Need Advice (everything mentioned) XPosted from FET

[BC-tammylj]

I have scar tissue around my tubes and ovaries causing the ovaries to adhere to the pelvic wall, so even though I ovulate and all that good stuff, the eggs just get released into lala land. I found this out in 1999.

It was 11 years later before I would be able to afford IVF at age 37. By then I had high FSH and low AMH and therefore DOR. I responded poorly and at one point they asked if I wanted to cancel because they thought I would only get 2 eggs... 4 if I were really lucky.

I defied the odds. They retrieved 5, 4 were mature and all 4 fertilized with ICSI. All 4 survived for a 3 day transfer and they transferred 3. The 4th made it to freeze. And I got pregnant with a singleton.

So now my DS is 16 months and we want to give that last remaining frostie a chance and we also really want a sibling for DS. So I started a cycle back in Jan for a Feb transfer.

Then the clinic calls (after 8 days on Lupron and the day before my baseline) and says my insurance won't pay for an FET, just IVF, and we were not prepared to pay out of pocket at that time. The out of pocket for an IVF with insurance is the same cost as a 100% out of pocket FET, so we had to cancel and couldn't do an IVF cycle either.

We saved and now I'm on BCPs and scheduled for a transfer on Aug 1. But the clinic checked my insurance again and found out that an FET is covered! The only problem is that they insurance requires a 3 day FSH before they will approve. They will cover 80%. If I wait to give them a 3 day FSH, that will be sometime around July 17th or so. And by the time we got the FET medicated cycle started, then the transfer would fall in the beginning of a 2 week trip I have to take for my son, and if I waited until the Aug cycle, it would still interfere because of monitoring. So I would most likely have to wait until Sept cycle to do a medicated FET, which would mean transfer in Oct. I feel like we are running out of time. I am not getting any younger and if this FET doesn't work, I would like to do one last IVF.

However, I could do a natural FET, get the 3 day FSH, and my transfer would only be a few days after it is scheduled now. Probably around Aug 4-7 or so.

So here are my options:

1. Go ahead with current FET calendar and pay out of pocket. If it doesn't work, use my insurance to pay for one last IVF cycle. If it does work, than it's worth the $3600 to me because will not be doing any more cycles.
2. Cancel current FET, wait for July AF, have a day 3 FSH and then wait until Sept to start another medicated cycle and have insurance pay.
3. Cancel current FET, wait for July AF, have a day 3 FSH and then start a natural cycle FET with that current cycle and have insurance pay.
4. And I don't even know if this is an option at all, but wait for AF, have a day 3 FSH, and do an IVF & FET concurrently (can they do that?). IVF cycle would mean about 14 days stims. I did antagonist, so it is a short cycle. No need to suppress, so it shouldn't interfere with my trip at the end of Aug.

I just don't know what to do. I think a natural and medicated FET have the same success rates, but a natural is more likely to be cancelled. And I just don't want to wait until Sept or Oct. And the other issue is that I just feel like I have to give my one remaining frostie a chance, so I just feel like I can't leave it and do an IVF cycle.

Hope this all makes sense. What would you do?

[BC-tammylj]

Just want to add that there is no guarantee that even if I do jump through hoops for the insurance that they will cover anything. I'm kind of leaning towards option 1 or 3.

[BC-Faith32]

Tammylj-- I was trying to put myself in your shoes, which I have been close to your situation before, and I have to say I would probably go with Option 1. If you already saved up for it and it was not going to put you in a financial bind, then it is definitely the least stressful situation and ultimately, that is what is MOST important. If by some chance you had to do another fresh IVF, then the insurance is more valuable then anyway.

Just IMO..

[BC-tammylj]

Thank you Faith. I'm really leaning towards option 1 for that reason. Other reasons are that insurance has $10,000 max, so 1 IVF at 80% or 1 FET at 80% and 1 FET at who knows, but less than 80% since the FET would take some out of that max. I am also not even sure we'll do another IVF. I never realized I'd have such a hard time with the issue of having frosties. I cannot imagine giving up my frostie, adoption, research or discarding, so another IVF could mean more frosties even though that is highly unlikely. This frostie really defied the odds. 100% fertilization and 1 that made it to freeze? Like that happens very often!

[SC-Stargazerlily]

I agree with Faith. I'd just go forward. Sorry you are having to stress about it. I hope your cycle is a great success.

[BC-tammylj]

Thank you both. I think I'll go with option 1 and just pray it works. Either way is a gamble really. I'm not saying paying out of pocket won't put some strain on us, but to not have to worry and be able to move forward instead of cancelling yet again is worth it to me. If it doesn't work, we may have to wait until next year if we do decide to do one last fresh cycle.