It was the week before Christmas

[ilovecandy]

No weekly thread yet? What is everyone up to this week?

We just got to my parents house after two days of driving. So the plan is to family and chill. My family's group text is cracking me up today because my dad backed into our truck (minor damange on our truck that my husband has already popped the dent back out). So now my brothers and I are cracking jokes and sending gifs in the family group text about it. My poor dad's vehicle apparently has more damage but I haven't seen it yet.

[stellelinds25]

Two days of driving? That sounds awful! Enjoy your family time!

We had our initial consult with the new RE on Monday...we chose perfectly. I really like the doctor (who had all 3 of her children via IVF) and she is moving us right into IVF again with my January period. I'm going for an HSG tomorrow (I never had one because we were straight to IVF, but she said she wants one) and there is some blood work I need to have done and she wants to do another saline sono so she can see where all my parts are. But aside from that, they aren't making us redo any testing! I'm due for my period around 1/6, so we'll start BCP then and move on from there. We ended up deciding against PGS for now...but we ARE doing the genetic blood screen to see if we are carriers for anything in common (I can't believe we never did this before...I'm not sure if it wasn't offered or if it wasn't explained in the same way she explained it). All in all I'm excited, I have some hope again and I'm mad at myself I let my previous RE dick around for so long.

[msmerymac]

The good news is that I got the finance person at the new RE to start the insurance pre-cert process.

The bad news is that I heard from the pharmacy and my portion of the meds for this cycle is already $4800. And it looks like that counts against my lifetime max, but my pharma deductible is separate from my medical deductible. Fun times. I should need to start right after/around New Years, so we need to figure it out ASAP - when we're going to order, if it will be this cycle or next, etc. And the office finance person is only in the office Mon-Thurs.

My BFF is probably(?) having her baby today. The 12th was her due date and she was supposed to be induced last night. She called at 4 and they told her to call back at 6 and at 6 they told her to come in at 8:30, which... sounds super fun. A night of pitocin and no sleep, plus not being able to eat dinner before you get there!

[G22]

My family and ILs are coming to us this year. They all get in this weekend. I've got plenty of cleaning and grocery shopping to do to get ready for them.

I've also got nasty cold that is kicking my butt this week. I'm so congested and just want to be able breathe again.

[pickel]

Still hanging in there with Lupron and hoping my baseline goes well on Friday so I can start estrogen. I am so excited to think we could be less than 4 weeks away from a transfer.

The last week has been insane at work. Our paralegal had an abrupt and somewhat dramatic exit last week so I've been dealing with the fallout of that and having to pick up her work in addition to my already very full plate.

We are traveling back to my hometown this weekend and will stay there all week. I am excited to go back home and get away from here for awhile!

[chocolatepie]

XMas is sorta a non-event for us since we aren't near family. We are still deciding what to do on Christmas - I have to do something fun or I get weepy. Right now we're planning lunch/time at the beach. Hopefully the weather forecast holds!

I had my post-op on Monday morning and he got me mixed up with someone else and told me that next step before we could start IVF was a saline sonogram. He's never mentioned that before so I was a tad surprised. He said that he knew things were fine in there after the surgery but that the FDA required it before the study. So now I'm confused... what does the FDA have to do with my IVF? LOL He says they can only do so many a month so he'll see when the next available is. Gets on the phone and lady tells him next sonogram opening wouldn't be until March or April. So now I'm nearly in tears...

So I say "so, my understanding is that we could move ahead with retrieval as soon as the post-op was cleared but just have to wait 2 months to transfer. that's not the case?"

He flips open my chart and says "OH! You have coverage! I was thinking you had to do IVF through the study. Nevermind!"

I have no idea what an IVF study is but was thankful I didn't have to wait until April for a saline sonogram before we can start.

So he pulled in the coordinator who has me starting BCP on Jan 1 and meeting w her on Jan 4 to get injection schedule. Aiming for a retrieval first week of February if all goes well.

She said that we wouldn't be able to transfer until late March or early April? Does that make sense for a first of February retrieval?

So now I have even more questions LOL but am SO THANKFUL we are making progress!

[G22]

chocolatepie thats frustrating that he didnt look at your chart real quick before coming into the appt so he knew which patient he was working with.

With your retrieval, will you be doing a fresh or frozen transfer? (I'm sorry I'm not up on your history!) If fresh, then you'd do a transfer between 3-5 days post retrieval. If frozen transfer, then its possible it may take that long depending on how your clinic does them. I've only done fresh transfers to date, so I'm not sure how fast you could do a FET after a retrieval. Definitely ask questions so you know what's going on!

[megstoo]

I feel like I'm so far behind. I haven't gotten any groceries yet for Christmas Eve/Day. It's tradition to have lasagna on Christmas Day. A tradition my mom started and I refuse to let go In order to get that done I have to get the sauce started today so I can do the noodles tomorrow. The sauce generally takes 3 days to make.

I also have to finish shopping for DH.
We'll go back to see family the beginning of January. DH wants to stay for 6 days, I think that's 2 days to long but he won't compromise at 5.

On the IF front: I am starting LDN and prednisone today for priming until we start stims's next month. The only med I haven't gotten yet is Lupron. I'm SO glad I decided to wait until middle of January. I thought I'd be ok doing it now but to much stress going on with work etc.

[chocolatepie]

Dec 19, 2018 14:11:32 GMT -5 G22 said:

chocolatepie thats frustrating that he didnt look at your chart real quick before coming into the appt so he knew which patient he was working with.

With your retrieval, will you be doing a fresh or frozen transfer? (I'm sorry I'm not up on your history!) If fresh, then you'd do a transfer between 3-5 days post retrieval. If frozen transfer, then its possible it may take that long depending on how your clinic does them. I've only done fresh transfers to date, so I'm not sure how fast you could do a FET after a retrieval. Definitely ask questions so you know what's going on!

We are using frozen - I am still so new to all of this and don't know what takes nearly 2 months to do. 

At that coordinator consult meeting I'm asking ALL the questions. We were trying to get an idea of timing just for scheduling (vacation) reasons so she rattled off those dates to me when I met with her this week but I felt bad taking up more of her time knowing we're coming back in 2 weeks for "the" consult. 

[seeyalater52]

Dec 19, 2018 14:01:04 GMT -5 chocolatepie said:

XMas is sorta a non-event for us since we aren't near family. We are still deciding what to do on Christmas - I have to do something fun or I get weepy. Right now we're planning lunch/time at the beach. Hopefully the weather forecast holds!

I had my post-op on Monday morning and he got me mixed up with someone else and told me that next step before we could start IVF was a saline sonogram. He's never mentioned that before so I was a tad surprised. He said that he knew things were fine in there after the surgery but that the FDA required it before the study. So now I'm confused... what does the FDA have to do with my IVF? LOL He says they can only do so many a month so he'll see when the next available is. Gets on the phone and lady tells him next sonogram opening wouldn't be until March or April. So now I'm nearly in tears...

So I say "so, my understanding is that we could move ahead with retrieval as soon as the post-op was cleared but just have to wait 2 months to transfer. that's not the case?"

He flips open my chart and says "OH! You have coverage! I was thinking you had to do IVF through the study. Nevermind!"

I have no idea what an IVF study is but was thankful I didn't have to wait until April for a saline sonogram before we can start.

So he pulled in the coordinator who has me starting BCP on Jan 1 and meeting w her on Jan 4 to get injection schedule. Aiming for a retrieval first week of February if all goes well.

She said that we wouldn't be able to transfer until late March or early April? Does that make sense for a first of February retrieval?

So now I have even more questions LOL but am SO THANKFUL we are making progress!

I’m so glad you don’t have to wait that long for the saline sono!

My clinic has patients with insurance coverage take a rest cycle after a retrieval before a FET (if no fresh transfer) and in between FETs and also typically do natural start transfers rather than birth control priming (unless the patient doesn’t get a cycle at all.) They prefer this for all patients to give the body a rest and hormones a chance to even out before starting again, but with insurance it’s necessary to get a new pre-authorization for each cycle and they can’t start the cycle until it’s approved, and it can take 2-3 weeks. So the rest cycle is also a chance to wrap up that piece. It does make things feel sloooooow sometimes but I’m grateful for the coverage so I try not to complain too much.

[seeyalater52]

Just finishing up my mock cycle this week. Hysteroscopy and ERA biopsy on Friday, then just waiting for results and for my rest cycle so we can make a plan for transfer #4 in late Feb or early March.

I’ve developed a delightful new sensitivity to the adhesive on the tiny round bandaids I used to use for PIO shots (now that I’m on baby aspirin I bleed quite a bit more than I used to) so that’s been super fun. Out of nowhere in my 4th cycle using them is pretty annoying and it’s definitely due to the bandaid and not a reaction to the PIO. Troubleshooted it the past few days by not using a bandaid and just sitting on a gauze pad forever after the shot which is annoying but thankfully it seems to have eliminated the reaction. Immune and allergy stuff and fertility is such a mystery I’d hate for this to become a whole new factor to worry about.

[landmermaid]

My H got his workup today. I'm waiting on my period so I can schedule my saline sonogram. I'm hoping I can get it in before the end of the year and my deductible resets.

Now that his stuff is done we'll meet with the RE to go over everything soon. And I've started seeing an acupuncturist. I hate the time ticking by with all this waiting, but she made me feel better about taking a little R&R time for the body.

I'm having lots of emotions these days. I don't know if it's the holidays or what, but every so often this struggle just hits me sideways.

On the plus side, I'm hosting Christmas this year. I love the craziness even though I have a small house. It's going to be my side and my H's, 14 adults, 4 kids, 3 dogs, and I'm sure a Clark Griswold-esque breakdown 😂 I'm super excited!

[msmerymac]

chocolatepie, they were probably talking about a clinical trial for the "study." A lot of people without insurance coverage try to get into a clinical trial - it could be using a specific medical protocol or a new drug or an existing drug that's being tested in a new form or whatever. But they have to abide by the trial's specific regulations.

Also, if you retrieve on Feb 1, you'll get your period about 2 weeks later. Then you'll do the transfer about 2.5-3 weeks into your next cycle if it's a FET, so late March makes sense. Good luck!

[pickel]

seeyalater52 's post reminded me, can you all talk to me about the PIO shots? How bad is it? Can I do the shot myself? Any tips?

[seeyalater52]

Dec 20, 2018 9:48:07 GMT -5 pickel said:

seeyalater52 's post reminded me, can you all talk to me about the PIO shots? How bad is it? Can I do the shot myself? Any tips?

I don't find them that bad. If you are limber enough to twist and stab the correct spot while not putting any weight on your leg on that side so you don't tense up the muscle you should be able to do it yourself. I have done it a couple of times in a pinch, although I prefer for my wife to do them. I find that if I heat the oil slightly (stick it in my bra or under my arm) for a few mins before, ice the spot I'm injecting into for about a minute (you can skip this if you want, some people swear it causes knots but I've done it both ways and icing is better for me), and then apply a localized heating pad to the spot afterwards for maybe 5 mins it's not too bad. Being active after the shot (taking a walk, doing some high knees) also helps. It bruises a little and is moderately sore the next day, but if you switch sides each night it's not terrible. 

[msmerymac]

Dec 20, 2018 9:48:07 GMT -5 pickel said:

seeyalater52 's post reminded me, can you all talk to me about the PIO shots? How bad is it? Can I do the shot myself? Any tips?

Like seeyalater52 said, it can be hard to find the right spot. I was told I can do the butt or do the upper thigh. The needles are big because the oil is a bit thick, but it goes in smoothly and quickly with the bigger needles, so don't freak out. I sometimes get a little oil leaking out after the injection, so I have gauze on hand for after the shot - ruined a few pairs of underwear before I started that!

[woowoo]

pickel, the first time I had to do one I was by myself, in a hotel, with no one to help me. I came UNGLUED. I totally psyched myself out, cried like 4x, and held the syringe for so long (over an hour) that I rubbed all the numbers off.

Then I finally did it and it literally didn't hurt at all. I felt so silly. I had to talk myself up a few times after than, then I got the hang of things both mentally and physically. In the following months I did them in an airplane bathroom (while in the air), airport bathrooms, restaurant bathrooms, Disney World first aid centers, literally the list goes on and on. I promise you, they aren't as bad as you think they will be.

I did foam roll my hips every time I could after the shot and also usually every morning. That helped keep the knots and soreness at bay.

[starryfish]

just in the waiting game. I can test this weekend but b/w isnt until 12/26.

My family is coming here for Christmas, so I have to clean tomorrow as they arrive this weekend! And I need to WRAP all the gifts!!!!

[seeyalater52]

Hysteroscopy and biopsies went ok. They refused to give me a Valium so I was kind of freaking out. Then they had to dialate my cervix to get the scope in there and that SUCKED but thankfully (?) that hurt so much that I barely registered the biopsy part. I’m so glad it’s over.

Hysteroscopy was textbook, definitely nothing observably wrong with my uterus. ERA will take 2-3 weeks for results and the regular pathology biopsy should be ready next week. Remains to be seen whether we learn anything from these tests but at least we may have eliminated some potential causes of the RPL.

[chocolatepie]

Dec 21, 2018 10:38:03 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Hysteroscopy and biopsies went ok. They refused to give me a Valium so I was kind of freaking out. Then they had to dialate my cervix to get the scope in there and that SUCKED but thankfully (?) that hurt so much that I barely registered the biopsy part. I’m so glad it’s over.

Hysteroscopy was textbook, definitely nothing observably wrong with my uterus. ERA will take 2-3 weeks for results and the regular pathology biopsy should be ready next week. Remains to be seen whether we learn anything from these tests but at least we may have eliminated some potential causes of the RPL.

That sounds awful! I can't believe they wouldn't give you anything to make you more comfortable - did they have a reason why? 

[seeyalater52]

Dec 21, 2018 11:11:36 GMT -5 chocolatepie said:

Dec 21, 2018 10:38:03 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Hysteroscopy and biopsies went ok. They refused to give me a Valium so I was kind of freaking out. Then they had to dialate my cervix to get the scope in there and that SUCKED but thankfully (?) that hurt so much that I barely registered the biopsy part. I’m so glad it’s over.

Hysteroscopy was textbook, definitely nothing observably wrong with my uterus. ERA will take 2-3 weeks for results and the regular pathology biopsy should be ready next week. Remains to be seen whether we learn anything from these tests but at least we may have eliminated some potential causes of the RPL.

That sounds awful! I can't believe they wouldn't give you anything to make you more comfortable - did they have a reason why? 

Not “medically indicated” as they don’t prescribe Valium for emotional relaxation but to avoid uterine cramping during transfers. I was kind of annoyed but I’m not sure it would have helped too much anyways.

[fairfax]

Dec 21, 2018 10:38:03 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Hysteroscopy and biopsies went ok. They refused to give me a Valium so I was kind of freaking out. Then they had to dialate my cervix to get the scope in there and that SUCKED but thankfully (?) that hurt so much that I barely registered the biopsy part. I’m so glad it’s over.

Hysteroscopy was textbook, definitely nothing observably wrong with my uterus. ERA will take 2-3 weeks for results and the regular pathology biopsy should be ready next week. Remains to be seen whether we learn anything from these tests but at least we may have eliminated some potential causes of the RPL.

Oh no, I’m sorry it was so painful! I am scared for mine, but I so hope it gives some answers/insights for you!

[seeyalater52]

Dec 21, 2018 12:23:10 GMT -5 fairfax said:

Dec 21, 2018 10:38:03 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Hysteroscopy and biopsies went ok. They refused to give me a Valium so I was kind of freaking out. Then they had to dialate my cervix to get the scope in there and that SUCKED but thankfully (?) that hurt so much that I barely registered the biopsy part. I’m so glad it’s over.

Hysteroscopy was textbook, definitely nothing observably wrong with my uterus. ERA will take 2-3 weeks for results and the regular pathology biopsy should be ready next week. Remains to be seen whether we learn anything from these tests but at least we may have eliminated some potential causes of the RPL.

Oh no, I’m sorry it was so painful! I am scared for mine, but I so hope it gives some answers/insights for you!

It would have been fine if my cervical opening wasn’t so tiny! The dialation wasn’t super fun, but it was bearable and didn’t go on for too long. I’ve jever had a dialation before as the catheter that they use for IUIs and transfers is smaller (and for IUIs my cervix was always nice and open around ovulation.) I will say it was very cool to be awake and be able to see the inside of my uterus via camera! I’m sure not many people get to see that!

[turboteal]

msmerymac do you need estrogen patches or crinone? I have lots of the first and some of the second (18ish applicators?) if you could use them.

[msmerymac]

Dec 22, 2018 16:28:14 GMT -5 turboteal said:

msmerymac do you need estrogen patches or crinone? I have lots of the first and some of the second (18ish applicators?) if you could use them.

Not as far as I know (I have oral estrace and PIO), but thank you!