I got a phone call from my brother this morning. His wife is pregnant. They just found out last night. They've been trying for over five years. She has PCOS, he has a low count due to a varicocele. He had surgery to correct it a couple of years ago, but the testing afterwards showed that it hadn't made a difference. I think they did about 6 IUIs. They didn't want to risk shelling out a lot of money for IVF and not having it work so they had started the adoption process and were pretty far into it. I don't know where they stand with that now. To say the least I was definitely shocked when he called me. He said he wanted to tell me in person, but he works in baseball and with the season starting and all, his hours are insane.
So I'm going to be an aunt. I'm happy for them, but so so sad for us. I just hope people don't talk about them to us and tell us that we just need to adopt and we'll get pregnant. Because that's the PERFECT reason to adopt.
In other news, we found out how much our meds for IVF will be. $7,456. There is a UK pharmacy where we could get the same exact drugs for $3,381. I called them and they are the same exact drug, same manufacturer. Only one company makes gon.al.f. They're so much cheaper in the UK because of price caps set by their government. We would be able to get the meds within three days. We discussed this last time with our doc and they were very hesitant to do this. They said that they had no way of knowing if the drugs were FDA approved. But - if it's the same exact drug, I don't see what the big deal is. The UK is not a third world country! I might even argue that they have better healthcare than us in many instances. But the US docs are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies.
We're still waiting to see if we qualify for the program where we get a free round of gon.al.f from Serono. If that doesn't work, the other option is to see if our clinic has any meds to donate. Right now they say they don't, but I think they're holding out on us until they see if we can get free meds from the manufacturer. If that doesn't work, we'll be going with the UK pharmacy and not telling them. We just can't afford it otherwise.
Thoughts?
8 comments:
i don't know if this helps or not...but I have meds you can have. It wouldn't be everything you need....but it would DEFINITELY help.
email me: kara061179@yahoo.com
I would totally go with the UK company. After all, they were the first country in the world to do a successful IVF!
There are some fertility clinics who work with grants to help make the meds more affordable - one clinic in Seattle I looked into did that...Seattle Reprodutive Medicine I think.
I'm sorry that its hard to hear happy news - such a weird place to be. I'm with you though.
Congrats to your sister in law. I wonder how that will shape their adoption journey. I would be nervous about ordering drugs from another company even though they said that they were exactly the same. Is there some sort of documentation they could provide?
I'd go for the UK drugs.
If it's Gonal-F then it's Gonal-F otherwise it'd have to have another name. Half the price is fantastic. And yeah, it's not like they're coming from Nigeria.
Good luck!
In the throes of TTC, it's still bittersweet when a fellow infertile couple has success. I am very happy for your SIL and brother, but I am also understanding of your sadness. And SCREW anyone who tries to tell you that adoption will cure your infertility. Only uninformed, rude people would even think that was a viable path to solving a medical problem.
And I would go with the UK drugs. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't. Drugs are drugs are drugs, especially with a company like Serono who distributes their drugs worldwide. And please let me know if you need either lu.pron or progesterone gel-- I'm looking for a home for these drugs that are left over from the cycle this fall, and would love to pass them off to someone who could use them. I know those aren't the expensive ones, but I suppose every little bit helps.
That must be hard but it is great news for them! Happy for you that you got the green light for IVF#2! Good luck!!
((HUGS)) Regardless of how long another couple has been trying, it stings when they are pregnant and you aren't.
Regarding the drugs, I would definitely go with the UK meds. My first IVF cycle was in Belarus when we lived there. All of the meds were ordered from the UK, and worked just fine.
Good luck!!!
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