Today is Friday, April 27th
and I am glad it is the weekend! I have had a crazy week. The NEDC had me
taking birth control for a few weeks and last week the birth control coincided
with me beginning Lupron. Apparently my body and mind did not think this was a
good idea. With just the birth control alone I was moody, irritable, and occasionally
had feelings of depression. When the Lupron was added these symptoms
intensified and two new side effects, racing thoughts and anxiety, were added to
the mix.
Needless to
say, for the past week I was an emotional roller coaster. God bless my husband;
he was (almost) a saint through it all! The racing thoughts and anxiety were
the worst. I had about 4 solid days where irrational thoughts would harass me. I
felt like I was a prisoner in my own head because I could not stop the
onslaught. Feeling trapped brought on anxiety, and I was crying all the time! Oh!
What a crazy time. I actually told my husband I thought I was going insane!! The
good news is that I stopped the birth control 4 days ago, and already the
symptoms have dropped from about an 11 to a 2. I think that these medications
used alone would be okay, but used together, they can brew up some ugly side
effects!
The Lupron
itself does not seem to be causing much trouble. However, I am pretty much
convinced that I cannot give myself a shot. The Lupron kit comes with needles
about the size of insulin needles, so they are pretty small. Still; I cannot
imagine plunging that into my flesh! Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who
is more than happy to assist me with this feat. The Lupron needs to be injected
about 2 inches out from the navel; I am attaching a photo below to showcase the
results of 8 days of Lupron shots. Most of the shots went without trouble. One time
it really hurt and I ended up with a bruise and another time it drew blood,
yuck! This verified that nursing is not my calling.
 |
| I circled the groups on needle marks. |
Today was
pretty exciting! As I may have mentioned before, the NEDC requires me to have
two visits to a local fertility clinic pre-transfer to check my uterine lining
and estradiol levels. Today was my first visit! That means that I have 20 days
left until transfer!!! The clinic does same day lab work so the NEDC received
my results this afternoon and they have cleared me to begin taking Estrace on
4/29. I wonder what type of side effects this Lupron and Estrace cocktail will
come with. Thankfully the Estrace is a pill and not another shot.
I originally
researched a bunch of local clinics in the area to perform my monitoring (which
is what they call it when you are not their regular fertility patient). I found
a few and then had to narrow it down further because many of them will not take
on patients that only need monitoring. The bad news is that our insurance does
not pay for any of this. It specifically says in our coverage “no embryo
adoption fees will be covered.” (At least this means that embryo adoption is
becoming known). So this left me with 2 options, one with positive reviews and
one with negative reviews. Because this will be our first pregnancy and because
all of this is so delicate, I of course insisted on the clinic with better
reviews. When I called this clinic they informed me that they do not offer any
self-pay discounts and that each visit would cost me $670 (remember, I need to
2 visits pre-transfer and 1 post-transfer pending a positive pregnancy test; that
is over $2,000 out of pocket). This cost left me in shock, but I figured we
wanted to best, right? The clinic with negative reviews informed me that they
offered a 50% discount to self-pay patients, but I was refusing to go there.
I decided to call our nurse at the NEDC to ask
her about these costs and she made a good point about the clinic with negative
reviews. She said, “The clinic will not be performing any procedures on you, so
I would consider using them.” Hmmm, I thought. She was right. I would not even
see the doctor at this local clinic and they are not performing anything on me,
so what could be the harm?
I am pleased to report that we chose the
clinic with negative reviews and we were pleasantly surprised! The staff was
jovial and polite and the nurse who did my ultrasound was kind, knowledgeable, and
quick and made me feel comfortable. One of the best parts? The bill was $180! Can
you believe that? The other place wanted $670 per visit…robbery!
So all in all it has been a great week. And I always forget
to say this, but please feel free to comment, give advice or ask questions!
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