Michael's Results are IN . . .

 . . . and they are amazing.  :)

After trying to reach OHSU for a week via emails and phone calls, I decided to just let it go for a couple of days since I wasn't hearing back and it was making me upset.  (The financial counselor did call on Thursday and again yesterday, but I was at work and though I was trying to have my phone with me at all times, I still ended up missing her calls.  Now I have her direct number so I feel confident we'll get the financial stuff squared away this coming week.)

Just after 9PM last night, my phone started ringing.  I ran to see who it was and didn't recognize the number, but answered it anyway.  It was Dr. Patton!  I was pretty floored he was calling that late and told him that I hoped he wasn't still at work on a Friday night.  :)  I guess he was trying to get caught up on some work from home.  I was so happy to finally get the results that all my unhappiness at not receiving the results in a timely manner pretty much vanished.  Then when he gave me the results I was even happier  because they were outstanding.


He had the results from Michael's test on May 10th of course, but I guess since he was calling from home and didn't have my chart with him, he only had an old test from 2008 done at OHSU with which to compare numbers.  I have a copy of his test from early October of 2010 (which is pretty much identical to his results from the 2008 test), and so I checked it against the most recent result.

(Drum roll) And the results of Michael's semen analysis are:

2008/2010 test:

• 5 million count (20 is considered "normal" by western medical standards)
• 52% motility (refers to how well the sperm move; more than 50% is normal)
• 19% morphology (refers to the shape of the sperm; 30% and above is normal)

May 2011 test (after approx 4 months on the FertilAid supplement)

• 16 million count (Wow!!)
• 86% motility (Amazing!)
• 29% morphology (Fabulous!)

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how all of those values have increased quite dramatically, and of course I attribute it to the FertilAid supplement.  There could have been help from the Chinese herbs that Jelena prescribed for him a few months ago, but the FertilAid is what he has taken most consistently.  And even then, he has taken less than the recommended dosage.  Three capsules a day, divided with meals is what the directions on the bottle recommend, but since Michael doesn't normally eat breakfast, he has just been taking a pill at lunch and again at dinner.  I told him he should try having a banana at breakfast time and taking another pill then--who knows what his numbers could be when we actually are going through the true IVF cycle in August?  :)

I have crested another hill on this roller coaster ride, and am feeling the breeze on my face and the sun on my shoulders.  Thank goodness for the "ups," or the downs would just be too hard to take.