The first visit to Dr B

In early September we had our first appointment with our fertility specialist, Dr B. We both quite liked him and felt pretty comfortable right away. After looking at the test results from our GP he told J that his SA looked OK and that the focus needed to be on me. So he ordered more bloods for both of us, along with an ultrasound and a Hysterosalpingo contrast sonography (HyCoSy) for me. And so the sub-fertility investigations began...along with the constant outlay of money for various procedures.


J's test indicated that he has around 80% anti sperm antibodies (ASA). Neither of us were entirely sure what this meant, but Dr B said you can get pregnant with 99% ASA and that it was not cause for concern at this time.


My HyCoSy was not pleasant. Quite uncomfortable, but not painful. Had some cramping following, but the news that my fallopian tubes were 100% clear and open made me feel a lot better! The ultrasound showed a small cyst on one ovary. This led to a preliminary diagnosis of Polycystic ovaries, but not PCOS. They also saw some signs of endometriosis. Dr B suggested a laparoscopy to investigate further. Of course, he only operates in private hospitals and my private health insurance will not cover it as it's deemed to be a pre-existing condition. This means that I have to serve a 12 month waiting period, which will bring me to  Sept 2011.


A follow-up ultrasound in early January 2010 showed that they cyst has not grown and with this knowledge it was decided that we could hold off on surgery (which would cost us in excess of $2000) and wait until out health fund will cover it.


In the mean time, Dr B has put me on a 3 month course of Clomid to "give nature a helping hand" as he put it. As I do appear to ovulate every month I am only on 25mg from day 3-7 of my cycle. I have some friends who successfully conceived with Clomid, so I'm hopeful. If we have no luck in 3 months, then we can look at other options - going ahead with the surgery (no guarantee that this will aid conception), IUI and IVF are all on the cards.