Oh yeah - you want to know the one weird thing that all that bloodwork detected?
I have no immunity to chicken pox.
The doctor's assumption was that I had never been exposed to it, but he couldn't be more wrong. Actually, I've had chicken pox twice. TWICE. Once, when I was very little, I had a mild case. A few years later, my brother got the virus, and my mom didn't think twice about it, until the little red spots started showing up on me as well. The second time around, it seems I had it pretty bad. (Honestly, I don't remember ever having chicken pox, so I just trust my mom's memory.)
So, here's where it gets really weird: you know how the chicken pox virus stays in your spine, and it can eventually flare up as shingles? And shingles is usually found in older people? Well, there are an inordinate amount of people in my life who have had shingles.
My best friend in high school (Helen)
College roommate Shea, sophomore year
College roommate Meredith, junior year
My brother
My sister-in-law
And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
That's weird, right? I've had chicken pox twice, but I have no immunity to it. People around me keep getting shingles, but I've never contracted chicken pox from them.
So what does this have to do with my little blog about infertility? Well, chicken pox can be very dangerous to pregnant women and fetuses, and they recommend receiving the vaccine if you've never had the virus. My doctor briefed me on all of it, and he recommended that I move forward with the series of shots over a few months...and postpone conception attempts, since the vaccine could actually cause an outbreak of the virus .
Thanks but no thanks, doc. That may sound callous, but honestly - I'm around adults all of the time. I've been around several adults with shingles. I haven't contracted chicken pox. If/when I have a baby, I will get the chicken pox vaccine post-delivery.
So that's the chicken-pox plan. Just like everything else these days, it's wait and see.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Say when.
October 21, 2010.
I had put together a luncheon event for about ninety people, but my 3:30 appointment with the RE was really all I could think about. I knew that the chances of him saying that all was well were pretty slim, but I really wanted to hear the words, "let's move forward with an IUI." Intra-uterine insemination isn't the sexiest way of getting pregnant, but it's a lot less expensive than IVF, and it would mean that my husband's swimmers were performing well.
We got to the doctor's office, and we were seated in a small room with a table and four chairs. Shortly thereafter, we were joined by a young man (resident? intern?) who started going over some of my results with me, but he couldn't answer any of my questions, and I quickly got impatient and annoyed. This is my FERTILITY we're talking about - don't you think you could brief yourself on the basics before coming in to chat? He dashed back out of the room, and Jared raised his eyebrows at me - apparently I should have been nicer to the kid.
Then the RE came in. I like him because he's direct and doesn't sugar coat things. This is also why I don't like him.
Our results:
My Estradiol = 69.5 (I don't know what this is, but it should be under 75, so we're okay.).
My FSH = 7.8 (WOO HOO! Yes, I'm aware that you shouldn't be over 7.0, but compared to my previous month's level of 11.2, 7.8 was FANTASTIC.)
My Antral Follicle Count = 17 (This was determined during the vaginal ultrasound. They counted the number of follicles that were maturing that month. If we were to pursue fertility treatments, the more maturing follicles to extract, the better. 17 is pretty darn good.)
Jared's Sperm Count = 4 million sperm/milliliter
Normal Sperm Count = 15-20 million sperm/milliliter.
The RE immediately told us that he wouldn't recommend IUI. Why would we want to spend $2-3,000 on a procedure that still relies on Jared's sperm to do a lot of the heavy lifting? They're not performing as they should, and they could use some help.
His recommendation? IVF. With ICSI (a process by which they directly implant the sperm into the egg). ASAP. To the tune of $12-15,000.
We decided that we weren't going to decide anything right now. We would at least wait until the first of the year to figure out what we were going to do. We don't have that kind of money, so if we were to try this sooner rather than later, we would have to borrow money from our parents.
The first of the year came and went. Our parents have offered to help, but my struggle with that is another post in itself. It's been seven and a half months since we were at the doctor's office at Emory, and we just keep trying. There are so many miracle stories out there, and I keep hoping that one of these months, it will be my turn for a miracle.
I had put together a luncheon event for about ninety people, but my 3:30 appointment with the RE was really all I could think about. I knew that the chances of him saying that all was well were pretty slim, but I really wanted to hear the words, "let's move forward with an IUI." Intra-uterine insemination isn't the sexiest way of getting pregnant, but it's a lot less expensive than IVF, and it would mean that my husband's swimmers were performing well.
We got to the doctor's office, and we were seated in a small room with a table and four chairs. Shortly thereafter, we were joined by a young man (resident? intern?) who started going over some of my results with me, but he couldn't answer any of my questions, and I quickly got impatient and annoyed. This is my FERTILITY we're talking about - don't you think you could brief yourself on the basics before coming in to chat? He dashed back out of the room, and Jared raised his eyebrows at me - apparently I should have been nicer to the kid.
Then the RE came in. I like him because he's direct and doesn't sugar coat things. This is also why I don't like him.
Our results:
My Estradiol = 69.5 (I don't know what this is, but it should be under 75, so we're okay.).
My FSH = 7.8 (WOO HOO! Yes, I'm aware that you shouldn't be over 7.0, but compared to my previous month's level of 11.2, 7.8 was FANTASTIC.)
My Antral Follicle Count = 17 (This was determined during the vaginal ultrasound. They counted the number of follicles that were maturing that month. If we were to pursue fertility treatments, the more maturing follicles to extract, the better. 17 is pretty darn good.)
Jared's Sperm Count = 4 million sperm/milliliter
Normal Sperm Count = 15-20 million sperm/milliliter.
The RE immediately told us that he wouldn't recommend IUI. Why would we want to spend $2-3,000 on a procedure that still relies on Jared's sperm to do a lot of the heavy lifting? They're not performing as they should, and they could use some help.
His recommendation? IVF. With ICSI (a process by which they directly implant the sperm into the egg). ASAP. To the tune of $12-15,000.
We decided that we weren't going to decide anything right now. We would at least wait until the first of the year to figure out what we were going to do. We don't have that kind of money, so if we were to try this sooner rather than later, we would have to borrow money from our parents.
The first of the year came and went. Our parents have offered to help, but my struggle with that is another post in itself. It's been seven and a half months since we were at the doctor's office at Emory, and we just keep trying. There are so many miracle stories out there, and I keep hoping that one of these months, it will be my turn for a miracle.
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