The Phone Consult

Our doctor called us this past Monday to discuss our past and, potentially, future treatment.  Of course, she called 45 minutes late, meaning we were at school until 5:30.

First question was "how are you holding up?" And the answer was "I'm a wreck."  I feel better now, however, now that we have a plan.

Dr. Johnstone said that there are a lot of reasons why my body isn't responding to the medication the way we want it to.  She said part of it is having my diabetes under control.  I guess I kind of thought it was?  My A1c was under 6 the last time I had it checked, and for diabetes patients, under 7 is considered normal.  I think for non-diabetics, normal is 4 or under?  Don't quote me on that. 

Another part is being a hippo.  She said that losing weight would help my body respond better to the medication.  So...that's what's next on my agenda.  I'm not quite sure if that will mean a membership at Anytime Fitness or the city Rec Center.  Ryan and I will have to discuss that.

Dr. Johnstone told us that she has discussed my case with the other physicians at the U, and they will continue to discuss my case if we try this again.  The game plan if we do this again is to try to OVER stimulate me.  I will need to be monitored more regularly than I do right now.  MUCH more regularly.  I think that I will need to stay in Salt Lake over the course of the two weeks of stimming meds.

I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that we're going to try again.  In June, right after school is out.  I'm thinking about taking the tent down to Salt Lake and just living at a KOA for those two weeks.  I hate driving back and forth. 

Until then, I have several things going on.  I will be on birth control pills from now until then to regulate my cycle.  During our spring break I need to go to Salt Lake for a test called a sonohysterogram that will take a look inside my uterus to make sure all is well for a pregnancy.  I've had an HSG before to check to see if my tubes and the uterine cavity were good to go.  They were, but by the time April rolls around, it will have been a year and a half, and since we know my tubes are clear, and since we're doing IVF anyway, we need a more detailed test for the uterine cavity.  We're going to be working diligently on the losing weight thingy, and saving money.

Speaking of saving money, the doctor also said that they will be ordering meds through the University of Utah pharmacy from now on, because they can get them for the same or LOWER price than the specialty mail order pharmacy.  This is nice because hopefully we'll be saving money, obviously, but also I can get smaller doses of the really, really expensive meds without having to worry if they're going to get here on time, or having to worry about switching drugs with the clinic.

So that's where we are.  I'll be scheduling the saline sonohystogram within the next week for April, or at least calling to see what I need to do for that.  I go to the diabetes doctor on October 18th, so we'll see what she has to say.

I'm sure I'll be updating between now and then...