Addition to the Plan

My nurse called yesterday and said she had been reviewing my file, and saw that the mock transfer was "difficult," so my Dr. wants me to come in on 6/4 and get a dilapan treatment. Cue a mild mental freak-out. I have a "tricky" cervix that has a big curve in it. Dilapan is apparently a metal rod that is inserted into the cervix where it absorbs moisture and expands, thereby dilating and softening the cervix. A doctor inserts it, you wait 4 hours and then a doctor takes it out. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

The clinic likes to do it after the second dose of Delestrogen - two weeks before estimated transfer. It will cost an additional $325 (plus the day off from work, 6+ hour drive, tolls, etc.). The dilation effects are supposed to last 4 weeks. I had never heard of this, and still have only found a couple of women on-line who've done this prior to an IVF transfer. I'm still annoyed with my clinic for not mentioning this to me until 2 days before the start of my cycle, but I've accepted that I just need to do it and hope that it is just one more step on our way to success.

My meds just arrived. It cracks me up that they send a tiny sharps container with about 5 times the volume of needles that could ever possibly fit in it. I'm very, very nervous, but I'm ready to get started tomorrow.

Now, time to liven this site up a little with some photos. Here's what it took my insurance company to deny us coverage for this cycle:

Something like 14 individual envelopes , each with 4 pages in them - all of which were the same, save the name of the particular procedure... Ridiculous!

Phew!

I thought I was going to have a full-blown panic attack yesterday. I've never had one, but the pit in my stomach coupled, heaviness in my chest and rapid heartbeat I had going were not normal!

I was waiting on two things. The first was the pharmacy to call back for payment. I knew roughly what the costs should be, but for some reason, not knowing the exact amount was freaking me out. I think it's just the major outflow from our savings this week had me really on edge. Anyway, I got the call just before lunch. Holy crap! Meds for a non-DOR woman are so much cheaper! Meds for me and DH were about $560 with insurance picking up some things like the steroids and doxy. Our share of the donor's meds, was just over $1000. Meds for my first IVF were $10,000! So, PHEW! I felt better on that front.

There remained the issue of the satellite monitoring coordinator at my old clinic not calling me back after leaving two messages. Our DE clinic wanted to know how to handle orders for me, starting next week. I was getting anxious because she just wasn't calling me back. I finally tracked her down through a receptionist and we got it all squared away. At least, I hope so. So, phew again!

I felt a little better today, though tired. Right now, I'm very focused on me. I feel bad about it in the sense that I know my DH is starting to freak out, too, but I just don't feel like I can be the support for him. I'm trying to hard just to keep myself together. It also means that I'm not thinking very much about our donor. And, I'm starting to realize that this is a defense mechanism. I haven't looked at her profile since we signed on with her. I feel like I'm trying not to get attached to her because I'm so afraid this isn't going to work. I'm sure this will all change as the cycle moves forward, but for now, I'm just concentrating on doing everything I can to make sure I'm ready for this - success or failure.

Next stop, gyn. appointment on Monday to make sure my pap is up-to-date. That ought to be fun. I haven't seen her since she referred us to our old clinic in Nov. 2010. But, I know she's gotten a lot of paperwork on various aspects of cycling...

Please, let this work.