Fertility Update

It's been about two weeks since my last post and I've already had two doctors visits since.  {Both since Friday!}  I met with my reproductive endocrinologist on Friday for the first time.  I guess that's just the pleasant way of saying fertility specialist.  I'll refer to him as my RE as it's less of a tongue-twister.  The place I'm at is pretty swanky.  It's comfortable and doesn't have the sickly, doctor's office feel that a traditional practitioner has.  It makes it a little easier to sit there not knowing what's going to come out of their mouths next.  On Friday I met my team of specialists.  Yes, I said team.  Each patient gets a patient coordinator, nurse practitioner, RE, financial adviser, and use of a nutritionist and counselors.  It really makes me feel like I'm being looked after and I'm not just another name on a computer.  I spoke with my RE for about 45 minutes regarding possibilities that could be causing my lack of ovulation.  He did mention my weight {something I'm not proud of, but I have accepted}, but was very careful to say that clearly there are women twice my size that get pregnant with no problem and that he's not saying that is 100% the problem.  He was just stating that overweight women carry more complication in conceiving, carrying, and delivering.  I actually appreciated that.  I also met with the financial adviser who had already run my insurance and told me nothing new.  While my procedures are being billed as anovulatory (not releasing an egg), my insurance will cover certain portions.  But once my procedures are billed as infertility, they stop covering anything.  Luckily, we know Michael's insurance picks up some of it so it won't be that much of a financial burden.  I did explain to my RE that we had already discussed how far we were willing to go with getting pregnant and right now, IVF or any other procedures were not in the cards.  He was completely fine with that and said at the moment, we are just addressing why I'm not ovulating.  We set up for an appointment today for blood tests and a ultrasound for this morning to check everything out.

Fast forward to this morning...I arrived for my appointment two hours early.  If any of you have ever been in Atlanta, you know if can take two hours to drive 10 miles on I-75 South into Atlanta.  I'm totally fine with getting somewhere way early rather than having to sit in traffic for just as long.  Anyway, blood draw went well.  Eight vials later, the nurse got what she needed.  I don't understand what most of them were for {or all of them honestly}, but they are being tested for various reasons.  Most of my blood tests came back this afternoon and my estrogen and LH {the hormon that causes ovulation} levels appear to be normal.  My FSH {follicle-stimulating hormones, stimulates the growth of follicles} is on the high side, but they are still waiting for another blood test to come back to compare it to.  Not entirely sure what all that means...looks like I have a lot of reading to do.

After the blood draw {did I mention I'm strangely comfortable with having blood drawn?} I had another ultrasound {not quite as comfortable with these}.  I met another new doctor and while she was easy to talk to, she wasn't nearly as fun as the nurse that did my ultrasound two weeks ago.  Yes, I did describe an ultrasound tech as fun.  Many of the conversations we had were out of sheer awkwardness and it made the experience that much more enjoyable.  Back to today...lady doctor took about five minutes to go rummaging around.  She seemed rather surprised when I told her I knew about the cysts in my left ovary.  I explained to her I had an ultrasound two weeks ago and that's when we saw them.  But I wasn't really prepared for the right one.  As of two weeks ago, everything looked fine.  At least, that's what my OB thought.  Today they found a couple of cysts in the right ovary and it looked inflamed, possibly blocked.  I'm praying that this is the only reason I'm having complications, but I am preparing for worse.  She said the cysts should dissipate over time, but just to be sure, I have a follow up in two weeks to see how they look.  Oh, my follicles did look fine.  Six on one side, seven on the other.  I'm not sure what's considered "normal".

In the meantime...I have an x-ray scheduled for Saturday to see if my tubes are in fact blocked or not.  Mom has graciously agreed to drive me {they said I would have some pain and discomfort afterward and no one wants to deal with that and driving back from Atlanta}.  I was given a prescription for an antibiotic to hopefully help with the inflamed tube.  Kind of nervous about that appointment, but I just want answers, so I guess I have to go through the process.

Shortly after I got to the office this morning, the nutritionist called me.  I have an appointment with her in two weeks as well and I'm actually excited about.  Michael and I have been talking about getting back to working out and eating better.  This will definitely be the push to help me do that.

In other news, we have 34 days until we board a plane for Ireland.  I haven't been more excited about something in a long time and I'm so looking forward to nine straight days with my sweetie.  Ü  We definitely need it!  No phones, no emails, no baby talk.  Just the two of us and the beautiful country.  Well, that's it for now!