1st Appointment With Our Doctor..

After waiting out for three months to get an appointment, my husband and I were finally scheduled to see our assigned doctor at LPPKN in February 2009. Our doctor is the head of the clinic and he's a senior specialist in the field of infertility. Let's call him Dr. G. Dr. G is a very warm and friendly doctor but he is also quite frank with facts. I think his characteristics are somewhere between being comforting & nurturing and a no-nonsense-I-will-give-you-the-ugly-truth kind of doctor.

He opened our case file and explained the results of the tests that we did the first time we came to LPPKN. He told me that my hormonal levels were okay but a little bit on the low side. As women age, the level of hormone produced to help in conceiving gets lower and lower. This means that I am currently racing with my body clock. Since I was 31 that year, Dr. G told me that my hormone levels were still considered acceptable. Then he proceeded to explain to us on my dear husband's sperm count and mobility test. He told us that my husband's sperm count and mobility is also a little bit on the low side but still acceptable. Since my hubby has asthma, Dr. G said it is normal for asthmatic people to get such results since some of them have to take medication everyday.

Dr. G then showed us the X-ray film of my HSG scan. He explained about the result in detail relating them with the image. He told me that my tubes are not blocked (thank God!) since the dye flowed through and spilled at both ends, but there seem to be something blocking the dye to spill out entirely all over my uterus. Sort of like when we spill a bucket of water on the floor, if the floor is level, the water should be spreading out and not pool in the middle or any certain spot. Looking at my X-ray film, he told us that it seems that the dye that flowed out of my tubes seem to pool at a spot indicating that something is blocking it to spread and spill all over. But then he told us not to worry so much about it. It might just be my organs or some tissues blocking the dye.

Then he explained about the options of treatment given out by LPPKN which were hormonal treatment for the wife of the husband or both if needed, IUI and IVF. He said that since our hormonal levels and sperm count is acceptable, he would start off our treatment with IUI which has a 5%-20% chances of success in infertility cases. Since we have been married for a long time but wasn't able to conceive all this while, he told us that we would try the IUI procedure a few times, and if those does not succeed, we will then be moving up to IVF. He then prescribed me clomid to stimulate my ovaries and a set of Folliova hormone injectables. I was told to start taking folic acid as well.

The injection set consists of 3 boxes of vials. Each box contains a vial of solution and a vial of powdered Folliova. I was instructed to start the injection the next night, skip a day then another injection, skip a day and the final injection. Every injections must be done at the exact same time. For example, if I injected at 9.00 pm the first night, then the next two injections must be done at 9.00 pm. The doctor told me to see a GP to get my injections since my husband nor I didn't feel that confident yet to do them ourselves. Dr. G then scheduled me to get my first ever ultrasound a week from that appointment day. If everything goes well, I would be scheduled for my Ist IUI two days after that.

After the consultation session ended, we got my medicine and injectables, paid the bill and went home. We followed through the instructions and I got my injections as scheduled at a local clinic and boy, did it burn! Ouch!! With the last pill of clomid and the last injection taken, I was praying and hoping that I would be one of those miracle cases of one-time-IUI-success. Thus, that was the start of the first ever IUI cycle of ours on our journey trying to get a baby.