Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Nurse's Consult and Acupuncture Session

Babe and I had our nurse's consult this morning.  It was pretty brief and simple, since this will be our 2nd IVF with this clinic.  We went through our IVF schedule and the list of the meds that I will be on.  We are on a different protocol this time around, using the antagonist protocol.  Last time I was on the long Lu.pron protocol.  This time no "loopy Lu.pron"(yay!), so the cycle will be much shorter.  I will be starting my stims (Meno.pur and Follis.tim) on July 2nd.  Ganire.lix (antagonist) shots will start when the follicles are 14 mm or larger.  If all goes well, egg retrieval will be on the week of July 11th.

I only have one week left of BCPs.  Yay!  For some reason, I have a hard time remembering to take my BCPs.  I find myself running out of bed at night to take my them, remembering only right before I fall asleep!  It's so annoying.  I'm glad I'm almost done with them.  I was able to get a bunch of free samples of meds last time - Follis.tim, Endome.trin, etc.  I asked about them again, but I wasn't so lucky this time.  We got nothing.  I guess they were out of everything.  This time though, I asked to make sure we get enough meds on the prescription sheet the first time around.  There is a copay for each drug on we get from the pharmacy.  The last time, I needed additional Follis.tim and Menopur because I needed to stim a couple days longer.  So we had to pay copay again for the refills.  Hopefully, this time we will have enough without having to do a copay again.  We also made our payment for this cycle.... ouch!  It's a huge investment.  Let's hope this investment pays us back greatly!

I also had my appointment with AcuGirl this morning.  I am enjoying my acupuncture sessions and look forward to it every week.  Every week, AcuGirl asks how I'm feeling, what my stress level is, how I am feeling emotionally, etc.  She always checks my pulse - today my pulse was fine - fine as in thin, not fine as in OK.  Not really sure what that means.  Also my tongue looks good today.  I had been told to avoid dairy as it can cause "congestion" in the body.  Last week she could tell that I had been been a bad patient and have been having dairy by looking at my tongue.  Today, she was quite happy with the way my tongue looks.  She also advised me to eat a handful of goji berries everyday.  I like AcuGirl.  She and I get along well and chit chat quite a bit.  We always talk about food and discuss new places to eat.  We even talked about how Babe and I are starting to have less in common with our friends because everyone has kids but us, and she's having the similar but opposite experience.  All her friends have decided to not have kids, so now her and her husband (they have a young son) have less in common with their friends.

***While I was writing this post, the pharmacy called to verify my prescription order (the nurse faxed it in this morning) and to tell me that I had almost reached the $5,000 max of my coverage for infertility drugs.  After my last IVF cycle, I now only have less than $1,500 left.  I would have to pay the rest in cash.  That means I have to pay around another $4K in cash!!  This sucks!  I knew IVF meds are expensive, but I guess I didn't really know how expensive they are!  I told the pharmacy to hold off on filling out my script until I've had a chance to talk to (warn) Babe tonight.  Plus I am really going to have to bug the heck out of the clinic for some samples!

13 comments:

  1. WOW, I had no idea how expensive the medication was. Sorry for the bad news! I hope this is your cycle for success!! Good luck!

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  2. I am glad your consult went smooth and that you are going to be able to start very soon! Where do you get your meds from? There are some online pharmacies if you are not already using them that my be cheaper. I used Ascend Pharmacy for all of my meds. Best wishes to you! I hope this cycle is the ONE!!

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  3. We will be on the same protocol! My protocol is an Antagonist protocol this time and I was on the Lupron protocol last time. I agree with you - I can't stand Lupron. It made me "loopy" as well! I'm glad that you're enjoying your acupuncture - I find acupuncture to be very helpful as well. It really is so unbelievably sad how expensive IVF meds are.... for my first cycle I put the purchase on my credit card ... and my credit card company called to check for fraud! Sigh ..... Best of luck on your upcoming cycle!

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  4. Yep--the cost of those drugs is OUTRAGEOUS, isn't it??? Hate that for you.

    Have to say that ganirelix worked for me (in fairness, so did Lupron, but it was a lot more stressful, I think) and I pray this is the one for you too!!! The pharmacy I use (well, my clinic) has a money back policy (which was great for us since we paid out of pocket and I had a box of menopur still left--they give 90% of what you paid back!!!!) so we were able to get about $600 for unused medicine. The first pharmacy I used with our first cycle didn't. Don't know if you have to have a certain one with your insurance, but if not, I agree that maybe a different pharmacy could be cheaper? Or, at the very least, let you send back anything you don't end up using?

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  5. Hello!

    I ICLW brought me here! Good luck on your IVF cycle!!!

    Is it possible to find a cheaper pharmacy? UP here in Canda we have a company that strickly sells IF meds? They are MUCH cheaper then any of the other pharmacies.

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  6. Great news on starting so soon and all looking great! Short cycles are more powerful but you get the advantage of no lupron and the cycle being.. shorter! LOL I know tha pain of paying for IVF drugs and IVF, we paid for 2 cycles out of our savings and it's so much money!!! Then again after it works you know it's the best investment you'll ever make! :)))))

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  7. Yikes, $4k out of pocket, just for the drugs? ouch. Agree w/ Laura above tho -- you won't think twice about having spent the cash if this one ends successfully... praying that it does!

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  8. IVF is so expensive! Everytime I learn more about it I'm amazed! Bless your heart! I am certainly praying that this is your rainbow cycle and that there is good news coming after this transfer (which is GOING to happen!).

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  9. What they're charging for IVF drugs is daylight robbery! I'm sure it doesn't cost that much to make each dose, but they're milking you for all they can because the know women are desperate!

    I'm glad you're enjoying acupuncture and that you have a good relationship going with her. I miss having mine...

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  10. Paying OOP sucks. I feel like some of these meds are liquid gold.

    Best wishes on your cycle!

    ICLW

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  11. Praying that this cycle brings lots of positives!!

    Happy ICLW

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