Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Tomorrow is our appointment with the new RE.  I'm trying not to get excited about it because I just don't want to be disappointed again.

Anyway, I thought I'd write out what I'm thinking before I go to the appointment in the hopes that it will help me feel less flustered when we're there.  I don't like "first appointments" with doctors because I always get anxious and forget what I wanted to ask.  So, lists are a good thing.

What blood tests do you plan to do?
I was always frustrated that the only blood work my previous RE ever did was baseline FSH/LH but only after I forced her to do it about 5 months into treatment.  (She did TSH then, too, but there was little point in that since I'd had it done recently.)  When the FSH level came back "borderline high," she said she wanted to be more aggressive because of it but then never was and that was a year ago.  Also, if they are coded as "screening," blood work is more likely to be covered by my insurance.  So, whatever you can test that way, do it! 

Do you think my left tube has any issues?
My previous RE originally looked at my HSG results and said she thought there might be scar tissue at the end of my left tube.  After opening the right tube with a hysteroscopy (we know it's open, now, because I O'd from there when I got pregnant) she said all should be fine with the left and no lap was needed to check it out.  When we were starting to talk about IVF four months later, she said that she thought the left tube might be forming a hydrosalpinx and wouldn't do IVF without checking it out with a lap first (because hydrosalpinx can cause fluid to go back into the uterus).  Looking at the HSG images, it looks nothing like a typical "sausage tube" hydrosalpinx.  I'd really like a second opinion on this.  Hopefully it won't involve getting another HSG, though, because that was incredibly painful for me.  And expensive.

Do you think there is any pregnancy loss blood work we should do?
I know I've only had one m/c and most likely it was a genetic issue, but I really don't want to find out after another one that a simple change could have made a difference.  If it takes another year to get pregnant, I don't think I can handle it if I lose another pregnancy and then find out there was an obvious problem.

How many "tries" of each new treatment do you do before moving on?
My previous RE was of the opinion that you should try each new thing 6 times before moving on.  That'd be great if I were 25.  I'm not.  Time is a bit more of the essence here. 

What is your opinion on injectable IUIs vs. IVF?
At this point, I don't know where I stand with this.  The one thing I'm pretty sure of is that I don't want to go back to Femara-IUIs.  I just don't see the point.  But, I'm torn between the "eh" success rates plus higher risk of multiples but cheaper vs. better success rates but crazy expensive option of IUI vs. IVF.  This new RE has much higher success rates (and numbers of cycles) for IVF than my previous RE for my age group.  Before I got pregnant, I was heavily leaning toward IVF as opposed to inject IUI.  So was my DH.  Now I think I still am, but I'm pretty sure he isn't.

Do you have discounts for self-pay?
Probably should ask this one first.  My previous RE had great discounts for self-pay for ultrasounds and IUIs and, if this new office doesn't, I'm pretty sure we're going to have to crawl back to my old RE no matter what.
I can't think of much else.  I honestly just want to get on with it already and do something.  I just want to feel more secure with the new doctor than the old one.  I want to feel like he's paying attention and taking me seriously.  I want to feel like he at least bothers to look at my file before talking to me and is consistent when we speak.

Of course, I won't know most of that at the first meeting.  But, really, at this point if I just had a plan that seemed realistic, I'd be good.

Meanwhile, I just gave my first final of the week.  Time to focus on grading for a while to distract me.