It's that time again...

Yep, my cycle started last night so it's now time to start the next round of IUI.

I had an appointment this afternoon where they did an ultrasound to check to see if the cysts had all disappeared. I still have one tiny cyst on my right side but she said that it's so small and that it doesn't really count, so we can go ahead with the IUI this month. That was good news, because honestly, I don't think I could have handled having to skip another month without having a meltdown right there in the office.

So I start the first set of meds this Sunday. I take those pills for 5 days and then move on to the injections for 4 days. Then I will go back for another ultrasound to check my follicles on the 20th. The doctor will also determine when I will need to take the tigger shot and when we come back for the insemination. But more then likely the insemination will be on the 22nd.

I asked the nurse (I feel like I never get to see the actual doctor) what's the plan if this one doesn't work because there is only so much I can take. I mean, in the last 6 months, I've had 2 failed IUIs and I've had the disappointment of having to "skip" 3 months because of cysts. This is extremely hard and I just need to see the light at the end...

Anyway, she said that the next step is to have a procedure called Laparoscopy. This is a minor out patient surgery done at the hospital where they put me out and go in through my belly button with a scope to look at my insides. They look for anything that all of the ultrasounds and other tests have not found.

I pushed a little further to find out what's after that. More IUIs? When can we just move on to IVF (Invitro)? She said that the doctor usually schedules a post op appointment where she will discuss our options and tells us what she thinks the next best step would be. And this is where we could also just decide to move on to IVF. I'm glad that she let me know that it's a decision that we can make instead of having to wait for the doctor to decide it's time. She also said that if we decided to go on to IVF, we would have a really high chance of conceiving because even when they know what's wrong with someone, they usually have about a 50% chance with IVF, and since they can't find anything obviously wrong with us, our chance would probably be around 70%. So that's really good and that make me just want to skip to that. But then I had to ask how much the IVF costs without any insurance coverage, just so I could prepare myself for the worst (and I'm about 98% sure my insurance doesn't cover any part of it). And for one round of IVF, it's $14,000. The the cost of a small car!
We do have an option to be able to pay for it that David and I have discussed together if it comes down to the IVF. But I really think I would just die if it still didn't work after we paid $14,000! And that's not even counting everything else we have already spent in the last year on this stuff.

But, I really can't think about that right now. I just have to focus on what we're going through this month and hope this new medicine does the trick. That's all I can do.

In the mean time...Here are some pictures of the dogs that I've edited with my iphone app, TiltShiftGen...since I don't have any real photo editing software :)