RE Appointment

We love Dr. Z! He seems really great, and he took over an hour to just talk to us about anything and everything. He was very open to express his concerns and his optimism...I loved that.

So he asked right away why we were there. For some reason, this question I wasn't prepared for. I jumped right into my synopsis of "me" and all of the hurdles and hiccups it's taken to get me from point A to point RE. I went over the stage 4 endo, the Hashimoto's, the laparoscopies and bad fallopian tube, and the trouble coming off of birth control. He started reading over my forms and noted the key points he thought would be important to discuss. I brought all of my old medical records and he looked at the most recent laparoscopy, the day 3 blood work I had done with the previous RE, and that RE's notes.

Here were his main concerns about me:

1. The lap showed not only a bum tube, but also damage to both of my tubes from scar tissue.
2. The last RE did two ultrasounds, both of which could not locate my left ovary.
3. The scar tissue present in my last lap could be a big problem with the retrieval because it may be difficult to reach the ovaries.
4. Endometrial tissue is infiltrating my ovaries which means those toxins have a good chance of reaching my follicles and eggs.

Things he's optimistic about me:

1. I'm young!
2. My day 3 blood work showed "good" numbers for FSH.
3. Hysteroscopies from the past did not show any significant problems with my uterus.

Next steps for us:

1. Stop birth control today in order to start AF.
2. Call Dr. Z to schedule ultrasound and bloodwork/B's tests on first day of AF for day 3 of AF (probably early next week).
3. In addition, schedule testing for after AF stops (start birth control immediately after initial testing): Hysteroscopy (ouch), Trial Transfer (yay!), blood work. Schedule follow-up consultation as well.
4. Start pre-natal vitamins.
5. Check insurance coverage for Cystic Fibrosis screening.
6. Plan for IVF in JULY!!!!

Once we have these tests completed, we can begin with our actual planning for the IVF cycle. That's when I'll be asking the more detailed questions (exercise, alcohol, side-effects, etc).

We learned that our insurance does NOT cover the shared-risk program, so we'll be going one cycle at a time. We have incredible coverage though and only have to pay 10% of all infertility treatments and 30% of all out-of-network lab work (they do their lab work in their own lab). We'll have to pay extra for freezing additional embryos and if we find out that there's a male factor (something up with B's side of the deal).

It's all very exciting! July, here we come!! Now to get working on some acupuncture...the doc recommended it- I'm gonna go for it.