Another Step

Ryan and I go to Salt Lake City again tomorrow for another appointment.  We're not actually going to see a doctor (I don't think, anyway).  We're hoping to get there a half an hour before our appointment so that we can do injection training.  I have some medications that are given intramuscularly (is that even a word?), and Ryan needs to learn how to give them to me.  I know that my school nurse said that she will give me my injections, but I can't imagine having to drive over to Green River every day for the next few months.

Anyway, tomorrow when we go, we're doing our injection training.  Many of the meds I have to take are just subcutaneous injections, much like my insulin injections that I already take.

Ryan also has an appointment with the andrology department.  He has to provide a "sample" for dual purposes.  First, we will be "freezing and storing" for our upcoming IVF cycle.  This is done in case, on the day of my egg retrieval, when Ryan has to do this again, the sample isn't usable to fertilize said eggs.  The second reason why Ry has to do this is a hamster egg penetration assay.  This is a test that is done to determine whether Ryan's sperm is able to penetrate an egg.  A hamster egg is very similar to a human egg, so that is what they use for this test.  It's kind of gross, but if it does the job...

Depending on the results of the hamster egg penetration assay, we will know whether or not we will have to do ICSI during our IVF cycle.  ICSI stands for inta-cytoplasmic sperm injection.  If Ryan's sperm successfully penetrates the hamster egg, we can assume that his egg, when placed into a petri dish with my egg, will penetrate it.  If Ryan's sperm does NOT penetrate the hamster egg, an embryologist will take a single, healthy sperm and inject it directly into an egg and see if it will develop into a healthy embryo.  We are hoping for no ICSI, mainly just for cost reasons. 

You may be wondering how much all of this costs, and how we're paying for this.  Many of the clinics who do IVF in the northern Utah area are comparable in price.  I like the University of Utah the best because they allow us to freeze eggs and sperm separately, instead of in embryo form.  The University of Utah also bundles everything into a nice package for us, and really, ends up being cheaper than the other centers.  I think this cycle will cost us between $10,000 and $15,000.  I know that insurance doesn't cover the actual retrieval and embryo transfer, but I'm not sure about the medications.  I need to check that.  That cost includes my medications, all the ultrasounds I need to have, the semi-surgical egg retrieval, the preparation of the embryos, and the transfer of the embryos into my uterus.  If we have to do the ICSI, it costs an extra $1000.  We are paying for this with one $5000 credit card, that we hope to pay off in about six months.  Thankfully Ryan just had open enrollment in benefits for his work, and we chose to max out his health savings account with $5000.  I have another credit card I applied for worth $1700, and we also have a line of credit through our bank.

If this first IVF cycle isn't successful, and we have eggs and sperm banked, the subsequent cycles are MUCH more inexpensive, and much easier on my body.  I won't have to have egg retrieval, where they place me under conscious sedation and, with a needle guided by ultrasound, harvest mature eggs, and I won't have to take the horrible medications that help produce all of those eggs.  I will only have to take medications to help build the lining of my uterus.  I think the subsequent IVF cycles are under $5000, and we can save that in just a few months time in order to pay for another one.

It's scary, and it's kind of stepping off a cliff hoping there's an unseen net below that will catch us.  We are praying, and having faith that God knows the desperate desire within our hearts to be parents.  He might choose to say "no" right now...and that will be hard, no doubt, but...He is in control of all of this. 

Praise Him!