Progress

It’s hard to believe, but we’re actually making some progress.  Not immediate progress, but progress nonetheless.

I called the doctor’s office a couple of weeks ago with my monthly cycle check in with disappointing results to report - despite the increased dosage of Clomid, I didn’t have any positive OPK’s this cycle.  My doctor was concerned about the intense cramping that I experienced, so I have officially been referred to a different practitioner who has a more hand on approach to treatment (she prefers to monitor patients who are on medication instead of having the patient self-monitor and report back, like I’ve been doing).  Because I hadn’t gotten AF on my own and I was approaching CD40, the new Nurse Practitioner I’ll be seeing prescribed Provera (again) to help things along.  On CD1, I have to call the doctor’s office so I can schedule an appointment and be seen by CD5.  The purpose of the appointment is to get a baseline ultrasound and to check for possible cysts that could have been caused by the Clomid, and to have a general consult with the new practitioner.

I spent almost half an hour on the phone with the insurance company before calling the doctor’s office and agreeing to move forward with this new plan.  I wanted to make sure everything would be covered, especially after the fiasco that was B’s appointment with the specialist that ended up being completely unnecessary and landed us a $400 out of pocket hospital bill for what should have been an office visit.  A bill like that is not an option for us right now.  I had looked over our policy book, and according to the book, everything up to and including IVF is covered, but there’s a $15,000 limit on fertility treatments (so far, I’ve used about $140 of that) - I figured it was probably safe to move forward, but insurance companies can be tricky, so I decided to be safe and call.  After listening to the customer service representative talk in circles for a while and explaining and re-explaining the situation, I finally got an answer - as long as the appointment is billed as an office visit (and it will be, according to the nurse I talked to), we will only be responsible for our co-pay.  Thank goodness.  Now I just have to wait for my next cycle to start so we can get this process moving.

This journey is nothing like I had expected when we first started “trying” a year ago.  It’s more disappointing and frustrating and exhausting than I could have ever imagined  … but I’m not letting that stop me, because I know that the end result is going to be so worth it.