The visit...

Sorry that I have not posted abou my doctor appointment yet. I am just taking some time to process everything because a lot has transpired in the past couple of days.

First... my teaching partner decided to send me an email (or two) telling me that basically he hates working with me, thinks I am a horrible person, and that he thinks I am to hard on my students. Grrrreeeeaaaattttt. Since he is in such a terrible and scary work position you would think that he would be looking for another job right? Nope... He (so far) is planning to stay... he just wanted to make sure I knew how much he hates working with me. There is so much more to this story... but my fingers could never type it all.. You all know what I think of him... but I have tried very hard to remain friendly since we work so closely together. Now I have to decide if I need to take these emails to my principal and try to figure out what to do next... or do I ignore it all? Tough stuff. It really sucks.

My doctor appointment was very interesting. I met with New doctor for over an hour and we just went over my story... Again.. there is so much to the story... but the highlights are...

He does not think I need to have a lap... at least not this summer (by the way.. I did not tell him that I was opposed to the lap.. only that I wanted to understand why I would need one..) Basically he thinks that none of my doctors have followed the standard procedures and run the proper tests to try and figure out what the problem is. He also thought that Dr. Untrustworthy was super-over priced and did not have the aggressive type approach that he feels I need. He also told me that he doesn't think I need IUI's and that IVF is so far in the future that we shouldn't even discuss it at this point...

Here is my new plan... On Tuesday I will have a cd 13 u/s to see what I am doing on my own as far as ovulation... (if I would have seen him a week earlier we would have started clomid..) If there is a good follicle I will get a hcg shot (which he couldn't believe no other doctors have offered me in the past when I have had good follies) and then follow up with a progesterone test 8 days later. He says we need to figure out if I am having trouble ovulating or if I have low progesterone or if it is both... there is a difference... If you ovulate and have low progesterone you would have trouble staying pregnant so you would need progesterone supplements BUT if you are not ovulating that will also cause low progesterone readings... but progesterone supplements are not going to help the problem and you would need something (like clomid) to stimulate better ovulation. I have known this and have remained frustrated because Dr. Untrustworthy just "decided" that I was not ovulating well enough even though we consistantly saw follies that we 16-18mm on cd 13... So this month (asided from the possible hcg shot) we will go au natural and see what my body does on its own... remembering that I have been pregnant twice on my own with no assistance.

Next month... we will do a "clomid challenge" Full monitoring starting clomid on cd 5. Then after ovulation (again with a possible hcg shot... and a possible IUI if I feel like I "really" want to try it... even though he says he would not really recommend it yet) we will do another progesterone test... this time to see what my body does with ovulation but without progesterone supplements to see what my "real" progesterone readings are... if at that point they are still low... we will stay on the supplements forever. We will also do a sonohystrogram at the beginning of this cycle to get a good look at my uterus (he said this is more reliable to him than a HSG... and he would never do a lap without at east doing this teat first...) I can't believe no other doctor has done this test on me considering how many procedures I have had done. He called it "painless" But inflating your uterus with water and doing a 3d u/s seems like it may be a tad "uncomfortable... any one done this?

So.. after 3 or so monitored clomid cycles (which if you remember I have never had a monitored clomid cycle) if things still seem "unexplained" we will revisit the possibility of surgery.

The rates at this office are much more reasonable... for example Dr. Untrustworthy charged a flat rate for ultrasounds- $550 per cycle... regardless of how many you have... New Dr. says they charge $70 per u/s and you rarely need more than 3 a cycle... that is a huge difference. He said that the only thing that would cost a little more is that he insists on using non-generic clomid... he says that the generic is not the "exact same" and that he has had much better results with the real deal. Interesting....

They also have "special walk in hours" from 7:15 - 8:30 am every morning for when you need an u/s or a blood test... you don't need to have an appointment and they get you in and out very quickly so you do not have to deal with getting off from work. He also made me promise that if I ever felt like I wasn't being treated fairly financially to let him know... he said things like monitoring are mostly billed for the doctors time (not because of expensive equipment etc..) so he would rather work with me financially to get me pregnant and let the insurance kick in and pay him when he delivers our miracle baby.

This doctor (who we really need to name) feels really strongly about trying to help me... mainly because he is the reason my "infertile" siter in law has four sons ranging in age from 12-17... in fact she was the first IVF he ever did back in 1994. My SIL used to travel with him and talk about IVF.. they are both really involved with RESOLVE. Their families are very close and I think I will get great care from him because he loves my SIL so much. I am now known around the office as a VIP because I am DD's SIL... and many of the nurses remember her even though her twins are now 12. Dr. "New" even told me that he owes his practice and his specialty in infertility to my SIL because she "single-handedly"built his practice. I came in to the family much later and never really new all this about my SIL... (but the way... this is not the SIL I have complained about in the past... it is Mr. D's brother's wife.)

I have left out at least a thousand details... but these are the basics... So... I have a plan... the visit was very positive... and I feel a little hopeful. We will see how long that lasts.