Giving Up Is Not an Option: Part 5

It has been about 2 months since the last update, and within that time a lot has changed.

In the beginning of December I had an appointment with my doctor to discuss the previous numbers. She was not pleased with the significant drop. She, once again stated we should begin considering a specialist. There was something about this time that made me feel as though she was done. She was not planning to prescribe me any more medication until I asked if we could switch to Femara to see how that works. She was hesitant but agreed. Although she agreed, I still felt this would be my last time seeing her. She didn’t ask for a follow up appointment. She didn’t seem hopeful anymore. After this appointment I went to my car and cried.

Again, fertility is a huge emotional roller coaster. Some days you feel like that day is right around the corner and others you feel that day won’t ever come. After I let out some emotions, I decided to suck it up and call a fertility specialist in the area. I called in the beginning of December and was told the first opening they had was February 19^th, 2019. Hearing that distant appointment date was a bummer, however I accepted it.

A few days after I made this appointment, my sister took it upon herself to begin doing some research. She found a few out of state clinics that had great reviews and high success rates. One of those clinics was Missouri Center for Reproductive Medicine (MCRM Fertility). After thinking about it for a day or two I decided to call. I was blown away by the friendliness and eagerness they showed. I called on a Friday afternoon and was scheduled for a phone consultation for that Monday afternoon. Within an hour of making the appointment the staff had our patient portal set up, with all the forms and documents we needed to fill out. That following Monday we had our phone consultation. The doctor was incredible. She had already reviewed our documents and knew what procedures we had done, when we did them, how long we’ve been going through treatment’s, etc. We spent an hour on the phone with her discussing each procedure and medications. She also explained other options and other underlying issues that could be causing our infertility. At the end of the conversation she explained multiple tests she wanted to run on both of us. She explained we had two options; we could either fly out to Missouri for one day and get ALL tests completed or we could piece meal it all from here in Florida. We decided we wanted to fly to Missouri, however after looking into flights, hotel, time off, etc., we realized that it wouldn’t be possible. We asked if we could piece meal it, and within days we received our genetic tests in the mail (similar to 23&me but for fertility genetics) as well as our lab work orders.

The members at MCRM have been incredible. They respond very fast and are available for questions any time and have made us feel like there is hope. Once the doctor receives the results for all the tests she ordered, and she reviews everything, we will have a follow up. To say I am anxious is an understatement.

During this waiting period, not only was I starting to schedule appointments for the Missouri doctor, I was still continuing with my Femara and blood work through my OBGYN that I had been seeing. In addition to day 21 and day 28 blood work for my OBGYN, I needed to complete the blood work order from the MO doctor. I completed this blood work January 8^th. I was pleased and shocked by how much blood they took, which ended up being 11 tubes. I did not realize how much it would be, but I was content in knowing how many tests were being run.

My current OBGYN doctor’s office was transitioning to a new name which included switching all of their systems over as well. When I called to make an appointment for an ultrasound at the request of my MO doctor, I was asked to call back January 2^nd as they did not have access to the new scheduling system until then. When January 1^st rolled around they were officially under the new name and system. January 2^nd (Thursday), I began calling to get an appointment for the ultrasound. This was a nightmare. I was in a time crunch as I knew their appointment slots filled up quickly, and I knew I needed this ultrasound done the 8^th (Tuesday). Trying to get in touch with anyone at the office was a joke. Finally, I was able to reach someone to make an appointment, after writing them a message on Facebook for someone to call me. I read verbatim the ultrasound order from MO to ensure I was getting the correct test completed. On Tuesday the 8^th, I arrived at my OBGYN’s office checked in and showed them the work order from the MO doctor, the woman at the front desk told me they didn’t need it. I wanted them to review the work order to ensure they completed it fully since there were 6 different items requested to look for during the ultrasound. I was called up to get checked in and again showed the work order from the MO doctor. She said “it’s okay we don’t need it, we have it in the system”; at which time the ultrasound tech had come to retrieve me. For the third time, I showed the work order and finally the tech took it and read it. At which point she said, “we don’t do this type of ultrasound here.” I felt like my head was going to explode. Now keep in mind, this ultrasound was to be completed during days 3-7 of my cycle. The tech took the work order to the back to discuss with the doctor; she came back and said they could do the ultrasound for 2 of the items requested and that I would need to go to Radiology Regional for the other 4, which they kindly created a work order for. I agreed and immediately let my MO doctor aware of. As you can see, my patience for this doctor’s office was wearing thin.

Jumping back to Femara; I completed my day 21/progesterone level blood work prior to the system change, thus the results would not be updated in the app like previously. I gave it some time in hopes someone would notify me, but I never received anything. Finally, I wrote them in their new system on January 10^th requesting results. I received a voicemail from the doctor’s assistant saying, “the results show you did not ovulate.” I was confused since not only did she not provide specific numbers, but lack of ovulation had never been a problem in the past. I wrote them again requesting the numbers. The assistant wrote back letting me know my numbers were 8.8 ng/ml. It was clear that the Doctor was washing her hands of me. Although my numbers were low, those numbers didn’t show “no ovulation.”

In the back of my mind I was so thankful for the doctor in Missouri, as I knew she had taken the lead.

I will be completing the rest of my ultrasound tomorrow which will be the last of our tests. Once all results have been received and reviewed by the doctor in Missouri we should have some answers.

With this past month being filled with holidays, family, and friends; it has been a great way to keep my mind occupied. We are feeling hopeful right now but also know that we’ve been there before and haven’t had the outcomes we hoped for. We will continue to pray and look to our friends who have been and will soon be welcoming their miracles and know miracles really do happen.

-Dani