The morning after

Well, I saw Dr. P yesterday and I suppose I feel better.  Considering my type-A mentality, vague diagnoses and prognoses are problematic for me, to say the least.  Ex: my NKa levels are "elevated".  What does that mean?  Too elevated?  Way way way elevated?  Somewhat elevated?  I have too many questions.  So, I can armed with about 3 pages full of questions, tests, direction on any natural remedies to autoimmune/"elevated" NKa levels, so I was definitely prepared to get some answers.

But I did not.  In fact, I felt stupid.  My doctor is a nice man, don't get me wrong, (his staff on the other hand, gets an "F") but he either knew nothing or knew alot but didn't want to talk about any options, alternative methods, natural conception, etc.  In the end, I closed my questionnaire notebook and gave up.  I even got a bit teary because I felt like such an idiot.  For now, he has suggested that they run the NKa test again (which I do not understand because, apparently, white blood cells shift every 180 days and I just had that test, with a $340 price tag, 17 days ago...) and see what kind of results we get.  If they are lower, "1.4 points" lower, to be exact and whatever that means, then he suggested we proceed with trying to conceive naturally for a few more months and then do the IUI.  If it's still "elevated", the he suggests we start the intralipids infusion and do an IUI, repeating the infusions for 5 MONTHS. 

So far, here are my calculations:
Ovulation Monitoring Kit:  $240
Pregnancy Tests:  $80
10 doctor visits, some consultations only, some ultrasounds:  $200
NKa bloodwork:  $340
Prescriptions:  $80

Not so bad, but with another "elevated" (yes, I'm going to keep putting that word in quotes until someone can explain WTF that means on some kind of relative scale) NKa test, costs jump to:

NKa Test #2: $340
Ultrasound for ovulation detection/monitoring (before and after O): $350
Intralipid Infusion, prior to IUI: $700
IUI: $350
Intralipid Infusions following hopefull implantation and positive pregnancy test: $2800

Yeesh. 

I have decided to wait a month before taking another NKa test.  I don't care if it sounds stupid or not, I'm going to radically alter my diet (wine and coffee be dammed!), workout feverishly, and see if that lowers my "elevated" levels at all.  Then, we'll go ahead with the retest and go from there.  If they are still up, I will just go ahead with the GD infusions and IUI.  Bitterly.

I wanted to give an example of why I felt stupid yesterday in my doctor's office. 

(After many in-depth, specific DNA, Auto-Immune, medically-intensive questions, proving I had some knowledge of the issues)

Me: So, do you have patients with similar numbers to mine (aka elevated ANA, elevated NKa, with normal physiological findings, good fertility/family history, no medical problems whatsoever) who take the infusion/IUI route and conceive, have smooth pregnancies, end up with healthy babies?

Dr. J: I do, but you know, everyone is different.

Really???  I was not aware!  I'm a bit confused...You mean to tell me that I called to get an appointment with you, I got dressed with reasonable ease, was able to drive to said appointment on-time, and here I am in this very office all by very own self...but I was able to do ALL OF THAT without the knowledge thus far in life that, indeed, all human beings are different???  Amazing.

Jesus.  It was insulting.  In fact, I think at one point, I told him he didn't have to keep saying that.  I was frustrated, but we'll see.

And so begins the power detox, dieting, 6am workouts and the quest for 1.4 points.