Self Diagnosis & Hope

I became chatty with my lab technician at the medical centre down the street from my house. From November 2007-November 2008 it was the same process…

Cycle Day 3-7: Take 2 tablets of Letrozole (the highest dosage available….like I said my ovaries were hibernating!)

Cycle Day 8-19: “try, try, try” You know what I’m talking about.

Cycle Day 20: Blood work at the lab down the street to see if I ovulated

Cycle Day 21-45: At some point I would find out I was NOT pregnant

The amount of money I spent on at-home pregnancy tests during this time is ridiculous. Why could I not have a normal 28-35 day cycle? I was on medication to regulate my cycle for crying out loud!!! The frustration was mounting and cycle days 8-19 started to feel like a third job.

To make matters worse, when I finally saw the doctor to go over my test results from the past 6 months, he smiled and sang” Yay! You had some great ovulations in there!”

Pardon?

Why was I not pregnant? How much sex must a person have!

His response was something no Type “A” personality likes to hear.

I was part of the 1% of women with unexplained infertility

We decided to stay the course and keep trying. There is THAT word again……

Over the next 6 months I tuned into my body like never before. A friend recommended a book called” Taking charge of your fertility” and I ran out and bought it. My bedside table consisted of a digital thermometer, a pen and a notebook filled with daily temperature readings. I also bought some cheap ovulation test sticks online to help hone in on my cycle issues.

I am no doctor, but I know my body and I am 100% positive that I would ovulate around 2-3 days before my period arrived. This is called a luteal phase defect (LPD) A normal luteal phase occurs 12-16 DAYS before your period. An LPD is believed to interfere with the implantation of embryos. I would never get pregnant if this was the case.

Armed with this information, Tim and I needed to weigh the options:
Continue with my current medication ($150 a month) and work on lengthening my luteal phase (more drugs and $$ required) or consider IVF.

We decided to discuss IVF at my next appointment and as I had my final blood sample drawn at the medical centre down the street, I thanked the technician for her wonderful needle skills and her friendly chit chat over the past year.

She smiled and told me to hang in there…….

Oh yeah, and that she was 3 months pregnant….via IVF

Once again…I am not alone, there is hope…..I couldn’t help but smile