Monday, January 12, 2015

Consultation and BIG Direction Changes

Today has not went how I expected it to go at all. We had a consultation today with Dr. Foulk and I was completely expecting to be announcing to everyone today that we were officially moving forward with our next 3 IUI treatments as of next week. However, that is not what is going to happen with this post.

Our last consultation with Dr. Foulk was back in December of 2013, so a little over a year ago. At that time he told us he would move forward with 3 more IUIs because he didn't know for sure that there was tubal damage that was causing the problems and thought that IUIs still might be a good option. However, a lot has happened since then. I lost two more babies, and that is exactly what has caused our direction to change.

Today at the consultation, Dr. Foulk came in and explained that the miscarriages are concerning because my HCG numbers never got above 125, which is not normal. Usually, even with a miscarriage, when a pregnancy is in the uterus my numbers would have been much higher. We have also done all of the miscarriage testing and there is no reason I should be having recurring miscarriages. Due to these things he is now very, very confident to say that the miscarriages I have been having are actually ectopic pregnancies, so for some reason all of the babies are getting stuck in the tubes and aren't making it to the uterus. Dr. Foulk went on to tell us that because of the losses and this new information we received, he cannot recommend that we continue with the 3 IUI cycles. The IUI cycles make it a greater chance that pregnancy will happen and last longer. With the tubal damage it could also make things really bad, really fast. With an ectopic pregnancy, tubes could rupture which could cause more problems. Surgery could be needed and tubes could need to be removed. In really bad cases more than just the tubes would need to be removed. If they had to do a hysterectomy I would have no hope of becoming pregnant down the road. It could also put my life in danger. We are still able to try on our own and hope for a miracle. He said he has seen many miracles, but he would just not recommend using the medications or do the IUI treatments, which would increase our risks dramatically.

After discussing this with Dr. Foulk, Taylor and I both completely agreed with him that we should not move forward with the 3 treatments. The risks far outweigh the benefits and things could get really bad. So now we are moving on with our last option, in vitro fertilization (IVF.) Neither of us expected today that we would be moving on to our last option. We are both still letting it sink in. Dr. Foulk gave us a bunch of information on the IVF process and we were able to meet with the financial counselor at the office to find out all the costs that are involved. As always, all of the staff at UFC are
 amazing and very helpful. We really have no idea at this point when we will actually be doing the procedure but we do know this is what we are now working towards.

Even though it was a disappointment that we won't be moving forward with treatments next week, we are looking at this as a huge blessing in a way and we are peaceful about forgoing the 3 IUIs. We could have ended up paying for all three treatments, going through all the pain and emotions, and ended up having a lot of heartbreak. We are grateful that Dr. Foulk was a up front with us because now we can save what we would have put toward IUIs and use that toward IVF.

A lot of this is still really new to us and there is a lot we will need to figure out since we only got this information a few hours ago. I do plan on doing more posts in the coming days, weeks, and months about updates on the situation and to address any questions that I get.

As for now, we are just going to keep pushing forward and take one day at a time as we try to move forward in our new direction. Making Someday is keeping me busy with all the orders and I am so grateful to have them especially now that we are we are moving toward IVF and it is much more expensive.

We are looking forward to taking more steps in our journey and are excited for what the future holds. Even though it has been a disappointment since we were planning on (and looking forward to) treatments next week, we still have so much hope for the future. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and this is just part of the plan. It will all work out in the best way and we are looking at all this as a blessing in disguise. Heavenly Father has our best interest in mind. This new direction is probably Heavenly Father's way of helping us to save the money we have worked so hard to save for treatments and helping us to avoid a lot worse situation. We have been so blessed and and we are looking forward to see where this new direction takes us.

1 comment:

  1. Oh Amberly! I'm so sorry for the disappointment of not being able to proceed right away, but it sounds like you have a great plan in place. Dr. Foulk is incredible and you are definitely in good hands. :) I'll keep you in my prayers!

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