[snsgirl336]

Well ladies, I'm out for this cycle! I woke up to AF this morning. I really was numb this time. I thought I would be really upset, but I just wasn't. DH definitely took it harder than I did. He was pretty upset.

We decided that I will be making my appointment for January. I know that we had decided that if this cycle was a bust we'd make an appointment asap, but after looking at our schedules over the next few weeks, between the holidays and work, there just isn't any time that is good for both of us. The stress of the Holiday season was also in the back of our minds as well. Did we really want to add infertility testing to that? Not so much. So, I guess DH wins LOL (In January, we will have ended up waiting the full 18 months like both he and my Dr wanted!) I'm really excited to try to figure out what the heck is keeping us from getting pregnant and I'd love to start ASAP, but I'm taking this as a lesson in patience. I've never been good at being patient! So, we'll be starting off the new year hopefully pregnant, but if not, working towards figuring out why I'm not!

Thanks for all the support girls! You really have and are my Rocks besides my DH. And I will definitely let you know when I make my appointment (I'll be calling Tomorrow or Friday to make it). Is there a particular CD I should be shooting for so that maybe we can get something other than chatting done when I get to the DR? My Cycles are pretty much Right on, so I can probably calculate what CDs I would be in early January. Thanks Girls! I you all!!!

[SavaAngel]

I am really sorry AF showed. As for when to make your appt, it really depends on what the doctor wants to do first. Clomid is usually done for 5 days either starting day 3 or day 5. When I went in this past August, I went at the end of my cycle (mostly because that was the first available time/day) and then started my clomid the next month.

Good Luck! Maybe next month will be it and you won't have to worry about any testing.

[Christine-MA]

I know how upset you must be (well, sort of, I haven't been trying as long as you have), but you have such a wonderful attitude. I'm glad you'll be getting some answers, and I don't blame you at all for waiting until after the holidays (and I secretly with a BFP for you this cycle!! Okay I guess it's not a secret anymore )

[~April04~]

o ugh I'm so sorry... I'm glad ya'll have a plan though.. as far as what day, I would shoot for either CD 3 or 7 DPO.... that way if you go in on CD 3 they can do all the bloodwork, and 7DPO would be to make sure you're really ovulating... Good Luck Cris!

[~*Jackie*~]

Good luck, Cris. I'm so so sorry the witch is visiting you-- you so so deserve a BFP. I hope you get some answers at your appointment (although I hope you end up not needing it!), and make sure to keep us updated as to when your appt will be!

[Celry]

AF need to be banned from our group. I'm sorry she showed. January will be here before you know it with the crazy holiday season. I agree with April that CD3 or 7DPO are probably the best dates. CD3 is when they like to do a baseline ultrasound to check for cysts. So you could possibly have bloodwork and an ultrasound done that day.

[Jessica C]

Cris! I'm sorry that witch showed up. I'm glad that you'll be making an appointment, although, hopefully you won't need it. I agree with above posters....cd3 is a great day to have the appointment scheduled for and then let the doctor go from there. again for that nasty witch being there!

[snsgirl336]

Thanks so so much girls! You really have brought me out of my bad mood today! So, it looks like I'll be getting out the calendar and shooting for CD3 whenever that falls in January! I should be able to get it nearly to the day with the way my cycles are so regular! When I call to make the appt I am definitely going to tell the receptionist that I want to get as much done that day as possible... NO MORE WAITING!!!

I didn't get a chance to call today cause I had to babysit my nephews, but I'm gonna call tomorrow morning after I talk with my insurance company and nail down what's covered and what's not! Whoo hoo! Is it sad that I'm actually looking forward to talking to insurance people and receptionists on the phone?!?!? I'm just a

Thanks again for all your help and support! You guys ROCK!

Edited for double post

[richmond_girl]

I'm so sorry Cris. I hope you get a Christmas BFP and you don't even have to go to that appt! But if you do, I agree - right before or on CD 3 would be great. I went to my first appt on CD 2 (just a coincidence) and it was great being able to get started right away on the bloodwork.

So you have an idea of what to expect: they will probably do CD3 and CD 24 labs (CD 3 checks for estradiol, LH, FSH, prolactin and thyroid; CD 24 checks for progesterone). Bring your charts so they can confirm that you are ovulating; it'll also help them figure out if they need to do an ultrasound. Your doctor may also order an SA as standard protocol, so don't BD 2-3 days before the appt so DH can take his order to the lab right away. If the SA comes back good, your bloodwork looks normal and you appear to be ovulating, they will probably schedule an HSG to check your tubes.

Just get ready to be poked, prodded and invaded like you've never imagined. I remember my RE did a vaginal ultrasound one day and it was me, DH, the RE, and 3 nurses in the room. It felt quite odd having all those people in a room when there was a stick up my you-know-what and my insides were spilled all over a screen LOL. But all the testing is worth it since it'll bring you one step closer to that baby!!

Keep us posted!!

[richmond_girl]

Oh, one more thing. About the insurance. Yeah, plan to spend some time researching that. DH has probably spent a total of 6-8 hours just this past month talking to our insurance company - and he WORKS for the insurance company!! I can't imagine how difficult it is to figure out your coverage if you don't have an "in" like he does to get the straight answer. Here are a couple things that might help you:

1) If you're trying to figure out what gets covered, ask your doctor to give you the "CPT code" for various diagnostic procedures, like the HSG. Then give this CPT code to the insurance company and ask if it's covered under your plan. There is one CPT code for every procedure, so you get a much more straightforward answer this way. The CPT codes are only for procedures (like HSGs and biopsies), there is another set of codes for blood/lab work (I think they start with Vs). If you need to know the names of those let me know and I can ask DH when he gets home.

2) If you have an HMO, remember that your PCP may have to coordinate all your referrals or they will not be covered! Even if everything is done via your OBGYN, your PCP still has to file the paperwork. We almost had to pay out of pocket for a few appts because we had been "referred" by our OBGYN to specialists after certain test results came back, but we didn't know that we still had to get an "official" referral from our PCP before we could proceed. So we had to call our PCP, fax them all our records, and get them to file all the paperwork before we could get our appts with the specialists covered. Hopefully you will never get to this stage, but if you do - just FYI.

3) Some insurance companies offer a case manager if you start using a lot of your benefits. We are getting a case manager now that we are moving into IVF. A case manager is assigned to your account and will be your main point of contact for any questions, issues, etc. It's great because then you have ONE person you always work with and they become much more of a partner in your health care. You may have to ask for one or it may automatically be assigned to you once you exceed a certain amount of your benefits; it all depends on your provider and plan. It's worth asking about if you're interested.

4) Some insurance companies will say they won't cover certain things but they will if it's coded differently. For example, they may not cover a biopsy if it's coded as infertility but they may cover it if it's covered as "general diagnostic". Also, if you need some treatments that require anesthesia, often they'll still cover the anesthesia even if they won't cover anything else. Again, hopefully not something you'll need to worry about - but just in case, something to keep in mind.

I'll post more as I think of them. And I'll ask DH for additional tips too. Good luck!!

[snsgirl336]

Thanks Juli! That is a TON of really helpful information! I'm on DH's laptop right now (mine is being annoying) so I'm gonna bookmark this page for him to read too! I'm going to really read through that insurance stuff before I call in the morning to make sure I get the right info and ask the right ways! I'm really appreciative that you passed along all that helpful info!

Also, thanks for the info on the tests and procedures the Dr will probably do. It seems less scary when you kind of know what might happen before you go in!

If it's ok, I might PM you sometime to ask you some questions about insurance stuff too!

[richmond_girl]

Of course you can PM me! I am here to answer any questions you have Insurance can be extremely confusing and it will quickly make a stressful situation much, much worse if you don't know where to go for the answers. The key is figuring out how to make your plan work FOR you, not against you. Most plans just need to be manipulated to work in your favor. The research is a pain, but it is so worth it because you can save thousands! Here's a perfect example. At first, we didn't think our insurance would cover any portion of our IVF, which is going to cost us about $14,000. After doing some digging, and figuring out how things should be coded, in what order/sequence to do them (yes, that matters), and when to request particular authorizations/referrals, we got our insurance to cover $6,700 of our IVF!! So our total out-of-pocket cost just decreased 50% and nothing about our plan changed - we just did a LOT of research, read the fine print and knew what questions to ask!!!

So, ask away!! Don't assume what they tell you over the phone is right either - half the time, the folks working the call centers know NOTHING about your actual health care plan, and they don't know how to get things covered if they're not black-and-white procedures (and most infertility treatments fall into that ambiguous, hazy, grey space!) I am here to help!!

[snsgirl336]

That's awesome that you got them to cover some of the IVF! I believe it should be covered under all insurances (or at least part of it covered), but it's good that you figured out a way to get them to help! Hopefully tomorrow will bring me some good info... they are generally really helpful at my insurance company, so I hope that continues as things get more complicated!!! LOL

[richmond_girl]

Yes, we were actually going to pay the $25K upfront and do the Shared Risk Plan (that amount would cover 4 fresh cycles), but after we figured out that the insurance would actually cover quite a bit, we decided against it. We're going to do one cycle at normal cost just to take advantage of all the insurance money and that will also allow us to use our Flexible Spending Account dollars (we put away $5K/year which is deducted pre-tax so it actually only ends up costing us about $3500). All in all, after you apply our insurance and FSA credit, our first cycle will end up costing us ~$2500! If the first one doesn't work, we'll have exhausted the insurance benefit (most of the coverage we're getting is once per lifetime only) so at that point we'll probably move onto the Shared Risk plan.

So many things to keep track of! We literally have spreadsheets and calendars and task lists all over the place. Keep me posted and def let me know if I can help with anything!!

[snsgirl336]

Wow! That is awesome how little you will have to pay (I say little only comparing it to the original cost)! It really does pay off to do your homework and have a plan!

Don't worry about having spreadsheets and calendars everywhere! I would (and probably will) be doing the same thing just to keep track of insurance stuff and appointments... I'm kinda OCD about organization! DH loves to pick on me about it, but it has definitely saved his butt several times when he's lost something!

[SavaAngel]

Good Luck with the insurance company - ours is horrible. We are having problems with them now - somehow I (and maybe AJ since we had to spend $100 on 2 scripts for an ear infection and congestion) have been taken off DH's plan (since DH is still covered - he never goes to the doctor). I HATE OUR INSURANCE! I don't think DH's boss would listen to me if I demanded we switch insurance companies! We have had MORE problems with them in the last 3 years than I think anyone should ever have in a lifetime! Grrr.

Lots of luck with yours Cris!

[snsgirl336]

Oh wow! That's terrible Christina! I hope you can figure something out! I hope it's just a simple oversight somewhere! Ugh! Why do they have to make things so hard for people! It's not like you're sitting around with all the time in the world to make calls and figure this all out! Gees!

I'm really fortunate with this insurance company- or at least I have been so far! Here's hoping it continues!

[~Lynda~]

Hi Cris, sorry i've been MIA for a couple of days. I truly didn't mean to desert you!!!! i just was so completely broad-sided with my last AF. I thought it was my turn!!! what a dummy i am. i know not to ever think completely, to always have caution. but i didn't listen to myself and let myself go to a place i shouldn't have. AF burned me!! One for her... NOw i must fight back!!!

I'm sorry that you got AF!!! really sorry. i wanted it to be our month so badly!!! probably too badly!!! so i'm trying to chill a bit!!! HUGS to you girl!!! again i'm sorry for not being here!!!! Let's get our Christmas babies!!!!

[snsgirl336]

Oh Lynda! Please don't be sorry you haven't been around! I know that you've needed some time away!!! I know how you have been feeling, as I somehow managed to build up this past cycle as being the one too. I was hoping to have you as a buddy in a DDC since I was sure we were both going to get our BFPs this cycle!!! It just seems to get harder if that's even possible!

Please know that I'm here for you if you need anything! We all are! Sending you lots of and even more so that we can get our Christmas BFPs!!!!

[richmond_girl]

Christina - as long as you were paying your premiums on time I don't think your insurance company could take you off the policy. You may be able to fight it and have them cover all the treatments/diagnoses for you and AJ retroactively. Sorry if I'm butting in and you already went down this path - I just wanted to help if I could.

Cris - yeah, $7K sure isn't "little" but it's better than $14K!! Still think it's ridiculous that insurance companies don't treat infertility as a disease even though it is and we should be covered for it! DH's reproductive system doesn't work - why is the reproductive system valued less than the immune system or any other system in the body?? Grrr.