Another wait

You left me waiting here a long, long time ago.
Don't keep me standing here, lead me to your door.

We finally went to the male infertility specialist at the University of Pennsylvania hospital on Friday. We waited almost 6 months to get in. We hopped the train early in the morning and were right on time for our appointment.

The doctor(Dr. H) was very friendly and thoughtful. He carefully went through all of hubby's medical records and asked questions. He basically told us that the urologist did things the wrong way. First of all, Dr S, the urologist, should have been testing and retesting hubby's testosterone before he put hubby on any medication. Dr. S should never have gone off of one low test. Secondly, Dr. S should have never have put hubby on testosterone replacement therapy knowing we were trying to conceive. And in particular, he shouldn't have put hubby on testopel since not much is really known about it yet.

At first, Dr H didn't think hubby had hypogonadism, but when hubby said that he has been getting more hair on his body with the testosterone replacement therapy, it changed his mind. Dr H explained that you won't have any more hair than you are genetically programmed to have with testosterone therapy. Basically, he said he thinks hubby went 99% of the way through puberty, but his body for some reason didn't complete that last 1%. Thus the reason he is finally getting hair on his chest. So hubby probably does have hypogonadism but a more mild form of it.

So what is next? Hubby has to go off the testosterone replacement therapy that he was on to maintain testosterone levels. After being off of this for 8 weeks, hubby has to go get a blood test for 2 months. This is to establish what his baseline levels are...something that the urologist should have done a long time ago. Then, in that second month, Dr H wants hubby to get a follow-up SA to see where that stands. Finally, we will return for an appointment on October 28. The doctor speculates that at that time, he will have enough information to start hubby on HCG injections. It will basically trigger his own body to produce testosterone and sperm. It will be a 2 to 3 time a week self-injection. Dr H said he will teach him how to do it. When asked what success rates are like, Dr H said he is pretty confident that he can restore Hubby's fertility to what it was...approximately 40 million.

So, now we are once again waiting...but at least we have a plan for hubby's treatments. Hubby looked so relieved. I think he thought we would hear that there was no hope.

Unfortunately, as the doctor predicted, stopping the testosterone has made hubby feel pretty crummy over the last 3 days. He is dizzy and light-headed. That is what he felt when he was starting the testosterone so it makes sense. Hopefully, he'll be feeling better soon. And I have to do something about myself soon...a visit to the gyno or an RE...leaning towards the RE. Of course every time I think acupuncture isn't working, I see some progress. I ovulated on Day 17 again this month. We'll see what the luteal phase is like.