The Pre-Infertility Treatment Rollercoaster

The good part of this month thus far:

Gavin and I went on our cruise!  It was so awesome and relaxing.  My parents joined us so they could spend some quality time with their grandson.  We celebrated his birthday with a cake on he first night.  After the waiters finished singing happy birthday he gave out high-fives and blew kisses.  He's such a flirt!  So many people in our family said not to take him, but I think he had more fun than we did (and I had a lot of fun).  The staff on the Carnival Dream were fantastic and played with him every chance they got.  I definitely spent more time in the cabin than I have had on previous cruises but we got a balcony this time so I could hangout their when Gavin was napping.  I think one of the best things about taking him was giving him a chance try different cuisines and socialize with a wide array of people. 

I applied for a program to get my infertility meds for free.  It's an income based program and I am teetering on their cutoff threshold. I should find out whether or not I am accepted next week.  Crossing my fingers...

I applied for the new hope IVF trial in NYC but was denied, I'm sure its probably because of my weight (They want a BMI less than 32)  but if anyone is interested you should check out http://www.ivfclinicaltrial.com/

The bad part of this month thus far:

I broke my foot the day before we left for the cruise.  The funny part of the story is that I broke it by tripping over Gavin's potty chair in the bathroom.  Needless to say, potty training isn't going well for us ;)  Thank god the first four days of the trip I could just rest and keep my foot up.  Of course the easy access to pina coladas helped dull the pain too.

And then there is the T42 roller coaster.  Right before we left for the cruise, the new RE provided me with my protocol for my first IUI with him. Admittedly, I'm not a doctor so I shouldn't be second guessing his protocol, but I really don't feel comfortable with it.  He wants me to start on a low-dose gonal-f protocol (75iu).  Considering that my cycle that resulted in the birth of Gavin began with 5 days at 200iu and then ended with two days of 225 iu, all to result in three good size follies, I doubt a low-dose protocol will stimulate my ovaries enough to create any follies.

Given the low amh (0.47), I don't feel like I have a lot of time to start all over with a protocol that hasn't worked in the pass.  This is especially true since my insurance company will no longer cover the cost of my medication. 

I should have been able to start my first cycle this past sunday but my cycle started 6 days early.  I was bummed but it has turned into a blessing because I have been having serious issues with a miscommunication between my HR department and our insurance co. I was told that the IUI procedure and medication would not be covered by HR.  I knew the IUI wasn't covered because it wasn't covered when I was trying to conceive Gavin and the medication coverage ended the same month of my last IUI.  Prior to going in for my consultation with the new RE, I asked my HR person to call the insurance company to confirm what items the insurance co. would cover.  She said it wasn't necessary because nothing had changed in the last two years and that the company would cover ultrasounds and bloodwork.  So I went and submitted the information to the RE and went in for my initial bloodwork.  I  have not recieved a bill from the bloodwork yet which I wasn't worried about because my insurance should have covered it.  Today I receive a call from the RE saying that they forgot to do my FDA labs and that I needed to come in and do the labwork and pay $225.    I explained that this should be submitted to my insurance and the nurse told me that my insurance will not cover the testing.  WTH?  I decided to go to my HR person to find out the answer and she told me that nothing should be covered (which is clearly not what she told me two months ago) and that I should expect to receive a bill for my initial bloodwork.  Unfortunately it was too late in the day to get a hold of the insurance company to confirm so now I need to wait until the morning to find out whether or not it is covered.  If this isn't covered, it means my cost of the IUI just went from $300 (without the cost of DS and meds) to ~$2000.  I guess I am going to be on pin and needles for the next 13 hours until we get this all straightened out. 

To add to this shit-tastic week,  my ditzy secretary backed up and hit my car on Tuesday.  Thank god her insurance should cover the $3000 worth of damage along with the cost of the rental car.  

I have been trying to do as much research on low amh as I can.  I found it semi-reassuring that it doesn't mean I'm not going to ovulate or that it directly relates to poor egg quality. I think my goal for the next month is to focus on losing weight and de-stressing to see if that will help to improve my numbers.  I also need to hope that my cycle begins around the 24th or I'm going to have to skip this cycle too because I have a conference to be at in Mid-april.  Ugh, back on the rollercoaster and I haven't even gotten in the stirrups yet!