TESA/Waiting

Well, today was the day we have all been waiting for... TESA!! We went in to surgery at 7:30.  Will had to have a testicular biopsy because they couldn't find any sperm in the epidymis, and that is about as fun as it sounds!!  They were able to find some sperm in the testicular tissue.  They said they were moving but the sperm from testicular tissue is of lesser quality.  But our biggest concerns were there being none there or them being all dead, neither of which was the case, so.. AWESOME!! The doctor said he is going to try to freeze 4 viles.  I am so happy to have this procedure out of the way!

Well, now on to the bad news.  Unfortunately, Will and I were unable to get the loan we need to continue.  This was a huge blow to us that I am still getting over.  I have come to realize that God has a plan, and I think He just knew we could not afford the payments on the loan and prevented me from going into some serious debt.  That being said, we have devised a plan to save for 9 months to try to eliminate a loan altogether.  We would love to save the money sooner, but the fundraisers have not been bringing in much money.  I am really sad that we had to stop our cycle, but we have the sperm now and I just have to save save save so we can hopefully pick back up real soon.  Until then, here is a picture of my poor pitiful Will after his surgery :(

Cycle Day 1

I am super nervous today.  First of all, I got a call from my nurse saying we are ready to start.  I started taking the birth control today (I know that sounds weird, but it is part of the cycle) and we will start taking the Z pak tomorrow probably.  And BTW, never taken birth control before!!! I don't like what people say about it, how it makes them feel and everything, so yikes. Kind of nervous about that. Anywho, a bunch of other tests are going on in the Month of November, but the biggie is my egg retrieval, which is scheduled for 11/21.  Happy Thanksgiving to us!!

Heres why I'm nervous.  My nurse said she will be calling in my meds tomorrow and I should be hearing from the pharmacy in 2-3 business days.  Well, I am having a hard time getting approved for the loan.  I only got approved for $5,000 and my mom's credit score was too low.  So if they call and I can't pay, idk what we will do.  So ya'll, this is my desperate plea, PLEASE look at my fundraiser and donate in any way you can!! All of the money we have collected has gone to TESA. again it is gofundme.com/powellfertilityfundraiser

Also, no call from Dr. Flora about scheduling the TESA.  If we dont hear from them tomorrow I will call.  So to sum it all up, UGH!! I have to take meds that I can't pay for, we have to wait another day for a phone call from the urologists, I have to take pills I have refused to take all of my life, and no one wants to give me a loan! BUT! I refuse to be on a pity party.  I know it will all work out and I really can't believe how far we have come already.  Come on November 21st! 

Sorry for the Debbie Downer post, as you can tell this journey is FULL of ups and downs! lol. So hopefully the next post will be an UP!

Here's a pic of the first round of meds

IVF class/TESA news

Well, today was our IVF class!  Basically, we learned that I am going to be a pin cushion with all of the injections I will be taking over the next few months.  They also gave us our specialized calendar and said I have a very low dosage of medications because I shoudn't have a hard time "stimulating", which means less pain AND less money!  We also met with a financial counselor, who wasn't much help at all.  She basically gave us the number to a medical financing place (which I already found online) and told us to call when we have the money.  Gee, thanks lady.  When we left I was pretty upset.  I just felt like none of the stuff we learned mattered because we can't start without TESA.  We have been arguing with insurance and the surgery center about insurance covering TESA, and we just had to keep waiting and waiting and nothing was happening.  I was beginning to think we would never get the money to do TESA and this would all be for nothing.

When we were leaving NFC, we got a call from Nikki, the person at the surgery center dealing with the TESA/insurance crap.  Well, insurance finally came through and the surgery is COVERED!  that means we saved $1800.  Also, Will doesnt need anesthesia because he can't feel it anyways, so thats aother $870 saved.  That means we only need to come up with $3,975.  Thanks to our fundraisers, we have made $3,950.. which leaves a grand total of $15 out of pocket!! WWOOOO  HHHHOOOO!!!  I am going to gather all of the money together, get it to the bank, and send it to NFC tomorrow, which is when the scheduler will call to set up the surgery!  My whole day has turned around with this awesome news!

As for the rest of the money for IVF , we will have to take out a loan. boooo.  BUT you gotta do what you gotta do I guess!  Hopefully next time I blog it will be about TESA, but until then here is a picture of us on this wonderful day!! :)

Bloodwork/HSG

Well, Monday was Will's day for doctors, and today was mine!  Luckily Amie came with me, and boy was it an eventful day!!

We started by going to NFC for all of my bloodwork.  Amie dropped the debit card under the car when we were getting coffee, and it was really all downhill from there!

After the bloodwork, we had about 4 hours to kill before my HSG appointment.  We decided to drive to Green Hills to kill some time.  Well, we were sitting in the car taking pictures when I turned the air on and the car died!!  Amie gets so frazzled she decides to get out and not think about it.  As soon as she closes the door she realizes the keys are still in the ignition... and the car is locked.  SO, we have to call pop a lock to come unlock the car, and then pray we make it to the diagnostic center.

When we get to the diagnostic center I am super nervous because I heard it is really painful.  I took a bunch of ibuprofen and luckily it didn't really hurt at all, and the doctor said everything looks perfect :)

Also, the phlebotomist at NFC made me feel really good, because she said since I am so young and everything looks so good on me that I should have no problem getting pregnant the first time with IVF.

On a bad note, Will and I have figured out that the more "unconventional" ways to get sperm were unsuccessful.  So, we are going to have to go ahead and do TESA. 

Finally, we are done with ALL of our prerequisites for IVF! Our next step is to take the IVF class, which we will do on my fall break.  We will talk to the financial adviser then and hopefully all of that stress will be gone.  I wish we could go ahead and do TESA so that after the class we could go ahead and start IVF, but we unfortunately have not raised enough money so we may have to wait another month to start, which will be either November or even December.

Here is a picture of Amie and I, pre-locked car! :))

Urologist Appointment/Refinancing

Well, today has been a crazy day.  The day started with Will's urologist appointment, where we had the consultation with the guy who will do the TESA.  He said we should try some more, um, unconventional ways to get Will to ejaculate before we go to the extremes and do TESA.  So we are trying some of those first (kind of embarrassing to talk about!! lol)  IF the other ways work, we can bring the sample in to him and he can test the sperm count and quality, which will save us $7,000.  So fingers crossed with that!!

After the doctors appointment, we went to the bank to see about refinancing.  Unfortunately, Will's credit score is not high enough to let us get cash out.  Even if we could, it would not be enough to do IVF.  So, we are still sort of stuck on that.  But once we get the pre requisites for IVF done we can go to the IVF class and meet with a financial adviser, hopefully that will help.

On Wednesday, I have an appointment to get a bunch of bloodwork done and get my HSG done.  Sadly, Will has to work!! But luckily my best friend Amie is coming with me so I won't have to be alone.

All in all, today was an informative day, if nothing else.  Even though we can't get money through refinancing, we could possibly save thousands if we can get sperm without having to go through TESA.  I will post more on Wednesday, but for now here is a pic of us on this eventful day!!

Fundraisers!!

Ok, so I was pretty upset posting my last blog.  Will and I have talked and I have had a lot of people reach out to me online, and we have come to some solutions that we need your help with!

First, if you are close to me you probably got the message about the spaghetti dinner.  Not sure of a date yet but I do know it will be $10 per person and I am looking at the VFW in Hendersonville for the location.  We will also be raffling off lots of great items for extra money and taking extra donations.  Please Please come if you can!!

For those of you who know you won't be able to come but still want to help, I have a friend who is helping me with a scentsy fundraiser!!  Just go to www.krystahinton.scentsy.us.  when you click on browse or shop then it will ask if you are shopping for a party.. click on "powell fundraiser" and shop away!!  This will help us raise a lot of money!

Also, if you would just like to donate, please go to our last fundraiser, http://www.gofundme.com/powellfertilityfundraiser.  This is where you can just donate any amount of money, ANYTHING helps!!

Thank you all for your support
xoxo

$$$

So nothing has really been going on since our consultation.  Just a lot of waiting.  Well, today we get a big package in the mail from NFC.  In it is the total rundown cost for IVF.  I have a friend who just finished IVF and said she spent about 11,500.  So I was pretty much ready to spend that.  Well, come to find out, the TESA that Will needs (where they go in and extract sperm from him) is 6,655.  WHAT?!?! I have no idea how we will come up with that sort of money before we can even START ivf.  Not to mention, my HSG is 900 and we just got the bill for Will's bloodwork, which is 524.  This is turning out to be soo much money.  I know I will have to get a loan, which medical financing only gave me 5000.  Thankfully, my mom said she would co sign, so I am hoping for 20,000.  Do you have a headache yet? Because I sure do.

On a side note, I can not believe the amount of support Will and I are receiving.  I have read where so many people are praying for us and supporting us.  I know it may seem superficial to just "post" something on facebook, but it really does mean a lot to me.  Even if I do not know you personally, if I have ever even crossed your mind and you have wished me good luck on this journey, I sincerely thank you.  Your support is really helping me through this crazy new chapter in my life.  If anyone has ANY ideas on how I could possibly come up with some money, PLEASE let me know!

Thanks for your support!! Here is the pic of the dreaded paperwork..

First Visit

Will and I made the decision to use fertility treatments 2 years ago.  Because of Will's back injury, he does not ejaculate at all, making it impossible for us to conceive naturally.  We have researched and made the decision to go with IVF before ever visiting the doctor.  Well, last week we decided to finally start the process.  We went on Thursday for our consultation.  The doctor asked us a ton of questions (which I only knew the answers to about half!) and ran lots of tests on me.  Everything looks good on my side.  They took about 8 tubes of blood from Will to test his testosterone levels and check for diseases.  We also have to make and appointment with the urologist to get a sperm aspiration and check his sperm count and quality.  I go back in 3 or so weeks to get an HSG (blog more about that later).  It is going to be a long journey, I'll keep you posted!!

Here is a picture of us at our first appointment :)