Exciting! Seems there's a good chance I can be pregnant AND it can be my husband's baby! The consultation with blood work at the fertility clinic cost us some around $200 (after insurance). I will do my best to post cost along the way, for those looking into these treatments. I don't think it is the facility's intention to be evasive about cost. They really seem to be trying not to overwhelm us, by not giving a huge dollar amount upfront. But, honestly I wish someone would just say, it's going to be $X amount...deal with it...give me your credit card. So, back to the topic of sperm. Our fertility clinic does not employ a urologist, so we are referred out. The good thing is, we do not have to research this part. There is one specific urologist less than 2 miles away, with which they always work. Fabulous, at this point cost is becoming irrelevant we just want to be told "do A, B and C...and you'll be pregnant." The urologist consultation cost another $200 or so. By consultation, I mean the doctor shook my husband's hand and his assistant gave us a $2500 estimate for the epididymal aspiration. Don't get me wrong, doctor appointments are always better when no one is poked or prodded. But, somewhere along the infertility journey, I have found myself feeling like I didn't get my money's worth if no one takes their pants off. Now we know how we're going to get the eggs and we know how we're going to get the sperm. I should probably have a consultation with my regular OBGYN to make sure she is on the same page, right?. I will be having blood work and ultrasounds during the IVF meds with my local OBGYN, as we live 3 hrs from the fertility clinic. When I call to make this consultation, the receptionist is very confused. She literally said "I don't know what kind of appointment to make you." By the way, my regular OBGYN has left the practice. Lucky for me, there is another doctor I can see who specializes in infertility. Hmmmm, kind of seems like someone should have mentioned there was an infertility specialist in the practice, prior to this moment. Turns out, this OBGYN actually works with the fertility clinic we have chosen on our own. I guess we'll call that a happy coincidence. Don't take my comments as complaints about the medical system. Ok, they are complaints, but I've met some wonderful doctors and staff along the way. I work in health care myself and understand the miscommunications that can happen between patients and professionals. Nonetheless, when your hormones and emotions are raging, you tend to get a tad angry when things don't seem to be going smoothly. Eggs...check, sperm...check, local OBGYN on the same page...check. Back to the fertility clinic for a baseline ultrasound and financial discussion. So it looks like $5000 for the actual IVF treatment. $4000-6000 for the medication, which will be overnight mail order. $500 for a saline ultrasound, never had one of those before, sign me up! $500 for "monitoring," ok, sounds like something that should be included, but whatever. Last, but not least, $500 for the urologist to use their facility to do the epididymal aspiration. Apparently, they are unaware the urologist already has his own $2500 fee, but hey what's another $500. If you're keeping track, including the previous blood work/consultations were at somewhere around $15,000... give or take $1000. Yes, we have literally stated thinking in $1000 increments, it's a bit terrifying. Now for that ultrasound. I have a fibroid. Ok, I know. I've complained about minor pain for about 6 years now. My local OBGYN knows about the fibroid. She says it's fine, I can get pregnant. However, the fertility OBGYN does not agree...it could cause a miscarriage...it needs to be removed. Excellent! Of course I want these expensive embryos to have the best chance of survival. Of course I'm grateful this problem is being addressed before it causes a problem. But, here goes another $4000 and now we have to wait to start IVF treatments. It's now February 2014, I should be pregnant by my birthday (October). What a great birthday present!! Spoiler alert: it's currently November 2014 and I'm NOT pregnant 😠😢😒👎
