Saturday 12 January 2013

Hanging in there

Today was my second monitoring appointment after 5 days of stims.  Follicle-wise things are a little better.  I've still got the two on the left (at 13mm and 11mm now), and a lone contender has finally shown up on the right (at 10mm).  The nurse said there's still lots of smaller ones that may join in.  I was actually pretty happy with these results, as the follicle growth looks to be nice and even and there's no dominant follicle taking off way ahead of the others this time around.  Now I just have to hope some other follicles show up to party!

My mood was also boosted when I got my estrogen levels back.  Right now they're sitting at 965 (262 US), which is more than triple what they were two days ago.  I was told they like to see the E2 numbers double, so at least I'm exceeding expectations in one area!  I'm hoping this means that there's lots of follicles waiting in the wings (my clinic doesn't bother to chart them unless they're over 10mm) and that we'll see even more at the next monitoring on Monday.  I also got the go-ahead to start Orgalutron (Ganerelix) today to stop ovulation, since my biggest follicle is over 12mm.

I want to thank all of you guys for your support and thoughtful comments as I slog through this second IVF.  Along with my new approach to infertility, I really think that having this blog is helping a lot.  I get to write out my feelings and thoughts and frustrations instead of keeping them inside and stewing over them, and then I get support and encouragement from a bunch of awesome ladies who know exactly what I'm going through.  While I don't think I'll ever be a full-on optimist, overall I definitely have been feeling a lot less down and negative even though things aren't going exactly as planned. 

M and I haven't talked about the topic of what we want to do if we only get those three follicles to grow.  No one at the clinic has mentioned it yet either, but I suspect they'll offer to convert me to an IUI again if we don't get more follicles.  However, I don't think there's any point in doing that and I'd really like to see what would happen once they retrieve and ICSI my eggs.  I haven't gone into detail about it yet (mostly because I don't really understand it) but M's also got some mild male factor stuff going on so I kind of feel like another IUI would just be wasting our time and all those drugs.  If we only get three eggs, we only get three eggs.  I picked my blog title for a reason!

18 comments:

  1. I know of a case with success with only two. Woman in her 40s, donor eggs initially recommended. she wanted to try, RE recommended cancelling when there were only two acceptable follicles, she wanted an attempt for retrieval. Both fertilized and were implanted and she has twins. Disclaimer: not typical, but shows it can happen. Great hearing about your E2 level, hopefully that will be like the 'evite reminder' to get more follicles into the party. There's a whole lot of fun in your ovaries!

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  2. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

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  3. Absolutly! It only takes one! See you are almost an optimist already :-) and I concur, my blog has been helping me process my emotions and I have been blown away by the support ive received from the cyberspace community! Wishing you good luck on this cycle and thanks for visiting my blog!

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  4. So glad to hear better news today. I really hope you get to go through with the cycle. Even if it is only 3 eggs, there is the chance for 3 embryos and you just need one of them to stick. I think it's a good sign they haven't mentioned the possibility of not going through with it. Do they have a minimum number of follicles they want to see in order to go through with retrieval?

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    1. Not as far as I know. I guess I'll find out...

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  5. I could not agree more. go big go home. icsi them as you will get much more infor than an iui. i know lots of stories with fewer eggs who get preggo. you know ahead of time which is half the battle. some think they have lots of eggs and then get none! you are strong

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  6. I couldn't agree more about the blogging community. It's so great to have a place to express our fears and get positive reinforcement from others that fully understand. I really hope you have a few more eggs that join in the race! I agree - skip the iui and ICSI those eggs! Good luck!

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  7. Glad to hear your E2 is increasing to well! Yay!

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  8. You sound like you're in a really good place. I'm glad you're getting lots of support from this community--I know it helps my mental health! I hope the rising E2 is a sign of good things to come!

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  9. New follower to your blog. Looks like I picked an exciting time to start reading. Good luck on stims and you are definitely right, it only takes one!

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  10. Omg you're on that Orgalutron drug!! Whenever I see that on the standard protocol forms they fill out at our clinic, I always mistakenly read it as Orangutan. Hahaha. Btw, I totally agree with you about sticking to IVF, regardless of how many eggs you end up with -- there are so many issues that could be happening with your tubes or your hubby's sperm or whatever, and you really just want to avoid as many road blocks as possible. I would bet that you get more eggs out of this round, though -- still time left!! Go, follies, go!

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  11. Such great news about your E2 levels! And yes, we are here to support you every step of the way. Breathing, cringing, and hoping right along side you.

    See- aren't you glad you came out of the blog closet now? I told you so :)

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    1. Yes, I'm totally glad. One time I'm not sorry to hear "I told you so"! :)

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