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!

What is wrong with the world??

The past couple weeks have been about us getting our finances figured out, determining what loan will work for us and then CRASH.....Dan's company fires nearly all their Atlanta employees.  So now he's out of a job.  I mean, come on?  Is this a joke?  Why are we always getting bad news???  Somebody throw us a bone!!
Dan has a follow up (his third) since the surgery 7 months ago.  Of course, we are hopeful but that hasn't exactly served us well in the past.  I will post more once we hear from the doctors.  Pray!!!!!!!!

Boo.  The loan company wanted to make us pay a $1200 SERVICE CHARGE to move forward with the loan.  Funny, you have to pay to get a loan????  Unbelievable.  Back to the drawing board.  UGH

New Hope

Gosh, it's been a frustrating couple months. I have never felt so helpless. Dan has had two follow up visits since his surgery and they still have seen no change.  His type of surgery is a slow healing one.  The doctor has him on a steroid now to reduce inflammation in hopes of healing faster.  But there's still no telling when and if we can conceive naturally.  What can we do now???
But there's still hope.....a medical financing company I applied to several months ago contacted me.  They agree to give us a 10k loan!  We haven't qualified before because my debt was still so high since we paid for our wedding ourselves.Until now, I wasn't able to even get a credit card with a decent APR.  I called RBA to get the quote on my treatment and it's going to be around 15k.  So if we can come up with 5k in 60 days, we can do IVF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Here in the good ole USA. 
Keep the prayers coming that we can make this happen.  I feel hopeful for the first time in a long time!

Yikes!

I haven't posted in a while mainly because NOTHING exciting has been happening in the last several weeks. In fact, I'm going CRAZY because I have no control over anything anymore. At least for now. Dan had his first follow up appointment with Dr. Witt, who did his surgery. Unfortunately, his counts have not changed. He still does not produce live sperm. There are so many things that fluster us about this, mainly that we don't know when he will start producing because the doctor said it could be tomorrow, could be 15 months from now. UGH. So we sit and wait. And wait. And try and wait. Pure torture. And it seems everyone around me and in Hollywood for that matter..are getting pregnant. I can't help but wonder, when will it be us??? I'll be 39 in a little over a month and it's killing me. I want no acknowledgment of the day. I want to pretend it doesn't exist. I'm not giving up. And most days, I have a positive attitude. But for now, posts will be few and far between until we finally get some positive news to write about. xoxo

Follow Up

I just finished reading the blog of the woman that founded My IVF Alternative, the place that arranged our trip and treatment to the Czech Republic. She struggled to conceive for 5 years and finally had a daughter through a surrogate. Then, while pondering the use of a surrogate for their second child, she found out the cause of her several miscarriages was due to a fibroid in her uterus. It was my doctor here in Atlanta that discovered it. So, several months later, she's expecting a baby girl in a few months. People often ask if I get upset when I hear of other people's pregnancies. For instance, one of my dear college BFFs just announced she's expecting identical twins after years and years of infertility. My answer is always the same. I'm THRILLED for these people. All pregnancies are miracles. I would never let jealousy in or begrudge someone of their happiness. It sucks that everyone has kids and it's a club that Dan and I are desperately trying to join, but I still hold the belief that our day will come. And all those people that are having babies will thrilled and cheering us on as well.
Dan's recovery is still going well. He has some pain now and then but nothing he can't handle. He goes at the end of March for a sperm analysis and to see if he has any swimmers yet. Praying!!! So we are living life as if nothing is standing in our way. I'm monitoring my ovulation cycles, taking prenatal vitamins, blah blah blah. I will post again once there is some news. In the meantime, thanks for your support.