So I thought I’d share mine! Hang in, it’s going to be a long one.

So if you all remember I had a large panel of bloodwork done in earlier in December. Auto-immune screen, APS (antiphospholipid) and thrombophilia screenning. Mid-December only my prolactin results came back which were very elevated so my FET #3 got put on hold. I had a repeat of my prolactin last week and it’s still really elevated. I’m having to see an endocrinologist later this month and having my MRI tomorrow (Sunday) to confirm if there’s an adenoma on my pituitary gland. Hopefully it’s just treatable with just medication.

I had a call yesterday at 2:30 pm with my Dr to talk about the remaining bloodwork results. She called me at 2:00 pm asking if I could hop on Zoom now. Hallelujah for working from home and flexibility lol. She said everything genetic came back normal - thank goodness! BUT I had a positive for the APS. It’s something called lupus anticoagulant syndrome. It occurs when your immune system mistakenly creates antibodies that make your blood much more likely to clot. It’s a protein autoimmune condition. She’s quite concerned about it. It leads to a higher later trimester miscarriages and stillbirth rates, clotting, early delivery dates with smaller babies and NICU stays. She’s referring me to a hematologist- another appointment 😂. What will most likely happen is when/if I’m pregnant I’ll need to be monitored closely more often as I’ll be considered higher risk. Be on Femarin (blood thinner injections daily) and Aspirin through the whole pregnancy. My Dr really thinks this could be the culprit behind the miscarriages.

Then just before we ended the call she said I wanted to bump up the call earlier to insure there was enough time to speak to you about length what wanted to share with you. She went on to say that because I’ve had so many communication issues and hiccups with the clinic (like more than a normal amount) that they want to gift us a funded cycle!!!! I kept saying you’re joking?! In Ontario, Canada, the government pays for 1 funded cycle (retrieval $14,500 and all transfers $3,350 each). It doesn’t include medications which can be anywhere from $3000-7000 for retrieval’s and $400-700 for transfers. Genetic testing is $2000. The catch is the waitlist is almost 2-3+ years. At my clinic for the 2020 funded year, about 80% of the cycles went to women with or who had cancer, 15% to those on a waitlist for 3+ years and then the rest to whomever. She went on to say that instead of taking this funding and putting it towards someone else, she wanted us to have it. I started to cry and she teared up too. Literally $25,000+ is covered! We only have 1 embryo left, and financially there’s no way we could’ve done another cycle. It’s our saving grace. We actually can’t believe it!!! I

So hopefully when my period comes next week I’ll be able to call in my Day 1 and start STIMS again. It won’t have any impact on the testing I’ve done or appointments I’m waiting for.

2021 is definitely off to a way better start than 2020!