I had my 7:30 am Sunday appointment today. I was surprised to see how busy the clinic was. I suppose our reproductive cycles don't care what day of the week it is at the clinic!
At stim day 10:
Lining = 9 mm
Right ovary = 13 & 11 mm, plus 13 smalls (less than 10 mm)
Left ovary - 11, 12, 15x11 (averages 13), 10 mm, plus 7 smalls
It looks like my follicles are taking their own sweet time to grow. Hopefully that's a good sign, hopefully it means they will produce mature eggs. I will be adding my ganire.lix shots with my Meno.pur shots tomorrow morning. The want to make sure my lead follicle in my left ovary (the 15x11) does not cause my body to ovulate before retrieval.
It's good to see that my ovaries are making progress, though not very quickly. I just hope that the smaller follicles can catch up with the lead follicle. I'm also glad that my right ovary is not producing too many follicles. Hopefully that means the meds are being used to build up the ones in the left ovary. A reminder, the last time, they could not access my right ovary because it was in a "difficult" location. As far as I can tell, nothing has changed, and this probably means they will not be able to access it this time too. So, hopefully the meds are being channeled to the left ovary.
But then again, who knows? It's too hard to tell what would happen!
I have another appointment on Tuesday morning for another ultrasound. we'll see then how much they have progressed. It's starting to look like my interview on Wednesday is a go!
My BIL is arriving tonight to stay with us for a week. There will be lots of sneaking around for shots this week. We'll have to see how retrieval day works out with him in town!
Showing posts with label appointment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appointment. Show all posts
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Saga Update
Had my ultrasound and blood work this morning. Looks like my follies are lazy..... still not much action at stim day 8.
Lining = 7 mm
Left ovary = 11 mm, 10 mm, and a bunch of small 8 and 9 mms.
Right ovary = Bunch of small 8 and 9 mms.
Not too much happening yet, even on stim day 8.
Based on today's measurements, I have another appointment scheduled for Monday morning. It looks like I won't have a retrieval before Wednesday, so my interview should be fine. I also have an appointment scheduled for Wednesday at 8:45 am. That should give me enough time for my follow up appointment and make it to my interview at 10 am. So I called back Ms. Co. Recruiter to confirm my interview on Wednesday at 10 am.
Then this afternoon, the clinic called. Dr. Hopeful wants me to come in for an ultrasound on Sunday instead of Monday. I hope this does not disrupt my Wednesday plans. What sucks more is, because my appointment is on a weekend, I do not have a a choice for a time. I am automatically scheduled for a 7:30 am appointment on Sunday!
Ugh... now we'll have to see how Sunday goes!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
IVF, Here We Go Again!
This morning I went for my first baseline ultrasound for this next round of IVF. Looks like everything is "quiet", which is a good sign. Lining is 8 mm, which is considered thin, and a good thing. I took my last BCP on Tuesday night, so I may or may not get a period this time. But based on the lining, the nurse thinks I will probably have one. As for the ovaries, there are 10 small ones on the right ovary (the "difficult" one), and 12 or 14 on the left (I think, I can't remember). Nothing has changed with the right ovary, it's still high.
So, I'm ready to start my stims tomorrow.
Meno.pur: 150 IUs (2 vials) in the morning
Follis.tim: 300 IUs in the evening.
The best part of it all, I was able to get 3 boxes of Follis.tim 300 IUs samples from the clinic. Score! I really needed this because I only ordered enough to get me started. Now I'm feeling pretty good about this cycle.
In the waiting room this morning, a couple came in with their infant son. He's less than a year old as he wasn't even walking yet. I know some people have a hard time with people bringing children, especially babies in an RE clinic, but it didn't bother me too much. He was a real cutie, so I smiled and waved at him. His mum smiled and said "It does work" (meaning IVF). I said, "Is he your miracle baby?" and she said "Yes!" We starting chatting a little, and found out that her first IVF worked for her. She said before this, she would have been OK whether IVF worked for her or not. However, after having her son, she really wants to try again.
She was 39 when she did her first IVF, and she will be trying again at 41. I can't remember if she said she only had one egg, or one embryo, but it took and now she is blest with a healthy and very cute baby boy. I'm so happy for her. She gives me hope! She gave me her email so we will start communicating and maybe meet up again when she is in town (she lives 2 hours away). She is also a patient of Dr. Hopeful.
So far, things are starting off well for me.
Tomorrow, we are heading out to Michigan to see my BIL and SIL, the ones that are expecting. I'm sure they will be announcing their pregnancy then. My MIL and FIL will be there too. It will be an interesting trip, having to sneak around to give myself shots twice a day. And, I'll have my period at the same time.
Good times.
So, I'm ready to start my stims tomorrow.
Meno.pur: 150 IUs (2 vials) in the morning
Follis.tim: 300 IUs in the evening.
The best part of it all, I was able to get 3 boxes of Follis.tim 300 IUs samples from the clinic. Score! I really needed this because I only ordered enough to get me started. Now I'm feeling pretty good about this cycle.
In the waiting room this morning, a couple came in with their infant son. He's less than a year old as he wasn't even walking yet. I know some people have a hard time with people bringing children, especially babies in an RE clinic, but it didn't bother me too much. He was a real cutie, so I smiled and waved at him. His mum smiled and said "It does work" (meaning IVF). I said, "Is he your miracle baby?" and she said "Yes!" We starting chatting a little, and found out that her first IVF worked for her. She said before this, she would have been OK whether IVF worked for her or not. However, after having her son, she really wants to try again.
She was 39 when she did her first IVF, and she will be trying again at 41. I can't remember if she said she only had one egg, or one embryo, but it took and now she is blest with a healthy and very cute baby boy. I'm so happy for her. She gives me hope! She gave me her email so we will start communicating and maybe meet up again when she is in town (she lives 2 hours away). She is also a patient of Dr. Hopeful.
So far, things are starting off well for me.
Tomorrow, we are heading out to Michigan to see my BIL and SIL, the ones that are expecting. I'm sure they will be announcing their pregnancy then. My MIL and FIL will be there too. It will be an interesting trip, having to sneak around to give myself shots twice a day. And, I'll have my period at the same time.
Good times.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tick Tock
We met up with Dr. Hopeful for our post-IVF conference yesterday. Overall it was a good meeting. There wasn't anything shockingly new that I didn't expect already. Overall, Dr. Hopeful thinks the reason why this cycle failed was due to egg quality issue.
Surprise, surprise.... NOT.
Tick tock, tick tock ..... can you hear the biological clock ticking?
See this earlier post for a recap of this cycle, and some answers I was looking for at this post-IVF conference.
This is what I found out from Dr. Hopeful at our meeting:
She said when we were ready, we should take the Karotype test, and then come back for another try when the test results were in. Before we left, Babe and I decided that we would take the test anyway, so I had my blood drawn for the Karotype test before I left the clinic. Since the results won't come back for a month, it would probably be June before anything else happens.
So now we wait. Again.
Obviously, we hope the Karotype test come back normal so we can try again. If not, we will need to have a discussion about donor eggs. I don't think we will do donor eggs, but we have never even considered it or discussed it. We'll have to at least talk about it. We'll have to see how things go.
We've all heard the cliche of the biological clock ticking. Well it's ticking REALLY LOUDLY for me. With each tick, it feel like my eggs are getting crappier and crappier. With less than 4 months to my 37th birthday, it feels like a time bomb!
Surprise, surprise.... NOT.
Tick tock, tick tock ..... can you hear the biological clock ticking?
See this earlier post for a recap of this cycle, and some answers I was looking for at this post-IVF conference.
This is what I found out from Dr. Hopeful at our meeting:
- Dr. Hopeful was surprised that no one had mentioned about my right ovary being in a difficult position. It is high and posterior (behind) my uterus, or other organ. It would have required a needle to go through the uterine cavity to access it for egg retrieval. She thinks the location of the ovary will remain and will not change in the future.
- It is possible to fix the ovary but it would require surgery to fix or retrieve eggs from it. Did you know that in the past, laparoscopic surgery was used to retrieve eggs for IVF? Dr. Hopeful does not recommend surgery to fix this. She thinks that based on my body's response to the meds, I should be able to produce a decent amount of eggs in the left ovary. However, this also means that I probably will only have ONE ovary to work with in the future.
- A day-3 transfer was not considered since my embryos were not at a 7 or 8 cell stage. If there were, they would have a day-3 transfer. My embryos arrested at 2-cells and 4-cells stage on day-5.
- Assisted hatching is only done for day-3 embryo transfers, and are not done for day-5 blastocyst transfers.
- There were no issues with my Babe's sperm numbers.
- There were an increased number of vacuoles (fluid or bubbles) in my eggs/embryos, indicating that they may not be healthy (signs of post maturity or degeneration).
- ICSI could be an option in the future. However, ICSI does not help a compromised (low quality) egg. She would rather not do ICSI if there is an egg issue. Performing ICSI is performing surgery on an egg, so she would rather not do it.
- It is an option to do half ICSI and half natural fertilization, or all ICSI in the future, assuming egg quality is not a factor.
- I asked Dr. Hopeful if one year would make that much of a difference in the quality of eggs. She said no one really knows, but she doubts it.
- If we did a future cycle (which we will), we will switch our protocol and do an Antagonist protocol, meaning I won't be using any Lu.pron.
- I asked about additional testing and Dr. Hopeful suggested doing Karotype testing for me to determine if there are any issues with chromosomes. It will check for 46XX chromosomes, to see if there would be issues with chromosome imbalance in my embryos (not me). I still have to research more about this. She will test me first since she suspects the issue is with my eggs. Karotype testing is not cheap, about $900 a pop! I will have to find out if our insurance will cover at least part of it. It will take about a month for the results to come back.
- According to Dr. Hopeful, there is an 8% chance of chromosomal imbalance. The other 92% chance is egg quality, i.e. my biological clock is ticking. If the test comes back and I fall into the 8% chromosome imbalance, then she would suggest donor eggs (my Babe and I have never even discussed DEs yet) since it would mean that our embryos would arrest, fail to implant or we would miscarry. If we do not have chromosomal imbalance, then it is a matter of finding good quality eggs.
- Based on my hormone levels this cycle, it looks like I do not have diminished ovarian reserve, i.e. I still have some eggs to work with. We just have to find the good ones!
- Dr. Hopeful wants to try again. My uterus was "perfect". I responded well to the meds.
- If I wish, Dr. Hopeful would consult with one of her other RE partners about my case and see if there is something else that she missed, or something different that could be done for the next cycle.
- I will be scheduling a phone consultation with the IVF lab director to go over the outcome of this cycle. Hopefully this will give me an idea about what happened to my eggs/embryos.
She said when we were ready, we should take the Karotype test, and then come back for another try when the test results were in. Before we left, Babe and I decided that we would take the test anyway, so I had my blood drawn for the Karotype test before I left the clinic. Since the results won't come back for a month, it would probably be June before anything else happens.
So now we wait. Again.
Obviously, we hope the Karotype test come back normal so we can try again. If not, we will need to have a discussion about donor eggs. I don't think we will do donor eggs, but we have never even considered it or discussed it. We'll have to at least talk about it. We'll have to see how things go.
We've all heard the cliche of the biological clock ticking. Well it's ticking REALLY LOUDLY for me. With each tick, it feel like my eggs are getting crappier and crappier. With less than 4 months to my 37th birthday, it feels like a time bomb!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Back To The RE.... Finally!
After my IVF transfer was canceled, I tried to schedule a post-IVF conference with Dr. Hopeful, but she was on vacation until April 5th and the earliest available appointment to see her would be May 5th. But the receptionist said she would leave a message with Dr. Hopeful to see if she could squeeze in an appointment sooner.
I finally called the clinic today. I figured I'd wait a couple of days for Dr. Hopeful to catch up from being on vacation. When I called the receptionist said Dr. Hopeful had been busy with procedures since she's been back and she's probably still haven't had a chance to catch up on her messages. Okay...... so I figured I'd give her another day or so and call back. Less than half an hour later, the clinic calls back with a few options to squeeze in to see Dr. Hopeful. It pays to call and get on their case!
So now we are set for a post-IVF conference with her next week on Tuesday, April 13th.
Now, my goal is to set out a list of questions to ask Dr. Hopeful when I see her next week. Here's a high level summary of my last IVF cycle:
Some questions that I will be asking Dr. Hopeful when I see her next:
So, what else would you ask the RE if you were me?
I finally called the clinic today. I figured I'd wait a couple of days for Dr. Hopeful to catch up from being on vacation. When I called the receptionist said Dr. Hopeful had been busy with procedures since she's been back and she's probably still haven't had a chance to catch up on her messages. Okay...... so I figured I'd give her another day or so and call back. Less than half an hour later, the clinic calls back with a few options to squeeze in to see Dr. Hopeful. It pays to call and get on their case!
So now we are set for a post-IVF conference with her next week on Tuesday, April 13th.
Now, my goal is to set out a list of questions to ask Dr. Hopeful when I see her next week. Here's a high level summary of my last IVF cycle:
- I was on BCPs for 24 days, then on Lu.pron for 12 days before starting stims.
- I stimmed on Meno.pur and Follis.tim for 13 days
- At day of trigger, I had 10 mature follicles, another 9 or 10 that would potentially be matured at retrieval. Lining was excellent at 15 mm.
- At egg retrieval, found out that the right ovary was at a "difficult location", and eventually we were not able to retrieve any eggs from that right ovary.
- 8 eggs were retrieved from the left ovary, 6 were mature.
- At 2 days post retrieval, only 1 egg fertilized.
- At 3 days post retrieval, another egg fertilized. But the first embryo was only at 3-cell.
- At 4 days post retrieval, 1st embryo was only at 4-cell, and 2nd embryo had stayed at 2-cell.
- Embryo transfer was canceled since all embryos had arrested.
Some questions that I will be asking Dr. Hopeful when I see her next:
- What could have caused the right ovary to be in a "difficult location"? Why was it never mentioned to me before? (I was able to retrieve eggs from both ovaries from my previous IVF a year ago).
- What would have cause the the low fertilization rate, only 2 in a total of 6 have fertilized? Would 1 year make that much of a difference in the quality of my eggs? (My previous IVF, I had 8 out of 12 fertilized)
- What could have caused the embryos to have arrested before day 5 transfer (only at 2 and 4 cell stage)?
- Why wasn't a day-3 or day-4 transfer considered since I only had 2 eggs that fertilized?
- Should ICSI have been considered? (I think this was not considered since we did not have any issues with my Babe's sperm)
- Would you recommend any additional testing?
- What would you recommend for the next cycle? Would you be changing anything with the protocol?
So, what else would you ask the RE if you were me?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Lu.pron Day 10 Appointment
I had my appointment at the RE's office today. My little "date" with Mr. Wandy (ultrasound wand) went quite well. My body seems to be playing nice. My lining today was nice and thin at 3 mm, which is good. My ovaries were "quiet", which was also good. There were 8 follicles on each of my ovaries, which I guess is a decent number. Somehow, I thought there would be more, since at my last ultrasound on 2/9, I had 17 on the left ovary, and at least 11 on the right. I suppose we don't want too many, or risk OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) which would be bad.
So everything looks good so far. My Lu.pron dosage will be reduced to 5 units starting tomorrow, and I will start my stims (stimulation drugs) of Me.nopur and Follis.tim on Friday. This will be a fun time of side effects, I'm sure. It will be a fun trying to figure out what is the side effect of which drug!
I found out from the nurse today the with IVF, our usual calculation of menstrual CDs (cycle days) kind of gets tossed out the window. While on Lu.pron, we use "Lupron Day", as in today is Lu.pron Day 10 for me. Then when stims start, it will be considered "Stims Day" X. The age of an IVF baby would be counted from the day of egg retrieval. Totally different from non-IVF babies. The nurse also said that when we are released to a regular OB, they send the OB all the information about egg retrieval dates, etc to help figure out accurate due dates. The nurse also suggested researching an OB now and that I should also consider a midwife or doula, so I will need to start working on that.
After my meeting with the nurse and ultrasound technician, I was sent off to get my blood drawn. Of course Helga was there. She took my vial of blood without much incident, thankfully less painful than the last time. Still, she could use some work on her bedside manners. Still rough and just as crabby.
After my appointment, I ran some errands and was really tired by the time I got home. I took a nap and woke up with the worst headache ever, even though I have been faithfully wearing my Phi.ten necklace! I know I promised I wasn't going to talked about headaches anymore, but this was bad. Maybe it was a migraine, I'm not sure. I took some Tyle.nol and that seemed to help a little. I thought with being off BCPs my side effects would hopefully subside, but no such luck I guess.
I always thought my body could handle drugs really well with little or no side effects. Not so sure about that now. I'm not looking forward to the addition of Meno.pur and Follis.tim to my routine!
So everything looks good so far. My Lu.pron dosage will be reduced to 5 units starting tomorrow, and I will start my stims (stimulation drugs) of Me.nopur and Follis.tim on Friday. This will be a fun time of side effects, I'm sure. It will be a fun trying to figure out what is the side effect of which drug!
I found out from the nurse today the with IVF, our usual calculation of menstrual CDs (cycle days) kind of gets tossed out the window. While on Lu.pron, we use "Lupron Day", as in today is Lu.pron Day 10 for me. Then when stims start, it will be considered "Stims Day" X. The age of an IVF baby would be counted from the day of egg retrieval. Totally different from non-IVF babies. The nurse also said that when we are released to a regular OB, they send the OB all the information about egg retrieval dates, etc to help figure out accurate due dates. The nurse also suggested researching an OB now and that I should also consider a midwife or doula, so I will need to start working on that.
After my meeting with the nurse and ultrasound technician, I was sent off to get my blood drawn. Of course Helga was there. She took my vial of blood without much incident, thankfully less painful than the last time. Still, she could use some work on her bedside manners. Still rough and just as crabby.
After my appointment, I ran some errands and was really tired by the time I got home. I took a nap and woke up with the worst headache ever, even though I have been faithfully wearing my Phi.ten necklace! I know I promised I wasn't going to talked about headaches anymore, but this was bad. Maybe it was a migraine, I'm not sure. I took some Tyle.nol and that seemed to help a little. I thought with being off BCPs my side effects would hopefully subside, but no such luck I guess.
I always thought my body could handle drugs really well with little or no side effects. Not so sure about that now. I'm not looking forward to the addition of Meno.pur and Follis.tim to my routine!
Monday, March 1, 2010
AF and Toxic People
AF arrived this morning. Today is also the 9th day of 20 units of Lu.pron in the mornings, and 5th day after my last BCP. For some reason, I kept thinking that I would not be getting AF this time, even though the nurse specifically wrote "bleed" in my calendar on days after my last BCP. Not sure what I was thinking.
Tomorrow, I have an appointment scheduled for and ultrasound and blood work. I'm hoping that all goes well so I can start my Me.nopur and Follis.tim shots on Friday.
We just received our federal income taxes refund in the mail today. It's going directly into our bank account tomorrow!
Last night, my Babe told me that he finally told his best Buddy that we have been trying for a kid for 6 years. "Buddy" and my Babe were winter camping on Saturday with some boy scouts. The slept outside, yes in the MN winter, and were chatting till 2 in the morning. Buddy was telling him all the crap that he as dealing with his daughter's mother (Buddy had a daughter when he was in college, but did not marry his daughter's mother) over trying to have his daughter over the weekends. Buddy is now married with a 2 1/2 year old daughter. Of course they got married a few years after us, and they got pregnant about 6 months into their marriage.
Anyway, after Buddy told my Babe about all his troubles, he asked so when are you guys having kids? Since he just poured his heart out, Babe felt bad and told him yeah, we have actually been trying for 6 years, but he didn't want to get into any details. I have to say though that I think this is the first time Buddy has actually asked my Babe over the 7 plus years we have been married, this question. So at I appreciate that he is not nosy, or least didn't pry! Buddy asked if we've tried any "help". I guess Buddy and his brother T had discussed us not having kids and had talked about different kinds of treatments we could try. T is completing residency as a medical doctor and thinks he is a know-it-all. Without being real specific, my Babe just said, "we are way ahead of you!". Hopefully we won't get any more questions from Buddy or T! I don't want to go into any details!
So now, Buddy knows that we have been TTC for a while. I'm kind of worried that he will tell his wife, which I'm sure he will. See, I think if she knows, she will most probably tell a friend of ours, M. We all used to do a weekly game night where we would get together to play board games. M is one of those people my sister would call "toxic people" (I think it was an O.prah term). People that sucks to be around, and you feel worse after being around them.
M and her hubby got married young, at 19. They had an "oops baby" not long after. M is the kind of person in which everything is about her. About how smart she is, how she is the top of the class, how the world is trying to screw her over because they won't pay her the salary she thinks she deserves right out of college (it's ridiculous!) They had another "oops baby" a few years ago, and she complained about it her whole pregnancy. All she talked about was how she didn't want to be pregnant, how she didn't want another baby, how miserable her pregnancy was, how the one time they didn't use birth control they'd get pregnant; all this while we have been TTC for a few years, and around guys and women there were either not married, or pregnant. She's the kind of person that expects her husband to do everything for her and the kids. She also expects others to watch her kids when we are at game night, and lets them do whatever they want. Worse yet, she would not discipline her kids because they are "so perfect". She hates it when people tell her how to raise her kids, and then thinks they people with no kids know nothing about parenting!
Ughh! She makes my blood boil just thinking about her!
Getting back to my original point, I'm worried that Buddy or his wife will tell M about our TTC issues which I would not be surprised if they did because they are pretty good friends. We on the other hand have been avoiding M and her family in the last couple of years. I just know that if M found out about our TTC issues, she would have lots of mean things to say, and would just drive me crazy! I am still avoiding them, but it's just a matter of time before we meet again. Hopefully by then we would be pregnant. Even then, I'm sure she will have all kinds of advice to give. In a sick sort of way, I am hoping that M would say something one of these day, I'll get super pissed off and finally just tell her off!!
Of course I can't always come up with the best things to say at the most important time, and will probably come up with something really lame! Sigh......
Tomorrow, I have an appointment scheduled for and ultrasound and blood work. I'm hoping that all goes well so I can start my Me.nopur and Follis.tim shots on Friday.
We just received our federal income taxes refund in the mail today. It's going directly into our bank account tomorrow!
Last night, my Babe told me that he finally told his best Buddy that we have been trying for a kid for 6 years. "Buddy" and my Babe were winter camping on Saturday with some boy scouts. The slept outside, yes in the MN winter, and were chatting till 2 in the morning. Buddy was telling him all the crap that he as dealing with his daughter's mother (Buddy had a daughter when he was in college, but did not marry his daughter's mother) over trying to have his daughter over the weekends. Buddy is now married with a 2 1/2 year old daughter. Of course they got married a few years after us, and they got pregnant about 6 months into their marriage.
Anyway, after Buddy told my Babe about all his troubles, he asked so when are you guys having kids? Since he just poured his heart out, Babe felt bad and told him yeah, we have actually been trying for 6 years, but he didn't want to get into any details. I have to say though that I think this is the first time Buddy has actually asked my Babe over the 7 plus years we have been married, this question. So at I appreciate that he is not nosy, or least didn't pry! Buddy asked if we've tried any "help". I guess Buddy and his brother T had discussed us not having kids and had talked about different kinds of treatments we could try. T is completing residency as a medical doctor and thinks he is a know-it-all. Without being real specific, my Babe just said, "we are way ahead of you!". Hopefully we won't get any more questions from Buddy or T! I don't want to go into any details!
So now, Buddy knows that we have been TTC for a while. I'm kind of worried that he will tell his wife, which I'm sure he will. See, I think if she knows, she will most probably tell a friend of ours, M. We all used to do a weekly game night where we would get together to play board games. M is one of those people my sister would call "toxic people" (I think it was an O.prah term). People that sucks to be around, and you feel worse after being around them.
Ughh! She makes my blood boil just thinking about her!
Getting back to my original point, I'm worried that Buddy or his wife will tell M about our TTC issues which I would not be surprised if they did because they are pretty good friends. We on the other hand have been avoiding M and her family in the last couple of years. I just know that if M found out about our TTC issues, she would have lots of mean things to say, and would just drive me crazy! I am still avoiding them, but it's just a matter of time before we meet again. Hopefully by then we would be pregnant. Even then, I'm sure she will have all kinds of advice to give. In a sick sort of way, I am hoping that M would say something one of these day, I'll get super pissed off and finally just tell her off!!
Of course I can't always come up with the best things to say at the most important time, and will probably come up with something really lame! Sigh......
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
"Almost Perfect"
Here's the update on my appointment with Dr. Hopeful today.
Dr. Hopeful had Julie, the u/s technician do a vaginal u/s first. I was told the u/s would be pretty clear so if it looked 100% perfect, then we would not need to do the SIS. The thickness of the uterus lining was good, though I did not ask what the measurement was (I thought maybe 6 mm? Not sure). I have 17 follicles on the left ovary and 11, possibly more on the right. This means I a good number of follicles that could potentially produce a good number of eggs for retrieval. An excellent number of follicles overall. This whole time, I was looking at the u/s monitor, but could not make out anything other than my lining. I wish they would take some time to show me exactly what they were seeing on the screen, but I know it's not standard practice. I'm just a very curious person and like to know what I was looking at.
It turned out from the u/s view, my uterus was not 100% perfect, so Dr. Hopeful wanted to go ahead and do the SIS, just to be sure. I was starting to get worried but she assured me no need to get all worked up yet until we can be 100% sure. The u/s wand was removed, the speculum inserted (my least favorite part!), the cervix was cleaned out and the catheter was inserted. She then injected the saline solution through the catheter. I experienced some cramping, but not bad though.
Julie reinserted the u/s wand and the image of my uterus showed up on the u/s monitor again. This time I could see an almond-like shaped cavity on the screen similar to the one below. The image on the left is before, and the one on the right is after the injection of the saline solution into the uterine cavity. The images below are not of my actual sonogram, just something I found off the internet. I wish I had asked for a copy of the image, but didn't.
According to Dr. Hopeful, the uterus looked good. Though not 100%, I am about "99.5% perfect" as there were some "fluff" in my uterus. I guess it is normal when you are on birth control pills, which can cause that.
I guess I also have an "easy cervix". Sounds kinda naughty don't you think? Having an easy cervix is good, makes it easy for the embryo transfer.
Somewhere in all the action, the trial transfer took place. Not sure where, but I guess it was all rolled into one. I had to wear a pad before I left the clinic as I leaked a little after. I'm still a little cramped here and there, but not bad. Felt a lot like when I did my IUIs.
So I'm all set for IVF. "Almost Perfect" is good enough for me.
Next steps: Shots class and nurses consult next Tuesday, a week from now.
**Note to self: I should bring my camera with me to future appointments, just in case. As I was getting dressed after the procedure, I stared at the u/s monitor and wished I had my camera with me so I could have taken a picture of the images from the SIS that will still displayed on the monitor.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Appointment Tomorrow
I have an appointment with Dr. Hopeful tomorrow. She will be doing a SIS (saline infused sonogram) to check out my uterus, to make sure there are no polyps or other irregularities before we start IVF in the next few weeks. The last time I had it checked in August, the doctor said it was "perfect". I have undergone 3 hysteroscopies in 2005 and 2008 to remove polyps which can and sometimes do return. If you are the praying kind, please pray that this sonogram will go well, and that Dr. Hopeful will not find anything unwanted there. If they do, I may need to have surgery again to remove any polyps before we can proceed with IVF.
We will also be doing a trial transfer at this appointment tomorrow. According to Dr. Goo.gle, this procedure consists of a pelvic exam and placement of a tiny catheter inside the uterus to determine the direction and length of the uterine cavity. It's supposed to minimize trauma to the uterine lining during the embryo transfer. I will do a post after the appointment tomorrow. Today also marks my 1 week of taking BCPs.
Last night, my Babe and I went over to my MIL and FIL's to watch the Super Bowl, and to take advantage of their Tur.bo Tax software. We found out that my Babe had forgotten to update his deductions on his paycheck after I stopped working last year. He had paid too much taxes, so now we will be getting some money back from both state and federal. I'm happy as the money will go directly into paying for part of the IVF cycle!
I have decided that I will not tell my Mom about our upcoming IVF cycle. After our last incident with trust issues about telling others, it is best not to tell her until it is a success. My sister agrees that Mom does not need to know or worry, and it will give me more peace about it too.
One last thing, if you have not already signed up for my first giveaway, make sure you do. The last day to sign up is Wednesday!
We will also be doing a trial transfer at this appointment tomorrow. According to Dr. Goo.gle, this procedure consists of a pelvic exam and placement of a tiny catheter inside the uterus to determine the direction and length of the uterine cavity. It's supposed to minimize trauma to the uterine lining during the embryo transfer. I will do a post after the appointment tomorrow. Today also marks my 1 week of taking BCPs.
Last night, my Babe and I went over to my MIL and FIL's to watch the Super Bowl, and to take advantage of their Tur.bo Tax software. We found out that my Babe had forgotten to update his deductions on his paycheck after I stopped working last year. He had paid too much taxes, so now we will be getting some money back from both state and federal. I'm happy as the money will go directly into paying for part of the IVF cycle!
I have decided that I will not tell my Mom about our upcoming IVF cycle. After our last incident with trust issues about telling others, it is best not to tell her until it is a success. My sister agrees that Mom does not need to know or worry, and it will give me more peace about it too.
One last thing, if you have not already signed up for my first giveaway, make sure you do. The last day to sign up is Wednesday!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Done Waiting, For Now
So tomorrow's the big day. We are meeting with our RE at 9:30 am to discuss our next steps. I'm a little nervous but excited. I've been waiting for a while for us to start IVF, so it's great that it's finally here. I think I have a fairly good list of questions to ask the RE, though I wish I had covered more in the book I was trying to re-read before the appointment. I'm hoping that I can get a good night's sleep tonight. Insomnia is torture, though I think the so called "decaf" coffee at 4 p.m. yesterday did not help one bit with falling asleep last night. I think it was dawn by the time I fell asleep.
Today I visited my good friend E. E and I have known each other since our college days and share a love for food and sushi. E's daughter L is 2, and is also my goddaughter. E and her husband B has known about our TTC struggles for a while. Knowing that we have our appointment with the RE tomorrow, E&B spent some time praying with me for our appointment. It is really comforting to have people pray for us. Even though they may not know exactly what we are going through or how we are feeling, it is uplifting to know that someone is thinking about us and taking time to pray on our behalf. Sometimes it is nice just to be able to physically talk about it to someone, other than DH. After praying B said he saw a vision of 2010, the "2" representing the two of us (DH and I), and the "1" representing our baby. He thinks 2010 to is the year for us! And if it takes a little longer, we may have a baby in 2011, the "11" representing twins! That put a smile on my face =)
And then tonight, I called my high school friend SM in Indiana. Her baby Paul just turned one today so I called to wish him a happy birthday. SM had also struggled with TTC for a few years. I think they had MFI due to diabetes and also suffered through a miscarriage. Miraculously, they conceived naturally and now have a happy baby boy. They too have had many people pray for them, and truly believe in the power of prayer. I don't think SM went through any fertility treatments prior to conceiving naturally, so I was explaining to her what the IVF process is like. She said "You know, I have a very good feeling about this. It's going to happen very soon".
So I am feeling pretty optimistic right now. I will do an update tomorrow once I know more after the appointment.
Today I visited my good friend E. E and I have known each other since our college days and share a love for food and sushi. E's daughter L is 2, and is also my goddaughter. E and her husband B has known about our TTC struggles for a while. Knowing that we have our appointment with the RE tomorrow, E&B spent some time praying with me for our appointment. It is really comforting to have people pray for us. Even though they may not know exactly what we are going through or how we are feeling, it is uplifting to know that someone is thinking about us and taking time to pray on our behalf. Sometimes it is nice just to be able to physically talk about it to someone, other than DH. After praying B said he saw a vision of 2010, the "2" representing the two of us (DH and I), and the "1" representing our baby. He thinks 2010 to is the year for us! And if it takes a little longer, we may have a baby in 2011, the "11" representing twins! That put a smile on my face =)
And then tonight, I called my high school friend SM in Indiana. Her baby Paul just turned one today so I called to wish him a happy birthday. SM had also struggled with TTC for a few years. I think they had MFI due to diabetes and also suffered through a miscarriage. Miraculously, they conceived naturally and now have a happy baby boy. They too have had many people pray for them, and truly believe in the power of prayer. I don't think SM went through any fertility treatments prior to conceiving naturally, so I was explaining to her what the IVF process is like. She said "You know, I have a very good feeling about this. It's going to happen very soon".
So I am feeling pretty optimistic right now. I will do an update tomorrow once I know more after the appointment.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Final 2009 Trip to Target: PG Test + OPK + Wine Coolers!
I just got home from Target, after my last trip to the Y for the year (I have to confess I have not gone enough!). Among other things, I picked up the following:
Interesting combination, huh? I figured I'd use at least one of these tonight.
AF was/is still supposed to show up today. I woke up in the wee hours this morning with a major cramp in my abdomen. It felt like your regular AF cramps, but it was constant and much more intense, painful actually. I felt like my uterus was about to fall out, but yet it was hanging tightly for dear life. It was so intense I felt almost sick to my stomach and had to sit on the toilet for a few minutes. For a while I thought I was going to have to go potty, but nothing (sorry TMI?). The intense cramping finally went away (thankfully), and I went back to bed. I don't think I've ever felt anything like this before. I put on a pad just in case I had a major AF blowout. I'd hate to throw away a good pair of panties! Since then, no sign of AF.
I'm getting ready to head out to church for a nice fancy dinner and show, and then to ring in the new year with a Christian band at church. If AF does not show up by the time I'm home, I think I'll POAS. If it's a BFN, I'll have myself a wine cooler or two. No need to waste a good reason to have a drink since it is New Year's eve and all.
On another note, I reconfirmed my appointment with the RE for January 13th today. Exactly 2 weeks to our appointment! So looking forward to that!
Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and may 2010 bring you peace, joy, happiness and the desires of your hearts!!
- PG Test
- OPK
- Sangria wine coolers
Interesting combination, huh? I figured I'd use at least one of these tonight.
AF was/is still supposed to show up today. I woke up in the wee hours this morning with a major cramp in my abdomen. It felt like your regular AF cramps, but it was constant and much more intense, painful actually. I felt like my uterus was about to fall out, but yet it was hanging tightly for dear life. It was so intense I felt almost sick to my stomach and had to sit on the toilet for a few minutes. For a while I thought I was going to have to go potty, but nothing (sorry TMI?). The intense cramping finally went away (thankfully), and I went back to bed. I don't think I've ever felt anything like this before. I put on a pad just in case I had a major AF blowout. I'd hate to throw away a good pair of panties! Since then, no sign of AF.
I'm getting ready to head out to church for a nice fancy dinner and show, and then to ring in the new year with a Christian band at church. If AF does not show up by the time I'm home, I think I'll POAS. If it's a BFN, I'll have myself a wine cooler or two. No need to waste a good reason to have a drink since it is New Year's eve and all.
On another note, I reconfirmed my appointment with the RE for January 13th today. Exactly 2 weeks to our appointment! So looking forward to that!
Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and may 2010 bring you peace, joy, happiness and the desires of your hearts!!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Countdown to RE Appointment
It is almost exactly one month to our next appointment with the RE on January 13th. The last time we were at the clinic was February 2008. We were supposed to have a conference with our RE in April 2008, but we cancelled our appointment. We knew that the next step would be to pursue IVF and at that point, DH was not ready for that. So we decided to take some time off from fertility treatments. Well it will be almost 2 years by the time we go back in January. How time flies!
I have not had much to update about our TTC efforts since I started the blog last month, but infertililty has always been on my mind. For now, I am trying to prep myself both mentally and emotionally for the first appointment. A few big things:
I have not had much to update about our TTC efforts since I started the blog last month, but infertililty has always been on my mind. For now, I am trying to prep myself both mentally and emotionally for the first appointment. A few big things:
- Biggest concern: Cost of IVF!
- Biggest question: Should we do the Shared Risk program if we qualify? Will we qualify? For those not familiar with the Shared Risk program, it is like an "insurance". For our clinic, you pay a set price of about $24K for up to 3 fresh cycles of IVF, and 3 frozen embryo transfers. If you don't bring home a baby after that, you can get refunded up to 70% of the cost back. However this does not include the cost of fertility meds that can cost $3K - $5K per cycle. But if you get pregnant, and bring home a baby on the first try, you pay the full amount (I'll probably blog about this more in a different post).
- Biggest fear: Intramuscular shots! I have no issues doing sub-Q shots, but I am terrified of having to do IM shots. Not sure if I can do it myself, or if I will need DH to do those!
- Biggest to do list: Get a list of questions to ask the RE at the appointment.
So if you have gone through IVF, what are your opinions on the above?
Saturday, November 21, 2009
A New Journey
Well it is time to take a new journey again. After almost 6 years of trying for a baby and a few breaks in between, my hubby and I have decided to start on a new journey of TTC (trying to conceive) again.
I have decided that after years of reading thousands of other people's TTC blogs, it is time for me to start my own. I realized that blogging is possibly the best way for me to share my valleys and peaks with others who has, is, or will be going on the "fun" journey of TTC. It is also the best way for me to journal and remember this journey. After 6 years, I can honestly say I can't remember a lot of the details and wish I kept a better record of all the experiences. All the doctor appointments, blood draws, fertility drugs, etc. Even going over copies of my medical record is hard for me to decipher exactly what happened.
I have decided that after years of reading thousands of other people's TTC blogs, it is time for me to start my own. I realized that blogging is possibly the best way for me to share my valleys and peaks with others who has, is, or will be going on the "fun" journey of TTC. It is also the best way for me to journal and remember this journey. After 6 years, I can honestly say I can't remember a lot of the details and wish I kept a better record of all the experiences. All the doctor appointments, blood draws, fertility drugs, etc. Even going over copies of my medical record is hard for me to decipher exactly what happened.
So, from now on, I'm going to blog about it!
Today, I finally called the fertility clinic to set up an appointment to see RE after being away from the clinic for almost 2 years. My next appointment is set for Jan 13th 2010. It has been a tough decision for us to make this appointment.
Today, I finally called the fertility clinic to set up an appointment to see RE after being away from the clinic for almost 2 years. My next appointment is set for Jan 13th 2010. It has been a tough decision for us to make this appointment.
I will post a brief history of my journey, but that will be for another post! As of today, I am officially blogging!
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