Update on my Friend, Ultrasound Results

Today was a rough day. Bad news first. In the morning, we found out that my friend's brain tumor is a grade four, basically the worst possible news. I'm glad we were able to leave in the late morning to go to our appointment, because it was pretty difficult being at work with so many sad people. And I'm a sympathetic crier, so I spent a bit of time hiding so I could keep it together. The prognosis isn't good, but she's young and strong and is going to give it a good fight; and she's super positive about it all so I'm resolved to be that way too.

At about lunchtime, Cory and I headed up to Portland. We parked and walked a block to Little Big Burger and had some comfort food, and then headed up to the appointment. We didn't have to do the mock transfer or the doppler because they'd gotten all the info they needed last time, so all we were doing now was making sure everything looked good.

And it did! Everything is healed nicely, and the walls of the uterine cavity are nice and smooth. For a second I saw a little white dot in the cavity and said "oh no, is that another polyp?!" but the doctor said "nope, that's the tip of the catheter" and wiggled it for me. Phew.

With that done, we spoke to the nurse for 30 seconds (she was pregnant; I wonder if it's hard to be pregnant while working at a fertility clinic), had no real questions about the protocol, and then we were off to the pharmacy.

Strohecker's Pharmacy is contracted by ORM, and is apparently "the Northwest's #1 Fertility Pharmacy." So I was expecting a super nice, big cushy pharmacy - but it was in a grocery store! That was a bit of a surprise. They had me wait for fifteen minutes while they got it together, and then we paid our $660 and were on our way.

Side note: for anyone who is planning on using Springstone to finance their treatments, know that though the interest is lower, they will only pay for the direct services that your clinic provides. For us, it's covering the blood draws, the exams, and anything that we do at ORM's office. But the hysteroscopy and the medications, because they aren't ORM, were not covered. There is another company that ORM recommends as well (I can't remember the name and I have no experience with them so I won't mention them) that has a higher interest rate but they basically give you the money and then you can pay whoever you need. I think that might be a better option for a lot of people, especially if they contract out for their prescriptions. (ORM could have done my hysteroscopy, but I opted to do it with an in-network doctor so that insurance could cover it. And while it was still a hit to the wallet, it could have been worse - and part of my insurance package reimburses 3/4 of my $1000 deductible so that definitely helps.)

So it was a day of a lot of ups and downs, and I'm happy it's over. And on Monday I begin the next step in the protocol - we're finally moving!