I skipped over Stirrup Appointments 3 and 4 were on Wednesday and Friday of last week, when I reported my follicles. Appointments on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were numbers 5, 6, and 7. You know, the fertility center is surprisingly busy on the weekend - who knew?
#3 : Wednesday : 11 follicles, estrogen at 229
#4 : Friday : 13 follicles, estrogen at 622
#5 : Saturday : 14 follicles, estrogen at 727
#6 : Sunday : 15 follicles, estrogen at 1468 (!)
#7 : Monday : 16 follicles, estrogen at 1813
Monday was also the day of our trigger - scheduled for 10 PM that night. I had a bit of a breakdown at the doctor's office that day, because it felt like such an important point in the process, and I was confused. I had run out of Bravelle, but I was supposed to take 300 IU (4 vials) - which I was told I could get from the pharmacy at the hospital. When I got there to pick it up, they only had three vials, which is what my Rx was written for anyway. Enter confusion, since this contradicted what the nurse had told me the previous day. The pharmacist insisted that I should just wait 90 minutes for a courier to deliver more Bravelle, and while I was standing there, his colleague sold another person some Bravelle. I was confused, angry, frustrated, and upset - so we headed back up to the doctor's office to try to get some answers.
Enter sweet nurse Allison. God bless her. She took me to an exam room, sat me down, and listed to me explain what had happened. And she got it - she understood why I was so frustrated. She suggested that we go get a cup of coffee while we waited for that morning's lab results, at which point, she would immediately ask one of the doctors on staff what my final stim dosages should be. By then, the Bravelle should have arrived as well. Thank god for her. They did add more Bravelle - 300 IU in the morning, and another 300 IU in the evening. I can't imagine what kind of tailspin I would have entered into if we had left the hospital with one dose, just to learn that we had to go back for another.
Allison also told us that our trigger was scheduled for 10:00 that night - on the nose - and she gave us our instructions for retrieval day, which would be Wednesday. This was really happening, and although it wasn't easy getting there, we were finally there.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
11 is for losers. I'm feeling 13!
Cycle Day 12. Day 8 of stimulants. One more time - ultrasound and bloodwork.
Same ultrasound tech, but this time she's finished The Hunger Games, so she wants more book recommendations from me. I told her to read Divergent. She was not willing to give me as much information this morning - just told me that my follicles looked "juicy." I'll take it.
The nurse called a few hours later to let me know my test results. Estrogen, which started out Monday at 50.6, and rose to 229 on Wednesday, is now sitting pretty at 622! Talk about an increase! I'm really thrilled about that.
My lovely 11 embryos have taken on a couple of pals, to bring my grand total for today to 13 - still just five on the right, and eight on the left. Yet another ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow...
Same ultrasound tech, but this time she's finished The Hunger Games, so she wants more book recommendations from me. I told her to read Divergent. She was not willing to give me as much information this morning - just told me that my follicles looked "juicy." I'll take it.
The nurse called a few hours later to let me know my test results. Estrogen, which started out Monday at 50.6, and rose to 229 on Wednesday, is now sitting pretty at 622! Talk about an increase! I'm really thrilled about that.
My lovely 11 embryos have taken on a couple of pals, to bring my grand total for today to 13 - still just five on the right, and eight on the left. Yet another ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow...
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
And just like that, 11 is my lucky number.
Cycle Day 10. Day 6 of stimulants. I went in for blood work and an ultrasound.
The ultrasound tech wanted to talk about The Hunger Games, which I'm usually totally down with, but this morning I really only wanted to talk about what she was seeing on the screen. I didn't know if she would say, but when I asked how everything was looking, she replied "Good. I see six on this side...and five on that side." There were more follicles too small to measure, but to potentially have 11 of measuring size? I felt good.
Then the nurse called, and let me know that my estrogen was up from 50.6 to 229! Such a relief. She also confirmed 11 follicles, with 5 on the right and 6 on the left. After being disappointed and worried on Monday, I'm so happy to know that my ovaries are functioning like they're supposed to in this cycle. 11 seems like a great number - not so many that hyperstimulation is a concern, but enough that hopefully we'll be able to have some really good quality embryos at the end of this.
I'm headed back for an ultrasound and more blood work on Friday. Let's keep up the good work, ovaries!
The ultrasound tech wanted to talk about The Hunger Games, which I'm usually totally down with, but this morning I really only wanted to talk about what she was seeing on the screen. I didn't know if she would say, but when I asked how everything was looking, she replied "Good. I see six on this side...and five on that side." There were more follicles too small to measure, but to potentially have 11 of measuring size? I felt good.
Then the nurse called, and let me know that my estrogen was up from 50.6 to 229! Such a relief. She also confirmed 11 follicles, with 5 on the right and 6 on the left. After being disappointed and worried on Monday, I'm so happy to know that my ovaries are functioning like they're supposed to in this cycle. 11 seems like a great number - not so many that hyperstimulation is a concern, but enough that hopefully we'll be able to have some really good quality embryos at the end of this.
I'm headed back for an ultrasound and more blood work on Friday. Let's keep up the good work, ovaries!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Day Four of Stimulants
So, I've been injecting 300 IU (4 vials) of Bravelle and 75 IU (1 vial) of Menopur every evening, in addition to 10 units of Lupron every morning.
This morning, we headed over to the doctor's office so that they could run labs on my blood - see how my hormone levels are progressing. The nurse called this afternoon, and said, "Everything's fine - your estrogen level is 50.6" But, she also told me to increase my dosage of Bravelle. After tonight, I start injecting 225 IU (3 vials) of Bravelle in the morning and in the evening - in addition to the Lupron and the Menopur.
So, I'm nervous that I'm not responding well. Google, usually my BFF, has done me wrong in this case. All I read are terrifying stories of low estrogen levels and cancelled cycles. It's early in the cycle, and the chances that they can boost my estrogen (and therefore my follicles) are good. But it still makes me nervous. I really need to calm down.
This morning, we headed over to the doctor's office so that they could run labs on my blood - see how my hormone levels are progressing. The nurse called this afternoon, and said, "Everything's fine - your estrogen level is 50.6" But, she also told me to increase my dosage of Bravelle. After tonight, I start injecting 225 IU (3 vials) of Bravelle in the morning and in the evening - in addition to the Lupron and the Menopur.
So, I'm nervous that I'm not responding well. Google, usually my BFF, has done me wrong in this case. All I read are terrifying stories of low estrogen levels and cancelled cycles. It's early in the cycle, and the chances that they can boost my estrogen (and therefore my follicles) are good. But it still makes me nervous. I really need to calm down.
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