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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Update

As promised I am going to fill all my readers in on what has been going on. As most of you know this journey towards becoming parents has been a rough tumultuos battle. Although we have not done many treatments the road to getting where we are has been quite bumpy, quite informative, and to be quite honest quite emotionally draining.

I say it all the time, because it is the honest truth- somehow I always knew deep within my heart that getting pregnant was going to be really hard for me. I didn't know why I felt this way, I just did. Things always felt a little offish about my body...perhaps I am more in-tune with my body than the average woman. In 2003 I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Endometriosis. When I found out I had Endo I cried. Naturally I searched online and all that kept popping up was "Infertility". My worst fears and sneaky suspicions had just been confirmed. Getting pregnant was going to be hard, but I was young, I wasn't ready for a family, I wasn't even married at the time, who cared about fertility then? I did

I really thought Endometriosis would be the worst of the news for me to deal with. Oh but I was so wrong. Just a few short months later and I was diagnosed with Graves Disease Hyperactive thyroid...this one scared me, and I prayed and wished it would go away, that I would rather have Hashimotos, because of the eye problems with Graves. Well becareful what you will. I willed my recovery from Graves right into Hashimotos. Although I suspect that I never had Graves but rather I had Hashimotos all along and was having a hyperactive flare up. This happens A LOT. My new Endocrinologist believes this is the case...either way Hashi or Graves...infertility lingers around.
Not only does Hashimoto's contribute to infertility, the antibodies can cause miscarriages. Not all RE's including mine are convinced this plays a significant role in m/c rates.
Before being diagnosed with Hashi, I was diagnosed with PCOS based on blood work alone. I ovulated on my own, just late (Thanks to Endo). So for years I believed I had Graves, but was not typical, I was not thin, thinner than I am now, oh yes, but thin? Never. So PCOS was the new culprit, that was until the diagnosis of Hashi and being placed on synthroid. All my levels that once indicated PCOS are normal, low end normal, not even borderline high...so PCOS was a misdiagnosis for sure and thus Metformin never did anything for me, except mask my TSH level and allow me to go untreated for months putting on 30+lbs.

So where am I today?

Today I have answers. Today I am in a better place as far as "What is wrong with me?". Today though I am not in a better place as far as "Hope" goes. I still have some, it will take a lot more than this to take that from me.

I have a new diagnosis Ladies and Gents...I had a Thrombophilia panel done to check for blood clotting disorders and autoimmune antibodies.
Well what do you know...

I tested positive for quite a few.
I have APA, Factor II, MTHFR (Homozygous)Slightly elevated Homocysteine levels, and a weak positive for Lupus Anticoagulants.

So what does this mean? This means I am at risk for developing blood clots...in the placenta as well, which means stillbirth, fetal demise, early miscarriage and even infertility.

I am seeing a hematologist on the 25th and hopefully get some answers. I have been taking the Selenium to bring down the Antithyroid antibodies and now I have been taking a baby aspirin. I will most likely be doing Lovenox injections or some type of injections when I get pregnant..maybe before? We will see what the hematologist says next wednesday..

DH's semen analysis came back, worse than last years...His count is above normal as is his motility, his morphology is poor, only 2% are normal, they look for at least 14%.

We were told that his sperm is suitable for IUI and for IVF without ICSI...
We chose to go IVF route.

With so many things going wrong, we want to just get past this all and go with better odds. At least with IVF things are more controlled.
1 follicle on clomid with poor morphology isn't going to really get us anywhere, and if I am going to do injections I want the 60% success rate we were given for IVF over the less than 20% with IUI.

Yes, you read that correctly. Our RE has given us a 60% chance of success...we are happy with those odds...

After I see the hematologist the protocol for IVF will be established, meds, timeline etc. We are hoping for an ER and ET in June! I want to finish out this semester without any worries and hope to spend the summer Preggo!

Well that is it for now....

Trying to remain positive...

2 comments:

  1. Hey! I am happy that you are moving onto IVF. We tried (in vain) IUI with different protocals 9 times and never even got a false positive! I totally agree about having the control with IVF so you don't have so many what ifs! Good luck to you honey!
    Thank you also for your sweet comment left on my blog and the congrats on our girls! We are truly blessed! I don't post on that board anymore (I couldn't keep up and always felt bad :D), but I have continued to follow you from your blog! I am very happy and excited for you! Feel free to ask any questions since I've been through it!

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  2. Hey sweetie... as I was reading your post I got goosebumps...one i was happy for you that you finally got some answers, two... you WILL figure this out and three... you will have your BABY in your tummy soon and I couldn't be happier for you! I cant wait to start reading about your pregnancy journey... it's going to be fabulous!

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