Beginning the FET

So starting the FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer) cycle, first I have to begin with taking birth control for about 28 days. This is not including all of the other packs I had been taking just to get my levels back down.

I got my first shipment of medication, here is a look at it.

We then received another bill from the Lab for the freezing of Johnny's extra sperm. Yipppie just what we want is more bills. At least it was only $110.00.

Just before I finish the second birth control pack I began taking a GnRH agonist (Lupron), which is an injectable medication. I start by taking 10 units each day.

Let me just say that the injections were cake work by now but the side effects had me on a whole different planet. I was so incredibly hot it was unbelievable!!! I had some wicked headaches that lasted all day long. I was a little on edge too!

Once I finish my second pack of the birth control I should get my period and then call the office so they can instruct me to start on estrogen replacement therapy.

Prepping for the FET procedure

So because we were placed on hold for my levels being too high we could not get the FET (frozen embryo transfer) started until my estrogen and progesterone levels went back down and my ovaries calmed down. To make that happen I had to start on Birth Control again. I started my first pack on July 7th, this will continue for a few months I am guessing.

After back and forth arguments with the business office about the FET fee schedule we determined that since we had originally paid for a fresh transfer and were stopped and forced to do a freeze all that we would have a credit on our account of $2,500.00. So with the credit we had and the nursing care fee of $500.00 being waived, we would only have to pay $2,945.00. This is a much better number although $0.00 would of been ideal at this stage.

On the mock up calendar it had the break down of a typical calendar and on there I was instructed I need to start Electro-Acupuncture twice a week. This is to increase blood flow in my ovaries. I had to do some researching as to what place I can go to that would take my insurance and that I would only have to pay my co pay :)

I keep telling myself this!

We sent out the checks for this cycle and now that we have everything for all paid for we got to pick our dates for the cycle and have something to look forward to now.

Regroup and FET Info

Update on my arm from the horrible blood draw.... Yep it still hurts, I still get shooting pains, my hand still goes numb from time to time, I can barley hold my purse on my forearm without loosing strength. And the best part its on my right arm which is my dominate one! Yaay me!

We  had our regroup with the doctor to discuss the grades of our 9 embryos and decide how many we will transfer when that time comes. There were 6 of the embryos that had grown out enough with a good rating to be frozen at the day 5. The other 3 weren't quite  ready to be frozen yet so they grew those out for another day. Those 3 ended up getting pretty close to the other 6 which could result in pregnancy but they usually try those at last resort since they did take extra time to get to the freeze stage. We decided that since we had 6 embryos that were a good/great rating that when we are ready for transfer we would only transfer one, to limit the chances for multiples and hopefully result in a healthy pregnancy. I also discussed my arm issue and was told that it will get better it will just take some time.

The Business office sent the fees associated with doing a FET as well as an example calendar to get us an idea on how the cycle work. I was pretty upset when I looked at the fee schedule because these fees were never disclosed. We were forced into an FET because of the way my body reacted to the medication doses. So in every conversation we had with the doctor or nurse nothing about having additional fees was talked about. So I was pretty upset that we would have to now pay $5945.00 to have this transfer done.

I got an additional medication list to do more price shopping. I found that the additional meds were going to cost........$1,430.00.

We were told that a typical calendar for an FET is about 2-2.5 months long. Clearly everyone is different and again no cycle can start without having your period first. So again we will do some more waiting.