It took a full two hours to get to the clinic but DH and I rocked out to an 80's playlist and talked a lot. Used to the disappointment of IF, I had convinced myself that my PCOS would disqualify me from the study and that I wouldn't be able to move forward. Fortunately, that was not the case because my PCOS fx is based on elevated androgens and excessive hair growth, not the standard string of pearls which would disqualify me from the study.
But I digress, I'll start at the beginning. Our first impressions of the clinic were mostly positive, the building is new, the receptionist was very nice but not in a fake way and the waiting room is large with comfy couches. There were only two negatives: *****babies briefly mentioned**** there were two babies in the waiting room (grrrrrr) and they were running behind. The running behind worried us a lot because at my former clinic, they often ran an hour or two behind but, it turned out that they were only running twenty minutes behind and my new nurse apologized profusely for the delay, which we appreciated. When we were called back, my new nurse introduced herself (she is very nice) and took us to Dr. W's office and told us he'd be with us shortly. We immediately noticed no fewer than sixteen diploma-ish looking things on his wall (DH counted). He's an RE and OB/Gyn, board certified in both and has some other accreditations I didn't get a chance to inspect because he came in so quickly!
First off, Dr. W is a HOTTIE! With beatiful blue eyes, nice! He was very friendly and said straight away that he had read my chart (sent over by my former clinic) but that he wanted to hear our story straight from us. Immediately I liked him and realized at that moment just how little my former RE (Dr. G) actually listened to me. I could tell DH really liked him because he actually talked to him, he never talked to Dr. G, DH later said that he really like that Dr. w didn't talk down to him. So, I told him our whole story and he asked lots of questions about our life in general and told us about himself (he and his wife were actually married in the town next to ours). The only thing he found odd about my prior treatment was my cancelled iui in which Dr. G had me take all 10 pills of Femara on one day. After I told him everything, he agreed that IVF with ICSI is a good recommendation for us and explained the study in great detail. We asked a lot of questions and he answered all of them with detailed explanations. He also told us the pitfalls of the study but said that his clinic has been involved in the study for two years and he had no safety concerns. His biggest dislike is that the study protocol requires all patients to start out at 400 gonal f/afolia (it's a double blind study so some women get gonal f and some get afolia) and he can't change that dosage until day 6 of stims. He also doesn't like that the protocol requires the use of crinone gel for progesterone, PIO cannot be used, this is a problem because crinone is messy and causes vaginal bleeding which makes patients very worried and stressed (I love that he is concerned about his patients getting worried) although it is just as effective. The final thing he doesn't like is that the study requires a three day transfer, he prefers five but he said that if we had extra embryos, they can go to day five before freezing so that is a plus.
After we finished the discussion, he said that he wanted to do a u/s and as long as everything looked ok, they would enroll us in the study! The u/s went well, he and the nurse noticed my cock (rooster) socks that were from the Christmas exchange (thanks Tiko!) one embarrassing thing that happened was that he pointed out calcification at my cervix (which it turns out is from rough sex! We had a good Valentine's weekend! Ha!) which means it is healing *blushing*! He could see scarring from ends around my right ovary but he said the way was clear for the needle so it should be ok for ER. I o'd this month on my left side, which I knew because I felt it and he said I had a perfect follie count for the study. In the end, he went and got me the protocol for the study, consent paperwork and said, Congratulations, so far, you're in the study!" And shook both of our hands.
Then we went over timing. AF arrives next week, too early to start the study because I won't turn 35 until the following week and I have to be 35 to be in the study. So, when I get my first period after I turn 35, I will go in on cd 2 for a u/s and bloodwork. As long as my FSH is below 12 and I have between 10 and 20 follies, I'll start bcps to prep for ivf! He said that based on past u/s results and bloodwork, he thinks I should be good to go! YAY!!!!!! Since yesterday I have read the study paperwork six times! Lol
The study covers all ultrasounds, bloodwork, SA's (which we don't need because DH's counts have never been lower than 78 mil and that was with no abstaining), semen prep, most of the ER, ICSI, ET and the study drug (gonal f or afolia). It doesn't cover all of the ER ($2500) anesthesia ($500) cryopreservation and storage ($1000) or BCPs, lupron, ovidrel and crinone so we will be OOP on those (if you know anyone who has extras, send them my way).
I am excited and am feeling optimistic. And I feel at peace, I feel like this was the way it was supposed to go which is a really nice feeling. We have one more hurdle to cross so I'm praying hard everything looks ok at the end of March (my March AF should be March 23rd or 24th).
Sorry for the novel! Thank you all for your love and support, it means a lot to know I have people pulling for me!!!!!!
