MC mentioned (nothing graphic or emotional)
I MCed over the weekend and being me the best way to cope was to start researching my next cycle. I dreaded the search for embryos. It is harder for me because of my situation. (hubby's age is past the cut off for the embryo adoption agencies) I know there are many others who do not like the homestudies or don't qualify because of age, marital status, sexual orientation etc but can't afford a fresh cycle here in the US so I thought I would pass the stuff I found on because it can be very confusing for those who are doing it the first time. Part of this is donor embryos and part is with donor eggs but I figure the goal we are all chasing is a healthy baby. I hope putting in the donor egg stuff doesn't offend anyone.
For reference the cycle I just did in the US cost which was not covered by my insurance, only the proceedure was tax deductable:
$5,000 to the RE
$ 500 for legal fees
$ 100 expenses involved in finding embryos (phone calls etc)
$ 500 travel costs for the transfer
(various other costs for meds and other expenses that are unavoidable no matter which route you take)
Two embryos were transfered and they were high quality but I felt very pressured because there was the risk that if I didn't do the FET immediately I would lose the embryos to someone else. (I lost my first set because I had to have a fibroid removed) Because I had to rush I had the proceedure at a time that was not the best which could have contributed to my MC. Still for a US proceedure I think I really was very fortunate in costs and ease of finding embryos.
Here are the costs for my fresh cycle that will be happening in September.
I contacted Petra mailto:petra.kucerova@crmzlin.cz at the Clinic For Reproductive Medicine and Gynacology in Zlin Czech Republic (the English version of the website is crmzlin.cz/en/page/100.introductory-page/ ) and here are the projected costs for a fresh cycle with donor eggs / donor sperm
$5003.36 For the proceedure (This includes donor eggs, donor sperm, meds for the egg donor, freezing of left over embryos for future use etc pretty much the works) Meds for you are extra but they were with my donor proceedure as well and you can bring them back from Europe for far less. The reason this is so cheap is because of the exchange rate which is 20 Chech dollars for 1 US dollar. The standard of care sounds pretty fantastic.
$1800 for airplane tickets both ways for hubby and myself
$ 500 for rooms food etc while there (remember that is a lot of money there so I'll be eating well )
$200 for passports for hubby and myself
So that is $7500 total for a fresh cycle which should leave extra embies for additional cycles. That is pretty competitive with my donor cycle price and when one considers the huge improvement in the odds of conception (50-60% vs 25% for donor cycle) Costs for the second cycle are around $1300 so with food, a place to stay and airplane tickets each trip back will be $3000 which sure beats the cost of my donor cycle here and it is ALL tax deductable.
The wait is not horrible. Three months for a donor. You can contact Petra for details about a place to stay, travel etc. Her English is good (just some minor syntax errors like changing word order) and she replies quickly. There are services that charge $2500 to organize your stay for you but you really don't need it. Make flash cards with simple requests (Taxi, American Embassy, you hotel's address, food etc) and you will be fine. Also you can do the tourist thing if you want to but since we will be doing DE/DS and we need to be home quickly for our business we will be cutting the trip to just a few days. Those who want to use hubby's sperm need to plan on a 10 day stay so being a tourist might be a little bit more logical for them.
So that is Plan B
Here is Plan C, the cheapest way to get a baby that I can find.
The clinic is called Reprofit and they are also in Czech. They do donor embryos for 1000 Euros or about $1300 US. Air and food costs are about the same so you are way cheaper than in the US. The cost of the cycle is about $1000 less than my cycle here in the US. The odds do drop down to the 25% mark because you are using frozen material but they are all from donor sperm / donor egg so you know they are from young fertile people which does improve the odds somewhat.
To go with them contact mailto:kopecna@reprofit.cz the wait for donor embies is 2-5 months and 11 months for donor eggs but they also are "Medical Tourist Friendly" and help English speaking patients.
Well that is it. I don't know if it will do anyone any good but hopefully someone might find themselves a little closer to 3am feedings. 