Why Turkey for IVF and not just stay here in the States?

It's a very good question and I would be asking the same question if I were you as well.  When we found out that the second vasectomy reversal failed we were devastated, but immediately started looking into IVF because we knew it was our ONLY way to conceive a biological child.  At the time of my researching, I was reading a magazine called,  Conceive. I came across an article about traveling to do IVF for a lot cheaper and with results as good, if not better than the states.  The article talked about a well renowned doctor, Dr. Arici, from the states that had ran the IVF clinic at Yale University, and was recently asked a few years back by John Hopkins ( a huge hospital chain here in the the States) to head up the IVF department at their new state of the art hospital they were opening up in Istanbul. Since  starting his practice in Turkey, Dr. Arici's success rates are 64% and the cost of the procedures are less than half of what we would pay here. I talked to Glen and at first he was like, I don't really think I want to go to some strange country for a medical procedure, but I had him read the article and I started talking to him about how this could be a wonderful opportunity for us to get that vacation we were going to have to pass up on and get IVF at the same time. I told him that IVF is a gamble no matter what, and there ARE NO 100% GUARANTEES no matter what clinic you go to!  I told him we could take the gamble here in our townhome in Dallas with nothing to distract us from stressing, where the success rates are the same, and IVF costs TWICE as much...OR....We could go to ISTANBUL, TURKEY, for a trip and experience of a life time!!!!  I also said that if God forbid the IVF doesn't work in Turkey, then we would have at least gotten the most awesome trip ever, compared to if it failed in the states and we would would have nothing to show for all the money we invested except a lot of heartache!


So...for $6,300 we are getting airfare to Istanbul, Turkey, 20 nights lodging in a condo onsite to the hospital with free breakfast daily, and all the IVF procedures we need to make it successful for us. Can you believe that?!!?  And to think the cheapest IVF in our area with comparable success rates that we could find for our situation with the sperm issue was going to cost us over $12,000!  


So it's a Destination Baby Vacation for us!  We leave in exactly 2 weeks and we are SO pumped!!  It's nice to have something other than the IVF to focus on.  I've been reading as many tour guide books as possible and beginning to get a feel of the city and all the sites we want to see.  I'm not even going to think about all the medical procedures and so forth.  I'm just going to focus on the trip and hopefully when we fly back to the states I'll be knocked up!  LOL  Of course, we won't know if I'm pregnant until the end of Sept.  Now those two weeks of waiting from the time they transfer the embryos to when I take the pregnancy, is when I am going to need to find some MAJOR distractions.  I'm going to start planning and filling up my calendar now!  

Legally Married in the States

So Glen and I are now legally married in the states!  Yipeee!!  We got married in Jamaica last summer and had a Jamaican marriage license but we never made it legal here in the states.  We decided to put it off until now, so that I could easily get on his insurance, since this is the last month that I will be covered from my job.  It's super easy to put someone on your insurance when there is a life change like, MARRIAGE.  So that's why we did it now. He should be calling his HR person in the next day or two to have me added.

So it's 2 two weeks and 6 days until we leave!  OMG!  The time is flying!!!  We have been trying our best to get everything squared away.  I've already made a list of everything we need to pack, so that's good.  We found a camera and universal plug converter and ordered both from Amazon so that should be coming soon.  We've been trying to make sure that all things bills and so forth are taken care of before we leave.  It's crazy that we will be out of the country for 20 days!  In fact, 21!  We leave Sept. 1 and return Sept 21.  We can't wait!  It's going to be a blast!  My next post will be about why we chose to do IVF in Turkey and not here in the states! So stay tuned

I hope you all are doing well!  I'm off to make a few phones calls!

Operation Converter and Digital Camera

So tonight, Glen and I are looking up on Amazon,Walmart, and you name it's site for a digital camera that is worth a flip for under $100 (if it's possible) and a universal converter so his laptop doesn't get fried while we are in Turkey.  I have a digital camera, it's from 2004, but  it sucks the life out of batteries and there is no way of recharging it or the batteries.  So....we are looking for a camera that will do the job, but not eat batteries, and is affordable because this IVF stuff sure ain't cheap. We did find a converter on Amazon that we think will do the trick and got good reviews!!!  So one down, and one to go!!! I mentioned Craig's list to him, but he said he's scared of buying anything off that site! Cracks me up because we have no problem selling or giving away our stuff on that site. I guess he doesn't think the stuff we sell or give away is scary!  LOL  ( I love you sweetie if you are reading this)

 It was a lazy weekend for the two of us, my back has been hurting me again, so we were trying to take it easy so it can heal up before Turkey. (Please say a little prayer for my back, thanks!)  Tomorrow I'm going to hit the ground running (well maybe walking since the back is an issue, LOL) with making lists of what we need to pack and buy, etc. I can't believe it's only 3 weeks away!!!  We are so excited!!!  Also, in the next couple of days I will make some informational posts about our situation with IVF and why Turkey for those who are unfamiliar with the topic and even why we chose to go clear across the world to do this procedure.

Also coming soon...look for little boxes on the side of this blog that have abbreviations and their meanings. This will be very helpful in the future for translation of my blogs. The blog of an  infertility chick can become quite cryptic at times!

Hope you all are well!  Take care and have a great day!!!