What a difference a day makes

It figures. I finally had my head wrapped around the idea of doing IVF. I was feeling mentally prepared and all set to call on day 1 to start the testing. Then today happened. The urologist gave my husband a prescription for a steroid to take for four weeks to try to get rid of the ASA. Then he goes back in for another analysis. It's tricky, because the steroids can have some nasty side effects and will knock out his immune system, but if it works, we might be able to get pregnant on our own! Plus, the timing of it doesn't interfere with our IVF plans - I have two weeks to go before I start the testing, and then another four before we'd be ready to start a cycle, so if it doesn't work, we won't have lost any time.

But that was just the first appointment of the day. We went to see Dr. K this afternoon. Neither of us was prepared for how the appointment went. Her opinion is that the ASA aren't that much of a problem, in fact, they don't even test for them at her clinic. Her concern lies with my damaged fallopian tube. She thinks it's cutting our chances in half because if I ovulate on my right side, the egg doesn't have much of a chance if any (makes sense). Also, she brought up something that I've come across a lot when researching damaged tubes, which is the thought that the fluid in the tube can hinder implantation. It's kind of iffy, but possible, and she said if we were to try IVF and fail the first cycle, she would recommend I have a lap to either tie off or remove the damaged tube. She's the first doctor I've seen that has treated my damaged tube as a problem - and I really like that about her. My gut tells me it's something to pay attention to. But, the big thing that has us reeling (in a good way) is her recommendation that we try 1 to 3 rounds of Clomid and IUI! She thinks the Clomid would help because it would boost the chances of me ovulating from the left side, and I'd be monitored so if it was looking like only the right side had good follicles, we'd cancel and try again the next cycle. We both really liked the amount of time she spent with us, and how much information she gave us. She was willing to let us skip ahead to IVF if we still wanted, and offered to do the lap now if I'd like, but made sure to let us know that her first recommendation was to try IUI.

I think we're going to try it. It's soooooo much cheaper, and it just might work. We'll probably spend the rest of the year doing this, and keep saving for IVF which we would try in early 2012 (if we need it). It's hard to think of how much more time we might be investing in all of this, but it seems like it could be worth it.

We're both still in shock. We weren't expecting to get good news today, but we got some options and hope!