Yesterday I wrote an exceptionally whiny post. I took it down after a few hours. I apologize if you read it’s ranty boringness. In case you missed it (I sincerely hope you did) the jist of it was pretty much that
1). I want to do IVF again (barring any incredible natural conception) at some point either at the end of this year or beginning of next.
2). My IVF meds from last cycle used so much of my insurance benefit (if I had realized they were using so much of it, I wouldn’t have bought them through my insurance) that I have very little left. Not enough for another IVF including meds. Possibly (but we don’t know for sure because there is a discrepancy in the insurance system) enough for 1 cycle (egg retrieval) or close to 1 cycle which I do realize is far and away more than many of you have covered. And to be clear, I am very thankful for any amount that is covered! Even though it’s still pricey with insurance, (they have jacked the co-pay now from what I gathered but I could be wrong – I hope I’m wrong) it’s still a few thousand cheaper than being self pay. But my meds will absolutely definitely not be covered by my insurance. And they are QUITE expensive.
3). I don’t know if DH will still be at his current job by the time we are ready to try again anyway so all this might be neither here nor there anyway.
After a few calls, this is my tentative, extremely subjective plan….
1). Get my insurance to figure out who is right about the amount of benefit I have left. If it’s seriously enough for only 1 Gonal-f pen and half an Ovidrel like one person told me, then I guess we will be back to square one. If it is actually enough for close to one cycle (and by cycle, I mean egg retrieval) then I will try my best to save up over the next 7 months for the rest of the money that I would need.
2). I filled out paper work for Compassionate Care and First Steps. My clinic told me that they recommend doing this if meds are not covered as the Compassionate Care and First Steps programs offer some kind of benefit towards meds. The financial counsellor e-mailed me the forms today and I filled them out. The CCP is good for a year after applying so we have plenty of time.
3). I realize that I probably sound greedy and selfish wanting to try for another baby fairly soon, but I always wanted my children to be close together. Most importantly I feel like if we actually do have a chance to do IVF again and have it be covered or almost covered (saving us quite a bit of money!) then we might as well take it versus just not trying ever again. I know that I want more children. However, I have made up my mind to be happy with just Tru because I do realize that my fertility is not good and that I am extremely blessed to even have my one precious little miracle!!! But I really never intended for my family to stop growing here. At least if I try again and it doesn’t work, I will know that I didn’t just throw away a potential chance to give Truett a sibling. I feel like I need to try.
4). Above everything else, I know that God will work it out if it is His will for us to have another baby. I realize that by trying again we are not guaranteed another pregnancy or another healthy take home baby. But I do know that God will work it all out according to His will and that if He wants us to try again in another 8 months or so, He will make a way for us to try. Even if by trying I still don’t get pregnant again. Although I really hope I do.
So that is that. That is where I am at with the whole thing. Waiting to hear back about how much my meds would cost, how much benefit I have remaining and waiting to see if DH will still be at his current job (with the insurance) by the time we want to try again. In the meantime, I am going to stop thinking about it – or try to stop anyway – and just enjoy the summer and Truett. 🙂
Praying this scripture over you girlie…”The fruit of your womb will be blessed…” Deuteronomy 28:4
waitingforbabybird.com
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Thank you. That is so sweet of you. 🙂
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Ah, the days of insurance questions. I was lucky to have a lot of my procedures covered but we too spent almost every penny of our infertility coverage. I have two boxes of lovenox shots that are good until June 2015 if that helps any. I don’t have any friends locally who need them but I’ll ship them to you.
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That’s so sweet of you to offer! I will keep you in mind if we do get to go through another IVF. Thankfully my insurance covered my lovenox for my entire pregnancy and they say that it wasn’t using my infertility benefit – at least they don’t think so. But I wonder now. I used almost $4,000 of my $10,000 lifetime benefit in meds alone. 😦 But it was worth it! No question about that!!
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Hope you get a peace and wisdom about next steps, etc! Enjoy your summer girl!
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Thank you. I have been praying for peace about what to do and peace in the meantime. I always pray that I will know right and do right. I hope that we will know the right thing to do when the time comes – if the time comes – and that we will do whatever God’s will is.
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I cannot lie, I was so envious reading your post. In our state insurance pays for NOTHING. No IVF, no meds, nothing in any cycle. We are preparing our plan trying to figure out how we can survive taking out a 21K loan just to try IVF. That’s our only hope now but I don’t know if we will end up childless because we don’t have the finances to proceed with treatment. I am so upset about this ridiculous insurance gap. I hope you get qualified for the programs. I tried first steps and they denied us. I did end up trying an IUI this month and the trigger shot alone was $142. So if you find good resources especially for the injectables, please pass them along. I am praying that it all works out for you, hang in there. The costs make this journey even worse for all of us.
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I understand about the lack of insurance. Our state doesn’t have coverage for IVF or meds either but my husband’s job buys their insurance from Illinois which does have insurance coverage for infertility. ($10,000 maximum lifetime benefit for meds and IVF/IUI). Ironically, we used to live in Illinois but didn’t have insurance at the time.
We did 2 IUIs a few years ago and didn’t have insurance coverage for any of it. The meds are outrageous but especially the trigger shot! I will definitely let you know if I find any resources for getting the meds cheaper. You might try googling grants for IUI or IVF meds. I know there are a few but most won’t accept you if you have a child or have had failed IVF cycles. I have done both so I can’t get any grants.
Also, some clinics have meds that people have donated. You might ask them about it. A lot of the clinics won’t offer unless you ask. I donated a bunch of meds to my clinic that a previous RE ordered and my new RE didn’t want me to use them.
One more thing… I have seen some women on these blogs getting their IVF meds shipped from overseas because it is cheaper. I think the site they use is ivfmedsdotcom. You might look into that. I am planning to ask my RE about that as well and see if we can order them that way.
The lack of coverage for this disease is horrible. I wish it was legal to buy insurance across state lines. Problem solved if we could do that! I will never be able to get IF coverage from Illinois again though because no matter what company I could buy from, once that $10,000 lifetime benefit is maxed out, that’s it forever. 😦
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Wow, thanks for all the good tips for meds and grants. It’s so hard trying to deal with infertility and the financial burden is just the cherry on top. I wish you all the baby dust in the world and hope things go well. I hope we can both find a way piecing it together from all these resources.
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Thank you. I wish well also!!
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