Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Visit with RE and Adoption Update

I am tired of doing nothing so I decided to be proactive and made an appointment with my RE to discuss other options. All I have done so far is clomid/femara and IUIs. With my unicornuate uterus, I have been too afraid to do injectibles due to the risk of multiples but after talking the the doctor, we have a game plan. Next cycle, I will go in for day 3 blood work and then I will schedule an operative laparoscopy to check for scar tissue or endometriosis that might be preventing my tube from grabbing my eggs. Depending on how that comes back, I will either move on to injectibles with IUI or IVF. Luckily I still have some insurance coverage available (although meds are excluded). I am excited to be doing something (waiting for an adoption match is brutal!) but nervous at the same time.

A few questions for anyone that might know the answers: What is the recovery time for laparoscopic surgery? Would it be a problem for me to have this surgery the day before we go on vacation? Vacation will include a 4 hour car ride and there will be a lot of walking around that week. What is the cheapest place to get injectible meds? Is it better to go to a local pharmacy or is an online pharmacy better?

On the adoption front, we are in the process of updating our homestudy. When I called our social worker to talk about the update, he was surprised that we hadn't matched since almost all of the other couples that he works with using our facilitator match very quickly. I'll tell you that made me feel great! I called and they suggested that we open up to additional ethnicities. They thought that would counter the fact that I am not a stay at home mom. Its all very frustrating. We'll talk to the SW about that and probably have our updated homestudy include some additional ethnicities.

Thats it for now.

8 comments:

Rian said...

So happy to hear you have a plan.

I have never had laproscropic surgery so can't help you with that. But I hope it all goes smoothly.

andrea_jennine said...

Here from LFCA - My clinic said I could be up and about soon after my lap, but I found that I really wasn't up for much for about a week after the surgery. I definitely wouldn't have wanted to vacation or walk a lot in the first few days following the lap. Hope that helps!

A.M.S. said...

I had my lap on a friday and by monday I was able to walk around comfortably all day. Friday, I slept all day and took pain pills. Saturday, I tried to walk for about an hour to help get all of the remaining bubbles out. The referred shoulder pain was pretty bad. Sitting was uncomfortable, lying down was best. After an hour of walking, I needed a nap of several hours. Sunday was a little better, but I still was bloaty and uncomfortable. I don't think I'd have been able to do a car ride the day after and I certainly wouldn't have been able to do the sort of walking I tend to do on vacations.

You can call around to pharmacies and get a price list. Unless you have access to a compounding pharmacy or one that specializes in fertility meds you'll probably do best ording them. CVS and Walgreens don't typically have the meds you'll need. Some online pharmacies offer free shipping, which doesn't sound like much, but most of the drugs have to be FedEx'd to you because they are packed on ice, so it's not a bad savings. Generally I found only minor variations in the costs of the meds and mostly ended up going with the one who seemed most user friendly to me.

Sophia said...

i did mail order for one cycle and local (who delivered) for the my IVFs. Difference in price was minimal. Your clinic may have a list of pharmacies they use or you can look at a local IVF discussion board at IVF connections for some recommendations

Barb said...

My lap recovery was very easy. He did very little in there. However, I tired a LOT easier the next few days, the bumpy car irritated my belly even with the pillow between it and the seatbelt, I was bloated and could only wear my little t-shirt dresses, and I felt good until I overdid it by doing things like walking around too much. We did a vacation a week after my lap, and I thought that was good. The day after - I'm not sure about.

Just my 2 cents on how it played out for me. :)

Barb said...

P.S. For injectibles.. online pharmacies are much cheaper if you are not going through your insurance company. (make sure to tell them you are self pay) If you are going through your insurance company, there's little difference. The online ones charge self payers a different rate. I used Freedom Fertility Pharmacy and liked them a lot.

On My Mind 24/7 said...

Hi there, saw you on Lost and Found. Another online pharmacy you might try is IVP Care, I use them and have been satisfied so far.

I have had 2 laps done for adhesions between ovaries and intestines. I had a very hard time sitting up on my own the first few days, after that I had to wear loose clothing since I was super bloated. At the time I was very skinny and the doc said they put extra saline (or water?) in my abdomen during the surgery. I definately would not have wanted to be up walking around the day after. You will definately want to take it easy. Hope this helps, good luck!

Nadine said...

Coming over from lost and found, I had 2 laps (both diagnostic - first time to discover that I have severe endo, second lap to see if a lupron treatment of one year had worked). So - it was just looking, no actual "work" done. It probably took me 2 days before I felt back to normal after both of those laps.
That being said, when i had a laparotomy (which requires a week in hospital) it took me 6 weeks to recover.

i agree with ams - the pain the the shoulders is pretty bad, they had to use a lot of saliane with me as well as i was very thin at the time.

So I probably wouldn't schedule a lap and then go for a big vacation.