Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Our infertility journey - part 1

We had a long hard road to get to where we are today.  Pregnancy wise anyway.  So, this is the first in a multiple part series.  How many parts, I'm not sure.  Let's just see where this takes us, shall we?
It all started back in December of 2009.  I went in for my annual GYN visit and discussed trying to conceive (or TTC as it will be known from here on out).  I've always had irregular to no cycle, so I knew it would be difficult for us.  I was on birth control at the time and my doctor and I decided to take me off of it to see what my body would.  Fast forward 7 months and a wedding (which was awesome, by the way!) later, and I still had not had a period.  Clearly I was not 7 months preggo.  Something was up.  I went it and she did some blood work.  (Which, by the way I was not prepared mentally for and would have appreciated a heads up!  I hated needles!)  We scheduled a follow up appointment to do follow up blood work after I had been able to fast.  All of it came back and pretty much everything was normal.  The only thing out of wack was a slightly elevated testosterone level.  My mom thought this was particularly hilarious as I'm a super girly girl.  Haha mom.  So, based on that and my other symptoms, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (aka: PCOS).  I was put on Metformin to regulate the insulin resistance I don't have.  This is just a common medicine that most, if not all, PCOS patients are put on.  It was decided that I'd take Provera to kick start  a cycle and then on days 3-7 I'd take Femara to make me ovulate.  On day 21 I'd come in for bloodwork to see if I did actually ovulate.  On day 21, I went in.  That afternoon they called me with the results.  It was low.  Like a level less than 1.  I'm pretty sure my bitchy little ovaries were laughing at me.  Like "really, dummy, you think a few pills will make us get off our lazy butt and do our job after almost 27 years of not doing anything?!".  The best part of this, is they look for a level of near 10.  Oh, by the way, they're testing my progesterone.  So, clearly, round 1 was an epic failure.  Good stuff.
So, the next month we tried a higher dose of Femara.  If I remember correctly, my level went down.  Damn those bitchy ovaries.  I remember B trying to comfort me and saying that maybe the meds were like Weight Watcher points.  That how 1 of something is only 2 points, but if you have 2 of the same thing the point value goes up to like 5 or something.  God love him and his optimism.  It got me through this whole mess. 
Cycle 3 we tried the highest dose of Clomid.  Clomid is supposed to be the wonder drug.  There are countless stories of girls who get knocked up their first time on Clomid.  I, however, was not one of those lucky ladies.  My level did go up, but I was still under one.  At this point my doctor told me I was a hopeless case and I should just give up.  Ok, not really.  But, she did refer me to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) since there was only so much she, as a gynecologist, could do.  Thank God for that referal. 
I'll leave it at that.  Stay tuned for part 2!

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