The Cost of Infertility

Sometimes, I wonder if pharmaceutical companies are in cahoots.

Actually, I assume they totally are.

After talking to my RE about next steps, I was prescribed Follistim in a low dose as well as Ovidrel. I remember the first time I paid for Ovidrel and it wasn't covered by our insurance. It was about $175 cash price. 

I thought that was expensive.

Then I was introduced to Follistim.

I received a phone call from the specialty cash pharmacy on my way to my doctor's appointment. I asked about my options and when I would need to ship the meds by. Well, since I would need the medication on Monday, and I was talking to them on Friday, they would have to ship on Friday for Saturday delivery since you have to keep the stuff refrigerated.

Then I asked the amount. 

I kindly asked if I could call them back after I had been to my doctor's appointment.

After going to the doctor, they instructed me to also give my insurance provider's pharmacy a call. For us, it's Caremark/CVS. Now, I must say that they are great and also not so great. They are great if the medication is something generic and general. 

I'm thrilled to say that the Metformin 90-day supply (that I take for PCOS) is $0.36! Yeah, ridiculously cheap. Even the Letrozole, because it's an off-label use is just $0.22. Like, I felt bad swiping a card to pay that little amount. 

Now fertility meds on the other hand, not so great. Like flipping expensive...like I imagine how depressing it would be to be going through infertility and then have the barrier of how expensive it is keep you from moving forward. And through Caremark, with some unknown amount of coverage was still more than twice the cost from the cash pharmacy!

I ended up ordering Ovidrel from our insurance pharmacy (since cost was the same as the cash pharmacy) and Follistim through the cash pharmacy.

Out of curiosity, I checked another online pharmacy that carries Follistim...that was another $100 more than Caremark!

My heart goes out to all the people who are going through infertility and doing IVF and have a PLETHORA more medications compared to what I had to order. I can't even imagine paying for all of that out of pocket.

It's pretty ridiculous. Why is it SO expensive to get help to have a baby? And yet it's so simple to terminate a pregnancy? I don't want to get into a political debate about it all, but it just feels like women who need assistance conceiving are penalized over something they can't control. And that premium? 

Cahoots. 

Tired of Failing

My cycle started last Wednesday.

And I took it harder than I expected.

My RE's office told me that I could take an HPT on Monday 2/8, but me, being ever the pragmatist, waited. I knew I should wait a few extra days, instead of "wasting" an HPT on a negative result. I think I need to get some of those cheap tests off Amazon.

According to my period tracking app, Glow, it said that my period was due on Wednesday 2/10. That morning, I had no signs of it starting. I don't generally experience very many PMS symptoms (I know, I'm lucky), and there were no physical signs. Throughout the day, there was some light spotting, and of course I tried to tell myself that it was implantation spotting...anything but my period starting.

By that evening, it started. And I was mad. I was sad. I was disappointed. I was frustrated.

I keep going back to thinking about how pregnancy is totally not an accident...it truly is a miracle. I know there are women out who blink and get pregnant, but for the rest of us, we pray, we plead, we beg...

So instead of calling my RE's office to report a positive HPT on Thursday, I got to call them to report a new cycle. We talked about getting a little more aggressive in treatment since I had just completed two cycles of Letrozole. One without a trigger shot and one with. They brought me in for a baseline ultrasound that next day and taught me how to inject myself with Follistim.

My doctor prescribed two days of Follistim alongside of taking Letrozole. I go in for a follow up sonogram on Wednesday to see if we can trigger and do an IUI.

I think the hardest part of this journey is that every month you feel like you're putting all your eggs in one basket (no pun with "eggs" intended) and hold on to hope that this will be it.

One the one hand, you don't want to lose hope. On the other, it's exhausting and frustrating and disappointing when you don't get your desired result. I know that I have to remain confident in the path that we are taking and to NOT compare my journey with anyone else. I will just get upset if I think about all the "OOPS" babies that have been conceived and may be terminated. Knowing what a freakin' miracle conception is, I don't take it for granted for one second.