My RE left the practice and I haven't picked a new one yet. I suppose I should do that soon.
I'm riding in a two-day, 175+ mile bike tour (incidentally, this is the first year I'm planning on doing both days) this weekend to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research. You're welcome to donate to me if you want - just click here to go to my page. Even a donation of $5 would be extremely helpful.
After that, we're going on a family vacation for a week. After that - I will visit the RE to discuss a plan of action. I don't really want to do Clomid anymore - I had to take so much (200mg!!) to even respond, and it was totally uncomfortable. When I triggered? Even worse. I'd like to sort out the cost of Femara with my insurance company and possibly consider that. My husband doesn't want to do an IUI yet, as he still wants to try the "old fashioned way" - at least from his perspective.
For those not in the know, fertility meds are expensive and almost always completely out of pocket. If you have insurance coverage that actually pays for your fertilty medications and treatments, thank your lucky stars because it almost never works out that way. If you're considering fertility treatments, or even fertility testing - get in touch with your insurance company to discuss what is and isn't covered before you have anything done. My HSG would have been $1400 out of pocket had my insurance not covered it.
I have several friends in various stages of trying to get pregnant - one of them is about to start an IVF cycle. One of her medications, Bravelle - was going to cost her $1300. Several friends of ours directed her to Freedom Fertility where she was able to bring the cost down significantly to about $500. It's a great savings and I'm glad it worked out for her, but a comment she made today really sort of rang true with me:
"Damn, I wish I could get pregnant for free."
I know, right? I feel very fortunate that I haven't had to delve into the "big meds" yet, and my greatest cost (medication-wise, anyway) was about $115 - but this, or a very similar thought (with more swear words) enters my mind every single time I think about having to go back to medicated cycles.
I don't enjoy feeling like Violet Beauregard for a week or more - especially when I'm supposed to have sex. At least bitch got some futuristic bubble gum out of the ordeal.
So we'll just have to see what happens. I am guessing 2014 will be our IUI benchmark, if nothing happens before then. There's a huge bike ride next year in July (4 days, 350 or so miles across Ohio) and if I'm not pregnant by the early part of 2014, I'm inclined to take the Spring/Summer off to ride again.
Do not go to Walmart for Femara. The OOP cost is about $70 for 2.5 mg. I learned this the hard way after paying for several hundreds of dollars of it because insurance didn't cover it.
ReplyDeleteTarget pharmacy and Costco have it for less than $10 as part of their free rx programs. Sign up for the program for free and the rx is cheap!! I get mine at target because there is no Costco nearby. I called around first to make sure and target was the closest for me. Good luck.
Once we had been going through IF treatments for a while I would constantly think "i can't believe all most people have to do to get pregnant is just to have sex!" it just seemed like it was too easy!
ReplyDeleteYour Violet comment made me chuckle
I got Femara for around $10 at Giant Eagle if they have any near you. They have a discount drug card for people with no insurance or if insurance doesn't cover a med.
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