The appointments never stop...

Today was my first monitoring appointment since I've been on my stims (today will be my 5th day of injections) and I am happy to report mainly good news! As he expected, Dr. Lee said I was cranking out follicles like a rock star! Those of you who follow my blog will remember our last cycle was cancelled due to my crazy high amount of follicles which caused me to develop OHSS. So far I have about 8 follies on each ovary that are all measuring around 9-11 in size. Dr. Lee said he was very pleased with what he was seeing and expects that I will have enough embryos from this retrieval that we may not ever need to do it again!

Now for the bad news (it couldn't just end there, could it?!?!). He is still a little concerned that I may continue to produce more follies like crazy and get OHSS again. So, nothing is for sure yet but he mentioned the idea of doing the retrieval, fertilizing the eggs, and then freezing them all. We would do a frozen transfer the following month which would push the transfer into September. A frozen embryo transfer (FET) is pretty much what it sounds like. Your embryos get frozen (which can happen because your cycle is being delayed or even because you have extra embryos left over after doing the initial transfer) and when it's time to put them back into you they simply thaw them out. He explained to me that he just doesn't think the risk of me getting OHSS is worth it. Plus, apparently there is a lot of studies coming out now that shows there are actually higher success rates from FETs versus fresh cycle transfers (something having to do with the lining of the uterus being extra thick from all the medication, and waiting a month allows your uterus lining to thin out more). I hear what he's saying and ultimately I know he only has my best interest in mind. Obviously I'm going to do what he recommends and that may mean waiting a month. I just don't want to!! I feel like all I do now and days is wait and I don't want to wait another month! He did still say that since I am most likely going to have a decent amount of embies, as long as he doesn't think I'll have OHSS we can still do the ET this month. I guess it all depends on how things go. I go back on Monday after adding Ganirelix into the mix this weekend to see how my follies are looking. If all goes well, we are planning on triggering Wednesday with the ER on Friday.

In other news (full disclosure warning, this is going to be a little long)I feel like ripping my hair out when it comes to my insurance! I don't understand why things have to be so darn difficult. I will preface this by saying that I am not mad at the actual people I have been dealing with, more the stupid policies of the insurance company. Working in a customer centric environment myself, I definitely want to give credit where it is due. I'm just really irritated because back when I first ordered my medications a couple weeks ago they told me that they didn't want to ship the Lupron trigger shot or the PIO yet because it had a shorter shelf like. Ok, no biggie. So then I called back earlier this week and was told that my insurance actually doesn't cover the Lupron trigger shot (but as a side note they would cover if i needed the full 2 weeks worth of injections - WTH?) AND due to some strange California law they can't ship it across state borders so I'll need to order that through a different pharmacy and pay OOP. That was irritating but since I have had amazing insurance coverage thus far (seriously, we're talking a total of $200 max for all my meds) I decided to let it go and pay the full price. So my RE referred me to a pharmacy called MDR Pharmacy and I was told I could get the Lupron trigger shot for about $100 (phew, no problem!). Now today I called my regular specialty pharmacy back to order the PIO and they are telling me that while it is covered by my insurance, again a strange California law won't allow them to ship it to me so I was referred back to MDR Pharmacy. At this point I'm about ready to scream from all the back and forth phone calls, the bazaar California laws , and also why was this never mentioned to me during the other 10 times I've called about this medication?!?! So I finally get back in touch with MDR only to be told that my insurance declined coverage of the PIO and that I would also need to pay OOP. I feel a little bad because that was where I snapped and little miss attitude reared her ugly head. I told that woman that I had literally just been on the phone with my insurance company and was told that it was covered. Thankfully she didn't hold my attitude against me and said she'd call them. So It turns out my insurance company has a LAME policy that regardless of if i am technically covered or not, they won't pay for anything that isn't shipped through them. That is total BS! Is it my fault that where I happen to live there is a stupid law that is different from all the other states? NO! I was able to get it escalated and am now waiting to hear back from a supervisor on whether they can override this stupid policy for me since it isn't really my fault. Who knows. MDR said worst case scenario I'm looking at paying $169 for both the Lupron and PIO. I know I should be thankful because many woman going through this pay a ton more then me but its the principle. What is the point of having awesome insurance if they aren't going to cover what they say they cover? Ugh, I'll keep you posted...