And A Few Remaining Pieces

But how did you FEEL about the scuba magazines, Julia?

All right, fair enough. I should probably write a bit more about the RE visit. It felt like a non-event, frankly, but I suppose it was productive. I went in knowing that there is really nothing we can do to improve our odds and lo! There is really nothing we can do to improve our odds. However, the genetic testing will give us a bit more information, nudge us slightly towards or away from future IVF. The research article, for those of you who opted not to read it (for shame- oh? you tried to click on the article but it just took you to a message board because I screwed up the link? sorry, I fixed that) concluded that IVF success rates are miniscule when the percentage of genetically abnormal sperm is greater than 65%. So although the RE said that we had a 1 in 4 chance of a healthy pregnancy with IVF that was more anecdotal than anything. If the testing shows that Steve is 70%-80% abnormal our likelihood of having a pregnancy result from IVF is much lower.

On Monday I will call the RE's office and find out what we are supposed to do for the test and when. I will also get them started on getting a referral written for it. I am anticipating that everyone involved will be thoroughly confused by the fact that they cover basic sperm testing but sperm fluorescent in situ hybridization with specific one and four chromosome probes? Not so much. I look forward to the ensuing conversations and assume that it will be a few weeks before either the insurance company says OK or I have to write a check for it.

On Monday I will also call my OB and talk about scheduling something to rule out any lingering uterine scar tissue. My RE referral was just for a consultation, so for now any more or less routine gynecological matters will be handled by my current OB/Gyn. I like him and am quite comfortable with his ability to identify any problems. Speaking of liking people I guess I would give the RE a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I was very impressed by the fact that he accepted my article and agreed to act upon it. I was even more impressed when he spoke to his colleague about it immediately and called at 7 am the next day. I do not know if I will end up doing very much with this guy, but I think I could. He seemed fairly smart and I like smart. He also was not remotely sympathetic and I liked that too. I have people to stroke my hair and buy me presents; my physician just needs to know his way around Rome.

Steve and I talked about it and we have come up with the following plan. Once I am done selfishly indulging my every little whim (July maybe, or September) we will try one more time to conceive a child by frivolously having sex. It will be “fun.” If this results in pregnancy but ends in another miscarriage then we will look at the results of the genetic testing. If Steve falls somewhere below that 65th percentile we will try an IVF cycle. If he is above that... well... we do not know. See how we feel I suppose.

I like this plan. I am not quite ready to miscarry again right now but I think I will be in a few months. In the meantime I am wearing my new necklace with pajamas and leaving next Saturday for another trip to San Francisco. As I said, I have a few more months of heart-stopping selfishness to get through first.