Alright, after a decently stressful week full of tough decisions to be made, we have made a large one. We are going ahead with IVF when we get back from Hawaii (which we leave ONE WEEK from today!) So, we met with Dr. P on Tuesday and he was very clear that he wanted to discuss the Sjogren's with my rheumy to talk about the specific drugs needed to keep my immune system at bay/if we needed to still do the steroid and intrallipid along with the Planquenil, which is the anti-malaria drug that is used to treat Sjogren's. Dr. P said his main concern was heart block for the baby. As was ours. Obviously he's not going to put us in a situation that would be bad. I do trust him. He's not interested in using me as research. He really does want to get us our baby. I got a call from my Rheum on Tuesday afternoon (dr P wasted no time calling him! I appreciate that) and he said that after talking with Dr. P, they discussed what each of their plans are, Dr. P to get us the baby, Dr. F (Rheum) for keeping me healthy, and they agreed to start me on the Plaquenil ASAP as it takes a few weeks to really start working. I was waiting to hear from Dr. P as to what research he had done and if IVF was in our best interest. We ended up emailing on Friday and here's what transpired: I asked about the risk of heart block, etc and he said, "Less than 1-2% and you only have one marker. So, I really don't think the risk is going to be much. And, we are taking precautions, so I think it would be quite low. If the baby's heart beat is found to be slow, then you get started on a steroid. You would be followed along by a high risk OB, but I don't think you should have big problems. Dr. P" Of course there's no guarantee...hence why the doc talk of "I think" and "I don't think" is all over that. Now, I had mentioned before my concern about taking all these drugs while pregnant. I told Dr P. that in our consult. And he was very honest with me. He said, "I totally hear that and understand. I'm not trying to disregard your concern but you have nothing to be worried about. The drugs you would take would be completely safe." Ok. I mean, at some point I need to relinquish control and trust. I guess...
Truthfully, I feel good about this decision now. Call me Ms. Cleo, but I just knew there was something else going on under there and now that we know and are taking precautions against it I feel so much better. I will be considered high risk...which I would have been anyway because of the 4 miscarriages...but now with Sjogren's they're going to take me seriously ;) I'm not sure if Dr. M is a high risk OB and if I can't see him I'll be sad, but obviously the OB I feel comfortable with right now isn't the priority, seeing an OB that deals with high risk cases all the time is. I can build a relationship with anyone...I don't do "acquaintances" :)
The other thing that's good about being diagnosed before starting IVF is that often times women get diagnosed after delivery (either because baby has heart block or because they literally can't get out of bed afterward due to joint pain, etc) and they have a really terrible time shortly after delivering, but I'm ahead of the game, as I started the Plaquenil so that should keep those symptoms at bay.
In lighter news, the Plaquenil hasn't made me sick at all. It can often cause severe nausea and other stomach complications but I feel really great actually. It's funny, (as per my first post, my nose and sinuses are ALWAYS dry. Like, painfully dry. When I went to visit Nicole in Denver I could barely bathe because my skin and hair was so dry and I was putting Vaseline up my nose like it was my job) the other day at work I was sitting at my desk and I sniffled and wiped my nose and I was astounded because my nose was running! Guess these pills are gonna do their thing...now to clear up my skin shit...any day now ;)
So, we leave a week from today and are going to have a kick ass time. Lots of relaxing and enjoying ourselves and come back and get this show on the road! I'm actually excited now!
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