Well, we are back from Denver with a lot to think about! First of all, Denver was beautiful, and CCRM was a very nice facility with very nice staff - although after everything that I had heard about it from people who had been, I have to admit I was expecting it to be a little grander! haha!
So most of the day was spent talking to a lot of people. We met with a nurse (a very scary nurse I might add) who gave us a basic run through of how CCRM works. Then we met with the nurse that we will be working with for our IVF cycle. She was super nice and informative. I had an ultrasound to check my antral follicle count (resting follicles) and they saw 9 follicles total. They also saw two cysts on my left ovary which completely freaked me out at first. Then we met with the doctor and he didn't seem to be too concerned about the cysts. He just said we'll keep an eye on them and hope they go away on their own. He said that an antral follicle count of 9 isn't great for someone my age but it isn't terrible either. He said it's just below average so he doesn't see why we can't give IVF another shot with my own eggs - yippee! He said it will take a pretty aggressive protocol (lot of meds) but he's willing to give it a shot. In that same ultrasound they checked the blood flow to my uterus - that was pretty cool to watch. Everything looked good there, and he said that the shape of my uterus looked good, too!
When I had the HSG a year ago it showed a blockage at the distal end of my tubes but no dilation which means that there wasn't any fluid in the tubes (what is called hydrosalpinx)so the doctors I have talked to didn't have any concern about my tubes being blocked as long as I'm doing IVF - since IVF bypasses the tubes. Well, Dr. Surrey seems to think that I need to have a laproscopic surgery to remove the tubes to be on the safe side. Just in case there is some fluid in the tubes, he doesn't want to take the chance that the fluid could flow back into my uterus and kill any embryos that are trying to implant. We've been here before - trying to decide whether or not to have the lap done, although before it was to clear the tubes, now it's to remove them. We decided against it because the lap surgery would have cost around $10,000 - about the same as an IVF cycle and we figured we would put our money towards something that would be more successful (or we hoped anyway). So at first R and I were pretty against it. We just don't have an extra $10,000 laying around! But then the nurses talked to our insurance company and convinced them to pay 50% of the surgery. We're still not convinced it's necessary, and we still don't have $5,000 laying around! So who knows - just another decision to make!
We met with the business office and signed all sorts of consents - R and I felt like we were buying a house we signed our names so many times! I had another ultrasound of my uterus done where he checked to see if there were any fibroids or polyps that would get in the way and all was clear. It wasn't the most comfortable experience because he also did a trial transfer to make sure there wouldn't be any problems when the actual transfer happened. But it was just some cramping that went away pretty soon afterward. During that time R had to give a sample - the boys always have the easy part!
Then R and I both had to give blood for some tests. R had to give 2 whole vials and he was such a baby about it. Until I got in the chair and had to give 10 vials of blood - after that I felt a little light headed but the nurse gave me some juice and cookies. R got some juice and cookies too for being such a good support system! :) We should get those results sometime this week - they're checking hormone levels as well as testing to see if I carry the fragil x gene. We opted not to get the other genetic tests run because we don't have any reason to think we are carriers. We might get the tests done at a clinic here, because there's more of a possibility that insurance will cover it.
All of our meetings regarding donor eggs were very short or canceled because we no longer needed to discuss that possibility, so we got to leave a little early. It was a long day for sure, but very informative!
Now we'll wait to get the blood test results back and we have a phone follow up with Dr. Surrey on the 23rd. In the meantime I have to wait for my next cycle to start and I have to go some place here to have my blood drawn on day three of my cycle, freeze it in my freezer, and ship it to CCRM for them to test my day three hormone levels.
Lots to think about! I will post more when I find out results!
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