DE ain't easy

This DE thing is really complicated. There are lots of steps, lots of people to pay, may things to figure out, do, wait for someone else to do. Kind-of a stresser.

Test cycle

Easy-peasy. I wrote about that before. Basically take one estrance pill 3 times a day and 1 baby aspirin a day. CD9 blood test, CD 16 u/s and blood test. Maybe some more u/s-blood work after that but probably not if the lining looks good. Pretty easy and not too expensive. The only issue I seem to have will be remembering to take a pill 3 times a day.

Therapist

I need to make and appointment with a therapist for both Paolo and I. Once we do that the therapist will contact our clinic.

Retaining the donor/Donor Bank Screening

Ok here is where things get more difficult. I already have a donor I like and she's available. I thought it was all sewn up. Silly me. It's just the beginning.

Once we retain the donor (once we pay them $7,750) they will get the psychological screening and genetic screening underway. That should take about 2-3 weeks. If she fails those or chooses to drop out before the medical screening begins we get 100% of the money back.

Medical Screening

After those are completed my Dr. will get her medical records from her previous cycle. Then she will undergo my clinic's screening process which included:

- no tattoos or piercings in the past 12 months
- cystic fibrosis
- fragile x (can take up to 8 weeks for to get results)
- STD's
- HIV
- HEP's
- other infections diseases

If she fails any of these she's out. Forever. Even if it's a treatable STD or if it's a false positive (like the false positive they gave Mr. Peevme for Hep B a few months ago..Jack asses)

Plus I want my Dr. to look at her previous cycle very carefully. I don't know how long ago that successful cycle was. The donor is 30 so she's getting close to being too old to donate.

We get to pay for all these tests.

If she does not pass the medical screening we get 75% of our money back.

Once she passes their screening we pay the Donor's compensation (7K since she is proven).

Legal Contract

After we are ready to go we get a legal contract between the Donor and us. That should run about $1,000. The legal contract has to be completed by the time she starts stims.


Testing, Monitoring

My clinic says that all testing, screening, monitoring has to be done at their clinic. Even stupid blood tests have to be with their lab. But she lives about 2.5 hours away. I thought she could go somewhere else and just drive here for ER. This may be a problem. I would not want to do that if I were her.

I may consider switching to a clinic closer to her. It would be easier for me to do the driving especially if she's not willing to be our donor if she has to drive here for all her monitoring.


No guarantee's

So you see there are a few hurdles to get past. Things could unravel at any point in the process. Even after all that we may not end up with a baby.

For some reason I have been thinking about this as a slam dunk. More than that...a slam dunk with frozen embryos for future siblings or twins. I have been assuming I'll get two little babies out of this. I have to remember I may not even get one baby let only two.

This is all very unnerving. All of it. From start to finish there isn't one thing about this process that is easy or secure. It feels like such a crap-shoot. A really, really expensive crap shoot.