Day 9 Update

This morning felt like a "productive" day.  I have noticed a few people who seem to be going through the same process. We show up on the same days for appointments, are at the lab at the same time, etc.  This morning I was so glad when one of the ladies "broke the ice".  I saw her at the lab and again shortly after arriving at the doctor's office.  She said, "Am I following you?!"  We joked for a minute about being on the same schedule.  I think we both wanted to ask one another, like are you doing IVF too?  How is it going? etc. We were able to get to a point where we figured out we were both doing IVF. Her retrieval is suppose to be this coming Thursday.  She had an English accent and was so kind.  I introduced myself and shook her hand as the nurse called me back.  Her name was not one I have heard before, I was going to look it up and see if I could figure out where she was from.  I think she said Rasheen. Anyway, I was happy to make a sort of IVF friend. We will see if our paths cross again. 

The doctor said that yesterday my E2 was 657 or 697 (I didn't catch the middle number and didn't bother to clarify since it's a sort of ambiguous number at this point).  Almost all of my follicles were in the double digits today! We had lots of 10s and 11s.  We want to see 20s though, so I still have a way to go.  I am feeling pressure in my abdomen which is making me have to use the ladies room constantly and feel a more intense pressure when I do.  I can't imaging what the next few days will feel like.  My lining is continuing to look very nice. I stayed on the higher dose of medication today. The most exciting part of today was that he said he thinks my retrieval will be this weekend. He said there is a slight chance of having a Thursday or Friday retrieval and that most likely it'd be Saturday or Sunday.  He also said a Monday or Tuesday transfer was a slight chance.  I am very happy to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I need a couple days without shots at this point.  I'm starting to have an issue with the feeling of the needle going through my skin, not the puncture, but the needle actually sliding in.  Isn't that strange? I didn't get an E2 number today, but it had to be higher.  Of course I go back tomorrow.

This evening I drove home from work and realized I left the extra meds they gave me in the refrigerator at work.  The dear hubby jumped in the car with me and we drove back to my office, which is at least a 15 minute drive. We got up to the door and the dear hubby pointed out I needed my keys, not his to get in the door. My keys were at home. So guess what, we drove home, got my keys and drove back to my office. I already had a headache and that just made me crazier! I also had a conference call for work which I had to then take while I was in the middle of shots and driving home.  I also realized my excessive trips to and from work meant I needed to fill up with gas.  I was thankful the hubby put Kahlua pork in the crock pot today!  Otherwise it would have been a fast food, order out, I'm not cooking sort of evening.  All in the name of IVF! I did find out on my conference call that the first weekend in April I get to fly to Seattle! Fun.

Day 8 Update

This morning at my ultrasound the follicles had grown some more.  There appear to be about 11 on my right ovary and some more on the left.  My left ovary is still my "Phantom Ovary" as it is still difficult to see at times.  He is hoping as things grow, my phantom ovary shifts over so it is easier when they retrieve eggs.  The largest follicle I saw him measure was a 14, it needs to be around a 20 and I need more than one that size.  I had many more that hit the double digits today.  I need most of them to be probably twice as large now.  My lining is looking good.  Hopefully tomorrow we go in and are really seeing the growth we need to have a successful cycle. So far my headaches are not as bad today, which is really nice.  I am starting to feel pressure in my lower back. I am guessing it is my ovaries adding pressure to my abdomen.  Keep praying for growth!
Last night I got to hang out with my dear sister-in-law, niece, and mother-in-law over dinner! We had Chili's.  Afterword we played board games with her nieces and nephews. So much fun! A night out was just what I needed to keep my mind off everything.
Happy Super Bowl! We are having queso and buffalo wings. Have fun and be safe today!

P.S. Day 7 Update

Doctor just called, my E2 today was just a 326, so it did not go up very much. We are increasing meds today and may "switch medications up" tomorrow. I think at this point I can just pray for growth and starting to respond better to medications.

Day 7 Update

This morning brought another set of labs and ultrasound.  I found out my E2 yesterday was 216.  To put this in perspective, this is the level you would expect on day 3.  The good news is that my doctor seemed pretty optimistic.  He said there is the potential to have 20 follicles one each ovary.  To be clear with everyone reading this, each follicle is a potential egg.  If I have 20 on each ovary or a total of 40, that will be way too many and I will over stimulate.  However, this is a huge investment in every area of our lives and only having 4 or 5 follicles mature is nerve racking.  Just because we have to watch to see if they mature and make it to the next stage in development.  A small number harvested could greatly decrease the odds of having some embryos to put back in my uterus.  Anyway, we are keeping my dose of Follistim high and I go back tomorrow.  They might raise my dose again tomorrow depending on what my labs from today show.  It's still too early to tell when I might have a retrieval, hopefully the next few days are more telling.

Day 6 Update & Work Today

Today was another ultrasound and set of labs.  I don't know what my lab results were.  The doctor closes his office at 1pm on Fridays and I know they would've gotten labs just before closing.  I was in a meeting at work, so didn't get the office called.  I figured since I am going back tomorrow morning I could just ask then.  They work so hard and through the weekends that I didn't want to call just to ask for my lab results right before they left for the day.  My ultrasound seemed fine.  He said again there was lots of potential.  He kept me on a higher dose of Follistim.  He also thought that it was going to take some higher doses of medicine to get my follicles stimulated, but then they would go crazy and we would be backing off medicine as quickly as possible.  I have started having headaches.  I know I am drinking plenty of water, so I am guessing it's the medication I am on.  I also woke up in the middle of the night to tell the dear hubby it smelled like onions.  Really, our bedroom doesn't smell like onions, I think my sense of smell is just "off". I'm curious to see what's going on in the morning. 
At work today I had a meeting that was really good and then a series of great phone calls.  One phone call was from the person hiring for a promotion I applied for back in the beginning of December.  It was the nicest rejection phone call I have ever had in my life! She said she was reaching out to me personally because she so enjoyed interviewing me and wanted to help me shine in our division.  She said I was very talented and she thought I had the potential for a promotion in my future, this just wasn't the right timing.  Right before talking to her I received a phone call that I was selected to be on a task force at work.  This is pretty cool because there was a lot of competition.  I have co-workers who applied and were passed up a few years and a row.  This was my first time applying and out of our 12 states, I snagged one of two openings!  I don't get a pay raise for it, but it is an excellent opportunity to prepare myself for a promotion!  I shared this news with the lady who called to discuss the other promotion with me and she said she had really advocated for me to get this opportunity.  She felt it would get my name out there a little more and set me up nicely for a bigger and better career! I felt so good.  I also felt valued and was so honored to get such personal phone calls.  Finally, another phone call this afternoon was with a mom who is dedicating her three year old's birthday to fundraising for our event! I was super excited talking to her and was able to make one heck of a sell! I felt like I was having the best day at work ever.  I can't wait to see what the future holds, besides the plane trip I now get to make in April! I will be flying to either Phoenix or Seattle. Yay!

Day 5 Update

This morning was another ultrasound and set of labs.  I didn't sleep super well last night.  I woke up around 3:30 this morning and had to go to the bathroom.  I could not go back to sleep after.  I thought maybe it was close enough to when I needed to wake up for the day so decided to check my phone, that's when I found out it was a little after 4.  I tried so hard to go back to sleep and felt like I finally drifted off around 6, who knows, maybe it was earlier.  It felt like forever.  I woke up around 6:50 to get ready to drive over to the doctor's office and get labs in before my 8:15 appointment. 

The ladies in the lab are starting to recognize me and get that I will be seeing them a lot.  They are very nice and got me in so quickly today.  I have to sign a new privacy agreement every time I have a blood draw, which is comical to me.  Too bad they aren't electronic. I am going to have killed a tree signing this privacy statement by the time all is said and done. At the doctor's office there were more women than usual waiting.  I wondered if they were all doing IVF like me.  It's interesting to see how diverse the group is, all goes to prove you can't "spot" who might have fertility problems and who won't. 

Anyway, in my ultrasound the doctor measured a number of follicles.  I think tomorrow I am going to try and count how many he is measuring.  He said they are maturing at different rates, which is okay since I have PCOS.  I guess if they all were maturing super fast it would not be ideal.  I mentioned that my pelvis felt heavier.  He said the follicles had definitely grown, but we still want them to be two to three times larger than they are now!  He increased the dose on my Follistim, left my Menopur the same, and added a third shot to my cocktail.  I am now adding in Ganirelix which is a day ahead of what was on my original calendar.  I think this is sort of a good sign, because if you remember the Ganirelix prevents ovulation.  I must have some follicles getting ready to ovulate since we are suppressing the ability to with another shot.  The nurse called just a bit ago and said my E2 (estrogen) level was 124 today.  This just confirmed they were going to increase my Follistim dose to get everything growing a little more.

I go back in the morning for labs and an ultrasound.  I flexed out of work this afternoon to work on reading for my literature review.  I'll be honest though, I really want to take a nap! Oh, and I tried giving myself a shot in the thigh yesterday. That was a little bit painful.  I asked the nurse if I could do them all in my stomach if I just rotated where and she said I could, thank God!  For now I am just trying to stay hydrated to make my labs as easy as possible to obtain and praying for my follicles to grow.

Day 3 Update

Today was day 3 of shots.  Our office was closed today due to "extreme cold".  It made me laugh.  It was in the negatives.  I have seen a wind chill of -65 in Montana. Here it is with a high of 1 and a low of -24 with wind chill and we close up shop.  Although I will say people don't plug their cars in here, so if you don't have a garage it's tricky to get the car started sometimes. I get the schools closing, there are so many children who don't live in homes with reliable transportation and it's not a super normal thing here to be THAT cold, so parents aren't prepared. Anyway, I thought some of you would get a kick out of our office closing due to "extreme cold". I did not get a day off though, I still went in to the office and worked.  I had an event this evening to prepare for and in case you are curious, it went fantastic!

Anyway, this morning I drove to the lab and then doctor's office. At the ultrasound the doctor could see a number of follicles growing, but it was hard to see.  He thought we might get the most information out of my lab results. He referred to my ovaries as possibly being, "sleeping giants".  Basically with my diagnosis of the poly cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) they are being very careful to monitor me for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).  OHSS could make me very sick.  Anyway, the good news is I am no where close to that.  The flip side of that coin is that I need to be stimming a little more than I am.  My E2 levels came in at 86.  Which I feel like is a low number.  They were going to reduce the amount of one of the drugs today, the Follistim, but I am keeping the same does and don't go back in for another round of labs or ultrasound until Thursday.  I feel like my prayers are a little mixed, I want to pray for my follicles to be stimulate, but not too much.  So, I decided my prayer is going to be for my follicles to grow appropriately. 

Since I had an event at work today, I had to do my shots in a public bathroom!  I washed up good and was really careful with everything.  The bathroom didn't have a main door to close, so people walking by could see what I was doing.  It was so strange.   Anyway, I did it, so I was happy about that.  For now I am just going to keep coasting along in this crazy process. Just wanted to post an update in this crazy IVF road trip.