12.29.2009

Call back from Hilgers and not too late for one last thought on waiting...

We all can relate to Sew right now.  We are doers, and we are at our best when we can make use of that skill!  Today I got a call back from Dr. Hilger's staff.  He said that I should still get on the meds this cycle, and that we are still on the same plan (avoid and medicate this cycle, blood draw peak plus 7).  If the next draw comes back with good levels that can support a pregnancy, green light to ttc.  If not, then whenever it does-could be next month or could be several.  I was a little surprised, overall, having prepared myself to not even start meds this cycle.  It's amazing what happens when you give something over.
Here is what I am on-everything I was on before, really.
T3, prenatal, B6 (already taking).  Add baby aspirin daily, biaxin CD1-10 (dh and me), clomid (25mg) CD 3,4,5 (today is CD 4 so they said I could do 4,5,6 just this cycle); amox CD 11-15, mucinex cd15-Peak +2, and hcg post peak 3,5,7, and 9.  Plus probiotics.

There were a few surprises. 1) I expected biaxin 21 days before cyclical.  I didn't ask why not, not worried about it and trusting. 2) The nurse was surprised about the days I had amox and mucinex.  These were the days from last time, but she said the reasoning behind it didn't jive.  Basically you do amox 4 days before peak through peak and mucinex 4 days before peak through peak plus 2.  So she gave me the liberty to play with it while I was learning my cycles.  Interesting since the way it is listed above is what I did before.  And finally surprise 3) she (Tanya-I love love love her btw!) asked me how I did my hcg and I said intramuscular (butt) and she said, do you want to do it sub cu (tummy) and I was a bit taken aback-what, something has changed?! lol-I am used to everything being old hat and familiar, I guess.  Decisions!  On one hand, I have given shots to others (prog).  And dh hates to give the shots, and he is coming up on his crazy busiest work month where he works 80 hrs.  And it has been awhile since he's done a shot (well over a year) so nervousness will def be at an all time high for him.  But...dh he does it out of love and it has been a huge bonding experience for us.  I have a little nervousness, but I think needles and blood draws are neat (strange, I know) and like to watch procedures (dh can't even watch silly ER shows that aren't real without having twitches and ticks!)  I asked her if I could think about it, but it made a difference in the dosing, so I agreed to tummy shots, sad to give up the dh routine but thinking dh would be grateful for the gift.  (actually he seemed a little bummed on the phone-we are wierd creatures; I think he liked it as a way for him to be involved).

I got off the call and immediately the adrenaline began pumping!  I am a doer, I thrive on this stuff, even the little stuff, especially after all the waiting (I am proud to say I was the first to get the local IV from the Dr. Toth group, though it was my mom who was the catalyst-I like a challenge!).  The task this time was to figure out the hcg dilemna.  I had 10 boxes (required to order that way) from my insurance before dh and I got married (fabulous state  employee blue cross/blue shield).  It was pretty cheap-about $320 for it all.  I used it to conceive all 3 babies and had 1 box left. (Of course, that box is expired-had I known you ladies it would have been shipped out to one of you!).  I realized as I got closer to running out (fall of 2007) that I should check with dh's (my current) insurance.  No go.  They said it wasn't related to fertility, just wasn't covered.  Can't fight that.  I didn't end up needing it, thankfully.  But now I do.  So today I called Tar.get to get the price of it not covered-$124 but you must order 10 boxes.  But a "substitutable" product is $120 (Novarel-anyone try it?) but you can order one month at a time.  Next I called Cigna tel drug to see what the cost, covered or not, through their tel-drug mail order program and to check about coverage again.  First pharmacy dept, then specialty (for injectables)-they said no go.  Then they suggested it may be covered under medical.  (of course I happily continued to get transfered, happy just to be doing something toward my goal!) Medical said no way for fertility, but if it is another reason then I can have the doc's office go through a process to get it covered.  Interesting  how you get different answers when you keep asking the same question!  Gotta love insurance companies.  So, lovely Merilyn from Dr. Hilger's (we meet again! same issue...) is going to start the process.

Of course, I need to take my own advice.  I did all this (and will go to Target to get the meds) today while I was supposed to be working on my dissertation  (paid for childcare and all!).  I need to start seeing that dang thing like the hcg and as a challenge, something to get me toward my goal as well, the goal of being done and having more time with my child/ren. That is something I can get passionate about.  I will pray for this and try hard to work on it, and I need prayers from you ladies to as I am sure the distractions/task (and more fun stuff, in my mind) will increase...Isn't it funny how you can miss all those appts and calls? :)  I think in a bad way, some of us, probably myself included feed off the drama.  What would we do if we didn't have IF? 

Okay, sorry for long post, but this is good stuff-Last night, I saw the newspaper for our diocese from last week.  Our archbishop wrote a great article on prayful waiting.  I didn't realize Immacule.ee Ilibagiza had a 2nd book where she wrote about waiting and trusting in God, but the description in the article makes it sound like a must read for all IFers (her first book, Left to Tell, is amazing; the second book is called Led by Faith: Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide). The end of the article reads: "During the Advent season, the church invites us to cultivate a spirtuality of prayerful waiting.  In a sense, we are currently spending an indefinite amount of time on earth waiting to gain admittance to heaven.  How we spend this time of waiting is extremely important because it will determine our eternal destiny.  Immaculee's method of waiting is worthing of  imitation.  During this remaining week of Advent, spend some time recalling God's many blessings, thanking him for each by name.  Pray for those byname you have hurt by your sings and ask God to bless them.  Finally, and most importantly, ask the Lord to free your heart from the imprisonment of anger by granting you the grace to forgoive those who have hurt you.  Ask God to bless them by name."  Since waiting isn't limited to Advent, I thought I would pass on this great advice.

4 comments:

Sew said...

Wait, why can't you order from freedom fertility it's $59 a bottle. You order each month and that is out of pocket. I would kill for a ten month supply instead of ordering each month!

Also, My DH gives me my shots in the thigh. There is nothing more uncomfortable then a bruised TUMMY! Those shots killed my tummy, it was pretty painful for me but with my bowel issues and endo etc, I'm assuming that was the issue?

I will take a bruised thigh any day! ;) It's funny because my DH and I were talking about when he can tell if it is going to bruise or not....And it's the small needle too. I give it where my ring around the thigh starts, nice and fatty! ;)

I take my amoxicillian post period until my mucus changes from 10KL til it's kind of lotioney. My doctor said to take it post period and I stop taking it once it stops 10KL. I figure what's the point and 4 x's a day is a PITA! I'm so tired of medicine. Unfortunately, I can't function withou HCG.

Ha doer! Girl you should have seen what I did today! :) hehehehehe

WheelbarrowRider said...

I had no idea I could get it that cheap, thanks for letting me know. Do you just have them the doc fax your script or something?
The nurse at hilger's said tummy is less painful that IM. What the?! I guess we will see :(
That is interesting how early you start the amox. If you are sick of the meds (I get it, too many per day!) you might try their method above instead.
I know I did NOTHING compared to what you have been doing-few have! But it did feel good to do something for a change. :)

E said...

Sounds like you have a plan!! How wonderful! I am watching and waiting for your second conception post treatment! Can't wait!

Biaxin and zithromax work the best for me for mucus enhancement. Most of the patients at our office do the sub-Q injectons. I have only done IM.

mrsblondies said...

Good luck with the treatment plan. I hope everything goes well and you can get some understanding of what your cycle is doing.