Our Journey to start a family UPDATE!

We are long past due for an update!

First — thank you to all of you that have sent messages of love and support, shared stories of similar struggles, purchased necklaces, prayed for us, and in general, have just been caring and understanding. The flood of love and support we have received has overwhelmed us. So thank you!

Because of your support, Fashioned by Hand has been a huge success! I have made more necklaces than I ever imagined I would in the last three months. Because of your support and because you continue to spread the word so well about our little business, we have already raised close to $8,000 from necklaces alone! Again -- THANK YOU! I have really loved creating hand-stamped necklaces and have recently ventured into making bracelets. I have discovered that I really enjoy designing and making meaningful jewelry for people! Fashioned by Hand has not only served as a great business to help raise money for our medical expenses, but has also been a therapeutic outlet for me as I am focusing on creating rather than dwelling on the struggles we are facing. I look forward to continuing Fashioned by Hand and am excited to see where it goes! J

Second — because of everything going on in our lives, we decided it was best if I resigned from my job at the high school. This was a difficult decision, but it was necessary for me and for our family. Right now our priority is figuring out these medical issues so we can start a family. We have come to the realization that there will be never a “convenient” time for us to struggle with infertility and the numerous doctor visits and treatments that go along with it. I’ve had more doctor visits the last several months than I’ve had in my entire life! It’s been very difficult to balance the stress of everything that’s going on medically, the stress of a full-time job, the stress of another full-time job in Fashioned by Hand, the stress of loving my family, the stress of being a faithful church member, and the stress of managing things at home. Needless to say, there has been a lot of stress! The time constraints were too many for me to continue to work well at the high school, so it was best for everyone involved that I step down. I SO appreciate those of you that have been supportive and understanding of this decision.

Finally — on to some medical updates: I had surgery on Tuesday!

Yes, I know—crazy! Let me catch you up to speed on what’s been going on.

In the past two months we have gone to two different doctors for a second and third medical opinion. You'll remember from our first post that our original doctor was on the extreme of believing natural killer cells were the culprit and could only be stopped by IVIG ($12,500 worth of it), and that our only shot at future pregnancies would require an additional $27,000 in treatments (the “big guns”). We’ve been planning for that future. But we knew the way we went from zero to the maximum treatments was concerning, and you don’t just jump into something that big without first checking and rechecking the data. So it was necessary in our minds to get another opinion, even while we continued saving for our future family.

After several visits, we now have a new doctor! He has been voted best doctor in Dallas by the Big D magazine 14 years in a row (how did we just hear about this guy??), he actually takes insurance, and he even has some patients that attend our church and who have raved about him. He is a great balance of “mad-scientist” and “personable”, so we really like him! He gave us a really balanced prognosis. First, he affirmed everything the first doctor diagnosed me with: natural killer cells, the need for medications to sustain a pregnancy, etc. But then he gave us some great news:

1)    We don’t have to use the $2,500-a-pop IVIG treatments. Instead, we can do $255 intralipid infusions, which they actually come to our house to administer. Because my natural killer cells are so high and activated we are still working to find a high enough dosage of intralipids that works as effectively as IVIG, but he is optimistic we will get there! To give you an idea of how high my NKs are, we have already quadrupled the normal dosage! Fortunately, the cost is no different if you double or triple or even quadruple the prescription. But it is still somewhat nerve-racking not to see the number of killer cells suppressed as effectively as they were with IVIG. The doctor is confident that one more increase in the prescription should garner the same effects as the IVIG, so I’m trying to stay positive. If intralipids work as advertised, our total cost of starting a family will immediately drop from nearly $40,000 to $29,000. That’s a big deal!

2)    Then the doctor hit us with some more great news: he said there is no reason at this point in our journey to jump straight to the “big guns” of fertility treatments as the issues we have primarily affect sustaining a pregnancy, and not getting pregnant. So we are praying that this information is correct and we are able to conceive with out the costly treatments originally planned. If it is, we will drop the immensely expensive treatments prescribed by the first doctor!

You can imagine our collective sigh of relief! This is a huge praise for us. We’re still cautious to get too excited (I mean, we don’t actually have a baby yet), but this swing of prognosis is pretty amazing, all things considered.

So that’s the good news. The next step in the doctor’s prognosis was what led to surgery this week.

My sister was diagnosed with endometriosis last year, a disease that is carried through a maternal gene. The doctor knew I carried the gene since my sister has the disease, but could not determine if the gene was activated or not without “taking a look inside”. Endometriosis is correlated to infertility and miscarriage, so it was important to determine if I had it or not. Because it does not show up in sonograms or x-rays, and because I was not showing any other symptoms of endometriosis, the only way to know if I had it was through surgery. So on Tuesday I had a laparoscopy and a hysteroscopy.

From the surgery, the doctor was able to determine that I do in fact have endometriosis. That’s the bad news. Though it can be treated, but I will always have the disease, which is a bummer. However, the good news is that he was able to treat the visible effects of the disease during surgery and remove all of the adhesions I currently had, meaning that we should have an easier time conceiving going forward. The doctor was extremely optimistic about our increased chances of getting pregnant in the months immediately following surgery. While I hate having another thing wrong with me, I can’t help but to be thankful to have a diagnosis for some of the fertility issues we’ve experienced and to have it already treated.

Right now I’m sore, on a lot of pain meds, and taking it easy around the house. But I’m very optimistic with where we are at and am hopeful that everything the doctor has said will be true: that we won’t have to pull out the big guns in treatment, that the intralipid infusions will be as successful at suppressing natural killer cells as the IVIG, and that the removal of endometriosis will help us get pregnant. Things with our new doctor have really progressed in a positive way, and we are SO thankful for that!

We will go back to the doctor next week for a post-op appointment. During that visit we will figure out the best road forward for starting a family. Please continue to pray for us: that the treatments he is suggesting will work, that we will be able to get pregnant and sustain it, and ultimately that we will trust in the Lord and see his goodness even in our trials! Also pray that Fashioned by Hand will continue to be successful as I invest more time and energy in it. We are so thankful for all of you for the way you love us and care for us. We will keep you updated as we continue this journey!