I have now decided that it is time for another baby. Unlike most couples, we won’t have any results with just heading off to the bedroom. I have called the office of the dr. who got us pregnant with Becca. To have a sit-down appt. with him, I have to wait until August 30. I am too impatient for that. Here are the options.
The Outcome-Based-Plan. For the small fee of $19,600 we can do three fresh cycles and the frozen cycles inbetween fresh to use up whatever is leftover, if anything. This does not cover meds, which the office is telling me run $3,000-$6,000 per cycle. Frozen cycle meds are about $500, or at least, that is what we paid when we did it with Becca. If, at the end of three fresh cycles and using up whatever was frozen, we still do not have a baby, we would get 40% of the $19,600 ($7,840) refunded to us. I am quite confidant that we would get a baby.
The one-shot deal. For $11,525, we have one fresh cycle, not including meds. We would possibly have some frozen for a frozen cycle, possibly not. I am guessing that we would. They do a three-day transfer and freeze what has made it to a good-rated blastocyst on day five. Our prior dr whom we did our two fresh cycles did five-day blastocyst transfers.
Our history. Ben and I make plenty of nice embryos. We averaged with the two fresh cycles we did (I can’t recall exact counts) 15 embryos per cycle. On the first cycle, 5 or 6 made it to blast. We transferred two and used up the rest on the following frozen cycle. On the second cycle, 9 made it to blast. We transferred 3 and froze 6. When thaw was done on the 6, two were fantastic, so much that they hatched on their own after thaw and became expanded blastocysts. Two were not terribly impressive. (There have been plenty of pregnancies with healthy babies born using poor grade embryos. Obviously your chances are better with the high grade.) Two did not make the thaw. So we tranferred 4, of which two were not expected to do anything. There is no way of knowing if Becca was one of the great embryos or not.
Our problem with the failed cycles is that the previous dr was doing blind transfers. I have a narrow cervix, with a 90 degree bend in it, and a false channel right at the bend. So the prior dr was depositing our embryos in the false channel, not my uterus. The first cycle with the new dr, he did an ultrasound-guided transfer, so we could all see that the embryos were deposited in my uterus. We got pregnant off the first time, with frozen, of that.
This means that we have (in my mind) a pretty good chance of getting knocked up on a one-cycle deal. It isn’t a guarantee, of course. But we should at least have some frozen for a chance at that. If we go with the one-shot deal and don’t get anything, we are out $12k plus meds, with nothing to show for it and no refunds.
I also have $3,000 worth of expired Follistim. It expired in 10/2001. It is in powdered form. I had a dr tell me previously that the drug companies can’t sell stuff past the expiration, because they can’t guarantee 100% from the drug. However, he said that it breaks down slowly, so that I could be using stuff that was still 90-95%. I’d like to try to use the drugs I have, because $3,000 is nothing to sneeze at. Also, previously, we purchased our meds at Goldsmith Pharmacy, and you could return what you did not use or open and get a refund. Each cycle, we were able to get $500-$1,000 back. This makes a bit of difference. Goldsmith Pharmacy has now changed this policy, due to some people improperly storing the medication. That means that money spent is gone with the wind.
I called the dr’s office today, so that I could ask about our chances with the one-shot deal. I would like to sit down with the dr and see what he thinks, and if he is willing for us to use the Follistim that is expired. The first appt. that I was able to get isn’t until August 30. I know there is a cycle for September 13. There is not way if I waited until after the appt. that I would be able to get into a cycle before MAYBE October at the earliest.
The question is, do I wait another year to save up the $10k difference in price and have some sort of guarantee, or risk it on a one-shot?
