LyraS - that is why I'm on BB - I'm constantly thinking about it all the time!!!! Since I have started a second job from home in the evenings I have been less on BB, which (while I love it here!) is good for me, as it means I am not obsessing quite as much....
Still I check BB from my phone more than once a day, and am constantly reading where everyone is up to, and hoping we will all get there one day. There are some people here that I will be happier for than myself when they finally get their BFP - but every one of them is a treasure and I know mine too, will be special when it comes along....
Yay for Jane!!! 45 days would drive me barney!! Oh for the time when we can stop counting the days!!!
What a bugger Bee! It's aweful that you have to rely on a loan to get your so longed for baby. I do hope that you get your BFP nice a quick.
Ree and Joeve - nice to see you in here now... although I wish you didn't have to be!!
Hopefully the rest of you are plodding along nicely - sorry to those I've missed, as you've probably posted on the previous page, I haven't got a lot of time - I've been working tonight for a couple of hours and really need to get to sleep.
Keep your chins up ladies - one day at a time. xxx
DH and I have just returned home from a holiday in Bali and we have an appointment with our new FS on 3 April so it looks like ill be joining back in here in about a weeks time. I see there are lots of new people in here, goodluck and I hope your stay here is a nice and short (I mean that in a nice way of course!!!).
Financially we arent really ready to jump into a FET but I dont want money to be the reason we put it off. We still havent received the cheque back from medicare to see how much they are paying from our last cycle :rolleys: I will call them tomorrow and ask where it is.
Hi girls it's going to be a me post here.
So cycle number four has been cancelled. Going to go in Wednesday so nurse can talk to Dh as to why we need ivf from here but for now I'm out of the game. I had six follicles. Argh this sucks so much. Wishing you all the best. Xxx
Keta - that sucks hunni. Big hugs. Really hope things go well on Wednesday. I think it took my DH a little while to get his head around all the IVF stuff. It's a lot to process. Thinking of you both.
Amy - fantastic to hear that your holiday was great. Wow, that time seems to have flown past. I can't believe you haven't got anything back from medicare yet. Chase that hun. I got money back within about a week so you should have got it ages ago. As you said it is a lot of money to be waiting on. FET are a lot cheaper than stim cycles so perhaps is you get your refund that might help with this next step. Good luck with your appointment. Keep us posted re how you get on.
How are all you newbies going???
AFM - CD 3 today. On my way towards a FET. BT and US scheduled for 2nd April. Yay.
Keta - I'm so sorry your cycle was cancelled. I hope your nurse has a good talk to your DH.
Bee - I'm sorry your load was declined. Hopefully your regular bank can help out. I'm sure your doing all you can for your family. What a tuff situation to be in. I think it was you who had asked about late AF??? Anyway My Af was about 14 days late before we started our IVF cycle back on 2010. I was very impatient and she was the only thing holding it up.
Amy_Jellybean - Def chase up that money. Hopefully it comes and you can use that for your FET.
Hi to everyone I've missed. I took my last BCP last night so FX AF arrives this week!
Thanks for the welcome back messages. I called Medicare today and they said that the cheque was posted on Friday so I should get it today or tomorrow.
Im curious to see how our FS compares to yours. So far the bills we have received are:
$268 that our private health cover didnt cover which is basically the excess and my work pays that anyway as we are on a corporate plan.
$880 from our FS for Planning and management of patient (what a joke considering I didnt speak to her the entire cycle!), Ooctyte retrieval for assisted reproductions and transfer of embryo. From what I can gather from the item numbers and using the medicare website then I should get about $405 of this back.
Then we got a bill from the clinic which was $7555 for assisted reproduction, $810 for ICSI and $95 for semen prep (as we used frozen sperm) - When I rang medicare this morning they said we are getting a cheque for $3327. Which means we are still over $5000 out of pocket just for this portion!!!
To be honest it doesnt matter how much googling I do...the medicare safety net still confuses the crap outta me!!!
AmyJB - Gosh thats awfully expensive. I must admit my clinic in one of the cheapest of SA. For a stim I have to pay $3100 to my FS, then $285 for hospital bed, $175 for aneasthetist, $250 if any are frozen. I get back $1555 back on medicare from FS on the first cycle per calander year then $2330 back for subsequent stims. Out of pocket $1545 (FS), hospital bed $285, $45 for aneasthetist, $250 frozen storage. Total = $2125, but the subesequent ones are $1100.00 out of pocket. For a frozen cycle we have to come up with $1250 but get back $680 so out of pocket is $570.00. I know from others that everyone elses is really expensive too.
Porsche - FX AF comes soon x
Jane - Good luck with your BT & US on the 3rd.
Keta - So sorry hunni that your cycle was cancelled. My DH was like a deer in a headlight when our FS said IVF was pretty much the only way to go. He has come around though, so FX your DH will too.
Bee - So sorry about your loan and about all the struggles that your dealing with. You must feel very overwhelmed We are all here if you need. Life can certainly be very trying at times
myturn - Congrats on going again. I know you were thinking about taking time off to get buff
AFM - Well DH came home in a foul mood Friday night from working away all week and it pretty much kept going until this morning but now I am the one in a foul mood. He is hating life in general at the moment. Hates work. Hates that we are still not pregnant. Pretty much just hates everything at the moment.
We are considering buying a business. Just a small gardening one, and we have yet to see the bank, but this all means that IVF will be put on the back burner. I have to support him in this as the way he is now, there is no point in bringing a child into his unhappiness. So, I figure we get him happy and go from there. I have five snowbubs that will just have to stay on ice a bit longer. I am pretty sad to give it up for now, but we can still try naturally. My sister in law was saying on the weekend she is having a big clean out and has soooo much stuff for me. Cots, car seats, high chair etc. I almost burst into tears.
I know I am in the TWW, but have no symptoms. Nothing. AF is due on the weekend, and we were going to go into another FET, but now thats been put on hold. All I can say is the bank had better give us the money asap so we can get back to it. I will hang around till AF arrives, then will bow out for a while. Any offers to take over the list?
Keta- oh I'm so sorry that sucks! It's just so frustrating. I'm glad that you have an appointment soon so can try and make a plan and have something to focus on, I find that makes things a bit easier.
Kashby and myturn- thanks for giving me permission to be an obsessive looney tune! lol I find that when I's busier it's easier too- I'm actually putting off an assignment so that I'll have to do that next week when I think I might be going even crazier.
Amy-jellybean- wow my jaw hit the floor with those costs. I thought it was less than that so I definitely need to quiz my clinic on their IVF costs in case we go down that route. I really hope your check arrives soon and that you get to do your FET soon. Don;t forget you can put medical expenses over a certain amount (not sure how much but maybe 1500??) on your tax return and get some tax back on them at least. Not a huge amount but definitely worth doing. We don't get any back for OI so am saving all my receipts for tax time.
Jane- very exciting, here's hoping the time goes quickly for you and you will have a great outcome x
Vic261- wow it sounds like you have exciting plans for the business, but I'm sorry that it means that the IVF has to be put on hold. I hope you get a natural miracle, but if not that you are able to be back soon.
sorry I know I've missed lots, but I'll be back soon! Thank you for the welcomes!!
AFM- well scan today wasn't amazing, but definitely could have been worse. I have 1 x1.4 follicle and 3 X 1.1, but my lining was better. So they are still worried about having to cancel if all 4 grow, but hoping that the 1.4 will take over and grow and grow. I'm waiting for bloods and then they'll make a plan. So I'm cautiously optimistic.
Amy - I'm at an expensive clinic too. My total costs for my ICSI cycle were around 9100 and I got back around 5400. So out of pocket close to 4000. Oh..... plus 785 more for freezing my little embies. But I think FET is much cheaper. It costs closer to 3500 and I think I should get back around 1700. So out of pocket more like 1500. Much better. This is a crazy expensive venture. We just keep borrowing more against the home loan. It drives me crazy when all my friends with kids complain about us being DINK - double income no kids - like we are some how rolling in money - but they don't know about our IVF battle nor just how much it and other surgeries I've required have cost us. Sorry for the rant. Glad that you are getting some money back soon Amy.
Vic - so sorry that things are so tough at the moment. Really hoping you DH feels more upbeat soon. I can completely relate, my DH has been struggling lately with this whole TTC. He seems depressed but at least hasn't pulled the pin on this cycle yet. I am so scared about what will happen if this cycle fails - I think we will both fall apart. I know that is a reality that you have faced a few times already. I'm so sorry for that pain. You are truely amazing. A very strong woman. Your DH is a lucky man to have you by his side. Just to know that you would put everything on hold him to back him 100%. If there is anything we can do to support you.
Lyra stardust - really hopeful they dont cancel your cycle. I'm guess those follie numbers are in cms not mms. Sounds like they are getting there. What kind of cycle are you having (sorry I can't remember)?
Oh Vic I really hope things work themselves out. I think you are doing the right thing, get your DH back I track and coming back to TTC when you are both in a better frame of mind although I know how hard It is to just switch that want off. I wish you all the very best.
Hugs Vic that's a really big decision to make. You do need your partner to be happy and so I guess if you can get that it will help in the long run.
I am desperate to get off this stupid pill I have had light bleeding since AF finished I just hate it. I called up and got my AMH results today which I was worried about but they are ok so onwards we go.
Sorry to hear of your struggles Vic but i think lifes too short to be unhappy in your work especially considering how long we spend there each day. Im sure you will make the best decision for you and DH, we will be thinking of you xx.
AmyJB im in Perth too and the stim cycle i did in 2008 cost us $10000 thankfully we got pregnant but pretty much everything we got back went on an obstetrician. My FET/HRT is costing us just over $4000 and we only get about $1500 back.
Hi to everyone else still waiting around for things to happen like me its so very frustrating.
AFM- I rang my clinic today as i am now 7 days post progesterone with no AF, they told me to give it until the end of Day 10 then call again. I have been very grumpy and crampy so she better be on her way. We should have our answer from ANZ on wednesday FX its a better result otherwise like Vic we will be leaving our bubs frozen for a little while longer.
Amy, I am in Perth too - IVF stim cycles through my clinic with icsi work out to nearly 10k. I know fertility north is very reasonably priced but its hard to get into. I called last month and my appointment isn't till May. That's why I went back to our original clinic for FET.
Vic, I hope things settle down and go your way soon!
Lyra, for you
AFM - progesterone levels came back super low at 27, so they have bumped me up to 500mg progesterone pessaries 4 x a day, ironically the cramping has subsided - so not necessarily my body reacting to it, instead not having enough of it. Hoping its been caught in time for the embie to stick. Final HCG blood test is on the 5th.. damn freaking ages away!
Amyjb I should be PMing this to you but it won't go through! Grrrr
My IVF cycle the bill from our shared clinic was $6,957 total. This didn't include the hospital bit that was sent direct to HBF (they paid the account in full).
So I sent the invoice for $6,957 to Medicare and received back a cheque for $2,953 - meaning we were $4,004 out of pocket. I paid the $4,004 to concept and got a receipt - then I posted the original invoice and receipt back to Medicare (to prove I had paid the account) and in doing this (paying the account) I hit the safety net - I finally get it!!! I had no idea what I was goingto hear next - but was pleasantly surprised to receive back a further $1,580 from Medicare because I had hit the safety net but paying the $4,004 out of pocket to concept.
So I ended up being a total of $2,420 out of pocket for IVF cycle one (I didn't have ICSI). This was about what I had expected.
My FET cost $3,200 not including hospital which again was sent to HBF and they settled in full. My FET fee was higher than normal because it included a $750 fee because I chose to thaw 3 x 3 day embryos and take them to day 5 blasts. One was transferred, one didn't make it and the third was refrozen (refreeze was part of the $750 fee). Also I had a one off storage fee of $500 never figured that out but vaguely remember it being explained so I've never followed it up. The actual FET itself was $1,870 - and then there must of been another couple ofhundred dollars for something else.
Haven't received anything from Medicare yet for FET so can't tell you what the refund component is. I can tell you that I didn't receive an invoice for the FET until 6 weeks post transfer which kind of helped! Also I think you'll find your rebate for FET higher because you have hit the safety net already with your ICSI cycle in this calendar year (safety net starts again on January 1st each year.
Key tip - don't forget to resend your invoice and receipt back to Medicare a second time - after you have paid the gap from your cycle - to concept! Otherwise you'll miss out on the second rebate after you've hit the gap!
TTL - Thanks for your interesting post. If I pay $3100 for a stim cycle and get back $1570 from medicare leaving me $1530 out of pocket, do I take that back to medicare for a second rebate since I have hit the safety net? Congratulations also on your embie dividing and now expecting twins. I wish you a safe an healthy pregnancy.
Thanks to all you lovely girls in here. Your support has been great. I have been thinking about fostering and as my step sister works with foster kids have been asking her questions. I know it will not be the same, but I dont want to go through life not having kids run around my house, opening pressies christmas day, doing easter egg hunts, and all the school stuff and I figure if I cant get pregnant as I am too old, why should us and a child miss out on all of that. It takes six months to register in SA, so may think about that down the track. DH is open to it, so we may not be childless for ever
We are all here if you need. Life can certainly be very trying at times 
for you
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