Finally some GOOD news!

Dan had his 9 month follow up with Dr Witt yesterday.  At these appointments, they take a "sample" from him and analyze it while we wait.  And lo and behold.....he finally has swimmers!  His last visit he was at 50,000 (or 11%) and now he's at 500,000 (or 27%).  Not only that, but the doctor said he shows enough there that we can do IVF without having to include the TESE....or sperm extraction procedure.  This would have cost anywhere from 5-8k extra.  So we are counting this a a huge win and moving forward with IVF at the Servy Massey Institute.  Hopefully we can get it done in November or December of this year.  Wouldn't it be the greatest gift ever for ourselves???  Thanks for all the prayers, good vibes and energy.  I can't tell you how great it felt to leave that place yesterday with a smile on my face.....a first!  And that's saying a lot considering we both have the flu :))  xoxo

Joe Massey

I've been feeling really impatient lately...sitting around waiting for the next doctor appointment that gives us the latest on Dan's recovery has been the highlight of my summer.  And now that fall is here, I see this as a chance for a new approach.  While being treated at RBA, I had heard that one of the founding doctors at that practice had been a guy named Joe Massey.  Come to find out that my family knows him as his family used to live in our neighborhood back in the 70's and early 80's.  I decided to google him and found out he started his own practice called the Servy Massey Institute.  www.ivfga.com.  Dr Massey has an office here in Atlanta and his partner, Dr Servy is based in Augusta.  They came together to offer a more affordable treatment to people that cannot afford the 15-18k price tag at clinics in Atlanta.  Dr Massey does all the preliminary testing here in Atlanta, and sends patients to Augusta for egg retrieval and egg transfers.  So I set up and appointment and Dan and I met with him last week.  His treatment protocol costs $6975 plus 2-3k for fertility drugs.  That's half the cost of RBA.  He immediately put me on DHEA which is supposed to improve egg quality and performed an SIS (injects saline into my uterus) to make sure no polyps have grown back.  The great news is that I look healthy and ready for IVF.  Of course, there are some obstacles in the way....I spoke to the clinic in the Czech Republic and they are unable to ship Dan's frozen sperm to the U.S. due to customs restrictions.  SO, that means one of two things....we either have to pay for another TESE (sperm extraction) which costs between 5-8k or we have to pray, pray, pray that Dan's counts have increased at  his next checkup on 10/15 and we can use his live sperm.  It's hard with all the ups and downs of this journey and our options change by the hour.  But this is a new GREAT option and we hope this is our chance.  Please pray for us that Dan's next visit shows such improvement that we won't have to do the TESE, because we cannot afford to do that along with paying for the IVF.  As always, we can't make it through this without the love and support of our family and friends.  Love and prayers to everyone!