I finally take my last birth control pill tonight. Saturday we have our baseline ultrasound and Sunday I start my micro-lupron injections.
Things have been pretty quiet around here. I clearly have writer’s block/nothing to say, but I am excited to get going on these shots. I hate the feeling of waiting around.
Cue post filled with negativity.
At our nurse consult a few weeks ago, I learned I gained ten pounds from this last IVF cycle. The nurse also dropped a doozy on me, cheerfully telling me that I will be doing PIO injections this cycle.
If my husband didn’t have much experience with long, thick needles, he will. Oh, he will.
PIO. Progesterone in oil. Thick, viscous fluid injected into my ever-growing ass nightly, by the man whose eyes light up with a dangerous glee whenever he offers to give me my sub-Q shots in my stomach. All for the children. I don’t know which is worse, waxy progesterone suppositories shoved up my lady bits twice a day, or PIO injections every night that make my butt sore and knotted.
Oh em gee, I love being infertile.
You want to know another reason I love being infertile?
Getting the sheer joy of talking with those lovely men and women of Ye Fucking Insurance Company. I would rather live in a cardboard box with my used syringes than deal with them ever again.
And from the recent conversations we have had with them, that dream is coming true sooner than I realized.
You see, we started out with a lifetime max of $10,000 for infertility medications. Those meds are expensive, y’all. Gonal-F alone is $3,000. And that’s just one of my medications. The money is gone now. Waaay gone. Like Miley Cyrus’ self-respect.
My big box of medications was supposed to come today. Yesterday we got a call from Freedom Fertility saying there was a problem with the order. Ye Fucking Insurance Company, or YeFIC, denied the Micro-Lupron. They also were saying we have hit our max.
Chris spent a good four hours total yesterday talking with Freedom and YeFIC. About 8:30 last night, the guy from the insurance gave Chris a prior authorization code that was only good that night for the Micro-Lupron protocol. He had to give it to Freedom that night for it to be valid for them to process.
Freedom was closed.
So today, he was talking to a women from YeFIC. Remember Puppy-Killer? Meet her cousin, Kitty Strangler.
Chris: Is the prior authorization code I received last night valid still? If not, I need a new authorization code for the Micro-Lupron.
Kitty-Strangler: Please hold.
~20 minutes later~
KS: Hmm, well the person who helped you last night did a manual override, and that isn’t standard procedure.
Chris: So it’s not valid? He was actually really nice, helping me out like that.
KS: Being nice is not standard procedure here, sir.
Chris: I don’t understand. So what do I do now?
KS: We can put it through the correct process and our team can review the request, but it can take 24-48 hours to be approved.
Chris: My wife needs this by this weekend.
KS: Well your wife can suck it, you’re still not getting the code.
Chris: Whoa now.
KS: You never should have been given that code.
Chris: How do I know you will process it in time? I don’t trust that you guys will get it in time.
KS: NO CODE FOR YOU!
Chris: Is there any way you can speed it up?
KS: You can have your doctor’s office call and tell us there is an imminent need for the medication, and it might go quicker.
Chris: So let me get this straight. We can wait up to two days for the prior authorization, or we can have our doctor call and there is still no guarantee it will get here in time.
KS: Yes.
Chris: You suck.
KS: You suck more.
So there you have it. My insurance company continues to be fun. My medications are supposed to come tomorrow now. Hopefully. Except for the micro-lupron. In which we can wait around for, or we can go ahead and pay out of pocket for it. Which is $200. After the $3,000 Gonal-F, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
After this cycle, we are done with the insurance company. All the medications will then be out of pocket.
Tomorrow is my birthday. How many people can say they got a giant box of syringes and medication vials for their birthday? And thought it was the best present EVAH!?
Happy early birthday! We are in the process of switching insurance, and I can only hope that the people on the other end of the phone are nicer than the kitty killers and dog kickers that I had to deal. Fingers crossed your big box of (legal) drugs will show up tomorrow 🙂
Insurance companies are a PAIN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY though!!!! 🙂
Oh my goodness! You are too funny!
I am so sorry!
I gained 13 pounds from all my treatments after working so hard to lose weight before the cycle… what a special treat to take with me rather than a baby; it is discouraging!
I hate hate hate dealing with the insurance company. They are so worthless! I just learned they processed a previous IVF cycle wrong, so they are going to reprocess it which will cause me to have to pay more $$$. I hope you get your drugs in time.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! You are are getting an expensive birthday present delivered to you. Not many people get to spend that much for their birthday 😉
Good luck with this cycle!
I feel really bad for laughing at this, but you have such a delightfully dark sense of humour about all of this shittiness. 🙂
Happy birthday and good luck with the shots!
I feel guilty laughing too, but I can just imagine that this is exactly how the conversation went down. I'm using Freedom Fertlity too. Apparently they have some sort of savings program you can sign up with then do a mail in rebate. I thought I saw that the micro-lupron was only $99.99 per vial, maybe just pay for one out of pocket to receive in time, and then wait for the authorization? Best of luck to you!
Happy birthday and good luck with everything. I found that a heating pad after PIO helped a little (I have an almost PTSD reaction to even seeing those three letters!) And I have found that insurance companies suck too and a lot of time is spent wasted on the phone only resulting in me getting pissed off.
Geez I hate insurance companies! They are such DRAMA! They're like the people who work at the BMV. I swear, the must hold auditions instead of interviews, to ensure they find the most hateful people possible.
Happy birthday! Butt injections for birthday presents HOORAY!
Boooo… Insurance is TERRIBLE! I fully recognize that though I have to pay out of pocket for EVERYTHING, in many ways my life is less stressful for it. Dealing with insurance makes me want to gouge me eyes out. So sorry girl! I hope the meds come in and that the PIO shots aren't too bad! Thinking of you and wishing you the very, very best!
Wow, YeFIC sounds AWESOME, how can I sign up for their services?? So jealous!!
NOT. I am so sorry you had to deal with all that! Ugh!! Happy Birthday and hope you get the meds you need soon!!
Man I'm pretty sure we have the same insurance company with the same wonderful individuals. In the end though we paid out of pocket for all medicine because it was just easier. Happy birthday!!
I want to say happy birthday but it feels weird considering. I really do hope that you have a good birthday despite all of this. What an absolute pain. So sorry about the insurance company stuff. And also, sorry about the PIO. I've been there. It's tough. Andrew would always give me the shots in the darkness of our bedroom because I had to wake him up to give me the shot and he didn't want to turn on the lights and fully wake up. He preferred to give them to me half asleep. Nice. So once, he gave me the shot and handed the syringe to me. He had only given me half the medication!! So he had to poke me again. I was not happy. BUT this form of progesterone must be more effective. So hoping it will be worth it.
"Being nice is not standard procedure" ha ha! You are soooo lucky Chris will call the insurance co. and deal with those bastards! Happy birthday!!! And don't sweat the 10 lbs…hopefully you'll be gaining another 25! 😉
"Being nice is not standard procedure" ha ha! You are soooo lucky Chris will call the insurance co. and deal with those bastards! Happy birthday!!! And don't sweat the 10 lbs…hopefully you'll be gaining another 25! 😉
Also my insurance co now requires me to have them approve any further IUIs even though they have already stated that they wont cover them…what the hell sense does that make???
Happiest birthday ever!!! I'm doing my first PIO shot tomorrow…sounds like I'll feel your pain…literally. My husband has a little shimmer in his eye thinking about it…I guess as long as he doesn't try and get a running start! 🙂
I'm happy you're back 🙂 HAPPY HAPPY Birthday tomorrow!!! xoxo
Ha! Great phone convo.
PIO shots are not bad, not bad at all. And thank you for bringing it up, because I swear Eric gets excited every time he gets to give me one… it's mad creepy, yo. But anyway. Just make sure he massages the area vigorously for about 30 seconds afterwards and you won't even bruise (much). Seriously. Nothing to fear there.
Insurance companies SUCK. That is all.
Oh- and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Happy birthday. I think. Insurance does suck. But if you're looking for silver lining…at least they are covering $10k of meds. None would hurt worse than the bad service for sure. Hope this is your cycle!
Do you have Lupron left over from your earlier cycle, and some sterile saline? You can make (mix) your own micro-L if so (this is how we did it back in the jurassic era, when I was cycling); perhaps your clinic can tell you the proportions to mix? Because that's all you're buying with micro-L: a tiny bit of L mixed into some saline.
I did my own PIO (it is possible) because my DH disliked them so (HE! DISLIKED THEM! I ASK YOU!). So, um, that is another alternative.
Best of luck to you.
Happy Birthday!
I'm so sorry your insurance company is being such a pain in the ass. At least with the shots, there is a benefit to the pain. 😉
Happy birthday! Sorry that you have to go through all of this, but hope you're able to find some time for a celebration.
Ugh, insurance companies are plain evil. I think Kitty Strangler moonlights on my insurance customer-service line or has a clone somewhere since my insurance does pay for infertility diagnostics only and I've had the *pleasure* of wrangling with them over getting my labs paid for. Laughing out loud over "being nice is not standard procedure…". Soooooo true…
Totally hear you on the weight gain…happened to me too. It really sucks.
Sending you good wishes for this next cycle.
I was doing all this around my bday last year! I guess I was happy about it…anyways, we have done IVF 3 times and I've had to do the PIO shots each time. Heres some tips that have helped me have almost NO knots! we iced the "area for about 3-4 minutes", then we put the PIO needed in a little pad we had heated in microvwave (It made it go in faster), then after the injection my husband would rub the area with the heating pad (I read it helps spread the oil) for about 3 minutes. Rarely did it hurt after. I was really scared to do the shot, and it's no fun, but don't let the big needle get to you! Rooting for you!!
Insurance companies are the worst! So glad you were able to work it out though! Wishing you nothing but the very best!!
I h te dealing with the insurance stuff, although we had NO insurance coverage for any aspect of IF, so I didn't have to do too much in that area. The people you guys are dealing with sound like real pains in the ass. As for the othe pain in the ass, the PIO injections, all I can tell you is that I would much much rather do that than the stupid suppositories. And I am someone that hates needles with a passion! Most of the time, it wasn't too bad. It's not pleasant, but again, definitely doable for sure and my much preferred choice. You will be okay. I promise.
I've done PIO shots numerous of times. They are really not so bad. Not great, but not so bad. Ice! Always ice a good 5 minutes beforehand. That always took off the sting. Massage it right afterwards too. AND always keep bandaids on hand….the injection site will often bleed. Best of luck and THANK YOU for the book! So excited to read it! I've been so busy lately that I've just been in infertility denial. Not moving forward, not moving backwards, just ignoring it all together.