One down…how many more to go?

Yesterday, J and I traveled to Nashvegas (a.k.a. Nash.ville, TN) for our first RE appointment. My stomach has been in knots ever since I scheduled the appointment (a week ago). J wasn’t one bit nervous, which was fine since I was nervous enough for the both of us. I think I just didn’t know exactly what to expect. I’d researched all I could, but every doctor is a little different, so I couldn’t predict every little thing.


First of all, I decided to work a half-day. I thought it might take my mind off things and help save sick time for more important days. (OK, let’s be honest…I have plenty of sick days—103—but I’m quite stingy with them.) So, I scheduled a substitute for the second half of the day, beginning at 11:00. I was a bit uneasy leaving my class of 5th graders, though, when I discovered my substitute was a “little person.” Mind you, I did not doubt her abilities in the least, nor did I believe she was unqualified for the job; but I wasn’t sure how my darlings would react. They do not do different well. (Thankfully, she left a very positive note and even asked me to keep her in mind if I need to miss anymore.)

I drove to the clinic where J works to pick him up, and he pulled out a 3 Musket.eers Truffle candy bar to share with me, saying, “I’m sure you haven’t eaten anything.” Gosh, he’s so sweet. And we were off…

We arrived at the reception desk 20 minutes before our appointment. Having already filled out 7 forms online, I didn’t expect to have much paperwork. I was wrong. But it wasn’t too bad, and soon we had turned in our clip boards and commenced to waiting. And waiting….and some more waiting. We outlasted everyone in the waiting room AND everyone who came in after us for about the next hour. That was okay, though, since I was trying to calm my nerves anyway.

Finally, they call us back. The nurse was very nice, and she escorted us to an exam room 7 (sorry…I have a thing for 7s, remember?) where she sent J, telling me I can leave my purse with him while she takes me elsewhere to get my vital signs. She weighed me (gee, my favorite part), then asked me a zillion questions, mostly about AF, and took my blood pressure—which was up at 130/100. She asked me if I was nervous (ya think?). Then she said I could rejoin J, and as soon as the conference room was available she’d move us into it. I commented on the courtesy of providing a hanger on the back of the door for your clothes when you have to undress for examination. J noticed the mismatched tile on the floor, and we spent a few minutes trying to figure out why there was one strip of blue. Never did come up with anything good. The best I came up with was so it matched the identification bracelets they gave us. After a few minutes, the nurse came in and asked us to move over to the conference room. This was a small office with a desk and rolling chair on one side and two regular chairs on the other. We waited in this room for the doctor. Hmm….there weren’t as many “things” in this room to talk about. I pointed out that the box of tissues had a Box.Top on the bottom and asked J if he thought they’d notice if I cut it out. He said they probably would. (And he didn’t seem the least bit amused, either.)

When Dr. W. came in, she apologized for our wait, and commenced to reviewing our information with us. She had already received our records, but she asked just a few additional questions. She mentioned that we may want to try a couple of IUIs if further testing shows J’s count up any at all and if the motility was still improved, but ultimately we could decide if we wanted to try that or jump straight to IVF. We told her that we were prepared for IVF and our OB/GYN had told us that IVF w/ICSI was going to be our best option for a biological child. She said she would agree with that, but she wanted to be sure we knew there were other things we could try that we had not yet. She ordered some more bloodwork for J, and asked if she could examine me. So, off we went to another room…the one with the ultrasound machine. Thus, my first date with wandy. I emptied my bladder and was told to undress from the waist down, covering myself with the paper sheet. (Note to clinic: my Ob/GYN uses real sheets. They’re warmer. Just so you know.) I found the whole process just a tad uncomfortable, but not too bad. She had some trouble finding my left ovary, so she tried several different angles and positions, with and without pressing on my abdomen. That was the most uncomfortable part. After re-dressing, we went back to the conference room to go over the u/s pics. She said that my uterus looked great (whew!), but she had a hard time seeing my ovaries. Having been diagnosed with PCOS, she thought they would have been larger, but she also said that it being CD 18 and post-ovulatory, it wasn’t the best time of the cycle to get good pics of the ovaries. Since she wasn’t able to gather all the information she was hoping for, she requested one more test for me (besides a few prerequisite blood tests). We opted for the Clom.id Challenge test. So, now I’m just waiting for the orders for the other blood tests to arrive and for my next cycle to begin so we can do the Clo.mid Challenge. Then, we have to attend a 3-hour IVF orientation class and we can begin any cycle we want after that.

The nurse came in to give me the prescription and instructions for the Clo.mid Challenge test. She said that since we were a distance away, we could get the bloodwork done at home. I just have to call them with a fax number to send the order in. On the way out, we stopped to pay the bill. J’s wasn’t covered at all (which we knew), but the billing clerk said that we would pay toward my deductible. What? My insurance doesn’t cover squat when it comes to IF. I think she just got mixed up. Whatever…we got out of there charging $330 to our credit card (hey, we deserve the 3% cash back on this), which wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I still think I should’ve taken the Box.Top….

Hugs and baby dust,