Sunday, August 30, 2009

5 Day Summary..

Lots going on and lots of new information. I hope I remember everything. I almost started making notes so I could keep track , but thought I would be able to remember it all so here goes..
Tuesday 08/25- wrote my last blog- had no cycle, made Dr. Appt with a new OBGYN for my yearly in October, requested all my records from current RE to see if she could help with the clomid.
Wednesday 08/26- STARTED FINALLY! This was day 50 for me. Called the dr. to make appt for my day 3, which was Friday 08/28. Not sure if it was the provera that finally kicked in or if I truly would have started on my own. Anyways, was glad to see it I guess. I also followed up on some emails I had sent to my insurance carrier rep to find out why my visits would be so much, and why wasn't anything covered for me?
Thursday 08/27- got response on my emails, and was referred to this awesome lady named Tina who works for Aetna. She wasnt necessarily in the infertility department, but this lady knew her stuff! She listened to my "rundown" and thought that from what I was saying that my visits should be covered. She urged me to continue to question the office staff at the doctor's office, and I then sent emails back and forth with the office manager. She again told me that my visits would not be covered, and I would have to pay $300 starting that next day. I was prepared for that, but again wrote her back that Aetna just told me that they would be covered, and I never heard back from her.
Friday 08/28- got a phone call from the benefits counselor at the doctors office and she told me that I had to call Aetna's infertility department, register with them, get an authorization number, and bring it to my appointment, because there was going to be ONE MONTH OF CLOMID that Aetna was going to pay for!!!!! Thank goodness I was persistent with my emails!!! They were about to charge me for $900 for the "cycle" and this whole time it was covered???? Makes you wonder what goes on. So I guess if I would not have questioned it they would have ripped me off and been completely ok with it. CRAZY.
I did all the above, got my authorization number, and went to my appt at 11am. They took my blood and I went in "Room #2" and waited for the nurse to start my ultra sound. She came in with my Clomid prescription and a Clomid protocol which was basically a plan for each day of the month, and I was to begin clomid today, Sunday, which was day 5 of my cycle. I had to order an HCG shot that was going to be shipped to me, and I also had that prescription. Then she tells me I cannot start this if my ultrasound shows I have a cyst. Great, you already know where this is going.
She does my ultra sound and I did indeed have a cyst once again on my right ovary. Huge, 33 mm cyst. I was prepared for that at least. She put me on Birth control for one month, to help diminish the cyst, Loestrin24fe, which I started on Friday, prenatal vitamins, and I am supposed to go back next month when I start my cycle again. Which means I will have to go through allllllllll that again with Aetna to get another authorization number and the doctors office again so that they don't charge me $900 instead of running it through my insurance.
We did talk more about the Clomid, and she is starting me at 100mg!!! That really surprised me, because normally you start off at 50 mg and if you don't ovulate with that, they increase it to 100 mg. I guess I just haven't heard of starting off with that much, but it kind of makes me excited! I talked to her about my low carb diet, and told her that it was making me retain alot of water, told her how bloated I had been, and she suggested switching to a low-glycemic diet where you eat "heatltier carbs" which I guess are like whole grains and leafy vegetables. On that note, I am going to do Jenny Craig for a little while because after researching there is no way I can plan my meals on that diet. I would go off track so easily. I have never done Jenny Craig before but Aetna also has discounts for that so that is good news. I start my "meal plans" tomorrow, and got all my groceries today.
Yesterday my dad, Debbie, and Monique came to help us finish our wood floors and helped with the quarter round trim. It looks AMAZING! I will post pictures of it as soon as I finish getting my pillows for my couches. I might even do curtains! I am so proud of Matt, he did a great job, and we couldnt have done it without my folks helping out. My dad has every tool and saw you can think of- he brought two different types of saws with him that were both attached to tables. My garage looked like a "man-cave" and still does with all the saw dust. Before and after pictures coming soon, so stay tuned for that.
We are waiting for Jason's Deli to deliver our dinner, and we are going to cuddle up and watch "the Last House on the Left".

Happy Sunday to ya!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Blah, Blah, Blah

Yuck. No cycle. No Clomid. No fun.
I never started my cycle from the Provera that was prescribed to me on 08/07. I am currently on day 50 of my cycle. Most people only go 28 days, but not this girl. I am miserable, crampy, bloated, hungry as heck and just really feeling yucky! I am almost certain that I have another cyst.
Anyways, I emailed the nurse today to ask her what she thought, and if she had any suggestions or thought maybe we could up the dosage of my provera, and she came back with "Call the office to make an appt for bloodwork". Of course!!! Why didn't I think of that? Geez. I KNEW that was coming!! Again, another $300.
I decided to make an appt with a regular OBGYN. It was time for my well woman exam anyways, and she is actually the doctor that my sister in law Brannon saw when she was pregnant, and she delivered Brannon's baby. Also, she can do the same things that the RE can do, at a much more reasonable cost. The only bad thing, is that that appointment is not until 10/01. They are supposed to call if something comes up sooner. I requested all my records from the RE so hopefully she will be able to be a little bit more aggressive with the cards we are dealt. I am not even opposed to a few months of birth control at this point to get me going on a regular cycle. As long as it is a few months, and we can start trying again immediately when things are normal. Any advice, thoughts, suggestions, feedback? Not really sure where to turn at this point.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Lil' Murray

So we finally sell our female chorkie this week. She has gone to her forever home and her new name is "Ivy". Thought it was cute, because it was the girl's sorority symbol. Better name that what gave her, which was "puppy".
We drove out to Beaumont last night to eat dinner with my brother, sister in law, and my niece, and see their puppies. Their two dogs, Allie and Romo had puppies on Father's Day. 1 female, and 4 males. The female was solid white, and my dad ended up with her. He has always wanted a white female schnauzer so that worked out great. The males were 2 solid black, one chocalate with tan markings and one a light tan. The two black ones look identical to Romo.Let me just tell you that I have always been obsessed with Romo. He is SO cute, and has the cutest personality, and looks just like my Cash, the giant schnauzer. They take pictures together alot. Allie is a doll too, don't get my wrong, and she made beautiful puppies. So you can see where I am going with this.. I love love love the little black one, so we bought it. It was actually more Matt's idea than it was mine. I have such a soft place in my heart for dogs, and have wanted a schnauzer. I grew up with one of the greatest schnauzer's ever: T-Jacque.. and then my brother got T-Romo, so now I have his son, T-Murray. He is soooo sweet!!! Kim and my brother Matt did a great job the first few weeks of these dogs lives. They got their tails docked and their dew claws cut, registered them and got their shots. They even had a professional photo shoot done by their wedding photographer- Jessica Hicks. So ADORABLE!
We are totally excited!!!! Ours is #4 from left to right.
I know what you are thinking!!! 4 dogs!!! I know, but what is one more? Especially when it's going to stay in the family, and still can see his mom, dad, and sister!! Holidays will definetely be uneventful, that's for sure. My 4 dogs, my families 4 dogs, my brother's 3 dogs, and my brother Seth just got a dog! We are dogged out!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

I heart Saturdays!

Ohhhh how I love me some Saturdays. Wake up, remember that its Saturday, smile really big, go back to sleep, probably smiling, get up an hour or two later, take out the dogs, let them play in the backyard for a while, go sleep another hour, and then go play online until Matt wakes up. Then the day usually consist of some type of shopping, watching movies, cooking.... ahhhhhh it's the best.
Today we are going grocery shopping, and I am meeting someone at the store who wants to buy something from me from kingwoodyardsales.com. I freakin' love that website. I have made probably $500 from selling things that I don't use, don't wear, don't need in my house. I have had a cooler in my garage for two years, (stainless, really nice) that we only used once- 2 years ago, and somone came and took if off my hands for $30 last night!!! $30 for something that was collecting dust!!!
I plan on going to half price books. I just got the final Twilight book, Breaking Dawn, but I was looking for books on PCOS. I know that you are more successful in the diet/and baby making areas when you cut out carbs. Has to do something with the way your body processes sugar or something. Don't know for certain- that is why I want to read up on it.
I plan on spending alot of time at the grocery store, really doing some serious label reading, and starting my low-carb lifestyle today. I don't plan on eggs, meat and cheese only. Maybe for the first few weeks, but I do plan on throwing in some low carb bread, bagels, tortillas, etc. Maybe I will post some pictures of my low carb creations. Hopefully the low carb lifestyle helps out when I start clomid, within the next week.
I know what you are thinking, I should have started it already right? Well, I can't start it until day 3 of my cycle, and I had no cycle, so I picked up my prescription for Provera last night to kick it in gear. I had some drama with the doctors office over it. They wanted me to come in for blood work to make sure I wasn't pregnant. Bloodwork= $300.00. I know I am not pregnant, like I haven't taken a test every day this week. I finally had to call in and ask them to have the dr. call me, and all of a sudden it was ok to prescribe it without bloodwork. I think the nurses are on commission. Anyways, Provera worked like a charm last time, and I am praying for the same this round so I can start clomid. I have read alot of succes stories about women getting pregnant on the first round, and then there are some women who never take to it. I hope it works for me- I have faith and have put it in God's hands. I know if it is what is meant to be for Matt and I, it will surely happen.
Hope your Saturday is full of heart too (;

Monday, August 3, 2009

Diagnosis Discovered!

Finally had my consultation today with the RE. He looked at all my test so far, bloodwork, ultra sounds, HSG test, etc. as well as Matt's test that he had to do. He diagnosed me with a slight case of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) mainly because I am just not ovulating. That's all. That is the problem. All this time and I have probably never ovulated before. And now for the good news and the BAD news..

Good news first:

I am supposed to start my cycle this week, and when I do, I go in on cycle day 3 for an ultrasound to make sure there are no cyst. If there are NO cyst (pray for this please) then I begin Round 1 of Clomid!!!! Clomid is known for multiples, which we are totally ok with. This will help/make me ovulate, and I will go back mid-cycle to find out if I am ovulating and I might be given a trigger shot at this time to "force" the release of an egg. Then we dance.. baby dance style.

Bad news..

The insurance company no longer covers any visits or medication because there is now a diagnosis. They only pay for testing, which is extremely common and infertility is typically not covered. Each visit going forward (and I will go 2-3 times per month) will cost $300 each!!! WOW. Not to rant and rave about this, because I know that a baby is what we want, and will be so worth it, but oh my goodness!! How do people afford this? The insurance specialist gave me a paper that was pretty detailed on pricing and procedures. The clomid is definitely the least expensive way to go, and then if that doesn't work we get into the daily shots, which is $500 per visit, and the price does not include any medications. Again, I know it will be worth it, and I would be totally fine with it if I knew 100% it would work on the first round, but who gets that lucky?? I am just thankful they know what the problem is, and that it can be fixed.
That is pretty much it- I always feel like I have a million questions and when I get in there to actually talk to him I forget what I was going to ask. Doesn't help that he spent well over 30 minutes with the other people while I was in the waiting room reading Baby Magazines (is that even appropriate, at a Fertility Doctor??) and had me in and out in like 3 minutes. I guess that is good news, maybe he had more concerns with them. He was confident that I was at a great age and had no doubts that this would work for us, so please continue to pray for Matt and I.
We are beyond ready for this next step in our lives!

 
Template: Blog Designs by Sheila