I needed to meet with the clinics ANP first. You see, the only hope I had of my insurance covering any of this was if a practitioner actually prescribed these treatments as being medically necessary. My personal doctor wouldn’t do that, because she doesn’t really believe in Eastern treatments (I love my doctor and all that she does for me, but she is a Western practitioner and I have to respect that that is where her knowledge base stems from.).
The woman I met with wanted me to have a hormone test before they made any treatment decisions. The problem was that my Lupron obviously alters my hormones, so she wanted me to wait until just before my 3 month booster to pee into a bucket for 24 straight hours. I had just had my first shot, so basically; they gave me the bucket, sent me on my way, and said “see you again in 3 months”.
Needless to say, I was disappointed. First of all, I’ve had a million hormone tests via blood draw. Couldn’t those results point them in the right direction to begin treatment? Was this pee test really going to show them anything different? My hormones are jacked. My estrogen is through the roof and my endo spreads faster than it ever should as a result. We know this. What else is collecting my urine for 24 hours really going to show them? Second of all, how lame was that? I wanted to start right away, not wait 3 months in the “hopes” that they would want to treat me. The pee test alone was going to cost me $225, and I didn’t even have any real reason to know if they would be able to help me after that. What if they look at the results and say “Whelp, you’re pretty much screwed… Good luck with that!” What a waste of time and money would that be?
So, the bucket has been sitting on my bedroom floor for the last 3 months.
I call this my “Medical Corner”, because it’s where I throw my shots and necessities until I need them (and yes, that bag says “Chemotherapy Drug” on it… I have no idea what that's about since it’s my Lupron shot, but that would explain why I couldn’t keep anything down for about a month after the last round!) Yes, I know it is a super classy way to store all my medical needs!
Next weekend would technically be my pee date, and now I can’t even decide if I want to do it. In the end, even if they decide to treat me, that’s just that much more money I’m throwing out into the ether. Even if my insurance decides to cover some of it, I would still probably be looking at an additional $100/month out of pocket. I didn’t even save that much slashing my cable! It’s not like I couldn’t come up with the funds, because I could if it would really help, but… how much good will it even do? I know of a lot of women who have seen great results from acupuncture, but my infertility is now very physically manifested. You can see it. Any doctor who has looked at my recent ultrasounds or surgery pictures can very clearly recognize that I will never get pregnant naturally. So the only real benefit to acupuncture would be the hope that it would possibly make a difference in my IVF being a “sticky” round. It’s not going to help me get pregnant naturally, because that ship has sailed. And if they really thought they could help me, would they have sent me on my way for three months?
I just don’t know what to do. On the one hand I like the idea of covering all of my bases, but on the other: I don’t exactly have money to burn right now. Could the money I would put towards this test and towards treatments be better spent being saved in an IVF account? Or could this be exactly what I need to push me over the line into a successful pregnancy. What would you do?
To Pee, or not pee?
