The waiting game....

Alright…we had another appointment at Dr. Hansen’s today. It was really just a meeting to go over some things and talk about our options.

We did find out for sure that the problem is definitely me and not Tim. So we went over my records and all of the blood test that he had done. All of my levels are good and normal. The only thing that concerns him is my progesterone levels. As I said previously he wants to make sure that I am ovulating and the progesterone levels last cycle showed that I had not. Of course because I have had a period every month for a really long time we both think that last cycle may have been just a freak cycle.

Due to the medroxyprogesterone I had to take earlier this month he is unsure as to whether I will have my normal cycle or if the medicine will reset my cycle. Because of that he had a blood sample taken today because normally I should have ovulated sometime last week or this past weekend. I should get a call with the results tomorrow. On the chance that the pill reset my cycle I should ovulate sometime later this week. So either way I have to go back in next Monday to give another sample.

So on to our options…there are two paths that we could follow. If last cycle was not a fluke and I don’t actually ovulate then that is pretty much an easy fix:

* One is that they will start me on a low dose of clomid and it will be a guessing game as to when I ovulate and fingers cross we “baby dance” at the correct time. And each cycle that we don’t get pregnant he will increase the dosage.

* Two is that we still do the stair step dosing of clomid but this time we will go in to the Dr.’s office and instead of guessing when to “baby dance” he will do an ultrasound to tell us exactly when to dance.

* And three, is that there is study that Dr. Hansen’s partner Dr. Craig is doing. She is looking into different ways to give clomid. What she would do is start me on a low dose of clomid and then on a certain day I would go in if I was still not going to ovulate, she would immediately put me on a higher dosage.

The second path has to do with if I do ovulate and we are diagnosed with unidentified infertility. If that is the case then there are actually four options:

* One, we will do 3-4 cycles of a clomid regiment and an Intra-uterine insemination (IUI). This is where they use the clomid to make me ovulate and then when I do ovulate they take Tim’s ingredient and put it directly into my uterus. Which has an 8-10% success rate. Which doesn’t sound like much but seeing as Tim and I only have a 2-3% chance of pregnancy as it is, 8-10 is a really significant difference.

* Two is the same as one but instead of using clomid I would be taking FSH. And I would still have the IUI done. This has a 10-15% chance of a resulting pregnancy.

* Three would be IVF. Self explanatory. This has a 60% chance of success. Of course our insurance doesn’t cover and it would cost us $12000-$14000. So it is definitely out of the question.

* And option four is a study. The federal government is doing a study on types of fertility treatments for couples diagnosed with unexplained infertility. If we qualify then we will get randomly selected and put into one of three categories. We will get 3-4 cycles of a certain infertility treatment at no cost to us.

So as you can see, depending on my results we have many different options to pick from. So….I guess now it is just the waiting game.