Quick Facts
Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after 12 months of trying. Infertility affects 1 in 8 couples and in 30% of those infertile couples there is a male factor issue (our case). In those 30% that are affect with male factor only 5% are affected with Azoospermia (our case again). Azoospermia is defined as the complete absence of sperm in the ejaculate. The cause can either be obstructive or non-obstructive. Our case seems to be Non-Obstructive which affects only 1% of the male population.
Our Appointments and Findings
We began Our Journey in October 2010, we were married, we did everything the way you're supposed to right? Got married and threw out the birth control pills. Getting pregnant is easy or so we thought. I mean I see it every day at work. Little did I know I would find out ALOT about my own body and later on about the male reproductive system. If most people knew how hard it is to actually get pregnant it makes us wonder how there are so many pregnancies out there!!! After months of frustration and tears and whys I went for a Laproscopy August 24th to search for Endometrosis and possible cause of cramps, infrequent bleeding and maybe infertility? My OBGYN decided to do a Tubal Perfusion Study to make sure my Fallopian Tubes were open and accepting of sperm and allowing my eggs to make their journey. Overall everything looked great. I have some mild Endometrosis on my bladder and the front of my uterus but nothing that would cause infertility. So the OBGYN suggested we send Jason for a Sperm Analysis just to make sure everything was good with him.
Onto September 12th after much convincing and pushing Jason drops off his sample to the office at IVF of Michigan at Hurley. On September 16th (I'll never forget that moment) I got the call from my OBGYN's office that Jason's sample contained no sperm at all and that he would need to follow up with his Primary doctor for further evaluation. On September 20th Jason's Primary decided he needed blood work to check his hormones and everything else under the sun and an ultrasound(which the ultrasound was done on Sep. 27)On October 4th Jason had his follow up appointment to discuss the results. His ultrasound was normal, everything structurally was fine and there were no varocieles or blood vessels affecting things. 95% of his blood work was normal but his LSH (a hormone responsible for sperm production) was normal high, his LH (another sperm production hormone) was normal high and his Testosterone was normal low. His Primary was going to talk with specialists and decide who Jason needed to be seen by, but in the mean time he had Jason get a Chromosome study done (more blood work).
Jason's primary decided we needed to see a Fertility Specialist (Reproductive Endocrinologist) and sent us to Michigan IVF. Here we are in November and on the 9th we had our consult appt at Michigan IVF. The Dr said he didn't believe any of Jason's hormones were too much of an issue and just went over all of our reproductive history and bloodwork, also finding out that Jason's Chromosomes were normal! :) We decided to have myself go for bloodwork and ultrasounds to get those out of the way ( you need to have them done in order to have any type of reproductive assistance [see it as them covering ALL bases]). He suggested Jason go to a Urologist to see what his opinion is and then we would all meet back up in January to discuss our results and options.
Jason was able to get into a Urologist(who's website claims he specializes in Male Infertility, which I now know is false). On November 17th the Urologist pretty much said the same thing as the Fertility specialist and said he would do another type of ultrasound and if that was fine that he couldn't help Jason any further. How ironic while at Jason's appt I start my period, which I was waiting for so I could get my bloodwork done and schedule my ultrasounds. If there is one thing about assistance with reproduction it's that cycle days and times are VERY IMPORTANT . November 18th I go and get LITERALLY 8 vials of blood work done. Then that next day I start birth control pills to keep my insides "quiet" for the upcoming ultrasound. Whoever thought I'd need to be on birth control to try and have a baby!
Here comes December and on the 6th Jason goes for his very intrusive (I'm sure you get the idea ) ultrasound at the Urologists and I go later that day for my intrusive ultrasounds at the Fertility Clinic (get the idea again?) I could have kicked myself in the ass because Jason wanted me to go with him for the ultrasound but I thought he would be too uncomfortable with that and that a tech would be the one doing it. Well NO of course not, it was the Uro himself. Jason came out saying he didn't understand anything he said (gggrrrrrrr!) but the Dr did talk in all Medical Terms so it was understandable he didn't know. He pretty much did say that structurally everything was OK (we were hoping for a blockage or missing tube [sounds funny right, that we were hoping for something wrong like that hahaha!] ) so since everything was OK, the Uro couldn't help us any more and says that Jason's problem is production rather than delivery.
During my ultrasound the nurse finds a possible fibroid or polyp in or on my uterus. GRRRappt in January. But either way it will have to come out before any type of procedure is done.
Now we find ourselves waiting AGAIN until our appt on January 3. Waiting seems to be a common thing with infertility. I am waiting impatiently, no surprsie.
Since this was alot to read I'm going to break up the posts and do the next one as all our feelings, thoughts and concerns. Thanks for sticking around :)
*It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. -Aristotle Onassis*
No comments:
Post a Comment