Viva Las Vegas!

We have officially decided to do IVF in Las Vegas. I spoke with Dr. F at the S.HER Institute on the phone today and then with their office manager/financial manager and we made our deposit. We have officially reserved a spot for early February.

We qualify for their micro-IVF program and also standard IVF. And although our final decision is up in the air, we also meet the requirements for a special discount program. So we will very likely be doing standard IVF at a rate that is about half way between Micro IVF and Standard IVF. Still a boat-load of money any way you spin it.

Dr. F recommended that I come out to LV for two weeks and although I thought I could arrange it, when I told my boss, she nearly had a heart attack. She has already arranged for about $6000 worth of marketing for a special hearing aid promotion the week before I would head out, she is afraid that the appointments will run into the week that I am gone and also that the patients see before going will need to be seen for follow ups while I am gone.

She has graciously offered to fly me back and forth as needed so that I can essentially be in two places at once. Although I don't know the details yet, Dr. F did say that he has people who stay for 2 weeks and people who fly back and forth. As of right now, it looks like I will be driving myself the 10 hour one-way trip for pre-retrieval monitoring (and whatever other prep work needs to be done), flying back home to work for a day or two, flying out with the husband for egg retrieval, flying back with the husband to work, then flying out for transfer and driving myself back. Hopefully it will be less back and forth and only one trip back in the middle instead of two. I won't know until I talk to the nurse next Thursday.

The one thing that all of this hinges on is my being able to get my records sent from the RE in El Paso. Although I don't think that he can deny me access to my chart, I'm sure his staff will find a way to make it a pain in my ass.

Stay tuned for updates in hopes that things move very quickly over the next month or so.

Side Note: I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas and we'll all have a wonderful New Year!

Phone Call

Me: Hi yes, this is Michele C*****, I just started my period and would like to set up an appointment for my next IUI

Secretary: Dr. N**** has stopped all cycles for the month as he will be out of town for the holiday. Please call us on the first day of your next cycle.

Me: Ok...um...bye

I had surgery in June and was told to try for 3 cycles naturally. He told me at the time of surgery that after the 3 natural cycles that we would do 4 IUI cycles before moving on to IVF.

To me that means 7 cycles before IVF. I asked at the time, what the reason for moving on to IVF at that time was for. I was told that the endo grows back over that period of time and that the likely success of a natural cycle or an IUI is greatly diminished by this regrowth.

I can do math, see:

3 natural cycles, plus 1 more natural cycle because I had to wait have a consultation before I could do an IUI, plus 1 failed IUI, plus 1 cycle sitting out due to a follicular cyst, plus 1 cycle sitting out due to the holiday=7 cycles

Does that mean we are on to IVF?

Is it wrong of me to assume that they would have informed their cycling patients that they would be closed for the Holidays? I was never told, so I just assumed they would be open. And yes, I know many bloggers who are upset by this each year as their offices close for the whole month.

Do I wait another month to be seen to try another IUI that presumably won't work?

Do we move on to IVF with a doctor who does care for his patients and has one of the highest rated embryologists in the country but is rather lackadaisical with issues like time and time sensitive procedures?

Do we do IVF elsewhere and kill ourselves financially and with our schedules to make it work with someplace that is out of state?

I am going to be making some phone calls, but I would appreciate any input or opinions on this situation.

Bullet point update

It's been a while since I updated and nothing major is going on so I thought I'd just summarize the happenings around here. I know everything is better with pictures, but Nate is hogging the computer and I can't upload them.

• Speaking of hogging the computer, Nate is completing his final papers and projects for the semester, I have not done this much homework since...well...never. He is a professional procrastinator and has required my help for most of the work. He would drop out tomorrow if I would let him. But then he would just be a stay at home dad to 6 dogs, and, frankly, that is unacceptable.
• Between Nate's finals and my traveling I have had no personal time or space in about 2 weeks. I don't think that I mentioned it before, but last week, Monday through Friday, I spent my time at two separate trainings. The first was in Chicago and the second was in Phoenix.
• Maybe it was ok that I didn't cycle this month, I was away during ovulation. If we had paid for the meds and then could do IUI or even try naturally, I would have been upset. Nate would have been REALLY pissed off!
• While I was in Chicago I met up with my brother and my sister-in-law for dinner. I was finally able to update them with the infertility stuff that we have been going through. And by update...I mean tell them anything at all. I simply didn't think it would take this long. Because we talked about it, and my sister-in-law felt bad because she didn't know, I told her about this blog. She has been reading old posts to catch up.
• While I was in Phoenix, I made a trip to the Scottsdale mall by myself to have a few watches serviced at a store. Nate was so worried that I was going by myself and that something bad would happen. Nothing bad did happen...except that I thought I lost my wallet at the mall...and I let people know at the 3 stores that I had gone into that I thought I lost it. The girl at Loft made me retrace my steps mentally and my wallet was found...inside my purse...in the zippered pocket. Doh!
• I'm back home and feverishly trying to finish Christmas stockings for my sister and her boyfriend...that she requested last year. I'm almost done, really I am!
• I have future travel dates set for January and February. Anyone out there live in Tucson, AZ? How about Orlando, FL? I wish I lived closer to any of you so that we could meet. My work and training does take me all over the country, but never anywhere where I know that some of you live.
• Maybe all of those bullets could be put into a cohesive paragraph as they are seemingly related, but whatever.