I was finally able to discuss our Immune testing results with the famous or infamous (depending on who you ask) Dr. Braverman out of New York. I found him to be very confident (read arrogant) but in a reassuring and almost charming way. My husband and I both agree that he is either a total genius and on the front end of revolutionary infertility/RPL treatment or he is a total quack. I tend to think he is a genius.

Bottom line is he is 90 percent sure I have endometriosis which is severely affecting my egg quality and uterine environment and recommends surgery right away. We told him about our genetically normal embryos and he thinks they probably have a mitochondrial problem and won’t implant but we might as well try them since we worked so hard to get them. (this was the only part that kind of bummed me out).

If you are so medically inclined or curious or want some boring reading to get you sleepy and ready for bed- here is a bit more detail:

I have a pre cursor for Celiac disease (common in endometriosis) the sonogram showed poor blood flow to my uterus ( once again common in endometriosis) and I tested positive for a marker that 90 percent of endometriosis patients test positive for. That, coupled with my poor egg quality and repeat IVF failures, makes him pretty sure that endometriosis is the cause. I also have a few slightly high ( although in the normal range) numbers for various mild immune issues so he recommends prednisone, lovenox and intrallipids because in his words ‘ it can’t hurt’.

So where do we go from here? I think we have landed on transferring these two embryos in the off chance it will work. Assuming it doesn’t we will do the surgery then do the remaining rounds of egg banking after the surgery and the mandatory six week recovery following it. So…. a potentially long road ahead of us but perhaps one that is a bit more hopeful.

How do I feel? Honestly I feel like I just went to a dentist to get a filling. Meaning- I have very little emotion. At this point I am pretty immune (no pun intended) to any setbacks or diagnosis. I am also trained to not get my hopes up nor get discouraged. I feel like this is just another step, just another path, just some more information on our road to baby. I have tried to let go of timelines so don’t feel particularly discouraged that quite a bit of time had been added to our plan. I feel relieved that there may be a kind of fixable problem but guarded that it is a true solution. I started this journey with the deep seeded belief we will complete our family and open to the ultimate method. That has never changed and has not after this appointment.

On a side note, it looks like I will be having my surgery done via Robotic Surgery ( da Vinci surgery) and that is the company where I was a Sales Executive in my past life and have total faith in the product and kind of feel excitement and pride that I will be on the patient side for once.

So there we have it. I am grateful for my beautiful blogger friend who sent me to Braverman and for all of you who have given me tremendous support and encouragement. And finally for the fact that I have my son and am extraordinarily lucky to be called a Mom. A gift I never ever take lightly.

Xoxo

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