My mom always says, “You have to have yourself in order, even if nothing is moving forward, because when God finally says “Go”, it’s gonna move SO fast, you have to be ready.” She’s right, you know.
So following my initial appointment, where we found the dreaded polyp, I was scheduled for yet another polypectomy and hysteroscopy. Big whoop.
“Cue panic #1”
When the nurse called to pre-register me for surgery, he let me know that the hospital where the surgery was scheduled, does not typically accept my insurance, and that I should check in with them again in two days to make sure that I didn’t have a bill. I freaked out EXTENSIVELY (and internally) as I waited the couple days before I could call the office and ask. When I finally got in touch, they assured me that all was covered. 
Having had this surgery previously, I was expecting more of the same. But my doctor came to my room to greet us.
She hung out with us for a few minutes, explained the procedure and talked with my mom for a good while. She even apologized that I’d had to get up so early to make it to the hospital. She stopped in to see me two more times that day, and walked alongside my bed to the OR, just chatting away.
Have I mentioned how much I love her? I think I have, but I’ll say it again: I LOVE HER.
So, last week, I went into the office for my follow-up. I was prepared for a repeat of the stalled out meeting I had following the last procedure with my previous clinic. You know, the one where they lay out all the things that don’t work, and how much delay we can expect?
As hopeful as I’ve been trying to be, I’m also cautious, having been at the starting line more times than I can count, and STILL never taking off.
So imagine my surprise, when my nurse proceeded to move along to baseline testing and ultrasounds.
While drawing my blood she said, “So did you get your meds yet?” I didn’t even try to hide my confusion. “I sent in the order for your meds and you should have them by Friday because your protocol will start Saturday.” Here’s some perspective,…this was Thursday morning.
I went into my ultrasound, still reeling from that little bit of info. They were a little wary of my notoriously ridiculous uterine lining, but said it wasn’t a huge issue and that most importantly, I was polyp free! From there, we sat in an injection walk-through and a layout of our drug protocol.
Let me remind you, when I came into the office, I was expecting to just hear about my polypectomy, and find out what was the next thing for us to wait on. At this stage in the game previously, we were again at “hurry up and wait”. We were extremely unprepared for the amount of information that was being hurled at us.
We left the office, called the insurance regarding the meds, and were told to await a call from the pharmacy.
“Cue panic #2”
When the pharmacy called to confirm the meds order, they ended the phone call by saying, “We’ll call you back with your final bill.” I freaked out. Everything had been going so fast and so well, that here was where the hammer was going to come down. They were going to call me back with an astronomical cost that my t-shirt sales and fundraising events weren’t going to be able to cover.
The pharmacist called back. She said, “We just need a credit card to cover your final balance on your meds. The total is $5.85.”
I asked her to repeat herself. I thought I’d heard $585″.
She laughed and said, “$5.85. Your insurance covered everything except for an antibiotic.” Remember how I was freaking out because my insurance had changed? Turns out, it was for my good.
In 24 hours,…this was in our front hallway:
In 20 minutes, this was in our apartment, along with the giant cooler of follistim cartridges that was also packed in the huge box:
When I talked to my aunt, to fill her in on the meds being PAID FOR and DELIVERED,…she said, and I quote:
“They not playing around. You are.”
She’s right too, you know?
When you get used to being slowed around and pushed back, it can be easy to fall into routine. We have had so many stops and starts. Job changes, insurance changes, new diagnoses, extra issues, dosage changes, and a few mind-calming breaks in between. Every, single, time that I have gotten really excited about this, or even when I put this aside completely, and stepped out on faith for adoption, things have consistently found a way to grind their way down to a standstill.
There have been times where I couldn’t even bear to visit my own site, because it seemed like a glaring reminder of failure and the most excruciatingly slow timeline. People have asked me if I was afraid of getting pregnant, or if I was choosing not to move forward, because they couldn’t comprehend just what was taking so long. Most of these stalls and setbacks were so unbelievable that even explaining them sometimes, made people look at me like,
But as discouraging as it’s been, and as long as it’s taken, and whatever other dramatic culmination I could use right now…
TODAY, is stim day 3.
And we are officially in an IVF cycle.
And regardless of the 1 1/2 inch needle that delivers these meds intramuscularly.
And not getting focused on the money we still have to spend on embryo storage, etc.,
Whatever else happens on this journey, for just getting HERE, to this exact moment of this exact thing,
THANK YOU LORD.
