Information overload...........

I'm exhausted.



We had our RE appointment today, which I wasn't even a little excited about because I just assumed we weren't going to learn anything new. We saw a different doctor today, who was great. I presented my concerns about the endometriosis spreading and asked about them doing my annual exams and handling my pain from now on. He addressed all my concerns thoroughly, as I'm used to from the U of I.

He said he's very concerned my endo is spreading, both because of the amount of pain I'm in, and because it could scar and/ or damage my reproductive organs. He said we need to start being very aggressive. We need to move on to another IUI, and if that doesn't work, an IUI with injectibles, and then on to IVF. The other option is to have another laproscopy to remove the endometriosis, which would stop it from spreading so far. He said if we did that, then we could do an IUI the very next cycle, and we'd know there was no endometriosis interfering.

He said he wanted me to come back for an internal ultrasound to check my ovaries for endometriomas -- which are essentially noncancerous cysts or tumors filled with endometrial tissue -- because if he found any, he thought the need for a new laproscopy would be more imminent.

I asked him if we could do the ultrasound today, since we were already there and had both taken off work for half the day. He said that was fine, so we went ahead with that. The ultrasound tech found no endometriomas, but did say I have a great follicle, my endometrial lining is 8 millimeters thick (it needs to be 6 mm for an egg to implant), and it looks like my hormone levels are great. She said I was going to ovulate any day.

After the ultrasound with lots of good news, we spoke to the doctor about IUI. We got a packet of information stating the cost was only a bit over $300, which was a relief. For some reason I thought is was around $1,600. So the price combined with the good news on the ultrasound caused us to decide to go ahead with another IUI this cycle. The nurse explained the procedure to us, told me to go home and take an ovulation predictor test, and as soon as I got a positive, to call and schedule the IUI.

So we drove home, I took the test, and -- TADA -- positive! So tomorrow we go BACK to Iowa City for our IUI. This all happened so fast, and the timing couldn't be better. I'm so excited!

In other news from the doctor, he said from now on he'd do my annual exams and handle my pain management for the endometriosis. He wrote me a three-month script for Percocet to handle the pain when/if I get my period, and agreed that the pain needed to be managed effectively. I thanked him for that, and told him my old doctor treated me like a bit of a drug addict every time I called in for some kind of pain management.

The ultrasound tech also told me that I'm a prime candidate for IVF, if we do end up getting to that point, because I have tons of follicles. Basically, we'd only have to do egg retrieval once (hopefully), and then they'd fertilize and implant the eggs as-needed. The retrieval is the expensive part (around 20k), and after that the procedure is abut 2k. So that's awesome news. We're not there yet, but we're getting awfully close, so it's information we needed. I don't know how we'll ever pay for that, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now, I'm really excited about the IUI and the fact that I never have to deal with my doctor here again. When I get pregnant -- yes, I said "WHEN" -- I'll find an ob doctor here, and until then, I'll be going to Iowa City. I'm going up there anyway, so why not?

Oh, and on the way home we stopped at Burger King, which took 30 minutes. 10 to get someone to just come over the speaker at the drive-through, and 20 more to get our food. Beyond irritating. Then as we were driving home, our friend Patrick called and said he was at our house with Brian's brother, Ben. Patrick comes into town from Cedar Rapids on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the three of them play on an adult football league. Anyway, Patrick said he and Ben went into the house, and the alarm went off and they couldn't get it to stop. Brian tried to walk him through it, but we got another phone call about that, then another saying they accidently let Vader, our cat, into the garage, and warning us not to open the door when we got home. Good Lord.

When we got home we came in the front door. Patrick was hiding under a blanket on the couch. I whipped my sunglasses at him and said, "YOU KNOW BETTER!" Then I spotted Ben hiding in the bathroom and said, "YOU BOTH KNOW BETTER!" I was half laughing, because it was pretty funny, but still, they both know we have the alarm AND that Vader takes off every time we open a door. Heck, Ben lived here for three months a couple years ago! Oh well. They both felt pretty bad, and luckily the police never showed up. I think I might have let them get arrested. Just kidding. Maybe.