Let's try this again

Another appointment down. Unfortunately, the follicle that was growing did not grow any over the past few days. Super bummer. After looking over my history of fertility medications, Dr. M decided not to continue Clomid as the fertility drug. Instead, I was prescribed Letrozole (Femara). Femara is actually used to treat breast cancer, but has been shown to stimulate ovulation as well.

According to my research, Femara can help fertility by allowing the body to produce more of its own estrogen in a natural manner by the stimulation of the pituitary gland, rather than introducing additional estrogen in the treatment itself. When the enzyme in Femara suppresses the production of estrogen, rather than the estrogen receptors, this allows the pituitary gland to be activated.

I was also prescribed Provera to start my menstrual cycle which I start taking today for 7 days. On days 3-7 of my cycle I will start taking the Femara and on day 12 of my cycle I go back to the doctor.

Since my mom is a chemotherapy nurse, I called her after my appointment to ask about Femara because I had to sign a waiver in order to have it prescribed because its not approved by the FDA for fertility treatment. Not an hour after I got off the phone with her, a drug rep walked into her office and asked if they needed any samples of Femara. Mom explained my situation to him and he gave me a free 30 pill sample. He also told her that without insurance (and we aren't sure that insurance will pay for my meds anymore because they are no longer paying for my treatment) Femara costs $400. Yes, $400! So I got a 3 cycle supply for FREE!! God is so good!

If this cycle of medication does not stimulate ovulation, we will move on to daily injectable shots. PLEASE pray we don't have to do this. There is a 10% chance of twins and a 1% chance of triplets on Femara but these percentages increase to 20% for twins and 5% for triplets with injectables. They are also much more expensive.

We ate at YaYa's Bistro after the appointment and it was wonderful. I love getting to spend this extra time with my grandmother!