Ah the life of an IFer. I went in today for more monitoring. I'd had just five days of stims and since I had 9 measurable follies and 4 just under I had hope today we would see 16. That is actually what I was shooting for. And today she saw 16. OK - turns out she either said it wrong or I heard wrong because there were 14 measurable follies and another 4 that are small...anyone that can do math can see that's 18. Whatever - still continuing to be very pleased with performance on stims. Biggest however is 15.5 so I knew that meant instead of two shots a day I'd be on three. Need to add the Ganirelix now to keep from one of the bigger ones from ovulating on their own before retrieval. And she said my lining was 8.9. Awesome! It's never been that fluffy this early! In fact, I'm not sure I've had that good a lining ever. So feeling happy when I walked out of appointment.
Fast forward to the phone call message I got at 4:15. I had been at work so I missed the call (Which I was sad about because I assumed they'd call around the same time as Monday which was after 5pm so I could take it.) Anyway - she said my progesterone is now at a 1.0 and they want it below one. So quote "We need to watch it very closely because if it gets too high they may have to do a freeze all and do only the egg retrieval and hold off on transfer." Meaning I'd have to wait a month or two and do a FET.
No!! I have mentally been preparing that I'd know if I was PG or not by the time our estimated due date of the baby we lost in February comes around on Oct 16th. And I've taken 12 days off to have a nice window of time to de-stress and lay around for ER and ET. Will it cost more to do a FET without a fresh transfer? I'll have to take more time off work. All these questions start to make me worry. So I've just been thinking on that the last hour and a half. Infertility - the never ending worry. How am I going to get to sleep tonight with all these thoughts in my head? Oh, and because of this I'm now on daily monitoring. I've not been given any clue as to when ER will be but I'm now betting it's Sunday or Monday instead of Tuesday or Wednesday like I originally thought. So tomorrow I'm off to Buffalo Grove office since my local office does not have a ultrasound tech in on Thursdays.
So here they are...my stats from today:
RT - 8, 9, 9.5, Three at 12.5, 13.5, 14.5, 15.5 and two small ones = 11
LT - 7.5, 11, 12.5, and two times 13 and two small ones = 7
e2 - 1108
LH - 9.5
P4 - 1.0
Lining - 8.95 5 layers
Ice bar in Vegas 2012
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
First IVF monitoring info
7am appointment on a Monday - clearly not the time to visit my office. They all seem to have a case of the Monday's.
Upon arrival I was told they needed the deposit (yeah thanks I remember) but since the 401K check arrive "No Problem!" I said with a smile while handing over five thousand dollars of our hard earned money. Ouch. But happy to do it if it brings us our miracle of science.
No wait time, Roberta - my fav U/S tech calls me back while asking the admin about her schedule. She learned she had two saline sonos scheduled for just 15 minute sections and it put her in a sour mood (which never seems to happen). But I digress... My U/S showed nine follies of measurable size and another 4 below 7mm.
Right Side: 10.5, 10, 10, 9, 8 and two others they could see that were "not measurable".
Left Side: 10, 9.5, 8, 7.5 and two others "not measurable".
She said my lining was five layers. Huh? I've heard of triple stripped but not five layers, but whatever.
E2 - 392
LH & FSH "Still nice and low as we'd like it." She didn't give me exact figures.
When I just told Jeff the results he said "I thought they found 19 on Wednesday, where'd they go?" So I had to try and explain that the AFC is a guide to how your ovarian reserve is not how many eggs they'll get. I said some people will have a AFC of 16 but end up getting 25 eggs and some people with that same 16 AFC will only get 5 eggs. I told him it's a crap shoot based on how someone responds to the meds and that they told me "more can pop up as the meds continue to work". It's sometimes hard to remember just how *much* info I have in my brain from years of reading eFriends stories that he just doesn't know. Yet I also know his eyeballs would bug out if I started to really go into great long detail and he'd just zone out if I gave him a billion scenarios.
He always tells me to fall asleep I should just "turn off my mind" but it takes me a good hour or more to "gear down" and it's best if I have the TV on because then I can not think. If I just lay in the darkness all that goes through my mind of the "what ifs" and a billion scenarios. Guys just are not like that. I think if I filled his mind with the billion possibilities, he'd get a window into how a womans mind really works but he'd just give me a hard time again that I worry too much. Where as to me it's preparing me mentally for what may come and I'd rather have that then be blindsided. But again that's the difference between men and women. He thinks a bit more in black and white where as I see the hundred shades of gray.
For me, I'm happy with three days of stims resulting in these numbers. I hope by Wednesday I can say "They see 16 now (instead of 13)" to him to show that more can grow. Until then I will just continue on with 150 follistim and 150 menopur. Next appt Wed. 8am.
Upon arrival I was told they needed the deposit (yeah thanks I remember) but since the 401K check arrive "No Problem!" I said with a smile while handing over five thousand dollars of our hard earned money. Ouch. But happy to do it if it brings us our miracle of science.
No wait time, Roberta - my fav U/S tech calls me back while asking the admin about her schedule. She learned she had two saline sonos scheduled for just 15 minute sections and it put her in a sour mood (which never seems to happen). But I digress... My U/S showed nine follies of measurable size and another 4 below 7mm.
Right Side: 10.5, 10, 10, 9, 8 and two others they could see that were "not measurable".
Left Side: 10, 9.5, 8, 7.5 and two others "not measurable".
She said my lining was five layers. Huh? I've heard of triple stripped but not five layers, but whatever.
E2 - 392
LH & FSH "Still nice and low as we'd like it." She didn't give me exact figures.
When I just told Jeff the results he said "I thought they found 19 on Wednesday, where'd they go?" So I had to try and explain that the AFC is a guide to how your ovarian reserve is not how many eggs they'll get. I said some people will have a AFC of 16 but end up getting 25 eggs and some people with that same 16 AFC will only get 5 eggs. I told him it's a crap shoot based on how someone responds to the meds and that they told me "more can pop up as the meds continue to work". It's sometimes hard to remember just how *much* info I have in my brain from years of reading eFriends stories that he just doesn't know. Yet I also know his eyeballs would bug out if I started to really go into great long detail and he'd just zone out if I gave him a billion scenarios.
He always tells me to fall asleep I should just "turn off my mind" but it takes me a good hour or more to "gear down" and it's best if I have the TV on because then I can not think. If I just lay in the darkness all that goes through my mind of the "what ifs" and a billion scenarios. Guys just are not like that. I think if I filled his mind with the billion possibilities, he'd get a window into how a womans mind really works but he'd just give me a hard time again that I worry too much. Where as to me it's preparing me mentally for what may come and I'd rather have that then be blindsided. But again that's the difference between men and women. He thinks a bit more in black and white where as I see the hundred shades of gray.
For me, I'm happy with three days of stims resulting in these numbers. I hope by Wednesday I can say "They see 16 now (instead of 13)" to him to show that more can grow. Until then I will just continue on with 150 follistim and 150 menopur. Next appt Wed. 8am.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
The check came! Happy Dance!
So the only real stress I've been dealing with the past two weeks was getting the money to pay for this cycle. They need $5k up front from us. We sent a check in to pay off our previous 401K loan on Sept 3rd thinking "Thats enough time". Our impression was the check needed to be in by the 6th and be processed then. They did NOT tell us that yes it needed to be processed then, but then there would still be one last payment on Sept 13th out of Jeff's check. Meaning we couldn't get a new 401K loan until that had fully processed (ie we could ask for a new one on Sept.16th because we can't do it over the weekend).
So fine, we did it on Monday but learned they can't direct deposit if you'd not done that before without it taking two weeks. Wha?!?! :::Deep breath::: OK, it said the check would be here in 3-5 business days. But my baseline was Wednesday. What if they asked for the money? I had my sob story all worked out in my head. And stressed over it laying awake the night before. But thankfully baseline day came and they didn't ask at the office so I flew out of there as if my pants were on fire. But then when they called with the bloodwork results and to set up Monday's appointment they said "And we'll need your deposit then."
Ok. No problem. Check will arrive Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.
Well Thursday. No check...just my target pharmacy rewards. ::::taps foot impatiently::::
Friday. Nope - just some junk mail saying I've won a travel voucher. ::::Starts sweating from the pressure::::
Saturday. I'm almost too nervous that it won't be there that I ask Jeff to get the mail and promptly fall asleep to take a nap (I'm like an ostrich sticking my head in the ground hoping the world disappears). Later I hear the door shut and I open my eyes just long enough to ask, "Did the check come?" "Yep" And drift back to peaceful dreams. Half an hour later I woke up worried it was a dream but nope - it was real. Woohoo!
Happy Dance time!
So fine, we did it on Monday but learned they can't direct deposit if you'd not done that before without it taking two weeks. Wha?!?! :::Deep breath::: OK, it said the check would be here in 3-5 business days. But my baseline was Wednesday. What if they asked for the money? I had my sob story all worked out in my head. And stressed over it laying awake the night before. But thankfully baseline day came and they didn't ask at the office so I flew out of there as if my pants were on fire. But then when they called with the bloodwork results and to set up Monday's appointment they said "And we'll need your deposit then."
Ok. No problem. Check will arrive Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.
Well Thursday. No check...just my target pharmacy rewards. ::::taps foot impatiently::::
Friday. Nope - just some junk mail saying I've won a travel voucher. ::::Starts sweating from the pressure::::
Saturday. I'm almost too nervous that it won't be there that I ask Jeff to get the mail and promptly fall asleep to take a nap (I'm like an ostrich sticking my head in the ground hoping the world disappears). Later I hear the door shut and I open my eyes just long enough to ask, "Did the check come?" "Yep" And drift back to peaceful dreams. Half an hour later I woke up worried it was a dream but nope - it was real. Woohoo!
Happy Dance time!
Oh and....Jeff found out last week he paid off his student loan for law school at DePaul. I've joked that it would take until he retires for that debt to be paid off. Hell, that alone should be celebrated. 20 years, but damnit my baby paid of law school!!
Yeah. You could say we're pretty excited over here. They say money can't buy you happiness. But it sure as hell can ease your mind and stress I'll tell you that much.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
IVF baseline Stats
So it's start time! Got all my meds yesterday. Had my baseline today. Start meds on Friday. And will have follow up monitoring on Monday. Hells Yeah!! As for the blood work done today:
E2: 52
FSH: 7
LH: 5.6
P4: 0.2
Now I know the E2 is the estrogen and before I start growing follies this will be low. The number goes up and they grow and each mature egg produces 200-300. So based on U/S counting follies and this number they can take a guess at how many they can retrieve at the last monitoring appt I have. (Which will be probably weekend after next).
And I know P4 is progesterone, which after a BCP cycle of rest or at the start of any cycle should be almost non-existent. I also know that FSH stands for Follicle Stimulating Hormone, but since I have not started to take meds yet I really don't know what it should be so I'll just believe them when they say this level is good. Ditto for the LH level (Luteinizing Hormone). I might go hop around the blogosphere to see what successful IVFers had.
As for my ultrasound - as she said "Alls quiet on the Western front". Quiet ovaries just like we want. AFC of 19 is what she told me but when they just called they said 21. I don't know which to believe but since I was happy with 19 I'll take either. It's like in the IVF web world manual to take a pic of your meds so that some day you can say "This is everything I took to get you" so here it is...
E2: 52
FSH: 7
LH: 5.6
P4: 0.2
Now I know the E2 is the estrogen and before I start growing follies this will be low. The number goes up and they grow and each mature egg produces 200-300. So based on U/S counting follies and this number they can take a guess at how many they can retrieve at the last monitoring appt I have. (Which will be probably weekend after next).
And I know P4 is progesterone, which after a BCP cycle of rest or at the start of any cycle should be almost non-existent. I also know that FSH stands for Follicle Stimulating Hormone, but since I have not started to take meds yet I really don't know what it should be so I'll just believe them when they say this level is good. Ditto for the LH level (Luteinizing Hormone). I might go hop around the blogosphere to see what successful IVFers had.
As for my ultrasound - as she said "Alls quiet on the Western front". Quiet ovaries just like we want. AFC of 19 is what she told me but when they just called they said 21. I don't know which to believe but since I was happy with 19 I'll take either. It's like in the IVF web world manual to take a pic of your meds so that some day you can say "This is everything I took to get you" so here it is...
Isn't it a pretty stash of drugs?
I have to give a shout out to my #75strong girls. When I heard the Ganirelix would be $840 out of pocket I put a message up on our FB board at 9:30am. By 2:30 I had three girls mailing me the amount I needed (it's the nine blue boxes in the back) I asked on Wednesday and by Monday they had all arrived. The three grey boxes front and center is the Follistim another #75strong gal gave me last year after she adopted her son (who was born on my birthday!). She sent me enough to do our last two IUIs and this IVF. And I should still have enough to pay it forward and donate the leftovers since I can't imagine I need 2700iu. Thankfully it's good until spring of 2014 so there's plenty of time for others to use it too. So four kinds of injectable meds (with plenty of needles), two oral pills (also not pictured is my PNV, baby aspirin, 600mg of CoQ10 I take per day) and the oh-so-yucky vaginal suppositories. A friend of mine at work said "Only you would be excited to get a box of needles and something to shove up your who-ha." Nah, girl...you just have not met enough IVFers!
So there it is folks, the start. I will be updating with boring stats throughout the cycle. And any ramblings to just word-vomit to get it out of my head. Next appt. Monday Sept 23rd.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
started BCP
So I went in for my suppression cycle baseline. Great news is my AFC was 10 on left and 11 on right. You might remember that my AFC the last two cycles were not as good and I figured this was because I am now over the dreaded 35, where they label you AMA (advanced maternal age). But that count is as good as it was three years ago (I believe). So that's good. The tech used to say I had the ovaries of a 23 year old, and with this AFC, I kind of feel like it. And they didn't call me with any issues on my blood work so I guess there was no concerns there.
So I started birth control pills on Friday. Now, those of you not in the infertility world are saying Birth control? Why? I'm on what's called the antagonist protocol where they suppress my ovaries to let them rest before we kick them into over drive. The good thing with this protocol is no lupron shots so the amount of sticking myself with needles is less.
I'm trying to psych myself up for this. But work right now is starting to drive me a nutty and making it hard for me to think of much else. Sad, because I said when I started retail that the best difference between that and commission sales is I can leave work at work and when I'm home be home. Leave it at the door if you will. Low stress. And yet it's become stressful. And the thing that I'm excited about the most currently for the cycle (other than hoping it works) is the time I've told them I'm taking off for the cycle. I am taking the last week in Sept to work only 3-4 shifts of four hours (total of maybe 12 hours) then I'm taking a week and a half off for the egg retrieval and egg transfer and bed rest. And I know you guys that have been through IVF are like "That's not needed! You only need maybe four days total." But I know that it hurts me to walk around 8 miles a day at work at a speed walkers pace when I have three follies growing, so I cannot imagine the pain of it with more follies. I've seen enough about torquing ovaries from simple yoga or whatever that screw it - I'm not chancing anything. And they always say keep your stress at a minimum so again - if I can afford the time off damn it I'm going to take it. If I had a desk job or couldn't take the time off, well that'd be different. But if this is our one and only shot at a fresh cycle I am doing everything possible to help this work. So yeah - I'm seriously looking forward to have the excuse to have my little stay-cation. And do almost nothing. And get away from the drama. Aaaaahhhh!!!
But so the BCP...my mom asked me today how I'm dealing with being on them. Ummm...have not noticed one side effect. Oh wait, I do have two zits that popped up. So there's that. And I reminded her it's only been three days. But thankfully no matter how it gets, I'm only on it for the next two weeks until Sept. 15th. And as I pointed out, hell I've been on much stronger hormones in treatment cycles then what might be in this little pill. So here we go.
So I started birth control pills on Friday. Now, those of you not in the infertility world are saying Birth control? Why? I'm on what's called the antagonist protocol where they suppress my ovaries to let them rest before we kick them into over drive. The good thing with this protocol is no lupron shots so the amount of sticking myself with needles is less.
I'm trying to psych myself up for this. But work right now is starting to drive me a nutty and making it hard for me to think of much else. Sad, because I said when I started retail that the best difference between that and commission sales is I can leave work at work and when I'm home be home. Leave it at the door if you will. Low stress. And yet it's become stressful. And the thing that I'm excited about the most currently for the cycle (other than hoping it works) is the time I've told them I'm taking off for the cycle. I am taking the last week in Sept to work only 3-4 shifts of four hours (total of maybe 12 hours) then I'm taking a week and a half off for the egg retrieval and egg transfer and bed rest. And I know you guys that have been through IVF are like "That's not needed! You only need maybe four days total." But I know that it hurts me to walk around 8 miles a day at work at a speed walkers pace when I have three follies growing, so I cannot imagine the pain of it with more follies. I've seen enough about torquing ovaries from simple yoga or whatever that screw it - I'm not chancing anything. And they always say keep your stress at a minimum so again - if I can afford the time off damn it I'm going to take it. If I had a desk job or couldn't take the time off, well that'd be different. But if this is our one and only shot at a fresh cycle I am doing everything possible to help this work. So yeah - I'm seriously looking forward to have the excuse to have my little stay-cation. And do almost nothing. And get away from the drama. Aaaaahhhh!!!
But so the BCP...my mom asked me today how I'm dealing with being on them. Ummm...have not noticed one side effect. Oh wait, I do have two zits that popped up. So there's that. And I reminded her it's only been three days. But thankfully no matter how it gets, I'm only on it for the next two weeks until Sept. 15th. And as I pointed out, hell I've been on much stronger hormones in treatment cycles then what might be in this little pill. So here we go.
Friday, August 16, 2013
To In Vitro...And beyond!
I feel like a space explorer... about to boldly go where I have never gone before. I am about to enter, the infertility world of IVF. The thing that infertility has taught me is that the common person believes this is the only treatment. So most might be surprised that it's taken us four years to get to that point. But four years, six treatment cycles, five IUIs, and one miscarriage later that is where we are finally headed.
I've talked before but now the plan is more solidly in place. I had my RE consult (which I've blogged was mainly just him explaining how it worked) three weeks ago. And yesterday I had the nurse consult. That was going over what I specifically will be doing. Um...why can't these be done in the same consult? Why insist on two appointments? Cha-Ching? But I digress.
I will be starting birth control pills after my baseline from my next period. Which is about 10-12 days from now. I will be on the BCP for about three weeks and stopping them Sept. 18th, have another baseline and start stims on Sept 20th so that I will be ready to have egg retrieval and egg transfer in my RE's "October Window". Since he only works in the Highland Park IVF clinic two weeks a month this will have me ready to go sometime between Oct. 1st - 11th. I tend to stim fast so I expects to go in for ER in that first few days. I will be on 150iu of Follistim and two vials Menopur and add Ganirelix towards the end. And of course Estrace, Endometrim, etc. etc. etc. And oooooh, a valium for ER. Drug induced haze! I've never taken a valium and thought it was funny that she said it was more to relax my uterus then to relax my mind...but it will help with that too. I thought for sure it was to just relax me, who knew my uterus would be tense too LOL. And I'm sure other drugs I'm forgetting because, well, it's a long ass list. But I was told I am on the "easiest protocol" yet never actually told what protocol that is. I've heard of "long lupron" or "short lupron" (and FYI I'm not even on lupron of any kind! I was told BCP is enough of a suppression for me, and I forgot to even ask about lupron. I think I'll try to get clarification on why I'm not taking it next appointment.) And I've heard of antagonist protocol...but who knows what they're calling this? I sure don't.
**Update an hour later, after some quick searching on the internet it appears Ganirelix use is what they refer to as antagonist protocol. Good to know!**
So with that said, 16 days from my ER will be my beta. So two months from now I could be getting my results. Which happens to be the due date of our miscarriage. And a day after Infant Loss awareness day. Ouch. I'm in for being one hot mess.
Now, I know some of you watched Giuliana & Bill's TV show. Do you remember their IVF at their Chicagoland doctor? It's that office. I've been there once before but yesterday I got a tour of the whole place. Waiting & recovery room, room for ER and ET, embryologist room where they actually do the in vitro and watch them grow and cell division (nerd utopia! I'd love to watch that!) and the cryolab where the frozen embryos for FET hang out (and where our little ones, if any extras make it to freeze - fingers crossed) will live for up to a year or more) and the "Husband Rooms" for his sample time. And you know what I said "Looks just like it did on TV." Because I remember that episode of G&B, with the inlaws in the waiting room and such. So now you can picture (if you saw it) where the magic will happen.
So here goes nothing! Only two weeks left til we get this show on the road!
I've talked before but now the plan is more solidly in place. I had my RE consult (which I've blogged was mainly just him explaining how it worked) three weeks ago. And yesterday I had the nurse consult. That was going over what I specifically will be doing. Um...why can't these be done in the same consult? Why insist on two appointments? Cha-Ching? But I digress.
I will be starting birth control pills after my baseline from my next period. Which is about 10-12 days from now. I will be on the BCP for about three weeks and stopping them Sept. 18th, have another baseline and start stims on Sept 20th so that I will be ready to have egg retrieval and egg transfer in my RE's "October Window". Since he only works in the Highland Park IVF clinic two weeks a month this will have me ready to go sometime between Oct. 1st - 11th. I tend to stim fast so I expects to go in for ER in that first few days. I will be on 150iu of Follistim and two vials Menopur and add Ganirelix towards the end. And of course Estrace, Endometrim, etc. etc. etc. And oooooh, a valium for ER. Drug induced haze! I've never taken a valium and thought it was funny that she said it was more to relax my uterus then to relax my mind...but it will help with that too. I thought for sure it was to just relax me, who knew my uterus would be tense too LOL. And I'm sure other drugs I'm forgetting because, well, it's a long ass list. But I was told I am on the "easiest protocol" yet never actually told what protocol that is. I've heard of "long lupron" or "short lupron" (and FYI I'm not even on lupron of any kind! I was told BCP is enough of a suppression for me, and I forgot to even ask about lupron. I think I'll try to get clarification on why I'm not taking it next appointment.) And I've heard of antagonist protocol...but who knows what they're calling this? I sure don't.
**Update an hour later, after some quick searching on the internet it appears Ganirelix use is what they refer to as antagonist protocol. Good to know!**
So with that said, 16 days from my ER will be my beta. So two months from now I could be getting my results. Which happens to be the due date of our miscarriage. And a day after Infant Loss awareness day. Ouch. I'm in for being one hot mess.
Now, I know some of you watched Giuliana & Bill's TV show. Do you remember their IVF at their Chicagoland doctor? It's that office. I've been there once before but yesterday I got a tour of the whole place. Waiting & recovery room, room for ER and ET, embryologist room where they actually do the in vitro and watch them grow and cell division (nerd utopia! I'd love to watch that!) and the cryolab where the frozen embryos for FET hang out (and where our little ones, if any extras make it to freeze - fingers crossed) will live for up to a year or more) and the "Husband Rooms" for his sample time. And you know what I said "Looks just like it did on TV." Because I remember that episode of G&B, with the inlaws in the waiting room and such. So now you can picture (if you saw it) where the magic will happen.
So here goes nothing! Only two weeks left til we get this show on the road!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
July recap - So much going on!
OK - so the IF stuff first since that's why most all of you follow me. We had our IVF consult on Monday and really it was just my RE explaining in detail what IVF is and how it works. Since I've known sooooo many of my support eFriends that have gone through it I knew everything he said - but I think it was good for Jeff to hear it from someone other than me and in a continuous telling. (I think he's heard it all piece-meal from me over the years). And we got the packet from the nurse - where filling it all out feels like you're buying a house. But I had to pump the brakes when they kept saying "next cycle we'll do X" because I was like "Hey! We still don't have a price! I was told once you guys put in my protocol THEN the finance department can give me an exact price and that will determine if we can do this now or have to wait until November."
Well finance got back to me the next day and I was not happy with the news. They want $5,000 up front since our new coverage is only $3,500 for procedures (don't get me wrong - after three years of IF without any coverage I am most thankful for negotiated rates) but it's still small in the IF world of coverage. So she explained say they bill $10k (what our OOP cost would have been) and our insurance negotiated rates bring it down to $7,000. Then they pay $3,500 of that and we owe the other $3,500. This is taken out of our $5,000 deposit. THEN if we have any frostie embryos to freeze it's another $1,100 for freezing and storage for a year. Then they'll give us a credit back for the $400 or so that's left over (give or take a few hundred). Oh man was Jeff angry at this. He says its like insurance fraud. That they basically want to earn interest on our 5K until they get paid from insurance. But my mom and others have said "Well, they must have been burned enough by patients not paying" to have this practice. And I do know from my girls that it's customary to have to pay it up front. But that put us at November in order to pay for it because Mid October is when we'll be finished paying off the current 401K loan.
But then yesterday Jeff looked into our HSA and that loan and said "what if we can scrimp and pay off the loan early (we're so used to the money just coming out of his paycheck I hadn't even thought of just paying them off LOL stupid me.) So we hope to pay the loan off by Sept. 15th paycheck and get a new 401K loan and we'll have $2,000 on the HSA Visa by Oct. 1st that we can start in early October instead of November. I know a month isn't much but I was worried about holidays closing down the clinic and screwing with my IVF calendar so I'm happy we figured out how to move it up. And really? Oct. 1 is two months away! Bring it! So I'll spend the next two months working on exercising and eating healthier in prep for it.
Next topic: My mom. Her surgery on Wednesday went wonderfully! It was their "best case scenario" where they were able to do everything laparoscopic and it took four and a half hours. I just got off the phone with her. She's to be released this afternoon just four days in the hospital and today for the first time in five days was allowed to eat food! Bariatric soft diet but still, she sounded so happy to be able to eat runny scrambled eggs and oatmeal. And since they said there was a possibility of a feeding tube, it's so amazing to think instead just four days later she can eat soft foods! Anyway, very happy.
Next topic: Founders! New park was amazing. We got so many compliments on how well we pulled off the move and how much space and better for the fest it was. It did rain almost all day Friday so that day was close to being a total loss but the sun finally came out the last few hours of the day and the bands played for three hours. The 5 & 10K that I'm in charge of went off great. 140 people in it which while not amazing was not bad. It's about on par with usual and after expenses for the timing company and some small costs I brought in almost $3K for the fest (money goes to local charities and to put on the next year's town fest). And I only had one person complain, that's like unheard of the last three years I've been in charge of it! And it's the same complain every year - they want clocks at mile markers. Dude get a watch or an ap for that! We're not spending money on it, deal with it! But I'm glad I had a good year to end on to pass it off to someone else. I hope for next year's fest I am a big PG lady that needs her sleep!!
AND my BBF Brit has been in town for a week from Georgia. Whew! It's been a crazy past ten days! And because I love photos so much I'll end this with several pics. For those of you having a hard IF day, turn away as there will be many shots of little ones and their cuteness.
Well finance got back to me the next day and I was not happy with the news. They want $5,000 up front since our new coverage is only $3,500 for procedures (don't get me wrong - after three years of IF without any coverage I am most thankful for negotiated rates) but it's still small in the IF world of coverage. So she explained say they bill $10k (what our OOP cost would have been) and our insurance negotiated rates bring it down to $7,000. Then they pay $3,500 of that and we owe the other $3,500. This is taken out of our $5,000 deposit. THEN if we have any frostie embryos to freeze it's another $1,100 for freezing and storage for a year. Then they'll give us a credit back for the $400 or so that's left over (give or take a few hundred). Oh man was Jeff angry at this. He says its like insurance fraud. That they basically want to earn interest on our 5K until they get paid from insurance. But my mom and others have said "Well, they must have been burned enough by patients not paying" to have this practice. And I do know from my girls that it's customary to have to pay it up front. But that put us at November in order to pay for it because Mid October is when we'll be finished paying off the current 401K loan.
But then yesterday Jeff looked into our HSA and that loan and said "what if we can scrimp and pay off the loan early (we're so used to the money just coming out of his paycheck I hadn't even thought of just paying them off LOL stupid me.) So we hope to pay the loan off by Sept. 15th paycheck and get a new 401K loan and we'll have $2,000 on the HSA Visa by Oct. 1st that we can start in early October instead of November. I know a month isn't much but I was worried about holidays closing down the clinic and screwing with my IVF calendar so I'm happy we figured out how to move it up. And really? Oct. 1 is two months away! Bring it! So I'll spend the next two months working on exercising and eating healthier in prep for it.
Next topic: My mom. Her surgery on Wednesday went wonderfully! It was their "best case scenario" where they were able to do everything laparoscopic and it took four and a half hours. I just got off the phone with her. She's to be released this afternoon just four days in the hospital and today for the first time in five days was allowed to eat food! Bariatric soft diet but still, she sounded so happy to be able to eat runny scrambled eggs and oatmeal. And since they said there was a possibility of a feeding tube, it's so amazing to think instead just four days later she can eat soft foods! Anyway, very happy.
Next topic: Founders! New park was amazing. We got so many compliments on how well we pulled off the move and how much space and better for the fest it was. It did rain almost all day Friday so that day was close to being a total loss but the sun finally came out the last few hours of the day and the bands played for three hours. The 5 & 10K that I'm in charge of went off great. 140 people in it which while not amazing was not bad. It's about on par with usual and after expenses for the timing company and some small costs I brought in almost $3K for the fest (money goes to local charities and to put on the next year's town fest). And I only had one person complain, that's like unheard of the last three years I've been in charge of it! And it's the same complain every year - they want clocks at mile markers. Dude get a watch or an ap for that! We're not spending money on it, deal with it! But I'm glad I had a good year to end on to pass it off to someone else. I hope for next year's fest I am a big PG lady that needs her sleep!!
AND my BBF Brit has been in town for a week from Georgia. Whew! It's been a crazy past ten days! And because I love photos so much I'll end this with several pics. For those of you having a hard IF day, turn away as there will be many shots of little ones and their cuteness.
Drinking Sat for Girl Night Out (it was 54 degrees! in July!)
Starting gun goes off for the race
My friends and their kids and parents for the parade
View of the River from Port Eds before fireworks
Cardboard Boat Regatta ages 12 and under
Rainbow over the carnival and food vendors after Fridays rain
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