Friday, September 29, 2006

AND...BREATHE OUT

Thank you everyone for your encouraging words vis a vis my last post. It really helped to hear about your personal experiences, and your advice how to handle the situation.

Yesterday morning I told The C that I couldn't take thinking about what will happen when he asks my dad for the time for the appointments anymore. The night before I was having terrible stomach pains, most definately from anxiety. I was clearly driving myself nuts. My wonderful husband assured me that he would speak to my father that very day. I went to pick up my mom at their place of business, and enquired if he had done the asking as of yet. He hadn't, so I told him to invite my parents for dinner, so that we can do it at home, and I can be with him (rather than doing it at work, and making him deal with this all alone.)
Dinner plans got a bit screwed up, and my parents finally arrived at our place at 9:00. I was on the verge of being ill by this time, I was dreading this, but I knew we had to do it. We sat down to eat the take out my parents brought, and the entire meal went by. I kept looking over at The C with the "c'mon already, I am going to die" look. And dinner ended. And we kept talking about other things. And then my mom got up and said, "well I better head home"... (OMG, panic...)
The C took a deep breath and said: "I have to take a couple of hours off for 2 appointments that I have in October. We made them long ago (I interjected 7 months) so it is not possible to cancel or reschedule." And told them the date. There was a pause. It is quite possible that I stopped breathing.
"Alright, then." was my father's reply.
And that was the end of the conversation. My normally nosey parents did not say another word. They got up, bid us good night and they left.
We closed the door behind them and The C hugged me so hard. I felt like the biggest weight had been lifted off my chest. I tink my stomach pains instantly vanished. I was no longer nauseous. "I think they know," said The C, as he kept holding me tight. He's right, I'm pretty sure they have some kind of idea what's going on. The "coming out" that I thought would occur last night didn't happen, but I'm okay with that for now.

The plan of action is for us to see a urologist for The C on the 11th, then I will go alone to the RE appointment on the 12th (the one that I see as our second opinion, even though it comes first...) Then we will go to RE Original together on the 26th. Hopefully we will be able to decide which clinic to go with, and then make a game plan.

Two other bits of info for today. First, I finally got a name for a urologist from my gyn (she told me before we went away in mid-August that she would find us someone to see.) I called this doctor, and the soonest they were booking was for November. Which, like October, is no good. I made an appointment for mid-December. If that's the amount of time it takes for us to get our ducks in a row, I guess that's how long it will take. (Maybe we will decide to go with the clinic that has the urologist on staff... I don't know...)

Second, I finally got the results for The C's second semen analysis. (The woman on the phone was so patient, and took the time to explain everything to me. I thanked he many times for this.) It is in someways better, and some ways worse:
Concentration: 8 million (Normal=greater than 20 million)
Motility: 40% rapid moving, 75% overall (Normal=25% rapid, 50% overall)
Morphology: 10% (Normal=14%, but more realisitcally 6-8%)
Index calculation # of abnormalities: 1.18 (Normal=lower than 1.6)
Anti-sperm antibodies: 15-17% (Normal=lass than 50%)
Viscosity: Normal

The results of the previous analysis were: count at 20 million, it was "very viscose", and the rest of the stats "didn't look so good". (Quoted directly from my gyn, thankyouverymuch.)
I am happy we opted for the way too expensive semen analysis. no doubt about it.
So why the change? Have any of you had such a varience? And 8 million should be enough is the motility and morphology are alright, shouldn't it? (Obviously not to get me pregnant naturally, I am aware of that! Don't forget that I don't ovulate either...)

Onto the next hurdle...

8 comments:

Lut C. said...

A load off your mind, I bet. I'm glad the evening with your parents turned out well.

Your appointment schedule is confusing me. An illustrated timeline might help. Then again, as long as you know where to go wen, it's okay. :-)

~r said...

So glad things are working out for your appointments.

Sperm counts are variable.. I know I looked up the 'why' behind that at one point, but I can't remember it offhand.

8 million sounds like a great number, especially with such good motility and morphology numbers. I'm sorry, I can't remember exactly which treatments you're considering, but I know the minimum for IUI is 1 million, and IVF is lower than that (per my RE)... so it sounds like a good SA to me!

Mary Ellen and Steve said...

I am glad that your parents were understanding. I am sure that it was a relief. I wish you all the best with this upcoming cycle.

Krista said...

I am glad that the discussion with your parents went better than expected and that they were "supportive". I don't know a lot about low sperm count but I would imagine 8 million is more than enough for IVF, I am not sure what they need for IUI.

noela said...

Your husband's SA sounds like it will be fine since you guys sound like you will be doing IVF. There should be more than enough sperm for that. (or maybe even IUI, but I'm not sure about that as we never did IUI's.)

I wish I could compare to my husband's SA results (he's had about three done, I believe) -- all I know is that his results were great, and there weren't any concerns. So, I guess that's why we don't have copies of the results, nor were we ever concerned.

Is your husband taking multi-vitamins, and getting lots of EFA supplementation? EFA's are VERY important with cellular development. He should also take extra natural vitamin E, C, and B vitamins. I had my husband take a bunch of supplements before our first fresh IVF cycle and I think it helped a lot -- sperm was great for fertilization -- almost all the eggs fertilized.

Glad you told your parents about the appt and can rest easier now.

Take care,
Nilla

Angie said...

Glad to hear you got your results. Everything sounds good.

Nico said...

I'm so glad Mr. C got the time off for the appointments without too much hassle. And glad your tummy is feeling better!!!

queen said...

We had below 8 million with poor motility and morphology. IVF w/ ICSI and assisted hatching was successful in our case. I wish you the very best of luck. I hope you find the journey takes you where you want to go.