yet, but it was there.  It was 10mm in size and the Dr. wants it to be at least around 18mm in size for it to be mature enough for me to get my trigger shot.  The nurse said she's going to get the results of my E2 blood draw and then talk to Dr. G to see what he recommends.  Chances are though that I'll continue taking the Follistim injections for a couple more nights and then go back into the office for another follicle u/s to see how much the follicle has grown.  When I ordered my medicine last time, I ordered it in three 300 unit vials so that I would have a little extra medicine in each vial versus just a little extra in one 900 unit vial.  That extra should buy me two more days at least.  And then they'll probably have to call me in a refill for another 300 unit vial.

I wrote the above paragraphs this morning.

I just got a call from Dr. G's office.  My estrogen level was 111, which was higher than the nurse expected it to be with the size of the follicle.  Normal is about 100 for each mature follicle.  Dr. G wants me to take another 150 units tonight and tomorrow night and inject them into my thigh.  Then we will go back on Friday for a repeat performance of today's activities.  I also had to order another 300 unit vial of Follistim just in case I needed to take more medicine on Friday and over the weekend.

Metro called shortly after I got off the phone with the nurse to confirm my order and get payment and my meds should be here tomorrow.

Fingers crossed!  Prayers appreciated!  Love to all!

Lookie what I got...

My fertility package arrived Thursday of last week!  All of the contents were in tact.  I also picked up the Femara pills from the pharmacy.  I started the pills Tuesday night and take 2 a day for 5 days, and the Follistim injections tonight by injecting 150 units once a night for 6 nights.  Wednesday we go in for the bloodwork and a follicle ultrasound.  If I have enough mature follicles, I'll get my trigger shot to make me ovulate and then Shawn and I will go back on Friday to get our first IUI.  If I don't have enough mature follicles, then it's all wasted time and money and I'll come home and have a pity party for myself.  I'm trying to be positive and excited, but after 7 years of trying and having disappointment each month and each time we try something, it's hard to be happy and have a smile.

I appreciate all of your prayers, thoughts, and kind words from my last post.  I truly appreciate them!  

Time to Hop Back on the Emotional Roller Coaster

Why is my body designed the way it is?  Why can I not pop babies out left and right like everyone else in my family can?  Why can insurance companies not be simple to deal with?  Why do I feel like I am being punished by God for something?  Why?  Why?  Why?

Welcome to my pity party.

I haven't blogged about our journey of TTC in quite some time.  I've been jotting down little notes on our TTC page, but not actually devoted a whole entry to it.

Rewind back to February 2012 when Shawn and I went to see Dr. Gentry after a 2 year hiatus of using fertility medicines and TTC on our own.  It still wasn't working and we wanted to try using the fertility medicine again and to try artificial insemination (IUI).  However, because of the extra large fibroid that didn't get removed from my first surgery, in October 2012 I ended up having to have an artery embolization (aka the surgery from h3LL), and then again in November 2013 I had to have another surgery, a laparodomy myomectomy, like I did in 2008.

Fast forward to 2014, since my surgery last year, my blood work and levels appear to be fine, however now Shawn is having problems with his little fellas. Shawn had to start taking Clomid in February and has been daily since then.  His numbers have raised a little bit according to the blood tests (that's awhole different situation!).  He was only supposed to take it for 2-3 months, but it's been 5 months and he's still taking them.  Early this month Shawn and I were talking and I told him that I was done with TTC and taking fertility medicine and going to doctors.  I was spent with everything and wore out from dissappointment.  He wanted us to try the IUI at least one time since that's what we went in to do in 2012.  I agreed to it.  

We met with Dr. Gentry on July 9 to discuss moving forward with the IUI that we wanted to do in 2012.  Shawn has to continue taking the Clomid pills, and I was to call back when I started my period.  The nurse gave me the name of the medicines and dosages that I would be taking so that I could call and get prices and get enrolled in some discount programs to help offset the cost of the medicines, and then the name of a company that would call my insurance and draft a letter to the doctor office so they would know my coverage for all of infertility treatments.  Because my deductible hasn't been met yet, and because my insurance only pays for 50% of the medicine once the deductible has been met, we are considered self-pay and are paying for the total cost of the medicine.  I spent a couple different days making phones calls, writing notes, filling out and faxing forms, and making more phone calls until I had everything figured out and knew what the costs of everything was going to be.

On Sunday, July 27, I started my period and Monday morning I called Dr. Gentry's nurse to let them know that I had started and we wanted to start our IUI.  She called back and made an appointment for me for Tuesday morning for a baseline u/s.  I went in to today's appointment confident in what our plan was.  The baseline u/s was successful, despite the fact that it felt like they had crammed Bob Barker's microphone from the Price is Right in my cooter and was checking my heart instead of my ovaries!  All the while another nurse was standing on top of me pressing on my ovaries!

After the u/s, when I went in the hall to talk to the nurses to get our "plan" they changed the type of medicine I was supposed to take and which pharmacy I needed to go to and rambled on about insurance and I have to use this, and here's a discount coupon card for co-pays, and here's a prescription for this, and here's what you owe today, and Kristi will make your other appointments, etc.  I was so confused and wasn't prepared to research everything again especially since I need to start the medicine in the next day or two.  

I knew my insurance covered all of my visits for ultrasounds and blood work, just not the actual IUI, IVF, etc.  At the checkout window Kristi told me I needed to pay for today's appointment because I didn't have insurance coverage for infertility.  Again, I was confused cause I've had insurance in the past and we've got nothing at work about insurance changes.  The doctor's office always ran it through insurance and then billed us for the rest.  I wasn't prepared to pay or for that and got a little loud and rude with Kristi, who in turn gave it back to me.  Hee (I can laugh about this now, we've got it all worked out!).  Kristi said she would call my insurance to double check and would call me back.  She also gave me my appointments for the follicle ultra sound and the actual IUI.

I left the office mad and aggravated!  I didn't even want to go through all of this again!  I didn't want to have to research everything again or make numerous phone calls to figure everything out.  I just sat in the car and cried.  My friend Heather called me on my way to work to talk about it so that helped let me vent.  Thanks for being a great friend Heather! 

I was able to call the fertility drug company to get the prices of the medicines, get the discount coupon card for co-pays activated, and vent to a couple more friends who asked me how my appointment went.  The mail order fertility pharmacy called me to get my insurance information and then was going to call me back to place my order.  I missed their call back cause I was out doing deliveries so I had to call them back.  She processed my order, took my payment of $847, and then emailed me a form to fill out for yet another discount program.  I filled out the forms and scanned and emailed them to that company.  Then I went back to my inbox in my email and had an email from my bank that said "suspicious activity detected" and that "Unusual spending has been identified on your account. For your security, card x3326 has been blocked and can no longer be used."  Well just freaking great!  So I had to call the bank, be transferred to and explain the situation 3 different times until I finally got to someone who could remove the block so that I could use my debit card at the pharmacy to buy more medicine that I have to start tonight.  Ugh!

Tomorrow I'll be stalking the sound of the elevator dinging so I can see if the Fed Ex guy brings my package.  It's supposed to arrive between 8 and noon.  Tonight I stopped at the pharmacy and got my Femara pills which I have to take twice a day for the next 5 days.  Thursday I start the Follistim injections.  

Until next time...

Another Surgery on our Journey of TTC!

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I had my surgery.  I've sat down numerous times to write this blog post, but just can't seem to get motivated to finish it.

I had my second surgery on Thursday, November 21, 2013 to remove uterine fibroids.  It was a laparotomy myomectomy with a ureteral stint placement.  The surgery went fine, but took a little longer than planned because the fibroid was a lot bigger than expected.  Even with the uterine fibroid embolization procedure I had done last year, it was still really big!  Because of the size of it, and because Dr. Gentry had already made a 4 inch incision in my uterus and didn't want to make it any bigger, he had to go in blindly and cut the fibroid up into smaller pieces to get it out.

Last time I had asked Dr. G. to take a picture of it and he forgot.  I requested it again this time and he remembered.  Thanks Dr. G.

I don't remember any of the surgery, probably because of the good stuff they injected into my back right before I woke up!  #lovemyanthesiologist

While we were in the hospital, my incision had alot of drainage to it.  I remember going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and looking down and there was blood all over the floor.  I was completely freaked out and yelled for Shawn to get the nurse.  Dr. G. assured me it was normal and the nurses helped take care of it and changing the dressing and steri-strips.  Also when the original dressing was removed from my incision, it left 3 HUGE blisters on my stomach, so they were helping to treat those as well.

My recovery and stay in the hospital was as good as could be expected being in the hospital.  All of my nurses and techs were amazing!!  Shout out to Heather I., Brandi R., Julie S., Lorna B., Brenda L, Megan, Jo Beth B., Linda C., and good ol' Trazette C.  I remembered Trazette from my procedure last year at St. Mary's.  When she says something, you do it!  #lovemesomeTrazette

In fact, they were such amazing caregivers to me and to Shawn, and because almost all of them was jealous of my snuggly blanket I had on my bed, I ordered each one of them a big snuggly blanket from Kohl's the other day.  They are all sitting in the living still waiting on me to be able to drive so I can deliver them to the girls.

I had a hard time getting comfortable to sleep, and didn't get much sleep while in the hospital.  I'm still having a hard time sleeping at home.  I know over time, it will get easier, but come on already, this ol girl is tired!

No one came to visit us Thursday evening after the surgery, which I was actually glad.  I felt horrible and was so nauseated and throwing up.  We had quite a few visitors on Friday evening:  Mom, Shawn, Uncle Dave (thanks for the yummy soup), my friend Misty, Tina and David, Heather and Kristi (thanks for the yummy cookies and Thanksgiving meal), Angie, Alex and Allesha (thanks for the yummy cupcakes), Brother and Sister Heard (she actually checked on me each day we were there since she works at the hospital), and Phil, Susan and Kylie.  Shawn and I appreciated the company!

I also know that there were many, many, many people praying and thinking about us and we appreciate and love each of you very much!  Thanks to my momma for staying at our house with our animals while we were at the hospital and then helping to take care of my over Thanksgiving weekend so Shawn could go home and be with his parents.  Thanks to my amazing husband for your nonstop care and love!  He spent 3 nights and 4 days sleeping in the most uncomfortable chair and fold out bed so that I wouldn't have to call the nurse each time I needed something.  I'm pretty needy when I don't feel good and can't hardly get out of bed.

The picture below is of my fibroid.  That is one fibroid that Dr. Gentry had to go in blindly and cut up to be able to remove through the incision in my uterus.  He said it was about 8 inches in diameter.

Finally, food!  HAHA!!  My last real meal was Tuesday night.  Wednesday I had to do a bowel prep so all I could have was some clear liquids.  Thursday I couldn't have anything before the surgery, and after the surgery I was extremely ill!  So Friday morning for breakfast I had a grilled cheese and potato soup.  That was the yummiest meal!

Relaxing and waiting on the Dr. Gentry to release me.  #readytoblowthejoint

Love the beautiful colored roses and get well balloon my Shawnie got me!  

Get well flowers from my work

So now I'm at home relaxing and trying to take it easy and recover.  I've had good days and bad days at home.  I'm home for another two to four weeks depending on when Dr. Gentry is going to release me.  

TTC: All I Want Is A Simple Injection Please :/

I was suppose to call this month when I started my period because I have to start a 3-month series of the Lupron Depot injections before my surgery.  So Tuesday morning I called and left a message on Michelle's VM.  She's the surgery scheduler and the one I had been talking to the most.  I told her I started my period and then asked what date she scheduled my surgery for.  Last time I talked to her it was either going to be Nov. 21 at the Women's Hospital or Nov. 26 at St. Mary's.  She said when she found out, she would call.  I never heard back from them on my call Tuesday so I thought I would call them again today, because I knew there was a window of time that I needed to have the injection. 
 

Well Kristy (the receptionist) answered the phone and she's always so busy sounding and is always putting me on hold because the phones are ringing...no big deal, I understand.  I told her I needed to talk to either Michelle or the nurse. That's when she told me Michelle didn't work there anymore.  I told her that I left her a VM and what I needed.  She put me on hold to get my chart.  I was on hold forever.  I'm thinking she must of forgot about me cause when the phone rang back she answered it normal.  I'm like...it's still Stacey.  She apologized and said they were swamped and they had 10 transfers just today.  I'm thinking....get your current patients pregnant before taking on any new patients, but whatever!  She says shes going to get my chart and puts me on hold.  Again forever.  This time Tera, the nurse answers the phone.
 

So I have to tell her what's going on and she's like your surgery isn't scheduled yet,  I don't know why Michelle told you that.  We don't schedule surgeries that far in advance and that they only schedule them a month ahead cause they do so many.  Fine whatever, I tell her I prefer the Women's Hospital over St. Mary's and she said, well we don't do surgeries at the Women's Hospital.  I said apparently you did cause that's where I had my first one at.  She said maybe we used to but we don't anymore and she gave me some excuse.  Fine whatever, just schedule it and let me know when it is so I can get my work schedule figured out.  Then she wants me to either come in tomorrow or Monday at the latest to get my injection.  Tomorrow they are they from 8-noon.  Great I get off at noon, that's not going to work. So she wants me to come in Monday.  I told her I already have plans on Monday to go to Holiday World and I'll have Gavin with me.  She said well can’t you come in beforehand?  I would prefer not to.  So I'm like fine, I'll come in in the morning on my way to work and get it.  So I'm like well do you need to call the injection in or will the pharmacy still have it (they had already called it in once when I thought I was having my surgery this month, but I pushed it back a couple months)?  She said they should still have it.  Fine, I'll pick it up tonight and come in in the morning. 
 

So I call the pharmacy.  Of course they don't have the injection anymore and won't get it in until tomorrow sometime after 12 noon.  Ugh!  Beautiful.  So now I have to pick the injection up tomorrow on my way home from work, and then Monday morning before Gavin and I go to Holiday World, I have to run into Evansville and drag him with me.  Not that I mind taking him with me.  It's just aggravating that they should of called me back Tuesday so we wouldn't have to wait until the last day to get the shot.  

TTC: MRI results

We had an appointment this afternoon with Dr. Gentry to go over the results of my last MRI.  I had went into the appointment already upset because I had already been told that the results weren't very good, however they weren't what I was told.

Dr. Gentry said that the fibroid has shrunk some, but not much at all, but the blood flow had stopped so that was good.  He said surgery is definitely needed to get rid of the fibroid otherwise we will never get pregnant.

He offered us another option in place of him doing the surgery here in Evansville like I had in 2008.  He has a friend up at IU Medical that he wants to ask if she'll do a robotic myomectomy on me.  Basically the same surgery, just using a robot and a couple small incisions with a shorter recovery time.  He's going to ask the doctor to do it, and as long as she is OK with it, and everything pans out with my insurance, I'll be having surgery in June.

TTC: Another MRI :(

Last Friday I had to have another MRI done.  While this is not a painful thing to have done, I can tell you it gave me some anxiety issues starting the night before.  I was up and down all night thinking about having it done and how uncomfortable it is for me.  I had to keep praying about and asking God to help me calm my nerves and that everything would be OK. 

Going into the MRI, I expected everything to be exactly like it was the last time. 

Let me back track to that experience.  We got to the place where I was to have the MRI.  When they called me back, Shawn went back with me and waited in a little waiting room right out the MRI room.  I changed from my street clothes into a hospital gown and left all of my belongings in a little locked room and Shawn had the key.  I got on the table, they turned on music, and into the machine I went.  The music was WIKY and was nothing but commercials :(  That made for a long, long, long 45 minutes!  I also had some back pain from laying there for so long. 

Fast forward to Friday's MRI.  The lady called me back, so Shawn got up to go with me.  She told him, you can just wait out here in this lobby.  What?  Why can't he come back with me?  So he waited out there and I went back to the MRI.  She opened the door to the little room and I put my purse and bag in there and then she shut and locked the door and told me to come on back for the scan.  I'm thinking "What?  Aren't I going to need to change in there too?"  I'm still in my work clothes, bra, shoes, earrings, long sleeve sweater and all and she says to climb on up on the table.  I ask her, don't I need to change and take all this stuff off?  She said no, you are fine. I immediately ask for a pillow or something for the arch of my back cause last time my back/hip area hurt really bad after laying there for so long.  She can't use a pillow, but she gives me these two little wedges.  Yeah, those are gonna help.  NOT!  And I tell her that I don't want WIKY on the headphones and ask her if she can play KLOVE.  She said no, it's the radio so I can only get a few channels.  She tells me what they have and I opt for 99.5, country music.  I'm not sure why she can't get KLOVE, but whatever.  I ask her if I need to take my long sleeve sweater off cause I know she's going to need to inject that dye into my vein later in the scan. She said not really, you can just pull the sleeve up. Um, no thank you; I hate fat sleeves at the wrist, so I took my sweater off and handed it to her.  I climb up on the table and feel really weird with all that stuff on but she's the expert in this field, not me.  I ask if I can take my shoes off - my feet feel heavy laying there with shoes on.  So she takes them off of me and kind of flings them across me.  Weird.  Then I lay down and she puts the board over my pelvic area and straps me in.  She starts putting me in the machine and I get almost all the way in and I start freaking out again. This might be TMI for some right here...I guess laying there with my bra on and since I have such big boobs, I felt like they were up in my throat and I was feeling suffocated, especially since she still had to put those headphone things on me in that area too.  I asked her to please, please, please pull me out.  I asked if I could please take my bra off.  Here's another TMI for some....I figured once I took the bra off, those babies would kind of flop down to the side some.  She pulled me out, I sat up, and then had to work through the three layers of shirts I had on to undo my bra in the back and pull it out through all those clothes.  So I laid back down and she had to strap me back to the board and into the scan I went.  Awww, much, much better!  She starts the music and the scan.  The whole time I'm laying there, I'm thinking Lord, please let this go fast, I'm praying, I'm singing, and I'm coughing.  I'm doing everything I can to take my mind off the scan, yet still lay still.  Great, the radio is doing a telethon for St. Jude's.  There is hardly any music and lots of sad stories.  I'm miserable!  The one thing I DID like about this lady was she would tell me right before each scan/picture how long it was going to be....this scan will be 2 minutes, this next one will be 4 minutes, etc. and she would buzz in and ask if I was OK.  When I heard them say "this next one will be 2 minutes then we'll pull you out for a break to put the dye in and then you'll have 10 minutes left", I felt SUCH RELIEF!  I also had them change the radio channel at this point too.  I asked earlier in the scan, but I don't know if she didn't hear me or couldn't come in the room.  After it was over, I got up, gathered my sweater, shoes and bra and apologized 300 times for everything.  She let me in the little locked room, I got dressed, and then headed to the bathroom to re-fix my hair and put on my makeup so I could head to work.

Needless to say, I'm not a fan of those MRI and so glad I'm not claustrophobic cause I'm sure it would be ten times worse!!  And I hope I never have to have another one again!

TTC: Unsuccessful SIS

We had an appointment last Tuesday at Dr. Gentry's office to have a saline induced sonogram (SIS) done to check my uterine cavity and to possibly see how much the fibroid has shrunk, but mainly to see if Dr. Gentry could cath me so that he could perform a cath when we try our first artificial insemination (IUI).  Unsuccessful.  All of my female parts on the inside of me are not in their respectful places because of that fibroid.  So Friday I am having another MRI done of my pelvic area so that Dr. Gentry can see how much the fibroid has shrunk since the UFE (aka Surgery from H3LL) I had done back in the fall, to make sure the blood flow has stopped to that fibroid, and to see what all is going on because he thinks I am going to now need another abdominal surgery to actually remove the fibroid.  Looks like that $1,000 deductible is going to be met alot sooner than we even planned!

TTC: What a day yesterday was

I realized yesterday, by looking back through my blog, that back in 2008 when we were first starting with TTC and doctor appointments and taking fertility medicine that I blogged about all of that stuff.  Last year, I don't think I blogged about any of it.  I now know I need to start back with this again.  Those blog posts came in really handy with a little situation that came up with the fertility medicine I have taken. 

Yesterday was a very, very trying and tiring day for me.  Let me go back to Saturday evening when I got the mail.  There was an envelope in there from Meritain, my health insurance provider.  It was a different envelope than they usually send so I opened it up; usually Shawn goes through all the mail.  Inside the envelope was two letters from them saying that the insurance had overpaid for my fertility injections that I took last year because once I met the deductible, they only pay for 50% of them, and that we owed them close to $3,000.  I was confused and thought that they did something wrong because with all of the doctor bills and the surgery I had last year, that surely I would have met the deductible.  So I grabbed the medical file in our filing cabinet and sorted through everything to pull out everything related to our TTC journey and my surgery....EOB's from the insurance, doctor bills, hospital bills, etc.  I had already had alot of stuff in my other TTC folder so I put some organization into the two folders and then went through each EOB and bill and documented on an Excel spreadsheet everything that was paid to try and figure out what was going on.  Then on Monday I planned on calling the insurance to try and figure out what the letters meant.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I have a friend that works for my insurance company so she was going to call me at 10:15 on her break to help me figure out what the problem was.  In the mean time, I decided to call our HR lady at work to ask her where I could find our most recent paper that listed what our deductible was and listed what was/was not covered and at what percents.  She asked what was up and I told her about the two letters I got from the insurance and how I was trying to figure out what was going on.  She asked me to scan and email the letters to her and she would forward them our reps at the insurance company and at our brokers that handle the insurance to see what was exactly going on.  Through a few emails and phone calls, it was discovered that my insurance covers 50% of the injections/medicine once my deductible has been met and then I pay the other 50% (back in 2008 I understood this, but when I went to order the injections then the lady told me all I had to pay for was the prescription co-pays according to my insurance and that's all she charged me for, so that's all we've ever had to pay when ordering the injections).  Apparently my insurance has been paying 100% of this and shouldn't have been and it has just now gotten caught; thus the bill for $3,000 for the injections we took last year. 

I was so upset all day yesterday over this.  I was crying and every time I thought I would be OK, I would start crying again.  I had to end up leaving work an hour early so I could collect myself.  I was upset that we are going through all this, I was upset at the amount of money, I was upset knowing that we were going to have to start spending more money than we were prepared for or were used to paying, I was upset wondering what we are gonna do next since we have a doctor appointment Monday to move forward with TTC, I was upset because it's not fair that for whatever reason, I am being punished by God.  Once Shawn got home we were able to discuss a few options that we have.  We are going to continue with our doctor appointment on Monday and see what Dr. Gentry wants to do and then figure out where to go from there. 

Yesterday I was upset that I let the devil steal my joy and destroy me.  Today I'm giving God all the glory!  As I am always saying to others, God's Got This!  He is my provider and my strong tower!  I'm putting it all into his hands and praying for his will!

The Surgery from H3LL!

Back in October I had a Uterine Fibroid Embolization procedure done.  The surgery from h3ll!  Another roadblock in our journey of TTC!  Dr. Gentry seems to think that fibroid was in the way and instead of having surgery again, he opted to do UFE.  That procedure was 10 times worse than my abdominal surgery a few years ago to remove fibroids.  Instead of re-telling the story, I've copied my timeline of the surgery and days following the surgery from our TTC page of my blog.

 

9.5.12 - Bea with Dr. G's office called and said they are setting up my artery embolization (UAE/UFE) procedure and she will call me back with the details as soon as they have everything.

10.3.12 - Day of my UAE or UFE. Had to be at hospital at 7:00 a.m., procedure at 8:30 a.m. Procedure went fine. Recovery was hell! Lots of pain, nausea, vomiting, fever/chills, no appetite, no rest.

10.4.12 - Day one post-op - feeling somewhat better. Able to eat a little. Pain isn't as bed. Released from hospital at 1:00 p.m. Still not able to get comfortable to get any rest.

10.5.12 - Day two post-op - Shawn had to work today so I had him pick up my mom; I'm glad. I was miserable. Lots of pain, nausea, cramping, chills, fever, flu-like symptoms, constipated and bad back/hip pain from that, no appetite, not able to get comfortable to rest, used a heating pad alot. Called Dr. Gentry's office and was told to take Miralax and some Colace stool softeners; if no relief by Sunday to call back.

10.6.12 - Day three post-op - Mild cramping, constipated and lots of back/hip pain. FINALLY able to go to the bathroom some. More of an appetite, chasing Colace stool softeners with apple cider/Miralax cocktails.

10.7.12 - Day four post-op - Went to church this morning, then to take mom home. Completely wore out. Still constipated and uncomfortable from that, but having some small BM's. Noticed more abdominal pain today. Appetite back to normal, chasing Colace stool softeners with apple cider/miralax cocktails.

10.8.12 - Day five post-op - Didn't go to work today like scheduled. Finally able to rest and wanted to spend an entire day resting before getting back into things full throttle. Small BM's, still taking Colace stool softeners tho, abdominal cramps and discomfort, still using a heating pad, woke up with a cough, sore throat and achy ears (I know this is from Shawn - he caught something from the hospital!)

10.9.12 - Day six post-op - Feeling much better from my procedure; went to work all day today. Noticed when I'm up walking around alot or climbing stairs, the upper part of my right thigh gets really tired and achy. I've got some aches on my lower hips (not sure about this). I've been having BM's so that's good. On the other hand, I think I've got a sinus infection/bronchitis. I felt bad all day, with deep, pghlemy coughs, hot, tired and just achy.

10.10.12 - Day seven post-op - Surgery wise, I'm doing better. Went to my family doctor today and I have a sinus infection. He said it's from having a weak immune system right now, and the fact that there is alot of crud going around.

10.29.12 - Met with Dr. G for a post-op appt. Wants to see me back in 3 months to do an SIS u/s.

Starting fertility treatments again :)

Shawn and I have decided to start fertility treatments again.  I know this is odd, but last Friday when we were getting our taxes done, I was waiting on Shawn to get there and me and the lady doing our taxes started talking and she mentioned that she and her husband had just had a baby after trying for 6 years.  She said they were doing fertility treatments and on their 4th IUI, she got pregnant and they had just had a beautiful baby about 2 weeks ago.  That really encouraged me to start the treatments again.  I talked to Shawn about it and he was definitely on board!

We are going back to Dr. Gentry and had our first appointment on Wednesday, February 22.  We met with Dr. Gentry and he wanted me to come back after I started my period to have blood work done to test my hormone levels and then have another SIS ultrasound done.  I started my period on Monday so tomorrow morning I go for my blood work and then on March 19, I have my SIS ultrasound scheduled.

Disappointment

I went to Dr. G on Monday morning for a follicle u/s.  I knew it was going to be a disappointing appointment.  I just felt different this time around from my first time of taking the medicine.  I had no follicles on my right ovary and she couldn't see my left ovary because of the fibroid that is in the way.  Plus being overweight makes it harder for them to see what they need to see.  I also had to have my Estridol levels checked.  The nurse called me later in the day to tell me that my levels were 239.  A mature follicle is 100.  So according to my levels I have 2 mature follicles, but because they couldn't see them, they couldn't be positive.  So instead of getting my trigger shot, Dr. G just wants Shawn and I to have intercourse every other day for the next week or week and a half and to just have fun with it.  I was SO upset at all of this.  And then on top of it, Shawn was late to my appointment so that didn't make matters any better. 

I know I HAVE to have faith and leave it up to God, but it's so hard.  Each month I get more and more discouraged.  I feel like I'm prayed out.  And cried out.  In fact, I've cried so much about this on Monday that I gave myself a sinus infection. 

Discouragement

I started my period Tuesday night.  Such discouragement.  It's so hard to be hopeful.  I go to the doctor in the morning for a baseline u/s before I start my next cycle of injections and pills.  They have to do a baseline each time you do the injections just to make sure that no cysts or pollups have formed so that the hormone injections don't cause the cyst or pollup to grow.  Provided everything is ok, I'll start the injections next week and then it will be "busy time" in the Glenn household.

TTC: I started my period :(

I am devistated! I thought for sure this month would be different. I called the nurse yesterday to let her know that I started my period Monday night. She said she would stick my charts on Dr. G's desk and when he's looked at them, she will let me know what we need to do next. The last time we saw Dr. G, he said that if the injections didn't work the first cycle, that he would have me do them again, but with a stronger dose of medicine. I also talked to the nurse about when they would do an IUI and got some more info on that. Once again, I'm just waiting.

TTC: I FINALLY got my trigger shot!

That shot has been up in my cabinet for the longest time it seems. Monday's estrogen blood draw showed that my estrogen levels were high enough to indicate a mature follicle, so I went back into Dr. G's office Monday evening and got my trigger shot. The purpose of the trigger shot is to make me ovulate. So starting that night and every other night this week, Shawn and I are supposed to "get it on". LOL!! If I start my period, I have to call the doctor's office and let them know and then with my next cycle, I'll start the injections again at a stronger dose. If I don't start my period by cycle day 35, then I am supposed to take a pregnancy test and call the doctor's office with the results. Lord, please heal my body from whatever is preventing me to get pregnant!

TTC: This waiting completely stinks!

I had my doctor appt this morning at 8:30 a.m. It was for some bloodwork to check my estrogen level and for a follicle u/s to follow up the pills/injections I have been taking. I had one follicle on my left ovary, but it was only around 8mm and it needed to be between 17 ½ - 18mm or higher to be considered a mature follicle. The nurse couldn’t see anything on my right ovary, but Dr. Gentry said it could have been because my ovary was higher than normal. I had to have my estrogen level blood draw done this morning too and he said they would check it this afternoon and if it was high enough, he would have me come back in and get my trigger shot to make me ovulate and we would start getting groovy tonight. If it was too low, then with my next cycle, I’ll do the injections again, but with a stronger dose of medicines.

TTC: It's a Go!

I had an appointment at Dr. Gentry's office on Friday at 8:30 a.m. and by 9:45 a.m., we were actually hearing them call our name. Sometimes, there is nothing fast about that place. Although Dr. Gentry and the girls there are great, they are usually overbooked and you always have to wait. Once we were back in the room, the nurse did a baseline u/s to make sure I didn't have cycts or polyps which were causing me to not get pregnant, which I didn't. So that meant everything was good for me to get started on my fertility medicines. The nurse gave me a calendar plan, my prescription for Femara and told me that the drug company would call me to get my Follistim injection order, and showed me how to give myself injections. Bleh! I also got a new prescription for prenatals cause the ones I have are old and I really need to start taking them again. The drug company called me later that day to get my order. I had my credit card out handy to pay the bill. I knew the injections were going to cost anywhere from $600 - $900 so I was ready to hear the cost and pay the price. I couldn't believe it when she told me that all I had to pay was my $20 co-pay. I asked her if she was sure that's all it was? She said that's all your insurance said you had to pay. I was so excited I was doing a happy dance! Of course, I needed the injections by Tuesday so I choose to pay $20 for them to be overnighted, so the total cost was $40. Saturday morning around 10:30 a.m. the FedEx man showed up with my box. I was so excited. My sister is going to give me the injections. I really thought I was fine with giving them to myself, until I saw the size of the needle at the doctor's office. Like I said earlier, bleh! Shawn could give them to me, but he gets home too late at night and I honestly don't think he could do it either. But I trust Tootie to do it, plus I'll get to see my little nephew for the next 6 nights. I started the Femara pills on Sunday. I have to take two twice a day for 5 days and then I start my injections on Tuesday night and get a 100cc unit shot each night for 6 nights. She said it's better to take the injections at night that way I am crabby while I sleep instead of during the day. Everyone should thank me for that. LOL! Then on August 31, I go back to Dr. Gentry's office for another follicle u/s. If there are any mature eggs that are 17.5 mm or bigger, then I'll get a trigger shot of HCG to make me ovulate and then we get "groovy". LOL. I laugh at that word cause a friend on Facebook asked me when our "groovy days" were so she could concentrate on prayer on those days in particular. LOL!! So if I get the trigger shot on the 31st, then our groovy days are that night and every other night for the next week. That seems like a lot of groovy to me! Please pray that everything works the way it should work with this first round of medicines.

TTC: I'm Ready to Move Forward

It's been a couple of month's since my last entry about TTC. I decided to put the fertility medicines on hold for a while and spend more time "trying"TC. To read more on my last entry, click http://shawnandstaceyglenn.blogspot.com/2009/05/ttc-no-follicles.html.

So I didn't have a period in May - now I know it was because of the medicine and not because I was pregnant because I took a home PG test and it was negative. We had a vacation scheduled in June and thought that relaxing at the beach and spending some much needed alone time with my husband would put me more in the mood to try harder on our own. WRONG....I started my period the morning we left. I couldn't believe it. I was SO MAD!!! I even planned the vacation so that we would be gone the entire week before I 'normally' started. I guess not having a period the month before and the Clomid messed my cycle up. In July we took a little trip with some friends to Gatlinburg. We had our own cabin so I was excited to have some more alone time with my husband. Yeah right! Aunt Flo decided to come along that trip too, only on the second day this time. Are you freaking kidding me???

This whole time I have been testing my urine each morning hoping and praying for 2 pink lines to show that I am ovulating. Every morning, it was nothing. So Tuesday of this week I got tired of all the testing and the waiting. I threw the rest of the strips in the trash and made up my mind that I was going to call Dr. Gentry and get started on the next step towards trying to get pregnant. I was supposed to start my period last Friday and thought that I would wait a few more days before taking a pregnancy test because I was having some of the same symptoms that I do when I would have a period. I told myself I would wait and when I did test, if it was positive - wonderful, and if it was negative, I would call Dr. Gentry and try to find out what was going on with my body and find out what all I needed to do to get started on some new meds. Well, don't you know that on Wednesday, I started my period. BLAH!!! So last night I told Shawn that I was ready to move forward and he told me that we could.

This morning I called and talked to the nurse at Dr. Gentry's office. Tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. I am going in for a baseline U/S. It's a transvaginal U/S and they will check for fibroids (which I know I still have one left that they didn't remove from my surgery), cysts, and pollops. If everything is ok, I'll leave with a calendar and a plan. I'll start Femara pills and then come back in 9 days for a follicle U/S to look for follicles. If I have 17.5 or above, I'll get my HCG trigger shot that I have left from the previous visit. So that's all I know for now. I'll blog more tomorrow after my doctor appointment.