Putting it on Hold

This past Thursday, we decided to scope. Now before the judgement on scoping comes in, here is a link that explains how to do an at home semen analysis. So that's what we did. I've become a pro since the reversal because we can only get a professional analysis done every few months.

Back to this Thursday, we scoped a sample. Now my microscope isn't the best but I typically can see swimmers, good and bad plus the dead ones. This time it was all dead. We hoped it was just a bad sample and decided to wait til Saturday to try again. Yesterday we scope again, nothing. All dead. Thousands of little dead sperm everywhere, not a single one wiggling or swimming. Now we didn't do anything different this time than we've done the times before when we saw sperm so I don't think it was our inexperience that caused them to die before looking at them on the scope. I'm hoping that it's just the effects of a few mistakes Jay made this past month. The night of excessive drinking, the slip of memory about the hot tub and possibly his constant caffeine intake but it's hard for me to logically believe that those few things could cause someone to go from 19mil/mL with 31.6% swimming to 0% swimming. 

I called the RE office on Friday in hopes of getting some advice or possibly an official SA done but they never returned my call. I will try again tomorrow in hopes of getting a hold of someone to schedule an appointment. But for now, we're out. I don't really see the point in trying this month. I don't want to go through the agony of trying and hoping to find out it didn't work. I'm going to continue to chart so I can build up the data on my body to make sure everything continues to work properly. Hopefully this month will be a nice break from the stress of trying.

I mostly wrote this to let you all know that this month and subsequently next month are probably out. Then Jay leaves until December for school so we won't be trying probably until December, if his sperm returns. I wish all of you luck in your TTC journey, if that's where you are and the rest of you luck in life in whatever you are facing at this point in time. Don't let the bad over shadow the good. 

Until next time,

Fertility Specialist Appointment Update

Well, it took a little longer than we had expected to get the referral through so we had to reschedule our first appointment with the Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE). So a few days after cancelling the appointment, we get our referral approval in the mail and we were able to schedule our appointment for August 8th.

Yesterday morning we dropped Jayson off to school and headed to Tucson where the RE's office is. We get there about 30 minutes early, fill out our paperwork and get called back. We sit in a little consult room for about 15-20 minutes before the doctor comes in. He was very nice, listened to us talk and went over our history and concerns with us. Then he went over his plan of action. Since the first day of my last cycle was July 9th, he decided I should do a pregnancy test there in the office to see if I was pregnant before we proceed forward. He also ordered another SA on Jay.

The doctor's plan of action is that if we don't get pregnant on our own in a few months, we will try an IUI with clomid. I don't think he actually gave a time line for when we'll do it. I think 6 months but again, I don't remember him saying a specific time line. In the discussion he mentioned 3-4 months and 6 months but I can't remember if either of these were our time line. He said his biggest concern is to make sure we get pregnant before DH has the chance to scar over or before his counts start to decrease. The doctor wants to continuously monitor Jay to make sure everything is going well but if we see a few SAs that show his numbers declining, the doctor will fast track us to the IUI.

The SA yesterday was much better than last months so I'm happy about that! The SAs were about 3 weeks apart.
             Last Month                               This Month                      Changes
Count    5.2 mil/mL                                 19 mil/mL                        +13.8mil/ml
Motility  20%                                          31.6%                             +11.6%
Morph   90% abnormal                           50% abnormal heads       -40% abnormalities
pH         8.5                                            8.0                                  -0.5
WBC     Not tested                                 0

I'm very pleased to see the improvements across the board. This is very promising and if the improvements keep getting better I have a feeling we'll be pregnant in 2 or 3 more cycles. Unfortunately we only have 2, maybe 3 more cycles before Jay leaves for WOCS for a month. But we can pick right back up in December when he returns.

My blood pregnancy test came back negative but it's quite possible that the numbers just weren't good enough two weeks ago. I'm not late for my period yet. I'm not expecting it until Monday or Tuesday. Yesterday I was 11 days past ovulation. Not trying to say I'm pregnant and the blood test was wrong, but there is a slim possibility. I'm not holding my breath though. I'm just not the type of person that can ignore facts.

Since I believe the blood test is probably acurate, I had a nice big glass of wine last night. It was my first drink since the 4th of July and it was DELICIOUS! lol I think I might need to indulge a little bit more often so I don't feel so deprived of so much. I've been so good while trying to conceive that it's actually starting to stress me out which I believe is probably more harm to the cause than some of things I've cut out. So no more stressing (I'm gonna try) and more relaxing! Just gotta find the ways.

We left the doctor's office after we gave our samples but with out any guidance as to when to schedule our follow up. So Jay called yesterday and the doctor was out on an emergency, (What kind of emergency could a fertility doctor have?) and the office staff said to call back to schedule when I started my period. Alright... but why? What are we doing? I'm so confused. Not that the doctor was confusing but because I forgot to ask when we left the office and that was my bad. Ugh. So hopefully we'll get some answers today.

On to cycle #3 of trying! I'm going to take a new approach to the whole thing this time. Relaxation, no stressing out about getting pregnant. I'm sure I'll stress but hopefully about everyday things like school work and bills instead of pregnancy tests and ovulation kits! lol

Until next time!

New doctors and Fertility Specialists

Last week was rough. Jay had his SA, the numbers weren't great and his doctor didn't have any insight for us at all. There was a referral put in, referral denied by the case manager, Jay fought with her and finally got everything ironed out. Well, today we received the referral in the mail. It's been APPROVED!

Since the referral is for an office in Tucson, we're going to try to get an appointment for after August 7th so that way Jayson will be in school and we'll only have to worry about Eli being in child care. We'll probably put him in hourly care while we make the trip up for the appointment. Hopefully we will have some answers after seeing Dr. Gelety at The Arizona Center for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. 

Today is Jay's 30th birthday but we celebrated this past weekend. We really had fun with our friends and it was nice to hang out and not think about getting pregnant for an afternoon. But of course after everyone left we were back to obsessing about it all.

I should be ovulating soon which means after that, we'll just be waiting around to find out if we "caught the egg"! This month seems to be dragging on far slower than last month but at the same time, it seems more relaxed to me. I don't know if Jay feels the same way but we're just enjoying ourselves and hoping it works out for the best.

This month, we've been discussing the possibility of twins a lot more. Yesterday I was even wracking my brain to think of 2nd names if there were twins. I don't know why it's on my mind as of lately but it really is stuck there for the time being. I think it'd be fun and exciting. Something new and challenging for me to conquer. I don't think it'll be easy but I do think it's something out of the ordinary and I like the idea of that. I'm always looking for new challenges though this isn't one I get to decide on. 

In the end, I just hope for a happy, healthy pregnancy and baby or babies. Everything else in between and after will sort itself out in due time. 

Now please excuse me while I check for the 2nd time today for an ovulation LH surge...

Results & Options

The results came back yesterday and while they are low, I know that it's still early. The biggest concern I have is the drastic change in the count. On Tuesday, July 9th, Jay's count was at 26 million per mL which is with in the normal range of 20-200 million per mL. Yesterday, the results came back with a count of 5.2 million per mL. There are many things that may have caused this change. Drinking, lack of ibuprofen, caffeine and many other unhealthy habits that contribute to the over all health of a person. The ibuprofen is suggested after a VR because of the swelling, even after it seems/feels healed, swelling can cause a lack of sperm from being let through. So there are things we are going to work on at home.

Here are the results from yesterday: 

Count: 5.2 million per mL
pH: 8.5  (normal >7.2)
Motility: Minimal forward progression 
Motility: 20% (normal >50%)
Volume: 2.0mL (normal 2.0mL)
Morphology: 91% abnormal (normal 0-20 *I'm not sure what this means*)


These aren't great numbers. So Jay called his PCM yesterday to be told by a very rude receptionist that the lab shouldn't tell patients to call their PCM for explanation of results because doctors are busy and can't drop what they're doing to go over every lab result with patients. From my understanding, that's part of the doctor's JOB! Aren't they supposed to go over lab results with you, especially if they are BAD results?? I understand that the doctor was probably busy THAT moment when Jay called but seriously, she could have just said that the doctor was busy and would call him back to discuss the results at his earliest convenience. 

Well anyway, Jay calls this morning to schedule an appointment to speak with the doctor in case calling doesn't get him anywhere.  After he scheduled his appointment, he called and left a message with the nurse to call him back to discuss the results. The nurse called him back and read the notes in the file with the lab results. The doctor is going to refer Jay to a specialist. The two types of specialists that were mentioned were a Urologist or a fertility specialist. At this point, I feel as though the PCM is out of his depth with this case and doesn't know where to go, which is fine, not all doctors can be specialists in ever arena but I'm glad to know that this doctor knew when to pass the case. 

Now we wait for the case manager to call Jay with his options for specialists. Once he has the info he can start making phone calls to schedule an appointment with the new doctor(s). I'm not sure if he/we will see one specialist or both specialists, which specialist it'll be if it's just one but at this point, having someone familiar with reversals and infertility is going to be beneficial to our journey. Hopefully the next update is better.

Until next time,
Traci