When I first read today's prompt, "If your insurance covered infertility treatments at 100%, unlimited attempts - what would you try and for how long?" I immediately thought, "IVF, as many times as it took!"
After a while of thinking about this topic, however, I've changed my answer. Of course, if I had unlimited infertility coverage, I'd go to IVF in a heartbeat. I have no moral qualms about it, and I'm not scared of needles. If it came down to that, there would be no question.
The real question that I have about unlimited coverage is how long would I try. The quote "insanity is doing the same thing over but expecting different results" is applicable here, I think. It's hard to say, never having to face IVF yet, but I think I would continue to do IVF as long as there was the chance of a different result. I believe that negative cycles, while extremely hard to deal with, give both the patient and the doctor a chance to learn. Learn how the body reacts, learn that maybe just one more day of stims was needed, learn that one drug works better than another. Even if I had multiple negative IVF cycles, as long as we were learning things that could help us get to a child, it would be worth it.
However, once we were doing IVF cycles that we weren't learning from, I'd stop. If it became obvious that there was no way for me to have a biological child, then I would much rather spend that time and money on adoption, egg/sperm donation or surrogacy.
It's really hard to say how far I'd go if infertility was covered indefinitely. Not having to go through some of the more invasive procedures like IUI and IVF yet, it's hard to say how I would react, emotionally and physically. Of course, there's my relationship with Keegan to consider. I would stop if cycling was putting too much of a strain on my marriage. I'd much rather be together with him than alone raising a baby.
This question definitely made me think, and come to the conclusion that I'm somewhat glad infertility isn't indefinitely covered. While I would absolutely love the monetary help and the chance of trying IUI or IVF if needed without having to think of selling a kidney on the black market, having to spend the money forces Keegan and I to sit down and talk about every test and procedure. We make these choices as a couple and I think that if we had unlimited chances, we'd continue to cycle almost without thinking, just until we got lucky. While having to make these choices is extremely difficult, and I'm afraid that not having coverage could mean that we never grow our family, it makes us take this journey seriously and make the best choices for us as a family of two.
So, what would you do? If you had indefinite infertility coverage, how far would you go?
Thank you my love for always considering me. You are always there to support me and I will always support you.
ReplyDeleteI will continue this journey as long as we can continue to support it emotionally and monetarily. Before too long I believe our efforts will be successful and we will not need to reach any limit.
I love you and I always will.
Isn't this the ultimate question? It's so good to consider it long before you need to act on it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love that you husband comments on your blog. Cute.
I would definitely love unlimited coverage. I think that we would consider all those factors regardless, just because of the emotional hardship. As long as we still had a chance of a positive pregnancy, I think we would give it as many takes as we could handle. However, in my case, I didn't have the eggs so it wouldn't have mattered anyway. I'm not sure insurance covers egg donation.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Em, love that your husband comments here as well :)