IVF chat, part 2

The last RE consult left me with kind of a bad taste in my mouth.  I left feeling like the doctors aren't particularly interested in figuring out the cause of our infertility and that they're just advising us to move on to IVF because it's the next step.  I also was somewhat annoyed that the doctor dismissed the chemical pregnancy, telling me that it was probably just the ovidrel.  Other than semen analysis, no bloodwork or tests have ever been done on my husband.  I also haven't had any tests other than hormone levels, saline sonogram and HSG.  I'd be interested to have an immunology or RPL panel done to see if anything shows up there. 

I have an appointment with a well-renowned clinic in another part of the state for a second opinion.  I still plan to do IVF with my current clinic, but maybe this other doc can look at my chart and give me some insight as to what they think may be the problem. 

I got the quote from the financial person at my clinic.  The IVF will cost $6725 (including ICSI and freezing), plus the cost of meds.  While it is quite expensive, it's a little cheaper than I expected.  They mark it down a bit for people who are not insured.  I'll talk to the IVF coordinator sometime next week to schedule the saline sonogram and bloodwork, so that we'll be ready to start in January or February.

Doctor consult post-mortem

We had our consult with the doctor today to discuss our next options.  It looks like IVF is in the cards for us.  The doctor said that due to the high cost of the injectables cyles (about $1900 a cycle), it makes more financial sense not to do any more IUIs, but to go for IVF.  They provide discounts to uninsured patients, but it's looking like it will be about $10K, including meds.  She couldn't really give us any insight as to why all the failures.  They don't do a lot of screening at this clinic, such as to check for chromosomal issues or recurrent pregnancy loss or anything like that.  At least, not for us.  We're "normal" according to them, though the doc did mention Bunny's low sperm counts which have gotten better since our first IUI's.  She recommended that we ICSI at least some of the eggs.  I raised concern that my luteal phase is getting shorter and shorter, she just said that I'll be given progesterone during the IVF cycle, like they do with all patients.  We'll figure it all out over the next few months, then probably start treatment in the spring.

Moving on...

I'm going to take a little break from the blog.  I need to regroup and heal from this last IUI failure.  I really lost it on Saturday but feeling much better today.  I think I got it out of my system.  The doctor is still making me go for a beta tomorrow, just to make sure it's not an ectopic or something, I guess.  I guess I should be somewhat encouraged that "something" happened this cycle, even if it didn't stick.  It shows that at least the eggs are capable of being fertilized.  I'll decide later whether to move on to IVF or do one more IUI, after speaking with the doctor.  Thanks for all the support, you guys are the best.