Stims Day 10

Tonight will be my 10th dose of stims.  Almost surely my last night, as I'll then be completely out of meds, and seeing as my lead follicle was almost 16mm Saturday I'm sure I am ready to trigger tomorrow night.  I have a 9am appt tomorrow for u/s and estradiol level to make sure of this, of course. 

No matter what the outcome of this cycle, this will be my last stims injection ever.  I may have to raise a tiny glass of champagne tonight to toast this wonderful occasion!  Because I am ready to be done.  Of course I hope this cycle will have been worth it.  But if it was nothing than a fruitless effort, so be it.  At least I will be done!

Retrieval set tentatively for this Thursday.

As for how I'm feeling - feverish, bloated, crampy.  Just like last time.  

What I'm really dreading is that horrible in between time after retrieval when you wait to hear how your embryos are growing.  That's the part I'd most like to skip over this time.  Even more so than the 2ww.  

Stims Day 8

So, good monitoring appt.   My lining is 12mm and triple stripe (last time it was at 10mm at this time).  The fibroid is actually measuring smaller than last week - at like 1.6 x 1.8 cm.  He said as long as it is under 3 cm they don't really care, and it definitely is on the outside.

My follices are going nuts - 2 at 15mm, 3 at 14mm, 4 at 13mm, 2 at 12mm, several at 9-10mm. Equal between the two ovaries.
He said (and I quote), "I don't know, this is looking even better than last time somehow". SWEET! 

Estradiol level 1,036 (was 1488 at this point last time).

Dr just called with the level and said he is postponing my Monday appt to Tuesday, probable trigger Tuesday night, retrieval on Thursday.  This would give me a full 10 days of stims, just like last time.

Starting to feel uncomfortable and full, with headaches and nausea, but nothing too bad.  Fingers crossed!!!

Okay I feel better now...

My estradiol is 205...with Pipsqueak on this day it was 202.  So theoretically everything is perfect and I am stressing for nothing.

I'm just going to pretend there was no mention of a possible phantom fibroid.  Sounds like a scary  superhero.

Stims day 5

I had my day 5 monitoring appt this morning:

Right side:  8 total, largest measuring 10mm.

Left side: at least 4-5 (hard to see), largest measuring 6.9mm.   (last cycle I was just told "lots of follicles, largest measuring 9mm)

Uterus: Lining 7.2 (last cycle was 10 at this point).  She saw a "possible" fibroid measuring 2cm.  Since I JUST had a surgical hysteroscopy and no fibroid was seen I don't understand how I could have one.  I told the NP that and she kinda backtracked, saying it may just be a piece of my uterus?  WTF?  Why would a piece of my uterus look like a fibroid?  She said the Dr will review it and let me know what he thinks.  When they call with my estradiol level later today I am gonna ask more questions.  She did say worst case scenario if the fibroid grew the embryos would be frozen for later transfer.

Seriously.  Last round my uterus was so perfect.  No polyps, no fibroids.

UGH.  I am just feeling like this cycle keeps encountering speed bumps.  Next monitoring appt is this Saturday.

Baseline bf stims

Baseline u/s - lining thin, 9 follicles on the right, left ovary not visualized (damn ovary hiding behind my colon!) and estradiol is 9.  I am in menopause big time at the moment - they wanted it less than 100.  SO I am adequately suppressed.

Spent last night in the ER for this UTI.  FINALLY on macrobid after 3 days of symptoms.  Hope it helps, this is by far the worst one I've ever had!

Stims in 2 days!

3 years ago

3 years ago this month I started this blog.  Oh if I had only known what was in store for me!

Last bcp was yesterday, first monitoring appt is baseline this Thursday, start stims this Saturday.  Things are moving so much more quickly this time!!!

Another snag however, last night I started peeing blood and having classic UTI symptoms.  The nurse (and I) are assuming it's from having a cath during surgery on Friday.  I went in and gave a urine sample today and should hear back tomorrow and start on some antibiotics.

GREAT news also today...polyp was found to be benign!  No uterine cancer, thank God.  The chances were small but I know we've hit those small chances before.  

Surgery done

Surgery was easy :). Don't remember a thing. Everyone was amazing. The RE showed my dh the pictures afterward of my uterus and polyp, and promised me he will show them to me at my next appt.  

All was successful, Lupron shots start tonight at 10 units, stims start in 8 days.

I got my meds in the mail today - about $3300 worth which I think is similar to last time.  I used freedom pharmacy rather than Walgreens specialty pharm.  Potato, potahto.

Here is the requisite let's go pic:

I'm going to relax now with my Percocet haze.  Pain is similar to bad menstrual cramps and boy does the Percocet help that.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Summer colds suck

Why is that?  A cold in the summertime sucks so much more than a cold in winter.  It is just so unnatural.  Pipsqueak got it first, then I quickly followed.  Nasal congestion, runny nose, headache and body aches.  She is also trying to cut her incisors so she is just a mess.

I started out this cycle being so good - taking no ibuprofen or benadryl, just tylenol for the occasional bcp induced headache.   Now I am taking ibuprofen, Nyquil, Dayquil and afrin.  I figured since I am gettting general anesthesia Friday that these drugs are child's play.  Oh well what can you do?

I am LOVING ICLW this month!  I have been reading and commenting on so many new blogs!  It's so nice to feel that sense of community again.  xoxoxo.  I wish all of you cycling now or in the future all of the luck in the world!

-Surgery this Friday at 10:50am.  Start Lupron that evening.  Here we go!

ICLW

Welcome!  I haven't done ICLW in awhile....but I have been reading new blogs and commenting like crazy lately so I thought I might as well join in the fun!  Here's a quick synopsis of our journey so far:

We tried naturally for a year, saw an RE and were diagnosed with severe male factor infertility.  There has never been a cause found, just very low counts, motility and morphology.  We were blessedly successful with our first IVF/ICSI cycle in April 2011 and have a 19 month old daughter.  I am at the very beginning of starting our 2nd IVF cycle, am currently on bcp and aspirin, start Lupron next week. Last week at my sonohysterogram a uterine polyp was found and must be removed before proceeding.

Surgery (hysteroscopy and polypectomy under general anesthesia) is tentatively scheduled for Friday.  This is approx. 2 1/2 weeks before our estimated retrieval which the dr says is fine.  I am not exactly pleased about this road bump but have settled down tremendously thanks to all the reassurance here.  Thanks ladies!

BCP Day 1

Just took my first official meds for this cycle!  Baby aspirin and birth control.  Here we go!

CD 2 baseline appt

My baseline appt was great!  Uterine lining was thin, 7 follicles on the right, 4 follicles seen on the left. My left ovary was "pushed up" against my uterus

 and hard to visualize, the nurse practitioner thought there were probably several more she couldn't see.

I just got the call with my lab results. FSH 8.7, Estradiol 24.   I am sooooo happy with those numbers.  Estradiol should be below 60 and FSH is in the perfect range.  When I first got my FSH level drawn like 3 years ago it was similar to what it is now.  2 years ago with our first IVF cycle it was 11.  This is in the borderline range - meaning possible low ovarian reserve.  SO now I've had 2 perfect levels and 1 borderline.  They say that your level is only as good as your highest value - but knowing that my AMH level is also great leads me to believe something was up with my cycle last time - I kind of remember spotting for a few days before what I thought was CD1, so maybe it was actually like CD5 or 6 when I got my labs drawn.

The NP said, "So everything looks great so far but obviously the Dr will keep in mind your last FSH level when determining your medication dosages."  So I guess I will be on high doses of stims again.  I mean that's great since last time we were obviously successful - but also my estradiol got up to over 7000 and I felt like absolute shit.  Hmmm.  Maybe I will see if we can start slightly lower then increase as we go.  Or I could just shut the hell up and leave it to the experts.

Birth control pills and baby aspirin start this Thursday, saline sonohysterogram and trial transfer on 7/17, begin Lupron 7/26, start stims 8/3.

Retrieval is looking to take place August 14.  O.M.G.

IVF #2, appt #1 recap

My first appt for this next round of IVF was amazing!!  I really didn't know what to expect - I knew I was meeting with the NP but wasn't really sure what else was going to happen.  Here's a recap:

- She reviewed the charts from my last (obviously successful) cycle. She said I had an "excellent response", "stimulated very well" and "had a wonderful percent of mature eggs after retrieval".  Since this was only 2 years ago and I'm only 32 she thinks I will also have a good response this time.

- She reviewed a calendar with possible dates : as soon as my next cycle starts (should be 1st week of July) I call their office, then go in either CD 2, 3, or 4 for blood work and u/s.  Start bcp and aspirin CD 5 for 2-4 weeks and lupron at some point (length of time depends on their office schedule - they do their egg retrievals grouped together) - then stim for 9-10 days, followed by egg retrieval and transfer.  She estimates the 2nd week of August would be retrieval/transfer.   She assumes I will again be put on menopur and bravelle but that the RE will decide everything based on my updated labs and u/s.

- I was informed that their office has a new embryologist. It made me sad as she was the one who made Pipsqueak!!!

BUT the NP told me since the new embryologist started they are experiencing a very high success rate and almost all patients are ending up with extra embryos to freeze.  She actually held up her arm and showed me her goosebumps, saying, "it just gives me chills how many people are getting pregnant right now.  We don't know what his secret is!".  Love it!

- I told her I was still a little haunted by my fsh of 11 last time. She said it meant absolutely nothing because I obviously made several eggs.  I asked if there was anything she could check to make me feel better so I had an AMH level drawn yesterday.  She said anything above 1.0 is great, anything under 0.19 is very very bad and anything in between is ok but not great.  I've never had one drawn  -  anyone have any insight?

I guess that's it. Nothing more to be done until July.  I had a last hurrah this week - my best friend stayed with us and we drank lots of beer :-).  No more from here on out. And dear god I need start cutting down on caffeine.  I've weaned down but am still having one cup of half caf coffee and 2 diet cokes a day.  Goal is no coffee and 1 diet coke (hard core addict :-). I'm going to continue running and walking and eating well.  (This also fell to the wayside this week!). 

Here goes nothin'!