We had our first appointment with my new OB/GYN in February 2023. I came to him with the following information- our history, my lab work, Adrien’s lab work, my recent ultrasounds around my cycles, I had been taking Letrozole, and Adrien was taking Clomid and under the care of his Urologist.
We met him, we liked him (we still do!), he answered the questions we had at this time, and we started to get our plan together. He was pleased with Adrien’s labs and numbers.
He recommended I continue Letrozole, and we could 1. discuss procedures as additional options and 2. decide where and when we would like a referral to be made to Reproductive Medicine. With this decision, he explained at this time how our local Wichita Reproductive Medicine group only does 1-2 rounds of IVF per year, while other groups in Kansas City or Colorado do them more frequently.
TALK ABOUT A WOAH! HOLD THE BRAKES MOMENT! This was just really heavy, really quickly.
We were praying and praying & we knew we had each other, so we have this.
I continued Letrozole in February, March and April. My dose increased from 2.5 mg to 5 mg once daily over the number of cycle days.
Around March, we decided to schedule a Hysteroscopy (an endoscopy exam of the uterus and cervix). When planning this procedure, you must ensure you are not pregnant, so timing with my cycle did not allow us to complete this until June 15th. This was an outpatient procedure at a local surgery center. He did this under a light anesthesia, ultimately so he could apply a greater pressure to “clean everything out.” This was a rather simple process, procedure and recovery. The only discomfort was a trapped air bloated feeling for a few hours, later the same night at home.
The findings of this procedure were negative. I had one very small fibroid he removed while he was in there, otherwise there was nothing else found that would be a cause for any complications. We checked this off the “to-do” list.
We did our research for a bit and made a referral to both our local Reproductive Medicine doctor in Wichita and one in Kansas City. Our first virtual consult appointment with the doctor in Wichita was scheduled for June 28th. There was a few months waiting list for the doctor in Kansas City, so I got on the waiting list in case the appointment was needed.
In these appointments with my OB since we first met him, I asked about any specific supplements I should add or take, or any dosing changes. I had read and read and read- books and other resources such as “Low AMH support pages” on Facebook I joined- about many recommended supplements and started taking CoQ10, DHEA, Omegas, B12Folate, and Vitamin D3 with some others. I’ve taken supplements for years, so this did not bother me to take or add to my current regimen.
To my surprise his answer to my question was, “No, you do not need to add or take anything else. You are healthy and most supplements that are recommended in books and such are for those that do not have an overall healthy lifestyle or there is something obvious to correct.” While I understood where he was coming from, to me it felt like “one more thing I couldn’t do to help my circumstances.”
My wheels were constantly turning. “What if there is a deficiency somewhere?” “What if there is something I can improve?” “What if we are missing something?” “What if my gut issues have something to do with this, or my family history of Hashimoto’s that maybe hasn’t shown it’s face yet?” I couldn’t shake it. I am a “why” and “fix it” person, so this has been challenging for me. Although I know some things happen with no answers and I’m 100% okay with that, this gut feeling I’ve had is that there’s more to know and to keep going so that’s what we’ve been doing.
A friend of mine had recently seen a local Nurse Practitioner at a Functional Women’s Health Clinic for reasons unrelated to fertility, but I was interested in seeing her because she looked at further labs, such as additional hormones and vitamin levels.
I reached out to her and explained my concerns & why I was interested in scheduling an appointment. In the interim of waiting on our first consult with our Reproductive Medicine doctor, she was absolutely willing to see me.
We went through everything from A-Z. The findings from her labs indicated my Progesterone was low and required supplementation, my cortisol was a little high and ways to impact it, and my testosterone was low. She felt my hormones overall were on the lower side.
As my appointment with Reproductive Medicine was coming up, I did not know what continuing with this NP would look like, however I had the information to provide to him at my appointment. From these appointments and conversations with her, I felt my recent questions were not unrealistic. I felt like my curiosity of something else being an underlying root cause could be true.
If there’s hope, I’m finding it and hanging on.
Our next appointment would be with our Reproductive Medicine doctor…
Talk soon!
xoxo- Kara
Our Waiting For Little Ouellette 