Yesterday we went for a consultation with our RE. On our way there, I was talking to my husband and feeling more and more frustrated by the minute. Frankly, I was feeling very confrontational and wanted so much to stick it out to her. However, as my husband correctly pointed out, we cannot afford a luxury of a confrontation. She cannot do anything majorly useful for us, but she can order routine tests, which are at least covered by our insurance. So we talked about that, and I agreed to try to be civil. My resolve wavered, though, when it turned out we still had to pay out of pocket for this consultation, since it's a repeat visit (wtf?!). I wanted very much to yell, "No way in hell I am paying that much to see this doctor! I'd rather pay for someone who's professional, dammit!" But we paid and we waited.
She started with a question along the lines of "what can I do for you", and I got very angry. I allowed myself to allude to her insufficient testing a year ago. Her response was, but then you were getting pregnant! Apparently testing for RPL is different from testing used for just plain infertility (yeah riiiight). Anyway, I asked what can we do now, given the situation we have. Basically she told us they can do two things: it is either IUI with Menopur and Bravelle ($3,000 - 5,000), or IVF with PGS ($25,000), using the antagonist protocol and ISCI. I asked why didn't she suggest donor eggs IVF. She replied that she remembered me being against it, and that the price is high, around $40,000.
By an unspoken agreement, we did not tell her we're seeing another Dr. and that I am on Letrozole. We did ask her about Clomid and Letrozole, and she told that my FSH is high and therefore more FSH does not make sense (and then I Googled and apparently Menopur and Bravelle work to elevate the FSH as well, wtf?). She also told us she does not do natural cycle IVF or minimal stimulation IVF ("I know about this, but we don't do that here").
And finally there was the icing on the cake. I asked her something about success rate for all the options she mentioned, and she said something along the lines of - oh but you cannot really do any of that, because your FSH is too high! This was priceless. Why did she spent so much time talking about the options that I cannot have anyway?! Her point was, I might have checked my FSH too early after the surgery, so let's recheck it in couple of months and see where we are. As much as I want to hope that there's some reason for this absurd number of 17.5, I cannot really count on that.
There were some relatively good news as well. As it happens, she did a follicle count in 2014 (she just chose not to tell me about it, and she did it on a day when I couldn't even tell where in the cycle I was - my period still hadn't returned after my 2nd miscarriage). I had the same 6 follicles I have now. My AMH is lower, but not "significantly", so it doesn't concern her as well. (I don't think she's concerned about my situation at all, though). So basically no drastic changes have occurred since the last year.
So, her advice is: go try naturally for couple of months, maybe try some acupuncture. Come back and redo the Day 3 tests, and then we'll talk.
What do I think about it? I am going to order wheatgrass and whatever shit there is out there to work with aging eggs. I am not sure I want to go to her even if my FSH gets down (because her estimate of IVF success is 10%, and while trying naturally we have just 2% chance - both numbers are too low for my taste). What we need is to find a clinic nearby (okay, at least in our state) which does natural cycle IVF, and talk to them about my options. I wish we could go to New York or Colorado, but travel is expensive (we hardly have money for IVF with PGS as it is), and there are some logistical considerations as well.
She started with a question along the lines of "what can I do for you", and I got very angry. I allowed myself to allude to her insufficient testing a year ago. Her response was, but then you were getting pregnant! Apparently testing for RPL is different from testing used for just plain infertility (yeah riiiight). Anyway, I asked what can we do now, given the situation we have. Basically she told us they can do two things: it is either IUI with Menopur and Bravelle ($3,000 - 5,000), or IVF with PGS ($25,000), using the antagonist protocol and ISCI. I asked why didn't she suggest donor eggs IVF. She replied that she remembered me being against it, and that the price is high, around $40,000.
By an unspoken agreement, we did not tell her we're seeing another Dr. and that I am on Letrozole. We did ask her about Clomid and Letrozole, and she told that my FSH is high and therefore more FSH does not make sense (and then I Googled and apparently Menopur and Bravelle work to elevate the FSH as well, wtf?). She also told us she does not do natural cycle IVF or minimal stimulation IVF ("I know about this, but we don't do that here").
And finally there was the icing on the cake. I asked her something about success rate for all the options she mentioned, and she said something along the lines of - oh but you cannot really do any of that, because your FSH is too high! This was priceless. Why did she spent so much time talking about the options that I cannot have anyway?! Her point was, I might have checked my FSH too early after the surgery, so let's recheck it in couple of months and see where we are. As much as I want to hope that there's some reason for this absurd number of 17.5, I cannot really count on that.
There were some relatively good news as well. As it happens, she did a follicle count in 2014 (she just chose not to tell me about it, and she did it on a day when I couldn't even tell where in the cycle I was - my period still hadn't returned after my 2nd miscarriage). I had the same 6 follicles I have now. My AMH is lower, but not "significantly", so it doesn't concern her as well. (I don't think she's concerned about my situation at all, though). So basically no drastic changes have occurred since the last year.
So, her advice is: go try naturally for couple of months, maybe try some acupuncture. Come back and redo the Day 3 tests, and then we'll talk.
What do I think about it? I am going to order wheatgrass and whatever shit there is out there to work with aging eggs. I am not sure I want to go to her even if my FSH gets down (because her estimate of IVF success is 10%, and while trying naturally we have just 2% chance - both numbers are too low for my taste). What we need is to find a clinic nearby (okay, at least in our state) which does natural cycle IVF, and talk to them about my options. I wish we could go to New York or Colorado, but travel is expensive (we hardly have money for IVF with PGS as it is), and there are some logistical considerations as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment