A little about us: Peter and I met in college. (Check out that hair, hehe)
We dated for three years, and got married April 2008.
We decided early on that we wanted to have children fairly soon, but after we got married, our financial situation just wouldn't allow it. That was ok, I was only 22 and just enjoying our new life. Being a cancer survivor, I knew it may be difficult for us, so I didn't want to wait too long to find out. At the suggestion of my oncologist, Peter and I went to visit a Reproductive Endocrinologist, just for a "check up." We discovered that the cancer and chemotherapy didn't seem to have had any effect on my egg supply, which was the main concern. I was just thrilled, until my blood work came back. My hormones are a disaster, to say the least, and I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) although I do not have any cysts yet. The chances of us conceiving naturally, though possible, are pretty slim, but the doctor was confident that a round of fertility medication and an insemination would do the trick. He said that it's always better to start as soon as you see a problem, so if we were ready we could start treatments. We talked it over, and decided that we were ready to start a family.
The first thing I had to do was go to the cardiologist to make sure that my heart was up to the task. They did an ultrasound and an EKG and everything looked great. Better than my last visit, actually. Score!
In January, we started our first cycle. I started with 50mg of Clomid and I had one follicle, 20mm. I was thrilled at how quickly I responded to the medicine! We had two intrauterine inseminations (IUI) and crossed our fingers. Two weeks later, a blood test revealed that I was not pregnant.
I was disappointed, but encouraged by the fact that I was able to begin a new cycle of treatments just three days later. Our second cycle didn't go as well. I took the same 50mg of Clomid but this time I didn't have any response...except the crazy side effects of course. The doctors said that some women build a tolerance to the Clomid, so he increased my dosage to 100mg for our third cycle.
When I went for my ultrasound we discovered two follicles, one 20mm and one 11mm. We had two IUIs and waited again. This time I didn't have to wait for a blood test, I knew in less than a week and a half that it didn't work.
Our fourth cycle was much like our second, except I was becoming more desperate. I had no response to the Clomid and the doctors began talking about a more aggressive treatment plan (to the tune of $5,000 a cycle). We decided to try one more round of Clomid, just to cover all of our bases.
This time I had 2 follicles, one 12mm on the left and one 13mm on the right. I was over the moon. I couldn't believe I got any, even if they weren't as big as they would like them to be. We did an IUI and prayed for a miracle, since we don't have that kind of money right now. A few days post IUI, I went in for a blood test my progesterone level an it was very low so they did an ultrasound to see what was going on. The follicles were gone, and we were back at square one.
Now it's May and we've ruled out the most affordable treatments. Next week I'm supposed to start Follistim, in place of the Clomid. The success rate is higher, but so are the risks. We haven't decided what we're going to do just yet, but our options are to start taking the expensive medicine, move on to IVF (which is much more expensive), or give up...at least for now. None of these sound appealing at the moment...but we need to choose.
And that, friends, is my last 6 months in a nutshell. Sorry if it was a bit of a downer, hopefully my posts won't all be that way....but I didn't know any other way to explain it all. I hope you'll stick around and share in our joys and pains...maybe we'll even get our happily ever after. If you are going through or are thinking of beginning treatments, please feel free to leave a comment or message me personally. I am quickly realizing the importance of community when it comes to getting through each cycle.
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