We had our check up with the urologist yesterday. Seeing as how we already knew the results of the SA, we were prepared for the impending bad news. The two other things we were concerned about was E's pain and his testosterone levels.
Well, the doctor said that E's groin pain is not caused by the surgery and that it is a muscular problem, completely unrelated. This is good news. The doctor said to stop using the jock strap and to change to compression shorts. We are now on the hunt for good compression shorts.
As for the testosterone level, no good news there, either. Story of our lives. After an initial bump in testosterone levels in November, it appears as though the anastrozole has stopped working. The doctor has now prescribed Clomid for E. He has another follow up exam in 5 weeks to see if it improves his t-levels.
And so our journey continues...
Yesterday, we got E's semen analysis.... There has been no improvement whatsoever. Looks like we are still dealing azoospermia.
Seriously? Are you #$$%^^% kidding me? When do we finally get a break?
I think the two words, which best describe our feelings are numbness and disappointment. E's urologist was SO optimistic. A lot of what we read on the internet was SO optimistic. I thought, how could this not work for us? We deserve at least one positive. Haha, looks like the joke was on us.
So, what do we do now? Best thing to do is move forward with the process. AF arrived today (8 days late!) so it is time to schedule a saline sonogram so that we can be ready to start a cycle in June or July.
(Trying to) Think Positive!
Cat
Hi Everyone!
This blog is to shed light on the world of people dealing with infertility. I am hoping it will provide me with a place to educate people about infertility as well as allow me to vent my frustrations.
Our journey has not been an easy one. In December 2003, my boyfriend husband, "E" was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He had to have radical inguinal orchiectomy followed by intensive chemotherapy. Before his chemotherapy treatment, he banked 19 vials of frozen sperm - just in case.
By today's standards, we got married young. We waited to try to have children. In July 2010, I took my last birth control pill. My cycle more or less regulated itself immediately. At the time, I was nervous about getting pregnant right away...little did I know. We tried to conceive naturally for a year. When that wasn't happening, we scheduled an appointment with a local reproductive endocronologist (RE).
In September 2011, we had our first meeting with our RE. He was very optimistic that we would be successful. My bloodwork and HSG sonogram came back normal. "E"'s SA was low (<500,000), but since we had frozen sperm to work with, he was confident that everything would turn out fine.
We started our first IVF cycle in April 2012. CD 20, I started lupron and then on CD 3, I stimmed with Menopur and Gonal F. I responded well....too well. My E2 levels were 4000+. I triggered and they were able to retreive 18 eggs, 13 of which were mature. 8/13 fertilized using frozen sperm and ICSI. After the retrieval, I definitely had mild OHSS. I was bloated and could not stand up straight to save my life. Three days later, I finally started feeling somewhat better. We did a 5dt of 2 "slow growing" embryos. Unfortunately, this resulted in a BFN.
Round 2 - July 2012. Same protocol, but they lowered the amount of Gonal F. Once again my E2 levels were high, but slightly more manageable. I triggered and they were able to retreive 21 eggs, 18 of which were mature. 16/18 fertilized using ICSI. Once again, I had mild OHSS. We did a 3dt of 3 embryos. Once again, this resulted in a BFN.
After this round, I talked to the RE, but he had no new ideas. How many times are we going to do the same exact thing and expect different results? We were on the search for a second opinion.
September 2012: "E" sees a urologist and it is verified that he has low testosterone levels and a varicocele. He is put on anastrozole in October. In December, he has surgery, to fix the varicocele.
February 2013: Second opinion. We are traveling 200+ miles to work with some of the best REs in the country. Our new RE has new ideas and is optimistic that we can be successful. I need to get all the preliminary tests done again. We will be starting a fresh cycle in June or July when I have time off of work.
April 2013: "E" provides a semen sample and gets blood drawn to check his testosterone levels. I begin preliminary testing again.
So that is our journey thus far. It has definitely been longer than either of us planned. I do have renewed optimism because of our new RE and I hope this summer is finally our time.
Think Positive!
Cat
