Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Assume the Position: Water Ultrasound and Plan of Care with ICRM-Part II

(CLICK HERE to read Part I-if you missed it)

After the water ultrasound, we met with Jana.  Can I just say that I LOVE all the staff at ICRM.  They are all so friendly and are always smiling (smiles are a big deal to me). . .anyways back to Jana.

As we sat across from her in her office, I began to feel the butterflies flutter in my stomach.  All of a sudden I was hit with the very realness of the situation.  We were given another folder with my paperwork to review and consents to sign.  The paperwork to review is just FAQ's regarding IVF, commonly used IVF acronyms (there are A LOT-I will list later), list of side effects (with medications-yay! Blah!!), my calendar/schedule of shots and appointments, and consent forms.  The consent forms are pretty lengthy: consent to cryopreserve Nic's sperm (long-term storage), consent for birth control, consent for administration of low dose aspirin (I will be taking children's aspirin), consent for administration of Leuprolide Acetate-Lupron (let me tell ya the side effects from this drug are awesome-blah!), consent for administration of gonadotrophins, HCG or clomiphene, consent for IVF and embryo transfer, consent for cryopreservation of embryos, consent for injection of sperm into human egg-ICSI.  Whew!  Were you able to keep up with all of that?  I know I barely could when she was talking about it.

After all the consent forms we went through my calendar.  This is where the butterflies really started fluttering about and I started to get a tad bit nervous.  I think I may have pinched myself a time or two as she was going through everything.  Injections start August 16th and September is when everything "exciting" happens.   I'll be having blood draws (to measure hormones) and ultrasounds (to assess follicles and endometrial lining).  The anticipated day of retrieval is September 10th.  The anticipated date of embryo transfer is September 13th or 15th.  Then 10 days after the transfer, I will take a pregnancy test to see if the procedure worked.  Amazing, right?!  Amazing and unbelievable all at the same time.

After the excitement of everything, came the moment my heart dropped.  We started talking more about the medications and the class we would be taking.  We discussed getting discounted medications since we do not have insurance (baby girl does) and everything is 100% out of pocket.  She gave us a website to go to so we could order half of the medications (the other half will be order through WalGreens Fertility Services).  Jana gave us the quantity we needed to order for Fostimon (FSH) and Merional (HMG).  I saw the price listings next to the quantity and began doing the math in my head.  My heart rate started to pick up.  Then the major kick to my gut: we needed to order the meds TODAY (the day of our appointment)!  I thought we had at least another month to order the meds (or at least 2-3 weeks) so the fact that we had to order them today (!!!), well the planner in me was NOT prepared for that.  I was especially not prepared as to how we were to come up with a little over $1,000 to pay for these meds (ESPECIALLY because we just paid over $700 for our appointment).

As soon as we got in the car I started the word vomit to Nic: "How are we going to get these meds?  We need to order them today! Where are we going to get $1,000?!  We have no extra money whatsoever!  How is this going to work?" Pure panic set in.  My poor sweet husband, always having to be there to calm me down when I'm freaking out things.  He just seems to calm down all my panic with five simple words: "It will all work out."  And he was right, it did.

Some how, in a span of three days we were able to come up with the money we needed to order the meds.  If you were to ask me how, I wouldn't be able to tell you.  I can't remember the details of everything.  It just worked.  Extra money came in (I know that we did get a donation from a family member); we were able to somehow scrounge up the money.  I know it was the Lord's doing.  There's just no other way to explain it.

Half of my meds are in (we already received the meds that we ordered on-line) and we are waiting to hear back from the WalGreen's pharmacy as to how much those meds are going to be (gulp!) and then we will get those ordered and be ready to go for our injection class on the 16th-crazy!

Now, to just come up with the rest of the money for the actual procedure. . .

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