So I left off in the summer of 2013 just have having had surgery to "treat" not "cure" my endometriosis. I was then put on birth control for a few months. At this point, I remember having a number of thoughts. Part of me was relieved that Alan and I were dealing with both male and female infertility. I think that helped lessen the guilt for both of us, knowing that neither one of us alone was the cause of all of this. Another thought that I remember having was that although I had just had surgery and was now working with a fertility specialist, I remember thinking that our fertility issues really weren't that bad. That we would be well on our way to our family in the next few months or so and would never even have to imagine thinking about IVF, egg/sperm/embryo donors, etc. I laugh at my naiveness now. So, intra-uterine insemination (IUI), artificial insemination, or "turkey baster" procedure (what my friends like to call it) was scheduled for the beginning of August. This is the procedure where they basically give the swimmers a running start, but once inside the pool, left to do things on their own:) I started taking Clomid, a drug that cause a woman to ovulate a couple of eggs at a time as opposed to usually just one, at the beginning of my cycle. I went in for blood and ultrasounds every couple of days just to see how things were progressing. Once the doc was happy with the size of the eggs (I think I had three that first time), I gave myself a trigger shot 36 hours out. Well, I didn't give it to myself. That first shot I remember making such a big deal about. I walked over to my neighbor's house, (He used to be a nurse), and he gave it to me. It was a simple shot in the lower abdomen. Not a big deal, but still scary at first to be giving yourself a shot at home. Again in hindsight, now, I'm an old pro at giving myself shots. Anyways, the morning of the procedure Alan went and did his thing, they cleaned and weeded out the strongest ones, and a couple hours later, the little swimmers were put back in me. Alan and I were certain that it was going to work. After the procedure I had him take me to Barnes and Noble and I bought a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting. The next day, I went out and bought all the things I needed to tell him "we were pregnant" in a cute way. I was ready! Well two weeks later, via peeing on a stick, we were not pregnant.
Ok we thought, no biggie. We did another "turkey baster" procedure that November (You'd be amazed the amount of time it takes in between procedures). Another negative. After two failed IUIs, we met with our doc and decided to take the leap and do IVF. It was soooo much more expensive than IUIs, but certainly this would result in a baby.
So, in the beginning of February of 2014, we started our first round of IVF (In-virto Fertilization). For those of you unfamiliar with this procedure, this is when I get to shoot myself up multiple times daily for multiple days in order to make as many eggs as I can. Can you say feeling like a chicken?! Then, the eggs are removed, hand fertilized with the little swimmers by an embryologist, grown in a lab for 5 days and then put back inside me. I remember hearing about this when I was a little kid that babies were actually grown in "test tubes." Little did I know that one of my own would be! After a couple weeks of lots of medications, lot of blood work and almost daily doctor appointments, we were ready for the egg retrieval. I don't remember how many eggs were retrieved that first time. I do know that after they were retrieved and grown in the lab for 5 days, we had two really great ones but none left over to freeze. Those two were transferred back into me on day 5. Two weeks later though, via a blood test this time, another big fat negative.
We met with the doctor shortly after that to come up with....I guess Plan E at this time. We were beginning to suspect that my endometriosis was coming back, both from symptoms I was starting to have and some fluid found at the time of retrieval, so my doctor wanted to put me on Lupron for a month, do an egg retrieval, freeze the embryos, put me back on Lupron for two months, and then transfer the embryos back. Lupron is this awful drug that is given in a one month injection and essentially tricks your body into thinking it is in menopause. I'm talking night sweats, hot flashes, and all. NOT FUN. So, I did that lovely drug for a month. I then began shooting myself up again to make a bunch of good ol' eggs. However, this time, instead of making a lot of eggs for the retrieval, my body just made a couple of eggs really fast. Once they get to a certain size, the eggs have to come out or they can cause a threat to your health. So, we had to turn this round into another IUI. The good thing that came from this was that at the last minute I decided to seek out an acupuncturist. It was something I was considering, but hadn't done. Seeing her has been one of the best decisions I have made to date. I'll post later on that. So, I went in for a couple acupuncture treatments, and we turned this cycle into an IUI. Another negative.
So, at this point, its about the middle of June 2014. As I said before, it takes a long time between procedures. After every failed cycle, you have to go back on birth control for a month for your system to reset. I was on the pill for the month of July.
As if the ride hadn't been bumpy enough, it was about to get real interesting. July 9, 2014, Alan was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer.
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