The end of November is here and E finally got the chance to see the new urologist. I, of course, had jury duty all day so he had to go by himself. We arranged to keep me on speakerphone, since facetime wasn't private enough, so I could at least listen in on the appointment and hear everything first hand. It was quite awkward pacing the courthouse halls talking about motility, count and the failure of my ovaries, but I'm glad I got to participate.
Even though we've run a whole host of tests, this new urologist wants two more semen analysis tests and another set of labs. E started the blood work and we have a specific schedule for the SAs, I think they're going to be more detailed tests this time. Our last Kaiser SA reported 0 as "less than 2 million" so the new urologist thinks it wasn't a sensitive enough test. Like just about everything in the infertility process thus far, it could turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing.
E might not have a 0 count which would mean he can produce sperm which would be amazing! However it would also mean that there isn't something correctable like a blockage that we could reverse easily to get him to a normal count. There's also the concern about motility though, which suggests that the sperm he's producing isn't viable. It all points to IVF again, so while the particulars have changed, I think the end result is the same.
Our next appointment is for me on the 29th. I think it's going to be another general "this is how the infertility process goes, these are the tests we run" even though we have already had that conversation with several different doctors. At least I was able to get our records faxed over.
I know the infertility process isn't going to be easy, but I sure wish it was less repetitive.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
E Update
After lots and lots of anxious waiting, E's results are in. His lab work was absolutely and completely normal, I'm actually pretty jealous of his FSH level, it was way way better than mine. Unfortunately, or fortunately? his third semen analysis came back at a zero. We aren't sure if this indicates a partial blockage, which would be fixable with microsurgery, or a genetic problem like a lack of the cells that produce sperm.
The next step is a biopsy to see if there are any viable sperm in there. You'd think since all the medical professionals agree on this course of action, that it wouldn't be too difficult to move forward. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. E can't proceed with his biopsy with his current urologist, he needs a specialist in the urology department at a different Kaiser. After E's results came in, his urologist said he was referring us to this new urologist. Then, he accidentally forgot to put through the referral before he went on vacation. In the two weeks it took E's urologist to get back from vacation, almost the entire month of November filled up :( We were expecting this so I had tried to schedule the appointment sooner, as both the current urologist's nurse and the new urologist's nurse knew the referral was supposed to be sent, but it was no good.
Now that the referral is finally in, the new urologist's office refused to schedule the appointment because our insurance still shows no infertility coverage. I had to explain that the new coverage is coming and argue with three different people before they agreed to make the appointment.
E has his next appointment on November 25th, which also happens to be the day I have jury duty and we'll have guests from out of town >_< I expect it will be another consultation instead of the biopsy he's supposed to be having so at least it won't slow him too down too much.
We did get the good news that our new insurance should be in effect as of November 1st but it didn't come quite fast enough to stop the payments for our individual plans. I also called on the first to confirm the new plans and cancel the individual ones, and they had no record of the new ones. I'm assuming it takes a little while for all the paperwork to be processed on their end, but it sure isn't making things easy and the waiting is driving me nuts.
The next step is a biopsy to see if there are any viable sperm in there. You'd think since all the medical professionals agree on this course of action, that it wouldn't be too difficult to move forward. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. E can't proceed with his biopsy with his current urologist, he needs a specialist in the urology department at a different Kaiser. After E's results came in, his urologist said he was referring us to this new urologist. Then, he accidentally forgot to put through the referral before he went on vacation. In the two weeks it took E's urologist to get back from vacation, almost the entire month of November filled up :( We were expecting this so I had tried to schedule the appointment sooner, as both the current urologist's nurse and the new urologist's nurse knew the referral was supposed to be sent, but it was no good.
Now that the referral is finally in, the new urologist's office refused to schedule the appointment because our insurance still shows no infertility coverage. I had to explain that the new coverage is coming and argue with three different people before they agreed to make the appointment.
E has his next appointment on November 25th, which also happens to be the day I have jury duty and we'll have guests from out of town >_< I expect it will be another consultation instead of the biopsy he's supposed to be having so at least it won't slow him too down too much.
We did get the good news that our new insurance should be in effect as of November 1st but it didn't come quite fast enough to stop the payments for our individual plans. I also called on the first to confirm the new plans and cancel the individual ones, and they had no record of the new ones. I'm assuming it takes a little while for all the paperwork to be processed on their end, but it sure isn't making things easy and the waiting is driving me nuts.
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