Friday, June 10, 2011

IVF Monitoring #2

After six nights of stims, at what the nurse tells me is the highest dose they are willing to prescribe for me, my lining is at 5.7mm and I now have an underwhelming seven follicles brewing:

(L) 8mm, 7mm, 8mm, 8mm
(R) 9mm, 9mm, 7mm.
My estrogen is an equally underwhelming 75.

This leaves us in a quandary. I am making progress, seeing increasing number and size of follicles. My estrogen is increasing. Just enough to keep the RE from giving up, but not enough to be particularly promising. So we continue stims at the same dosage and re-check on Monday. At which point we will either see definitive progress or the cycle will get cancelled. At least, we hope it will be one or the other. I'm not sure how long I can stand to be caught here in Limbo.

After less than a week, I've had to refill my Menopur already. I have been on the phone with the specialty pharmacy three times this week trying to sort out billing errors that go back months. The woman I spoke with today told me that due to the complexity and frequency of the errors made on my account, I would be dealing with her exclusively from this point forward on any billing questions. That's right, I now have my own personal billing rep. She does seem to know what she's doing, and she did make one really nice comment at the end of our call.

She said, "I'm looking at the medications you're taking and you really shouldn't have to be dealing with all of this on top of what you're going through. I'm sorry."

In answer to the many inquiries that came up on Twitter, it seems that I was over-suppressed. Four weeks of BCP, no Lupron. They already have me on the highest combo-dose of GonalF and Menopur that they would give me, so not really any room to tweak or add meds. Insurance was only covering meds for this one cycle. I had one unused medicated IUI left in my coverage, so they let me use the meds credit toward this IVF cycle. Otherwise IVF expenses are not covered. We are burning through the meds and I'm worried that if we cancel, I'm going to have to come up with thousands of dollars to replenish the vegetable crisper.

11 comments:

  1. I'm sorry you are having to deal with all of this. We used donor eggs from my sister - she also did not respond well we had to decide whether or not we wanted to cancel the cycle (we were told that we would get between 4-6 eggs at retrieval at best) or proceed, we chose to keep going, and we only retrieved 6 eggs - 4 of which were mature - 3 fertilized. We had a day 3 transfer of all 3 of our embryos and I am pregnant. So, even with the odds really against us, things worked out.
    It is so hard to have to deal with all of this on top of dealing with IF. I am sure you will make the best decision for your family. Thinking of you and praying for the best!

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  2. oh hon! I'm sorry it's such a state of limbo. Those are the worst. :-(
    Crossing my fingers for you that you'll be a "go" for this cycle! *hugs*

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  3. 7 follicles sounds great! Slow and steady...slow and steady... Thank goddess for the kindness of that billing rep - makes such a stressful situation a teensy bit easier to bear. I am hoping for a good outcome for you - lots of good thoughts for your follicles and hormone levels to do their thing! Come on, follicles! Come on, estrogen!

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  4. I hate it when financial considerations interfere with medical decisions. See what the scan & oestradiol show on Monday. Maybe things will just take off from here on? I know my oestradiol quadrupled between day 6 & day 8 of stims. If it makes you feel any better, the clinic here (although they have mismanaged me, they do have good stats overall) told me their average number of eggs retrieved per IVF cycle is 6-8. Your follicles are all similar sized so maybe things are actually going just as they should be? Stay positive, and good luck for Monday!

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  5. although it sucks you have to be dealing with the insurance crap, that is so cool that you have a dedicated person for billing, etc! praying that your follies have a growth spurt soon!

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  6. Dear lord, I'm so sorry. That's the balls out sh*tty thing about the IVF process, its diagnostic while you go along, you know? They never know how your body is going to react. It's so incredibly frustrating. I'm going to home hard that things come together this cycle. Thinking of you.

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  7. I'm so sorry things are progressing slowly, and that you were over-suppressed. I hopehopehope your cycle isn't canceled.

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  8. Not having any experience with stims or IVF, I'm not much help there, but I can offer good vibes. It's ironic (cruel? ridiculous? just life?) that at the time we should be most unfettered, calm, we're often the most wound up because of what we're going through... Nuts. Hope you're able to keep your spirit up. Thinking of you and hoping your follies have a good growth spurt to get you to your BFP.

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  9. I'm so sorry -- you're having a rough go and that's too much to add on top of an already difficult process. Hoping things turns around very quickly for you!

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  10. I am a slow stimmer, I always took longer than anticipated. It blows that money has to add to your stress. I am rooting for you, seven follicles is plenty & you may be only half way with your stims. Sending you thoughts of growth & health.

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  11. UGH. Hate reading stuff like this. I went through a nightmare with stims-I was on max dose of Follistim, having to refill it every 2-3 days and my estrogen sucked. I literally didn't know if I would make it to ER until the day before-and then it didn't go well. But regardless of that, some people do just respond late in the game-hoping that's the case here. All the best-feel free to email me if you have any questions.

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