Today's struggle has revolved around medications. I honestly did not expect to move forward so quickly. In my mind, this was a multi-month process. So I was shocked that just one week to the day after testing negative for last month's IUI cycle, I was starting BCP (birth control pills) for an IVF cycle.
(brief pause for back story....At my initial consultation in Feb to see if I would even be a candidate, Dr. G told me that both my AMH levels and both FSH levels on a clomid challenge test had to be normal or my chances of successful IVF using my own eggs would be less than 2%. No one in their right mind spends $25,000 dollars on something with those odds, so we went ahead and did those tests. On the clomid challenge, since I was indeed responding, we decided to go ahead and do an IUI on Easter Sunday of all days, for one last attempt. How I hoped that would be successful, so I didn't have to do the IVF but as usual, bfn.... (big fat negative).
OK, back to our normally scheduled programming. So I test negative on Sunday night which was 14 days post IUI, and they call me Monday to see if I want to come in for a blood test beta. They agreed a negative home test was sufficient and told me to call when my cycle started to schedule my 3 day baseline blood work and ultrasound.
I posed the question, if I was going to start an IVF cycle, why do they do that? She gave an iffy answer that didn't make sense at the time. Now I know, it really was because this process moves quickly and they really do need the baseline. I couldn't come in on cd 3, but they said cd 4 was just fine. Again, it was a Sunday morning just 3 weeks post my failed IUI and I started bcps.
Why bcps? It slows down your system in preparation for all you are going to do to it. My IVF nurse explained, Lupron or Ganirelex is taken after the stim drugs to prevent you from ovulating before the retrieval. They act like an "off" switch. The bcp's, she explained act in the same way, but as more of a "dimmer". So I will take those for about 10-12 days or so, and they will check my levels via blood work. When they think I'm ready, then they will start the injectible drugs. Hence today's great big stress ball.
They are incredibly expensive. I have a list of 10 pharmacies they gave me to try. Your local Walgreen's or CVS generally doesn't carry these. The first one I called refused to give me prices over the phone, only in person. They are a full hour away. In fact the closest one was still 45 minutes away, some were in other states. *gulp*
In conjunction with getting prices, I was trying to ferret out information on the Gonal-F cares discount and rebate programs for the uninsured (I sound like I'm homeless, don't I? a real charity case....depressing). This information seems to be a closely guarded secret. The income part is "proprietary" so you can't tell at all if you qualify until they've processed your application. Normally this is no big deal, but I didn't have that kind of time. According to my IVF nurse, I will probably start these drugs at the end of the week! And they pharmacies need the discount card in hand before they will honor it. I can't go next week after the fact and say "Can I please have my thousand dollars back?"
Are we seeing my stress here? We are talking about $5000 - $6000 worth of medications here. So even a 10 or 20% discount is significant.
I will share the name of one pharmacy only because they were so very kind to me. Freedom Pharmacy in MA. And they ship overnight for free. Most likely thought, I will go with Cornerstone in Willow Grove, PA. They will ship overnight for free too, and they had better prices, and had some rebates already in house that they would file for me and give me upfront. That one little act saves me almost $300. And they said, if I do end up qualifying for the compassionate care program they will honor that in addition to the first rebate.
I don't feel like we will be approved though. I think they will look at Rob's income and say no. They don't ask important questions... They don't ask "Are you paying $17,000 out of pocket cash up front for the medical procedures?" They don't ask " Have you been paying off a $26,000 adoption for the last 5 years?" Nope, just a tax form for proof of income. But hey, if you don't ask, you don't get, right? So I'm asking.
The last few days, I've found myself incredibly emotional. I'm not sure why since I haven't even started any of the hormones or ovary stimming drugs yet, you know, the ones that supposedly make you a raving lunatic? I just find this whole thing very scary. I am intensely scared of tomorrow's hysterscopy and mock transfer. No drugs but tylenol or motrin. I've heard it hurts. :(
Hopefully, there will be a silver lining and after bw and scan, they will tell me I don't need to start the other meds until after I can actually get them in my possession.
ttfn (ta ta for now...) I'll post more hopefully tomorrow about all the procedures.
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