Oh my. Oh my oh my oh my. Our world feels like it’s been flipped upside down again.
Jason got the results of his blood test on Monday. His testosterone is still super high and his estrogen has dropped to a more suitable level. Yay! With that news, we got the go ahead from Dr. Hotaling’s office to schedule the procedure. Depending on Dr. Hotaling and Dr. Foulk’s schedule, they expected it would be sometime in June. We were thrilled!
Got another call from Dr. Hotaling’s office on Tuesday. Guess what, they could fit us in on June 2nd! Woo hoo! Now to speak to their financial office and get the exact cost finally figured out. Like we said, when we met with Dr. Hotaling at our first appointment, he gave us a ballpark for how much it would cost but then when we got delayed from doing the procedure in March, the final numbers were never run. Here’s where everything fell apart.
When our December IVF failed with the lack of sperm, Dr. Foulk brainstormed. Check this post out if you’d like a refresher. Dr. Foulk was sincerely disappointed and shocked that they didn’t find a single sperm and genuinely wanted to do everything he could. He made plans with Dr. Hotaling to come to UFC to assist with performing the micro-TESE dissection and to rent the required microscope for a month, primarily for Jason’s sake but also as a first step of a partnership with Dr. Hotaling’s office. Dr. Foulk saw that having the option to do that procedure in his office would be appealing to his patients for many reasons. It would reduce cost, it would mean less travel time for patients, and give UFC another area of fertility treatment to offer to patients.
ALL of our plans have revolved around the set up of the microscope being at UFC. But Dr. Hotaling’s financial office informed Jason that there was absolutely no way that would be possible. What?!? Apparently, the microscope is property of the facility, so Dr. Hotaling doesn’t have final say on where it can and can’t go, and the scope is crazy big and takes a team of people to transport it. It’s not a table sized scope that anyone can move, it essentially takes up an entire room.
We’re not really sure where the breakdown in communication happened or why this didn’t come up when we were originally supposed to have the procedure in March. All we know is that currently, they are planning on us coming to the microscope and having the procedure in South Jordan, incurring an additional $2,500 in costs for us in surgical center fees and more expensive anesthesia.
The money for the procedure is due in full on May 28th. Jason and I did save up the amount we were originally expecting and if we were performing the procedure at UFC, we’d have more than enough money ready. But if we are doing it at South Jordan, we’re about $1,500 short and have about a week and a half to come up with the difference.
The extra cost sucks and yeah, we don’t have it. We have one pay check coming in between now and the due date , so even though I’m planning on working extra over time, it won’t come in in time. We’re scrambling looking for ways to come up with the extra money. But honestly, at this point, that’s a drop in the bucket for what we’ve spent, so in the long run we don’t care. Our biggest concern is how it will affect our likelihood for success. One of the major reasons why Dr. Foulk planned on having the scope come to UFC would mean that they wouldn’t have to freeze and transport the sperm. Generally about half of sperm does not survive thawing. If we did the procedure at UFC there would be no need to freeze them and they could immediately inject them into my eggs. The other advantage of that would be that they would know exactly how many of my eggs they’d need to use and could thaw out the exact amount we’d need. While it’ll be a lot easier to get more eggs from me in the future if needed, generally only a third of eggs survive thawing and it would be a shame to thaw all 29 of my eggs if it’s not necessary. All of this gives us a higher chance of success.
Dr. Foulk and UFC were just as shocked at this development as us. They had no idea about this change in plans and are feverishly working to find a solution. Jason and I know that UFC will do everything in their power to help us and hope that somehow we’ll be able to go back to our original plan. But, if not, we also know that UFC will figure out something to our benefit. If Dr. Foulk finds a way for us to be just as successful at South Jordan than at UFC then we’ll do it.
If we have Jason’s procedure on June 2nd, I HAVE to start my medications to prep my body for the transfer this week so either way we’ll have an exact plan worked out this week. But just in case we need to do the procedure in South Jordan, we need to have a plan to find more money. So we’re frantically searching for that window God must’ve opened somewhere, we’re just not seeing it yet!
So…our loving friends…we are desperately looking for quick ways to make cash in case our cheaper route doesn’t pan out. If anyone is willing to donate any amount or give us a short term loan or have any odd jobs that we can work for you, we would be extremely grateful.
Now, off we go to search our couch cushions for secret $100 bills 😉