In 2008 Stacy, who has suffered from Endometriosis since a young age had laparoscopic surgery due to very large cysts that resulted in the loss of her left ovary and drainage of a large cyst on her right ovary (hoping to save it). The doctor stated he should have conducted a full hysterectomy at that time but knew they wanted kids so he recommended completing their family as soon as possible. They begin trying to conceived in 2009 ~ after a diagnosis of anovulation, two 6 month rounds of lupron, years of ovulation testing, lots of ultrasounds and blood tests, and a 3 month round of clomid we found out that Stacy was not the only one with issues.
While it was recommended that Greg get tested early on we put if off due to the cost and the obvious issues that Stacy had, we were certain it wasnt Greg. However, in Feb 2013 Greg was tested and we were informed that Greg has azoospermia (zero sperm count) and Testicular Hypogonadism (extremely low testosterone production). After three months of high dose clomid with no change he had a MRI that showed no abnormalities or tumors in his pituitary gland which is good news but at the same time we still have no answer.Greg started Novarel (HCG) injections combined with Repronex injections at the end of July 2013 in an attempt to stimulate his hormones, after 1 month of taking these injections his testosterone levels rose from a 98 to a 238 - so there was improvement and we were wanting to see them almost double that before we do the next semen analysis. WELL they did ~ Greg was producing SWIMMERS ~ LOTS OF THEM!!!
So Stacy came off of her birth control and we had about 70 million swimmers preserved just incase we need them in the future. Stacy completed two round of clomid but still no baby. We also found that Stacy's prolactin levels are staying abnormally high so we continue to monitor that. Her AMH (ovarian reserve/remaining egg count) is also low. Stacy had the HSG done and her tube was found to be open ~ which was good bad news at the same time. Open tubes are always good news, however that still leaves us with no answer as to why nothing has worked even though Greg is producing sperm. So the doctor prescribed Fermara for Stacy, after one round of the Femara still no baby.....and then Stacy was notified her position was being eliminated as of January 31st, 2014 ~ scrambling to figure out what to do next Stacy and Greg decided that since we had done the preservation, and the unknown of what was going to happen in the coming months with Stacy being unemployed, it was time for Greg to come off the injections (that we would be unable to afford with out income/insurance). We were hoping that his natural testosterone would be able to remain high and he would continue to produce sperm, however his hormone levels begin to rapidly decline, resulting in us making the decision for him to begin hormone supplements that would probably stop his production all together.
Stacy met with her RE on January 14th 2015 to discuss options and decided the next step would be IUI. Although the chances were lower, it was cheaper than IVF so it was worth a try. April 8th, 2015 - The received a negative pregnancy test. Doctor recommend now recommends IVF. After the failed IUI they have avoided all things fertility related. IVF cost more than they can ever imagine for a small chance of a successful pregnancy.
Stacy has been on birth control to help with the endometriosis pain and keep the cysts from growing, and Greg is on Hormone Replacement Therapy.
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