CCRM Day 2

Most CCRM patients have a 1 day workup where they get all of the diagnostic testing and consults within 8 hours (or less!) Because I wanted to get all of my initial testing completed and out of the way in one month (rather than 2 or 3) my 1 day workup turned in to a 2 day workup.

So my last post discussed the results from Friday's ultrasound, CD3 bloodwork, and the hysteroscopy ... on Monday we finished the rest of our appointments.

Financial Consultation: Ouch-ma, we just purchased a new Subaru Forester that was cheaper than a single cycle at CCRM.

Semen Analysis: CCRM wanted to make sure Berilac's soldiers are still marching straight, we'll get the results later, but I'm sure they are (ironically) of sperm donor quality! (For all of our friends out there ... does it make you feel uncomfortable to know about Berilac's SPERM??!? ... just thought I'd ask ;-)

Bloodwork: Communicable diseases, nothing to note here ... I'm sure Dr. House would be very interested, but I've cleared these before.

Genetic Counselor: Since we are interested in doing CGH testing on eggs, we are required to meet with a genetic counselor so that they can explain the ramifications of chromosomal testing. We are the first (of about 20,00 or so) patient to EVER ask them to test the eggs and not the embryos ... odd, don't you think? Also, they had us go through an exercise were we had to build this nifty little disease/illness family tree looking thing ... where we listed problems with siblings, cousins, aunts/uncles, parents, grandparents, etc. They were looking for genetic diseases and mental illness. It was hilarious to compare my side of the tree with Berilac's ... the Depression and Bi-Polar Disorder were RAMPANT on mine and his was so ... well, boring! (made us think that a visit to the donor egg nurse might not be too inappropriate - regardless of if we could get this puppy off the ground with our own eggs!! HA! ... if we do egg donor, we won't be passing on these genes ... ok, but only Berilac and I can laugh at this joke. It's too painful coming from one of you. :-P)

Donor Egg Consult: The Donor nurse told us we have an 85% chance at live birth if we do the donor egg program at CCRM. The cost is pretty big. We could do known, agency, or anonymous donorship. It all sounds very interesting and they are definitely a capable party if we have to go that route!

Donor Egg Psych Evaluation: I love an opportunity to be real and transparent ... therapy is my cup of tea. Remember when I was just talking about my family tree? and the sicknesses there? The counselor asked me to describe my family and the first thing that came out of my mouth was "crazy" ... (love you mom! love you dad! tee hee ...) and then I remembered that this was an evaluation to see if we qualified for being recipients ... whoopsy-daisy! (as Tommy Boy would say!) At the end she asked us to contact her when we get closer to identifying donors (if we even have to go that route, she emphasized) so I think we passed her criteria. I was layin' on the charm pretty thick - so we're good.

Needless to say, the appointments went great and we fly home that night. Then, the next day, I had an appointment with an OB/GYN that uses the Creighton Method for treating infertility patients ... I'll tell you about that soon, and about our egg results from our August cycle - got those on Tuesday. And in about 15 minutes I have a consult with my current doc ... so we'll see how that goes.

Sorry for the delay in posting ... missing 4 days of work and home life requires a lot of catching up!!