I am convinced that I met an angel today.
My husband and I decided to seek a second opinion from another RE. We have been with our current clinic for 2 years. But 6 serophene cycles, 5 IUIs, and 1 laporoscopy later - we are still not pregnant. I know that my current RE wants me to move onto the next step - IVF. But before we take that leap, we want to make sure that our doctor isn't missing something.
Because in my gut, I really feel that there is something that is being overlooked. Despite the fact that I respond well to meds, I have no blockages, and my husband's sperm count is normal, I am still not pregnant. And I'm just not ready to go the IVF route when all current conditions seem to be so optimal.
So my husband and I spent last night devising a two page "speech" for our consult with this new doctor. In a nutshell, we want to know WHY we are not getting pregnant despite "perfect" conditions. Is there a root cause that is being missed? Was I diagnosed properly in the first place?
So today, we entered the doctor's office with two page speech in hand. The first thing he asked me was: "So what's going on? What's the problem?" I take a deep breath and begin to delve into my speech: "Well, we've been with our current clinic for 2 years and we've tried Serophene and IU..." and the doctor quickly interrupted me with: "Wait, that is the TREATMENT you've been receiving, but what is the PROBLEM?" I was quite taken aback by that - in a good way. Before I could even get 10 seconds into my word vomit, he got to the heart of our frustrations. Not knowing what the PROBLEM is in the first place. Amazing.
So after he looked through my forms and asked me some key questions, he presented us with a few problems he wanted to investigate. First, he wants to make sure that I actually do have PCOS in the first place. Secondly, he wants to see whether I have any anatomical issues with my uterus that could be preventing implantation. Another possible root problem he mentioned was immune infertility which means that my body is basically treating my husband's sperm as a foreign body and attacking it. Lastly, he mentioned that perhaps there could be an issue with sperm DNA fragmentation, which prevents the sperm from fertilizing the egg. After he mentioned all these things, I almost wanted to cry. These were the exact issues that my husband and I have thought of over the years but was quickly dismissed by my current RE when I mentioned them to him. I've always had a gut feeling that there was something anatomically wrong with my uterus. When I had my HSG done last year, the dye kept rushing out, despite the catheter being inserted properly. My RE didn't think much of this issue and just ordered me to do a laporoscopy. But I've always wondered why it was that the dye kept rushing out. And this new doctor is finally taking these concerns seriously.
The last thing the RE said to me before we left really gave me a bit of hope. He said that the average couple takes 6-12 months to conceive. Because I rarely ovulate, I've really only "ovulated" about 10 times in the last few years. So we aren't really that far off from the average, normally ovulating couple. Really puts things in perspective.
Lesson of the day: find a doctor that really listens to you and gives you hope. I really do feel like he is a God send. What are the chances that this doctor would open up a new clinic just a few minutes from my house? And I happened to stumble upon his website just as I was losing all hope? I really hope this is the turning point for us.
