There are 2 parts to Infertility - Male factor & female factor.
Well Female factor being ruled out we now have male factor to consider..
We need to test just for 2 things: Sperm count & sperm motility.
we are back in India and it is Jan 2008, we search on the internet and around for a new doctor.. ask family friends an everybody..we cannot find an RE and settle with a gynae with diploma in Infertility and working at a leading hospital ..our Doc 4...
She is quite frigid and does not talk much.. she asks to start with IUI right away.. we are excited at her prompt approach..
Since I had already burned my fingers I decide to be well informed about everything being done on me by any doc...
i read read and read... get informed about everything be it.. IUI, IVF, GIFT, ICSI, PGD.. and all the processes required for the same..
Now Doc 4 is convinced I had enough of clomid she prescribes some injections...slowly we will get to discover the commercial aspects of Infertility business...
Doc-4 keeps me on FSH injections and HCG for ovulation.... i am escastic... and feel confident that this is it..but i should have known better..
Now this cycle has a lot to it.. Doc 4 ...asks me to visit her and get folicle ultrasound done every morning and evening.. The complexity is she asks me to visits once at the BIG hospital she works at and then later to her personal clinic.. both visits are being charged 500/- and 300/- respectively Every single f** time... i feel like an ATM..
To top it she does not ..DOES NOT own a U/S machine and asks me to visit a radiologist in another part of the city ..quite far from her clinic and really far from my house.and show her the reports every single time...
So every morning i go to the ultrasound doc and then DOC-4 then office.. work my ass of to earn ...so that i can pay them... then in the evening again to the U/S doc and again to the DOC-4 and finally home at night...I endured this from day 2 of my cycle to day 13 of my cycle every single day....not to say waiting in the endless queues...
The cherry on this exotic sundae is ...once she asks me at her evening visit which was about at 9.00 pm in the night to get an injection which i could not find anywhere in the city....and tells me it is VERY IMPORTANT...
I am working woman and I can drive... but seriously how much is too much?? anyways i find...its later that i discover...that injection was just to rip of another 2500/- bucks from me..
Day of the IUI, hubby gives sperm samples and the results are not shown to me.. the transfer is done.. I lie down for 30 minutes.
I feel that this is where everything ends and i will not have to endure this again...but again I am wrong...
14 days go by another BFN...i cry ..i blame everyone and I am totally tired...i decide to take a break and convey it to the doc..
Another month passes...DH and I deliberate to continue from the doc or not...we look at the sperm count reports from this cycle and find..that the sperm motility is quite less..we do our own research.... we are not happy...but we decide to stick to Doc-4 and give it another try...
Cycle 2 starts.. and we gear ourselves to do things right..even if the doctor doesnt.. i also tell the doctor i cannot visit her morning evening ..as it becomes very stressful..and stress induces infertility... she is now aware that i am not letting her milk me unfairly now..she agrees for consultation over phone....cycle 2 continues..On the day of IUI ...i look for counts which are waaaay low..than the last one..stil i decide to go ahead with it..
period should have been on day 28-30 ...i wait some more..on day 34 i check on HPT...BFP...at HPT...
i am really escastic...hubby is on the plane to USA when i discover this.. I wait for him to call me once he lands...and the nightmare returns...next day before i can visit the doc ...i start bleeding...I am alone ..shattered ...and miserable... i cry out for few days...decide to wait untill the hubby returns..and visit the doctor...
the doctor is unperturbed neither consoles me nor offers any explanation on counts..when i ask..she merely says yes the count is low....but nothing can be done...
this is where i start reading for all aspects of male factor infertility...and i decide to leave doc-4 for good..Just for the cost factor each cycle costed me around INR 25000-30000 + immense stresss...
Cut to Doc-5--- my loving RE...
I finally find an RE quite near to my workplace.....through internet and decide to go to her...since all the earlier docs had been recommended by someone...for this one i decide on my own...and later i realize that Indians are totally ignorant about infertility specialists...
She understands my plight and we go through 2 more IUI cycles.. each costing about INR 5000-7000/- including everything...
she has her own radiologist , administers all her shots.. and has a lot of supporting staff... i am floating in bliss...relatively offcourse...
She orders thyroid checks and another hysteroscopy just to be sure..
both cycles fail and she decides that indeed male factor infertility and Thickness of my Endometrium are the culprits..quite honestly...she advices IVF is the way to go...but i can wait if i want to as age is on my side..
In all another 1.5 year has passed we are still in limbo...
Personally i am not ready to admit this..hubby is devastated and we just dont want to accept it... we go into denial for next 6 months. We are not happy with each other with the way our lives are shaping up...and our plans going awry...hubby is already past 34 and I am 29 now..
I decide to wait.... and then ...
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