Hey guys!
As many of you know, we had our first IVF appointment of the year yesterday! We are starting FRESH. We aren’t bringing anything from last year into this year (except more knowledge than we originally had, and lots of faith)!
I started the morning with a prayer, but it quickly went downhill from there.
I don’t know why I did it, but I scheduled the appointment for the very first minute it was physically possible for me to get there. I had to get up, teach an hour-long fitness class, get home, shower & get ready, & drive 45 minutes to get there for exactly 1pm. No time cushion. AT. ALL…. WHYY?? Probably because when I made the appointment, I was so eager to get started that I wasn’t thinking straight.
So you can imagine how stressed I was when one of my clients wanted to have an in depth conversation after class about a fundraising project we’re working on. I tried to be nice and politely tell her that I was running late & had to go. But she wouldn’t let up– like in my personal space, walking one step forward for every step I walked back– not letting up. I was a millisecond away from going off (which I’ve NEVER done in front of any of my clients, THANK GOD) when one of my friends & fellow instructor noticed what was happening & quickly stepped in. Without skipping a beat, she stood between us and offered to stay & lock up for me so I could get going since she knew I was in a hurry. And at that very second, I JETTED! (Thank you SOOO much A!! You know who you are! And you KNOW what a fetch move that was!!!! High 5!)
I’m not even half-way home before I start to feel uber bad about that entire exchange. That client meant well, and honestly didn’t understand what I was saying. But I was still frustrated. Why can’t people ever just take your first answer at face-value? Why isn’t “I don’t have time today, but we will talk later” sufficient? We ALL need to start respecting each other’s time & space more. If you need to really talk to someone, set up a freakin’ meeting. OK- rant over… moving on!! lol
Because I was feeling so bad about all of that, when I got home I decided to hit RESET. I took 3 deep breaths, read a passage from my daily devotional, put on some great music, and hopped into the shower. Ahhhhh….even though I was in a hurry, I knew in that moment that if I just gave it all up to God, He’d take care of me. And guess what…. He DID.
I got ready calmly, and decided to wear the “I have FAITH” necklace (pictured above) that one of my best friends gave me for Christmas this year. It’s a lovely reminder of what life is all about. After all of that, I even had 2 extra minutes to make a smoothie. Since I was doing blood work, I was thankful to be able to have something in my system to hold me over until after the appointment. Then I hit the road….[I was driving David’s HUGE truck by the way, because he had a meeting 100 miles away and my car makes better gas mileage (that was a sight)]…and met David at a truck stop on the main highway so we could continue the trek together.
We got there with 5 minutes to spare….God is good!
The appointment itself went really well! Everything was fine with my ultrasound and blood work, and the saline sono hystereogram was perfect. Dr. Lu said it looks like we’re all set to start fresh!!! After meeting with our amazing nurse, we browsed the updated meds lists, found a few contacts, and even met up with some fellow IVFers to purchase their leftover meds. Add ALL of that to all the prep work we did on Tuesday, and we were actually able to get our first round of meds for under $750!!! That is compared to the over $2000 price tag we would’ve faced had we just ordered everything from the pharmacy!! YES!!! We literally saved $1200 by just stepping out of our comfort zone and making a few (what we thought would be) awkward phone calls. I quickly realized that it wasn’t awkward at all! People are just as eager to sell back their meds and make a little of their money back as we are to buy them for less than market value. It’s a win-win!! Don’t worry, we’ve made all the precautions to make sure this is all real, unused medication 🙂
Before we left the office, we got the dreaded “cost breakdown” for everything. I took a pic of it & posted it at the top of this page. Basically our first payment of over $5k is due when we start the Follistim shots, and the second payment of over $7k is due when one of my follicles starts to measure above 15mm. In an effort to help my friends in the Broken Hearts Club to make informed decisions, I’ll post the breakdown on our Cost Page tonight. (PS- if you’d like to donate to this cause, there’s info about how to do so anonymously at the bottom of that page! Hey…every little bit helps! LOL)
After all that awesomeness, we were still on a happiness high from all the money we saved on the meds, and from our great meeting with our nurse. So we decided to go get a King Cake for the FINO office…let’s just say…THEY LOVED IT!! And it felt good to do something nice & unexpected for them!
We grabbed a bite to eat, made a few more med connections while we were in the city, and then headed home.
I’m feeling fine, just kinda tired…probably from that saline sonohysterogram. But all in all, I am ready!! We are ready! And with God in our corner, we WILL conquer this IF!!! Thanks again for all of the comments, prayers, and good wishes y’all are continuing to send our way! I’ll definitely keep y’all updated!!
Love,
Emily
faithinfertile 