When we speak to family and friends about our TTC 'situation' we get the same general questions; how did we know there was a fertility issue at the beginning, when did we start testing, what point are we up to now and what is planned for the future. All good questions yet so hard for me to answer.
I went over it basicly in the first post in regards to how we started. I first thought something may be an issue when we had been TTC for approx a year with no luck at all, so off to the GP we went for some answers. Putting a long story short - I have insulin resistance (IR) and Aaron has very low sperm count. From this point on we were referred to a FS.
I am going to pop in a quick disclaimer - From here on I may get into 'too much information' (TMI) but as most of you are from the TTC world I would assume it is nothing you have not heard before....if you aren't from the TTC world I guess you must have a strong stomach to be my friend lol
I remember the first FS appointment - god Aaron and I were nervous wrecks! I thought we would just receive referrals for more tests and that would be a 20 minute appointment ...but little did I know most would be done that day (5 hours worth). We started the day off with ultrasounds for both (internal for me, external for Aaron) this is to check sizes of all reproductive parts and to see if there is anything abnormal going on in there. At this point they could see I was fine however Aaron has under sized testicles and has a high amount of veins around that area (varicose veins) . I am not good with the medical jargon so I thought I would pop in a quote here about varicose veins in the testicles.
"Of the many different causes of male infertility is a varicocele and is also one of the most common. A varicocele is very simply a varicose vein that developed in the venous system of the testicles. Varicose veins in the testicles develop in much the same way that others do.
This means that the one-way valves that control the blood flow in the veins are damaged and allow the blood to pool. This pooling will increase the temperature inside the scrotum, which causes poor circulation and decreased sperm production because of the heat. Urologists estimate that between 10 and 20% of all men will experience a varicocele or varicose veins in the testicles at some point in their lives." quote from http://www.natural-holistic-health.com/
I told you it would be TMI!! Anyway moving on, in this first appointment we had an all over medical to make sure we were both ok. This included a pap smear, which I must mention was a scare. The doctor and ultrasound tech found a small 'dot like form' on my cervix which was very worrying to say the least!! Long story short - the tests came back clear...so much weight was lifted off my shoulders at that point.
After this we were sent for initial blood testing (this checked for everything - I would list but the referral form had 25+ tests so you get the point). Now this is where I tell you about my BIGGEST fear ..... needles .....needles of any kind. I am so scared I tend to faint and I must lay down during the process. I get myself so worked up for them I generally walk out of the blood place before I have my blood taken. I know you guys are thinking "how the hell are you going to survive IVF" and my honest answer to this is...I seriously don't know. This is one of the biggest fears of IVF, the medical side and how I will react. I have spoken to my parents about this as they truly know how terrible it is for me, my dad's first response was "I'm not taking her for any testing, it will be a nightmare" *insert laugh and many other jokes here* anyway after many months of thinking about it I must get over this fear. I must talk myself into being ok with it.
I have many 'coping' techniques (I don't wish to share these as I feel like a complete idiot already) so armed with these I went into the blood testing place at our first FS appointment. I must say I was very surprised at how good I was, I didn't work myself up and for such a long test I felt fine afterwards. At this point I felt more relieved about the whole IVF process in the future...if I could overcome this fear I could do it for sure.
So after all this the FS doctor made the basic recommendation of IVF. He said from the basic outline we have little chance of conceiving 'naturally'. As you can imagine this was a very heartbreaking appointment. This is where we stand today - initial testing by FS completed with a basic recommendation. Next step is my assessment cycle. This is where I have daily testing to monitor my body and see what type of IVF cycle I will be doing in the future. This assessment cycle consists of: daily blood testing and ultrasounds, a HyCoSy on cycle day 5-12 (this is a test under sedation to run dye through your tube, this checks for any blockages etc.), pap smear, CM testing around ovulation time, timed sex on ovulation day. For Aaron he will have another semen analysis (SA) and we must decide if we want to freeze his sample - this can be used in the future for IVF.
I plan on starting the assessment cycle in March (after our Bali holiday) and after this we will meet with the FS again and discuss all results and further recommendations regarding our IVF path. As you can see it's all pretty complicated and it sounds like ramble but I swear I have only just touched on the main topics. I hope you stick with me through this hard time ahead, as I will use this blog to note all and hopefully survive what to me looks like hell .... but if it achieves the end result we are searching for, our own little bundle of joy, I will find my inner strength and give it all I have.
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