I Google. Do you Google?

As you can imagine, Google has become my new best friend.

And my worst enemy.

I spend my evenings Googling everything from treatment options and success stories to experimental procedures and side effects. Sometimes I go to be energized, other times depressed and defeated. More often than not, Google is bad news bears.

Well, Peter and I have been talking about getting a second opinion and finally found a doctor that looked promising. This guy has one of the only practices in the tri-state area that offers a procedure called In Vitro Maturation, which is similar to, but not as aggressive as IVF (but much less painful!). Basically the doctor takes out a bunch of my eggs, matures and fertilizes them in a lab, and places them in my uterus. It's much more effective than what we are doing and doesn't require medications to stimulate my follicle production, which greatly decreases the risk of complications. It is also less than half the cost of IVF, coming in at around $8,000 a cycle, where as when all is said and done, IVF is around $20,000.

Sounds awesome doesn't it? There are specifications you have to meet in order to be a candidate...we are a perfect match. Only one problem, the doctor requires payment in full at the time of the procedure...which would be 2 weeks from now. I wish I had that to give, but that's just not in the cards. We drove the hour and a half home in a cloud of sadness and silence. I was heartbroken. I had such high hopes for this doctor. Everyone is the office was so nice, we were like guests rather than cattle. It was refreshing. One thing we did learn was that the medication I am currently taking, you know the $2,500 shots I have to put into my stomach every night, may be creating a hostile environment in my ovaries and killing my eggs. Swell.

Basically that leaves us with two choices; 1) Take a year off and save up for a few cycles or 2) continue with the medication we already have and try for another IUI

Honestly, we don't know what the answer is, but Follistim is the only thing we have to hold on to and it's already paid for in full...so we're going for it. At least once more.

I started my injections on Thursday, 50iu/day for 4 days. I went in for an ultrasound this morning and my cysts are almost gone and I have one 13mm follicle beginning to grow. I have two more days before my next exam and we'll see how many have grown.