[Joliving4Jesus]

Well we just got the results of dh's post varicocele repair SA...its not good ...everything has dropped but the motility, the counts went from 55 million to just 15 million, the morphology went from 3% kruger to 1 % kruger, the only thing that increased was motility, went from 37% to 52% and is now a grade 3 vs a grade 2, grade 3 move moderatly progressive forward and 2 was slow...so we're left with the cold hard facts of IVF right now...its hard to swallow especially since our son was a natural conception. Dh isn't taking it well and is fighting it a bit, he is scared about the finances and we're finally debt free and won't be any longer after this. I have heard some of you say you were able to get your meds donated or were able to get some through your center, can you tell me more? Our new low cost IVF center that we have an appt with on the 20th is a base cost of $6500 without meds, but the meds can cost $1500-$3000 as to what they said. I am so scared about moving forward with IVF, any tips or encouragement? I didn't want to cross this path but it seems to be the only option left

[KMH]

I'm sorry...that is really lousy news to get after the journey you have had.

Some fertility clinics do have meds that were leftover from previous patient's cycles that they can give to those who need it. There are also discount programs that you can enroll in through most of the fertility med places (Freedom Fertility has one, Walgreens has one) and that does help some.

IVF is a scary path to take, but it is also exciting because it is your best chance at that BFP!

[Katie L]

Hi Joanna

I have been in EXACTLY your shoes. My DD was conceived naturally on the 2nd try. So we had NO idea of any possibly fertility issue going into TTC #2. 13months into TTC #2 we were told that all of the parameters of DH's SA were poor and IVF was our best option. We couldn't believe it so we tried 3 IUIs without success. DH did go to a urologist and was diagnosed with a varicocele. However, we did not do the surgery because the urologist, RE and books we read told us it usually doesn't help.

So then we accepted our IVF fate. Our insurance covered a portion of the meds and the monitoring. I know my clinic does have some donated meds/supplies. Other ladies on this board have had discounted or donated meds/monitoring, as well as "packages" were multiple attempts (fresh an frozen cycle) are offered. It is a scary expense, and we are in more credit debt than we would like.

BUT we are exptecting #2 any day now and it was totally worth it! You just need to both agree this is the path for you so that you are ready to tackle the emotional and physical trials of IVF. I'm a reader, so I bought a book. And, of course, spent plenty of time on this board

I wish you the best of luck, no matter what you decide!

[Joliving4Jesus]

Thanks so much ladies and thank you for your story Katie, it gives me hope as it looks like your first IVF was a success. I worry so much about the investment and wondering, what if it doesn't work? I do hear that the highest chance of success is when the woman has no fertility problems and its only coming from the man as ICSI can by pass any male factor, I still worry about failure though.

It took us over 2 years to conceive my son and we knew we had infertility then but we simply couldn't afford IVF at that time which the docs said was our only hope, we did prove them wrong which was awesome. Its now been over 2 years for this second go and we wanted to be able to try IUI, but with the most current numbers and only 1% kruger morph, I am thinking we'll be wasting money doing IUI and that money can go for something that has a much higher chance of success. The money is a concern to me, but not as much a concern as the IVF failing, dh said if we do it, we'll be doing it once, thats all...its a one time shot for us...now if we have embies to freeze I guess we could do a FET but the emotional distress and toll it would take on my marriage to fail on the first time would be too much to bear. Then I think, do I transfer 1 embie or 2? I would prefer not to have twins but it would be a miracle and welcomed blessing but all the troubles I had with my son as a baby, it would be tough on us to have twins. I fear if I only did 1 embie, it may fail, and if I did two, they could both take, how did you decide to only transfer 1 as I see in your siggy? I am young, 29, no fertility problems, so my chance of success is good but I want to give it the best shot possible if we only got 1 shot at it.

[L-SBB]

i am sorry the news wasn't better...you've obviously had a tough road to this point and i wish the surgery would have gotten you better results - you definitely deserved a break.

Hang in there, i know IVF sounds daunting (does to me too) but you've got a lot of great ladies here who have been through it and can give you advice. HUGS

[MandyEllen]

Hi Joanna,
I am currently going through my first IVF cycle after 3 failed IUIs. I agree that it is a scary thought that it might not work. Staying positive is the only thing that gets me through it.
Good luck. I know it's a hard decision to make, especially with the costs involved.
Let us know if you have any IVF cycling questions. There are lots of girls on here that have been through it & a recent BFP by FET! Just keep reminding yourself that it DOES work!!!

[*JenJen*]

*hugs*

I'd definitely make an appt to talk to your RE, as they can answer a lot of these questions for you. I know IVF is a huge cost, we've been told a few times that it's our only chance for a biological child, but we can't even begin to afford it right now due to needing quite a few procedures along with it, so we chose to go with donor sperm because it's the more affordable route and the biology of our child isn't as important to us.

Whatever you decide, good luck. We're in the process of saving for IVF because we don't want to deal with the debt as well.

[LindseyE117]

There is a program offered for first time IVF'ers called Compassionate Care. They will cover the costs of all your expensive injectable meds (just the injectables though). They covered all my Gonal F and my trigger shots. All you have to do is find out if your clinic works with them. It is based on your income, but it has to be extremely high to be denied.

As for the varicocele, my husband has one too on the larger of his two testicles. His counts have always been all over the place, but his urologist highly recommended against the surgery because it can actually make the counts worse. The RE told us that we would never be able to conceive on our own because of his counts. He was put on Clomid, and his counts skyrocketed and his motility went from 15% to 95%. We also did the fertility blend. Although our IVF failed, we conceived naturally with just him on Clomid and Fertility Blend and me on Soy on our 2nd cycle after our failed IVF. This was after almost 4 years of TTC, 1 miscarriage, and 1 chemical pregnancy.

Point being is if you take the IVF route, there may be help for your costs. Also, you can try the Fertility Blend and the Clomid for a month or two with your hubby to see if that helps. Based on my experience, always try every single option before opting for IVF. It can be a miracle for some, but it is so ungodly expensive. I really wish it wasn't so much, especially because it could take multiple tries and cost tens of thousands of dollars. Especially if you and your hubby have already gotten pregnant on your own before.

[KMH]

I have not experienced an IVF failure, so I cannot speak to what it would be like to have your fresh cycle fail. However, an FET is a zillion times easier than a fresh cycle of IVF. For my FET, I had a grand total of 3 appointments beforehand, and then the actual transfer. It was laid-back. I was taking meds, but I wasn't nearly as crazy and hormonal, and afterwards I felt really normal instead of having to recover like a fresh IVF cycle. I just wanted to give you a taste of what an FET might be like...it isn't like doing IVF all over again at all.

As far as transferring one or two...there are SO many things involved with that decision. Part of it will be the health of your embryos. Most of it will be what you and DH are comfortable with. We were adamant about transferring only one with our fresh cycle, and ended up doing two instead because we were so terrified of failure. I'm so glad that we did...we had a healthy singleton pregnancy! We also transferred two for our FET, and so far my betas point to a singleton pregnancy as well, although we haven't had an u/s to find out 100%.

Good luck, hun...these are tough things to think about for sure!

[Joliving4Jesus]

Thanks for all the info ladies! We were recommended to do the surgery for dh not only for fertility but for the fact that a varicocele can cause a lot of other health problems in the future, his testosterone was borderline low due to it which can cause health issues as well as several other things, I've never known it to make things worse, only stay the same or get better, in our case, it more stayed the same, except some aspects decreased slightly, but not enough to think its because of the surgery, we actually didn't do the actual surgery, just an embolization, no stiches, no recovery time, only local anaesthesia, much less invasive than surgery and we were told it could take up to a year to show improvement, but I would think it would have at least increased some, and it did, but in one area only.

What do they use clomid for to increase male factor problems? Quite interesting and its only $4 for clomid, how long was your dh on the clomid before you got pregnant? And what kind of fertility blend was he taking? My dh has been on Fertilaid for men for nearly a year now.

Melissa, I have been lurking on your posts and was so encouraged to see your successes with IVF. I think in my heart I'd feel more comfortable transferring 2 and take the chance of twins than tranfer 1 and chance not becoming pregnant, but I do need to discuss it with the RE.

I have a Feb 20th appt to discuss our options and start a plan, very nervous and scared but I am ready to have another baby in my arms!

[Joliving4Jesus]

Originally Posted by LindseyE117

There is a program offered for first time IVF'ers called Compassionate Care.

I read up on this and this part confuses me:

Fertility Assist will help pay for fertility medications for patients who have not been successful after two prior attempts that include Gonal-f. The patient must have paid cash for the first two attempts through the Freedom Fertility Pharmacy and have filled their prescription for the third cycle within 18 months of the first perscription.

So does this mean I "have" to have used Gonal-f 2 previous times before I can be accepted?

[LindseyE117]

Originally Posted by Joliving4Jesus

I read up on this and this part confuses me:

Fertility Assist will help pay for fertility medications for patients who have not been successful after two prior attempts that include Gonal-f. The patient must have paid cash for the first two attempts through the Freedom Fertility Pharmacy and have filled their prescription for the third cycle within 18 months of the first perscription.

So does this mean I "have" to have used Gonal-f 2 previous times before I can be accepted?

No, unless they changed those rules within the last couple of months. I was approved for them on my first cycle of IVF. I had never used Gonal F or even done IVF before, so that part confuses me. The best option would probably be to call and find out. It could also mean that they will help non first time IVF'ers as long as they have had 2 filed attempts??

As for the Clomid, my husband took a half a pill every other day along with Fertility Blend for Men twice daily. Here it is for sale on Amazon: Amazon.com: Fertility Blend for Men: Health & Personal Care

The Clomid, from my understanding, is something new that they are trying with men with some MFI issues. All I know is that it boosted my husbands sperm quality all around. He was literally only on it for not even 2 months. It would not hurt to ask the RE about it, or even is urologist.

[Katie L]

We did not try any supplements for DH but a few ladies on this board have and have had success. (Yay, Lindsey!)

As far as how we chose to transfer 1. It's like Melissa said, it has to do with egg quality. I was 31 at the time of my retrieval and had been successfully pregnant before. We also had really good egg quality. I looked up statistics and talked with my RE and embryologist. The difference in success with 1 vs 2 was only a few % different. However, the risk of twins was obviously much higher for those who transfer 2. I really feel in my heart that if we had transferred 2 we would be having twins right now. We would have been very happy with twins, but we still set a goal of 1 healthy baby. And we were VERY scared of not succeeding. We probably would have transferred 2 on FET if the fresh cycle wasn't successful. We were very happy with our experience and read a lot as well as asked our RE a lot of questions.

Good luck with your appt!

[EmptyWomb]

I am no help really.. but did want to say my sister did IVF back in 2008 and it was unsuccessful.. it really depends. When she did her IVF they found that her egg quailty was not very good for conception.. and she has a very low egg count for someone her age. Her husband also had MFI problems and was the main reason for IVF. They used a clinic in Indianapolis where they live and the cost was $5500.00 for the IVF and the meds cost at least $3000.00 and they had to pay for the cost of the monitoring as well. NOt that this happens to alot but their IVF literally almost put them in bankruptcy and they had no snowbabies for a FET and the IVF did not work. My brother in law did the clomid and vitamin regime and within 5 months of doing it they were pregnant. By this time they had moved to a new area and changed RE's. He did not want to cause more hurt to their pocketbooks and wanted to start where they could afford. I was surprised it worked but it did.

NOW my story completely different.. husband's swimmers are like SUPER SPERM but it is me that has the problem.. PCOS... was overweight but lost my weight... i do not ovulate without Clomid... SO we tried IUI and it was successful but we miscarried. Then got a surprise BFP out of no where after I lost my weight BUT i miscarried. So we are ADOPTING

I hope all works out for you!! Someday.. insurance companies will wise up and realize they can only make more money if IVF/IUIs are covered... all around.. TRICARE i wish would wise up lol Here is to praying and hoping

GOod luck and i hope the appointment goes great for you!! Prayers and thoughts are coming our way!! KUP!