So, visit to the hematologist, Dr. P, went about as expected. When I get pregnant, I'll have to give myself shots of heparin everyday. She doesn't want me to use any estrogen in this process, which is close to impossible given my issues. Speaking of issues.....
I had a bit of a crisis of confidence this weekend when my latest FSH results came in on Friday. After 5 days of clomid I'm at 22.4. Not good. It really shook my confidence, but I have my positive mojo back! There are LOTS of stories online about miracle babies born to high FSHers like me. Fortunately, baby doc has worked with and achieved success with lots of high FSHers. In the meantime, I'm going to resume acupuncture, start wheat grass juice every other day, 25 mg DHEA 3x/day, yoga and meditation.
Back to the estrogen thing....considering it can cause blood clots, Dr. P's nervous about me using it at all. Baby doc will confer with her to determine the best course of treatment for me. My guess is they will go ahead with any estrogen priming, but perhaps have me on heparin before I start taking it. So, YAY! I may get to be a human pin cushion for 10 months instead of 9!
On another note, I now have an IVF buddy in England! We have very similar medical histories and will begin this process around the same time. Will be fun to share details with someone going thru all the same madness.
Official consult with baby doc is tomorrow at 2pm! VERY EXCITED!!!!!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Our Doctor's COOL!
Our baby doc, Dr. Milki, at Stanford, is COOL! He's wonderfully animated, funny as hell and somehow gives you the cold hard facts (low success rate) while also making you feel all full of hope. I would be honored to have him make our baby!
The seminar itself was kinda funny. Sort of a seminar/therapy session, as no one seemed to have a problem piping up to confess their particular defect. High FSH! Busted sperm! Bad eggs! Blocked tubes! There was a nice feeling in the room. Support. Eagerness. Excitement. Just makes you hope it works out for everyone.
So, true to form, I had a billion questions. Dr. M answered them all and offered advice. Since I had those pesky-not-quite-killin'-me blood clots in my lungs, Dr. M recommended I see a hematologist, which I will do on Thursday. Might be beneficial for me to be on heparin during treatment. Heparin is a blood thinner that's injected (when in the hospital, I took mine in the gut) daily. Sometimes twice daily depending on how much is needed. It's perfectly safe to take while knocked up, unlike coumadin which can cause severe birth defects. In addition to making my blood flow all smooth-like, it can also help prevent blood clots in the placenta, which can cut off nutrients to the baby and cause fetal death. So, 2 shots a day for 9 months? Totally worth it.
Speaking of shots, I thought S would be totally keen on gettin' to stab me, but he seems to be kinda squeamish about the needles.
Our next appointment, the official consult with Dr. M, is Monday 11/2. During that consultation, I'll get poked and prodded and my medical history dissected to determine a treatment plan. Then we hit the nurse coordinator's office to discuss the scheduling of the treatment plan. Then we meet with a financial coordinator to discuss emptying out our bank account to pay for the treatment plan. Doc will give me a prescription to get my $3000-$6000 worth of medication. Ouch. But again, totally worth it.
Though we are crazy excited, it still doesn't feel quite real to me, that we're actually going through with it. It's been a hope in our hearts and minds for so long. This all just feels like a dream......
The seminar itself was kinda funny. Sort of a seminar/therapy session, as no one seemed to have a problem piping up to confess their particular defect. High FSH! Busted sperm! Bad eggs! Blocked tubes! There was a nice feeling in the room. Support. Eagerness. Excitement. Just makes you hope it works out for everyone.
So, true to form, I had a billion questions. Dr. M answered them all and offered advice. Since I had those pesky-not-quite-killin'-me blood clots in my lungs, Dr. M recommended I see a hematologist, which I will do on Thursday. Might be beneficial for me to be on heparin during treatment. Heparin is a blood thinner that's injected (when in the hospital, I took mine in the gut) daily. Sometimes twice daily depending on how much is needed. It's perfectly safe to take while knocked up, unlike coumadin which can cause severe birth defects. In addition to making my blood flow all smooth-like, it can also help prevent blood clots in the placenta, which can cut off nutrients to the baby and cause fetal death. So, 2 shots a day for 9 months? Totally worth it.
Speaking of shots, I thought S would be totally keen on gettin' to stab me, but he seems to be kinda squeamish about the needles.
Our next appointment, the official consult with Dr. M, is Monday 11/2. During that consultation, I'll get poked and prodded and my medical history dissected to determine a treatment plan. Then we hit the nurse coordinator's office to discuss the scheduling of the treatment plan. Then we meet with a financial coordinator to discuss emptying out our bank account to pay for the treatment plan. Doc will give me a prescription to get my $3000-$6000 worth of medication. Ouch. But again, totally worth it.
Though we are crazy excited, it still doesn't feel quite real to me, that we're actually going through with it. It's been a hope in our hearts and minds for so long. This all just feels like a dream......
Monday, October 26, 2009
And So it Begins.....
Well, it's finally arrived. Steve & I (age 43 & 39) are finally embarking on our IVF journey. Now that the time has finally arrived, we are both crazy excited! Yesterday we had about 7 or 8 little hellions running around our place. Despite the breaking stuff, scuff marks on walls (how'd they do that??!), booger picking (and eating) and cat tormenting, we are still completely stoked to try to have one of our own!
Lemme give you a little history on what brought us to this point...In 2006, my OB discovered I had a ginormous fibroid. About the size of a small orange. Couple of golf balls in there as well. Had those removed in 2006 even though we had no immediate plans to try to get pregnant. Subsequent visits to OB showed signs of severe and aggressive endometriosis. I was able to see one of the country's leading endo docs. He went in, removed a couple of small fibroids and cleaned up the endo in early 2008. Later in the year, I visited 3 different reproductive endocrinologists. A friend of mine encouraged me to not get into bed with the first RE that kissed me :-) So, anyway, after further testing, my tubes appeared to be blocked and full of fluid. All 3 docs advised having a bilateral salpingectomy. This is fancy talk for removal of the fallopian tubes. The reason for this is the fluid can leak into the uterus and create a hostile environment for the embryos and keep them from implanting.
On top of all that, my endo was worse than ever. It invaded my colon, for chrissakes! So, we head back to endo doc for what my guy and I determined would be my last surgery. Tubes removed, endo removed, a couple of small fibroids removed. And don't let me forget the bowel resection. About 11 centimeters of my of my colon cut out and they stitched it right back together! I should be all ready to go, but noooooooo! My surgery ended up lasting for almost SIX HOURS and I developed pulmonary embolus. That's fancy talk for blood clots in my lungs that could've killed me. PE is the leading cause of death in hospitals. I thanked my lucky stars I had such stellar docs that recognized the symptoms before it was too late. I was sent home with an old lady pill box, a pill cutter (nifty!), and a prescription for the blood thinner, coumadin. I was to be on it for 6 months, which is how long endo doc said I should wait to try to get knocked up.
So, I'm off coumadin. I've done a battery of tests to make sure I'm not genetically predisposed to getting PE (I'm not, thankfully). This past week, Steve & I did all the prerequisite tests to prepare for this journey. We're good to go. Step one is the seminar we will go to tonite. It's mostly to get an overview of the process (this is mostly for S, as I am all studied up). We will also get to meet our baby doc and interview him. Our official consultation is next Monday. That's when we'll decide on a treatment plan and it's full steam ahead!
I started this blog as a way to keep all of you who have been so supportive in the loop. This is sure to be an emotional, but exhilarating ride.Thanks for all the love. Send warm fertility fuzzies into the universe for us!
Lemme give you a little history on what brought us to this point...In 2006, my OB discovered I had a ginormous fibroid. About the size of a small orange. Couple of golf balls in there as well. Had those removed in 2006 even though we had no immediate plans to try to get pregnant. Subsequent visits to OB showed signs of severe and aggressive endometriosis. I was able to see one of the country's leading endo docs. He went in, removed a couple of small fibroids and cleaned up the endo in early 2008. Later in the year, I visited 3 different reproductive endocrinologists. A friend of mine encouraged me to not get into bed with the first RE that kissed me :-) So, anyway, after further testing, my tubes appeared to be blocked and full of fluid. All 3 docs advised having a bilateral salpingectomy. This is fancy talk for removal of the fallopian tubes. The reason for this is the fluid can leak into the uterus and create a hostile environment for the embryos and keep them from implanting.
On top of all that, my endo was worse than ever. It invaded my colon, for chrissakes! So, we head back to endo doc for what my guy and I determined would be my last surgery. Tubes removed, endo removed, a couple of small fibroids removed. And don't let me forget the bowel resection. About 11 centimeters of my of my colon cut out and they stitched it right back together! I should be all ready to go, but noooooooo! My surgery ended up lasting for almost SIX HOURS and I developed pulmonary embolus. That's fancy talk for blood clots in my lungs that could've killed me. PE is the leading cause of death in hospitals. I thanked my lucky stars I had such stellar docs that recognized the symptoms before it was too late. I was sent home with an old lady pill box, a pill cutter (nifty!), and a prescription for the blood thinner, coumadin. I was to be on it for 6 months, which is how long endo doc said I should wait to try to get knocked up.
So, I'm off coumadin. I've done a battery of tests to make sure I'm not genetically predisposed to getting PE (I'm not, thankfully). This past week, Steve & I did all the prerequisite tests to prepare for this journey. We're good to go. Step one is the seminar we will go to tonite. It's mostly to get an overview of the process (this is mostly for S, as I am all studied up). We will also get to meet our baby doc and interview him. Our official consultation is next Monday. That's when we'll decide on a treatment plan and it's full steam ahead!
I started this blog as a way to keep all of you who have been so supportive in the loop. This is sure to be an emotional, but exhilarating ride.Thanks for all the love. Send warm fertility fuzzies into the universe for us!
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