Nine Years

I have thought of writing this post in several different ways. But after nine years of treatment, it doesn't feel like there is much more to say. We have come a long way and done a lot in the past nine years.

Nine years ago I was 21 and DH was 22. We lived in a duplex and had his younger brother (16) living with us. We had a 1 year old black lab. Decent jobs (he is still at the same one!) and weren't doing too bad. We decided to try having a baby, even though I'd already been off birth control for a while. And that is how our infertiliity journey started. And, thankfully, he has stuck by my side the entire time.

In the last 9 years we have done 2 HSGs, 11 rounds of clomid with timed intercourse, 1 ovarian drilling surgical procedure with hysteroscopy, and 2 rounds of IUI with clomid AND injections.

Infertility is such an emotional and heartbreaking journey that there are several years of non-BC breaks throughout the 9 year period.

We considered adoption and after one potential fall through we decided that the emotional toll would be too great for us at this time.

Our next step? IVF.

We had our consult April 10th. Since then I have had an HSG done again (much better than my first experience!) and a sono to check on my ovaries. We have discussed IVF variation options and pricing and have a plan. We are hopeful that this is it and will finally work. All I have to do is lose 18 lbs before CD 35 (if no period) and then we can begin.

But now we are waiting. And I forgot how HORRIBLE the waiting is. You say you'll be fine, you've had to do all sorts of waiting before, but you become obsessed with information and wish the days could go by faster so you could just START. It is difficult to distract yourself because IVF is like a thought bubble in your head that won't pop. You eat, sleep, and DREAM about it. You buy books, make mock-up calendars, and an IVF organizational binder. You luck up IVF and infertility charms and special clothes for ER (egg retrieval) day and transfer day. You join IVF support groups on facebook and it ends up flooding your newsfeed so that is all you see and therefore can't stop thinking about. People ask questions, you gladly tell them because you are excited, and then realize that any positive pregnancy announcement won't be a surprise and that part kinda sucks. May 17th needs to get here soon and these remaining 14 lbs need to disappear ASAP.

I thought after all these years I've learned patience. Apparently not. I even agreed with the doctor that I wouldn't do any HPT before the blood draw after transfer... Yeah, I have a feeling I won't be as strong as I initially thought about that.

This week is NIAW. Seeing the number of friends, family, and people that are dealing with infertility is just overwhelming. It is devastating knowing that so many of us are going through issues with infertility, whether it is at the beginning of the spectrum or the end, it sucks for everyone to have to deal with it for even 1 day. But, you are not alone. You've read some of what I've been through, especially if you have followed this blog for the last.... 5 (?) years. Ask us questions. Find us on our facebook page. I wish you all luck and baby dust.

Shannon

Medication cost

I posted a while ago about insurance non-coverage, well here's some numbers I wish we're easier to find, since the mail order pharmacy is shady about giving out this info:

Gonal-F ( I needed 3 900 iui pens)
$1380 each!!! If you can get the discount card for cash paying patients, it's $744 each. If u have insurance coverage you can get for free but u can only use either card once in 28 days so try to get all ur medication at once.

Microdose or low dose HCG (an injectable compound)
$95 at the local pharmacy out of pocket plus the cost of syringes -__- which were $4 each bag of 10.
Mail order from freedom pharmacy was $70. This was one my pharmacy couldn't do because it was an injectable compound.


Certatide (I needed 3 of these but was prescribed and paid for 4 :-/)
From freedom pharmacy $86 each for a total of $344, the maker back orders it for smaller pharmacies.

Novarell
$89.90 from freedom, it was discontinued for my pharmacist to purchase. The alternative is Ovidrel which is $95

Vivelle dot (estrogen patches since I have estrogen issues)
This one has a discount program that is free with insurance, but freedom told me they were 67.81 for a box of 8, or 9.51 each. Which stinks because these are estrogen patches meant to be changed once every 72 hours, however the longest mine have gone is 48 hours...

Doxycycline (antibiotic and typically covered by any insurance)
Freedom said copay was $10.67, idk how much it really was but my pharmacy got it for me for a $5 copay.

Methylpredisolone (idk what this was but took 16mg once a day for 4 days after the retrevial)
Freedom said the copay for this one was $4, again idk how much it was for real because my pharmacy got it taken care of for me, so I think it's one of those on a discount thing. It was 16 mg a day for 4 days.

Progesterone in oil (so far just 2 vials)
Freedom said $55 each vial.

Apparently some of these medications have discount cards that can get the medication heavily discounted or free when used with insurance! Big thanks to Raj and the staff 15RX pharmacy in San Antonio who worked for 2 days straight to help me pay as little as possible! They were like angels from God when I needed stress relieved.

Freedom pharmacy said I would pay $3090 out of pocket (mind you this is with insurance)
Shopping around I paid $1792 out of pocket. Could have been less if I didn't wait for the last minute to order everything (mind you this is the EXACT SAME FREAKIN INSURANCE!) I'm grateful for the insurance coverage I have but still think its ridiculous how little it pays and how my lifetime max is $5k! Thats one cycle!

Anyway, I hope this helps people get an idea of out of pocket costs