My follicles are growing, and mostly on schedule. The average size on my right size is 12-15mm per follicle, except for on the left side- where they are all around 9mm in size. My Estrogen level is 873, which they are pleased with, but the RE has requested that I stay on the same dosage of medication. I was actually scheduled to finish my stims tomorrow, May 25th at night. SURPRISE! NOPE! The Doctor has decided that they want me to complete another three days of medications before my trigger shot to help continue to grow my lining and my under-achieving follicles. This...
I had an appointment on Friday as part of my monitoring while taking my stims. They monitor my Estradiol (Estrogen – E2) levels to make sure that my follicles are developing on track. On Day 3, my E2 level was 156. My doctors were very pleased with that number, and told me to keep taking my meds at the same dose that I have been and that I would need to come in on Sunday for an ultrasound as well as another blood test. We currently have 15 follicles that they can see, ranging from 5mm-10.6mm. Here are : Right:...
So, my period decided to be even more of a jerk and elected not to show up when it was expected, and because of this, I was not able to start my stims on Sunday as planned. I had an ultrasound and appointment on Monday, where the nurses and Dr. Cass were both disheartened that I had not started yet. My lining was 11mm thick, which was apparently indicative that my period should have been starting at any minute. They scheduled me for a follow-up appointment for today (5/18/16), in the event that I did not get my period on...
Well, maybe not all the things, but enough things. Dean and I had an appointment this morning to specifically learn how to do my injections. We also picked up my medication – there is a LOT of it. I will post pictures of the medications later this evening. The most useful thing that they provided us with this VERY HANDY chart that you can see below: What you are seeing here is that I am beginning my ovarian stimulation (stims) on 5/15 – providing that I get my period. If I do not get my period, then I cannot begin...
Today was my follow-up appointment, after almost 3 weeks on birth control. Dean and I arrived at the appointment this morning for my ultrasound to see if the cyst has resolved. Well… The cyst is gone! Everything looked “perfect” according to Dr. Cass. I take birth control for another 2 days, and then on Friday we have another appointment. I will have another ultrasound, and then Dean and I are both going to learn how to administer the injections. Then on Sunday, I begin the stims. Everything is moving much more quickly now! We also pay the full price for our...
JUST KIDDING. Turns out, the spotting that I am having is definitely not my cycle. Fun, right? So, after not experiencing my normal period, I became concerned and decided to call the RE’s office. I was concerned that I had missed my window of opportunity for the blood work to begin the birth control medication. They scheduled me first thing this morning, and told me they were going to do an ultrasound. Dr. Cass was not in today, so I was seen by a different Doctor. Hooray for another instance of, “Hi, nice to meet you! Here’s my vagina.” I...
Disclaimer: If you do not want to read about my menstrual cycle, bail now. It’s all down hill from here. My cycle is ALWAYS predictable. It may vary within one or two days, but it is always predictable with the same set of symptoms and nearly the same length -27 days. It has only ever varied by a few days when I was very ill, when I was pregnant (obviously), and post surgery to remove the ectopic. Other than that – 26-28 days. Waiting for this period to start I have dealt with: Extreme stress from training my four temps in...
On the ride home tonight, Dean received a call on his cell phone from a Richmond, VA number. Normally, we would not answer a call from an unknown number, but in this case he figured he would answer it in the off chance it was them. It was! There are still a few results pending for some of the more rare diseases (ranging in odds of 1:30,000 and 1: 1,000,000) but what we know so far is – we are not carriers for any of the major diseases. HOWEVER. We both did test positive for a disorder called hemochromatosis. If you’re thinking that this...
In case anyone has forgotten, and I haven’t said it in a while – IVF is really, really, really expensive. Even more so, because our insurance does not cover any of the prerequisites that we needed to have done to proceed with IVF. In one week, between our consult, Dean’s semenanalysis and my sonohysterogram, we’ve spent $1,230 of our modest personal savings. We knew from the beginning that we would need to get some sort of financing, because we (like most people) dont have $17,200 just lying around. Oh, I’m not sure if I mentioned this – in order to begin treatment, we have...
Hi everyone, Today Dean and I went in for my Sonohysterogram, as well as submitting Dean’s sample for his semen analysis. We cant help but joke and wonder if anyone has been in a rush to the IVF clinic with their semen sample and been pulled over. “Sorry for speeding officer, but I needed to get to the RE in under and hour to make sure that my sperm doesn’t degrade. It’s riding shotgun, right now.” I digress. Let’s get back to the serious stuff: I went into the procedure room and was told that the sonohysterogram would be similar to...
