When Kari had her biopsy done in November we were told that it may take up to 2
weeks before the results would be in due to the Thanksgiving holidays…little did we know that it would take nearly 6 weeks! It turned out not to matter that it took that long anyway. Cindy, our nurse, called to tell me that the clinic closes for 2 weeks during the Christmas holidays and also for a week at the end of January, so instead of having a January 1st retrieval week we are now looking at a February 1st retrieval week. Oh well…at least we had an awesome Christmas vacation! We are thankful that we got to travel and spend time with the family (my brother and sister-in-law even came in from Germany)!
When the nurse informed me of the delay, I asked her if she knew what kind of medications we would be using so that I could do some research on prices with the different fertility pharmacies. Let me tell you, it is sooo worth it to call around for the best price. I called 6 different pharmacies and all of them had very different prices for the same medications. On one medication alone I saved just over $300 because one company had it so much cheaper. Cindy told me that some pharmacies merge with different brands so they are able to offer better prices. Also, another awesome blessing was being informed of a program through Fertility Lifelines. We applied for their program and got approved for $3000 worth of FREE medication! Wahoo! Thank You Lord for favor!
Now, to catch you up on our latest appointments:
I have to put out there that we have an amazing support group of friends and family that have helped us out by watching our children while we go to all of these appointments. We couldn’t have gone through this process as easily without them all. Thank you guys soo much! You are such a blessing!
While we were meeting with the nurse she asked us if we had ever done the trial transfer. “Trial transfer?” Oops. Someone forgot about scheduling that for us and apparently we can’t move on
until we complete that. During the trial transfer the doctor places a catheter the size of a spaghetti strand in the uterus to measure the depth of the uterus. They need to know exactly how large the uterus is so they know where to drop the embryos off during the real transfer. So, of course, we scheduled the procedure for the following day. It’s these kinds of “oops” and “by the ways” that make this process so much like an emotional rollercoaster.
Well, now that you have been caught up with all of the happenings I should be able to post more regularly. Kari took her first shot of Lupron on Wednesday and said she was so glad to find out that she had been making a whole lot out of nothing. I was so glad to hear that it wasn’t that bad since she has to have at least 3 weeks of those particular shots. All I can say is that girl must really love me to endure all the poking and prodding that she has been and will continue to go through (not to mention the 9 months of the pregnancy)! I’m telling you, you won’t find another girl like her in the world! I love you, Kari!
weeks before the results would be in due to the Thanksgiving holidays…little did we know that it would take nearly 6 weeks! It turned out not to matter that it took that long anyway. Cindy, our nurse, called to tell me that the clinic closes for 2 weeks during the Christmas holidays and also for a week at the end of January, so instead of having a January 1st retrieval week we are now looking at a February 1st retrieval week. Oh well…at least we had an awesome Christmas vacation! We are thankful that we got to travel and spend time with the family (my brother and sister-in-law even came in from Germany)!When the nurse informed me of the delay, I asked her if she knew what kind of medications we would be using so that I could do some research on prices with the different fertility pharmacies. Let me tell you, it is sooo worth it to call around for the best price. I called 6 different pharmacies and all of them had very different prices for the same medications. On one medication alone I saved just over $300 because one company had it so much cheaper. Cindy told me that some pharmacies merge with different brands so they are able to offer better prices. Also, another awesome blessing was being informed of a program through Fertility Lifelines. We applied for their program and got approved for $3000 worth of FREE medication! Wahoo! Thank You Lord for favor!Finally, we were told that Kari’s biopsy came back with an excellent report. She has great uterine lining (haha), so no problems there. Also, we received the psychological report for Jon and Kari…that report…not so good…just kidding! They passed with flying colors and there are no hold ups there either. Dr. Burnett got a chance to figure out what Paul and I have known for a while-they are the most awesome people you will ever meet!
One of the last requirements that the clinic has before we begin the medication is the legal contract. This could seem like a daunting task to complete without a patient and very knowledgeable lawyer. A few calls and emails back and forth with our lawyer to discuss questions and concerns produced a contract that met the needs of both couples. Since all four of us are so easy going and have the same beliefs about this whole process there was nothing that we didn’t agree upon. The contract has been completed and that makes us one more step closer to the final result!
Now, to catch you up on our latest appointments:
Kari and I talked several times over the Christmas holidays and we were like giddy school girls counting down the days until her first appointment back. Finally, January 5, 2010
came! We showed up for the scheduled ultrasound to check out her ovaries, once again. Of course, they said everything was perfect and doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing. Later, we were escorted into the meeting room with Cindy, the nurse, to discuss our calendar. This is the real deal! We have been waiting for this “calendar” for a long time! It will list out what day to take how much of each medication. It can be a bit overwhelming to throw it all out there, so Cindy decided to give us a little bit at a time. Right now, Kari has to take one injection of Lupron every morning and continue with her birth control for a few more days. I am supposed to start taking my daily shots of Lupron the following week along with a few more days of my birth control. Last time we did our mock cycle there were so many appointments and things to be doing that the time flew by! We know these next few weeks with our real cycle will be an absolute blur, and we are excited about that!
came! We showed up for the scheduled ultrasound to check out her ovaries, once again. Of course, they said everything was perfect and doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing. Later, we were escorted into the meeting room with Cindy, the nurse, to discuss our calendar. This is the real deal! We have been waiting for this “calendar” for a long time! It will list out what day to take how much of each medication. It can be a bit overwhelming to throw it all out there, so Cindy decided to give us a little bit at a time. Right now, Kari has to take one injection of Lupron every morning and continue with her birth control for a few more days. I am supposed to start taking my daily shots of Lupron the following week along with a few more days of my birth control. Last time we did our mock cycle there were so many appointments and things to be doing that the time flew by! We know these next few weeks with our real cycle will be an absolute blur, and we are excited about that!I have to put out there that we have an amazing support group of friends and family that have helped us out by watching our children while we go to all of these appointments. We couldn’t have gone through this process as easily without them all. Thank you guys soo much! You are such a blessing!While we were meeting with the nurse she asked us if we had ever done the trial transfer. “Trial transfer?” Oops. Someone forgot about scheduling that for us and apparently we can’t move on
until we complete that. During the trial transfer the doctor places a catheter the size of a spaghetti strand in the uterus to measure the depth of the uterus. They need to know exactly how large the uterus is so they know where to drop the embryos off during the real transfer. So, of course, we scheduled the procedure for the following day. It’s these kinds of “oops” and “by the ways” that make this process so much like an emotional rollercoaster. On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, we showed up for what we thought was just the trial transfer, but ended up being the hysteroscopy too. The doctor used a fiber-optic endoscope to look at her uterine lining on a video monitor. They were looking for polyps. Guess what? All the doctor could say was that everything looked absolutely perfect over and over!
Well, now that you have been caught up with all of the happenings I should be able to post more regularly. Kari took her first shot of Lupron on Wednesday and said she was so glad to find out that she had been making a whole lot out of nothing. I was so glad to hear that it wasn’t that bad since she has to have at least 3 weeks of those particular shots. All I can say is that girl must really love me to endure all the poking and prodding that she has been and will continue to go through (not to mention the 9 months of the pregnancy)! I’m telling you, you won’t find another girl like her in the world! I love you, Kari!
