3 of 3: Infertility Doctor

I am absolutely impressed with Reproductive Medicine and Surgery Center of Virginia! The office is clean and well decorated, the staff is professional and knowledgeable, and most of what we have to do will be covered by our insurance! I'm going to share with you about our experience there today. This will probably be a long blog. Sorry about that.

Before we left: I was uncomfortably anxious. I was expecting a wrench in the plans-- for the office manager to tell us they no longer accept our insurance, for the doctor to tell us conceiving would be impossible, or to get some other dismal, damning news.

When we got there: We had already filled out all of the paperwork last night because they have it printable on their website. So, we just waited. We were very early, so we ended up waiting about 45 minutes. There were two other families in the waiting room, both with toddlers. One woman kept going on and on about how her son was her "miracle baby" and how she and her husband never would have gotten pregnant without this place. The other woman talked about how she had to try for 5 whole months to get pregnant (poor her, right?) and that she just didn't want to wait as long this time. Insane. Let nature take its course! That's a perfectly normal timeframe!

Finally, I heard, "Mrs. Jensen?" and it was our turn.

The doctor looked at the results from Aaron's semen analysis in '09 and my laparoscopy in '10. I'm still fuming about that-- as it turns out, my doctor in Lynchburg never really did a HSG, but she told me she did it during that surgery and we absolutely paid over $1,000 for it! Ugh. So anyway... He explained more about Endometriosis than I ever knew. They are actually an Endometriosis research center too, so I take his words over those of my crappy Lynchburg doctor. So, essentially, for every normal woman, every month when she has her period, some of her endometrium comes out (her period) and some goes up and out the two other holes-- the fallopian tubes. That's normal. Some of it is absorbed back into the body and used as energy, and some is destroyed by the immune system. Perfectly normal. For someone with Endometriosis, the endometrium that comes out sticks itself onto organs (for me, my ovaries) and creates barriers and inflammation. He said that the reason we have never been able to get pregnant is because my ovaries are inflamed and then the inflammation produces a fluid that then coats the inside of the womb and destroys the sperm and/or any fertilized egg(s) before they can implant and become a pregnancy. My doctor at Women's Health Services NEVER told me that!

I was surprised when he told me I would have three tests done in the office right then and there (and I know Aaron was seeing dollar signs). First, they did an ovary check with a vaginal ultrasound, AKA a baseline scan. This was the second pelvic exam I've had in less than a week. I can't really complain though. Anyway, this was to check out my ovaries (obviously) to see if I had ovulated and from which ovary I had ovulated. They said I had ovulated from my right ovary and that my left ovary had an Endometriosis clump on it. He also said that my Endometrium looked good and thick. Then, they did two blood tests. Again, this should have been the FIRST thing my Lynchburg doctor checked after a year of TTC but she never did. They tested my Prolactin and Progesterone levels. My Prolactin level was good and she said my Progesterone level was also good (needs to be above 10, mine was 14), so, in the lab lady's words, "Your body did a good job ovulating." For once. Ha.

I'm just waiting on the result of my thyroid test from the doctor here. Dr. Williams also wants to do a Saline Infusion Sonogram to make sure I don't have any interuterine fibroids. That will be in two weeks. Aaron will also go in (probably the same day) for another semen analysis. This doctor said the kind of testing they use is more inclusive than what was done at Centra Lab.

Plan of action!!!!

For now, he thinks all of this will be a simple fix! No IVF (thank GOD!!!). He said our course of action will be as follows:

Step 1: Clomid. Double dosage actually.  I'm surprised that it possibly could be this simple. Surprised and relieved and hopeful. Really? A medicine that is less than $10 might be all we need???? Please, God!


Step 2: If we don't get pregnant after one or two cycles of clomid, he wants to try 2 or 3 cycles of Clomid with IUI. IUI is $353/each time and is not covered by insurance. We are praying it doesn't come to this. It's not the end of the world if it does (hey, what are tax refunds for?), but it's considerably more expensive than just Clomid. PLUS, once we do IUI, our insurance will no longer pay for fertility stuff. So, until we do IUI, all of the monitoring and tests are covered at 90%.


Step 3: If after all that IUI and Clomid don't work, I can use Clomid with a shot of Gonadotrophin (HMG) stimulation.

We can take any of those steps at any time and mix and match. I will have to go in for ultrasounds and blood tests every month to see which treatments are working. And he didn't even mention having to use Lupron first! Praise God. This is on schedule to happen much faster than we had hoped.

Please pray with us that just Clomid and "fun" are enough!

Overall, I am pleased with the amazingness of RMSCVA and so thankful to God that we can do this! Thanks for reading! And a BIG thank you to everyone who is praying for us!