IVF or Laparoscopic surgery to fix tube?

violeta

Hi there!
I am writing a few lines to vent/get some support from all of you. I feel devastated and hopeless. What should I do?
I am 38 with an antral follicle count of 4 and AMH of .4. My FSH is 7.5, though, and I olvulate regularly every 28 days and have 5 day, normal periods. On top of that, I have a blocked tube and my husband has a zero sperm count, so we are using a donor. It's been a lot of bad news in a few months! I feel that I've been crying for months now, and living a monastic life with acupuncture and fertility diet.
So my doctor was waiting for me to ovulate on my left side(left tube is open), but I have ovulated on the right for the last 3 months. I was on Clomid. She is switching me to Gonal F (my plan covered them!) to see if my left side responds.
If my left side responds, this will be our track. But I am terrified that my left side is not responding to meds. What if it simply doesn't respond? My blocked tube is cutting my chances by 50%!
She suggested getting laparoscopic surgery to fix it. But my insurance doesn't cover it. It would cost me $10,000-$15,000 out of pocket, maybe even more. My doctor thought it wasn't worth it. probably implying IVF would be a better investment.
We are still waiting to see my response to injectables. However, I am very worried.
My question is, with an antral follicle count of 4, am I even a candidate for IVF? Would IVF be effective?
And is my money better spent on the IVF or the sugery? The IVF may be more effective, but it is only 1 attempt. The sugery opens up the door to many attempts via IUI, which is what we are doing now.
Looking forward to your words of wisdom.
All my love and baby dust to all of you. May your journey be successful and short!
Violeta

maria2

I'm no doctor...but I feel your pain...so i wanted to respond...and I did look online a bit. BUT i encourage you to talk with your RE. I also have a blocked tube (left though). I felt very discouraged and upset, but you know what, it doesn't matter when you do IVF! I know your numbers are low (but not out, it looks like they're borderline)...and FSH is good! So don't feel too discouraged. I just started my IVF journey and I'm glad I tried IVF...yes it costs $15K, but worth it if at the end, I have a baby! Good luck!!!

tal970

I had a blocked tube on my right side. My doctor wouldn't even do an IUI before he performed the lap because he was worried about a tubal pregnancy. I did allot of research on that and most doctor's don't mind so long as one side is working. I was lucky my insurance covered the procedure, but I had to pay 20% of the costs out of pocket. My hospital bill was around $15K, that's what insurance paid. I also had to pay the doctor who did the procedure and the doctor who put you under. If your comfortable doing the IUI's with one tube open I would decide how many you want to try. At that point if it doesn't work if I were in your shoes I would do IVF. If you have good follicles you will have a chance of freezing some eggs increasing your number of attempts.