Ahhh, sweet relief. I finally have a (long, complicated) plan! My doctor wants to start me on prednisone again. He actually thinks it will work better than Cellcept which I'm OK with! Here is the regimen:

120mg every other day for 2 months
100mg every other day for 2 weeks
80mg every other day for 2 weeks
60mg every other day for 2 weeks
40mg every other day for 2.5 months

That's 6 months total, and then we'd taper a bit from 40. I will be doing 24 hour urine tests each month, and they said that in 4 months we can start trying to conceive again. We've decided to move straight to IVF because we want to have the best chance of achieving a pregnancy while my protein is ok. I called my RE to let them know. They want a written copy of our plan and then a letter from the high risk OB when it's ok to start IVF. There is so much going into this and just the paperwork takes a lot of time. I'm nervous because the RE won't help unless she gets the OK... and I'm so nervous I won't get that. I know the prednisone worked last time to a point the OB was OK with and she sent the OK letter. I want to get started so I can see changes occurring. I want to know if it works again. I mean in theory it should. It was only 6 months ago that my protein was 1700 because of prednisone. And I know I did the 3grams over 3 days protocol, but I'm wondering if, because my maintenance dose is 120mg instead of 35, this will be more effective. I need to stop worrying.. I'll find out. I have a few things to do before we start though. I have to do the 24 hour urine baseline and bloodwork next weekend and I have to see the endocrinologist... because I need INSULIN. Yes, prednisone makes your blood sugar go out of control, and the endo said that because I'm on such a high dose, she doesn't think a pill would help. So I have to see her and learn how to use the insulin pen before I can start. I'm hoping to do that next week so we can start sometime the 1st week of September but it will probably be the second.

I'm not psyched about checking my blood sugar 100 times a day and giving myself insulin shots, but it will force me to watch what I eat which I need to do to lose the 20 pounds for IVF. Also exercise helps sugar levels so I will have to do that too. I just keep telling myself it's only for 6 months. And it will be worth it if it works. I did gain weight on prednisone before but I have to lose it now. I'll just have to be extremely careful since I stopped watching what I ate after the wedding last time and that was probably most of it.

I also found a cholesterol medication I can take while TTC, so hopefully I can get that prescribed and sleep a little easier that I will have at least SOMETHING working on my cholesterol for that time. I mean I don't want to be off meds for 2 years for this process. It's not a statin, so it probably won't work as well, but anything that helps is good, and it's high-risk OB approved. I just have to be sure I can take it while taking the insulin. If not, I'll have to take a statin for a few months and then when I'm off the insulin start the Welchol.

My life is a pile of pills and needles. But I like having a life... and I'd like to create another one.. so this is what has to be done. I'm coming to peace with it, I just want to get it over with and I want it to work!!