As much as I'm thinking about myself in this process, it's not all about me (bummer!!) I have to give credit to Todd who underwent some significant procedures to get where we are. So some additional history to how the IVF process started.
In 2010 after a year of trying to get pregnant my doctor said we could start infertility testing. The first test that is always done is a semen analysis - easiest test to do and usually the most telling, and this was no exception. So Todd was a trooper and did his test and the results came back as "AZOOSPERMIA", which means zero count. Not slow swimmers, not a low number, but absolutely zero. Once we overcame the shock the doctor had Todd go through a second test with the exact same result. He had multitudes of blood work done - testosterone is fine, all other blood indicators say there isn't a problem. So Todd was referred to a urologist to check out what's going on because it could be either a diagnosis of 1) blockage or 2) he doesn't create "swimmers". A blockage would mean we could have biological kids through IVF; the second diagnosis is the end of the road.
The first procedure he had to undergo was a biopsy, where they go into Todd's manhood, take each one out, take a syringe of fluid out of each one, and then put it all back and sew it up. I'm sparing the technical terms and more graphic details, but for men that have heard the story I think they immediately grab their "areas" in pain just thinking about it. There is a YouTube video of the testicular biopsy procedure, for those interested. 4 days of waddling and an immense amount of pain for Todd (I think his exact words were "it feels like I've been kicked in the balls or my balls were used as punching bags") the results were in. Me, being the skeptic that I am, assumed the worse and we'd get the 2nd diagnosis that has no hope for fixing. Todd is the hopeful one and his hope won - the urologist said it was healthy and good and usable swimmers that are just blocked so our hope was restored knowing that IVF was an option! The only downside is that procedure needed to be done a second time to extract swimmers for the IVF treatment.
Once we figured out how we were going to make the IVF work out financially, it was time to schedule the procedure and send Todd's "area" through turmoil again. On 10/10 we went to Tampa General and got him ready to go. Funny part of the story - since it's for IVF treatment Todd was treated in the "Women's Center"! LoL! We were both prepared for the full biopsy surgery again with the painful, lengthy recovery time. When his surgery was over the doctor came and found me in the waiting room and said they were able to retrieve with just a syringe - so NO cutting, NO lengthy recovery, and NO pain! Instead of waddling around for a week, Todd and I went shopping for new flooring that afternoon. They were able to retrieve and freeze 4 vials of usable "swimmers" for IVF procedures (each procedure takes 1 vial).
All in all, Todd's part of the procedure restored our hope in many ways. Against nature and with the help of modern medicine, they were not only able to retrieve healthy swimmers, but they were able to do it without pain and 4 vials of it. It really couldn't have gone any better in this retrieval situation. And, it looks like Todd's Cigna insurance is picking up some of the tab for that so his $2,200 procedure has only cost a portion of that. Positive, Positive, Positive! I think this is reason for my hope in this procedure - I've been given nothing but opportunities for hope along the way, when my heart was sunk little nuggets of joy kept coming up to restore my spirit.
Next Tuesday 11/15 is my next appointment to check on my body and to check if the Lupron medicine is getting my body into "dormant resting" mode before they kick it up into overdrive. Since I'm not having ANY negative reactions I'm skeptical that it's actually working - but maybe it's just another positive sign that this is going our way...
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