I had my 2nd monitoring appointment this morning (day 5 of stimming). It went well. The regular nurses were at a conference today and the ultrasound tech had the day off, so I got my information a little differently than usual. The ultrasound tech was very nice and actually printed out the pictures to the left for me. The top one shows one of the follicles (I think) in my left ovary and lists all of the follicle measurements from today’s scan. The nurse also wrote out the sizes below. In case it is too small for you to read there were 6 follicles above 10mm that measured: 13.5, 13.5, 11, 11, 11 & 10.5. There were also 4 follicles that were under 9mm. The bottom one shows the lining of my uterus/endometrium which measured 6.4 mm today.
Last cycle my 2nd monitoring took place on day 6 of stimming (a day later than I am today), and for comparison, I had 5 follicles above 9mm that measured: 14, 12, 12, 10 & 9. There were also an additional 6 follicles that were under 9mm. My endometrium that day was 8.5 mm. So it appears that the higher dose of Follistim and the addition of Repronex this time around is helping my follicles to both develop more quickly and more consistently. Last time the 14mm one from day 6 ended up “pulling ahead” to 19.5 two days later and, as you may recall, we almost had to convert the cycle from IVF to an Intrauterine insemination (IUI) because of it. Because the nurses were not there today, I was not able to get the blood work results from Wednesday’s appointment. So I am not able to compare my estrogen level from Wednesday to that of my 2nd monitoring appointment last cycle.
I was told by the woman who did my blood work today to make an appointment for Monday, for Monitoring #3, at the Orland Park office and that if when our RE reviews the numbers from today he thinks I need to come in earlier (such as Sunday morning), for monitoring (which would be done at the River North office), or if he thinks I should go to River North on Monday instead, I will receive a phone call to let us know. Based on my own reviewing of my numbers at this point in our IVF cycle #2 versus where we were at around this time last cycle, I do think it is possible that one of those two scenarios may play out, as he has said that he wants to retrieve my eggs earlier this time and they clearly seem to be developing faster. Also, you may recall from last cycle, that follicles do not develop at a consistent/linear rate, they typically start out slow and then spike up towards the end. So that would also support the possibility that I might be triggering before Tuesday evening, or at least be monitored again before Monday (on Sunday, which could lead to a potential triggering that evening and ER Tuesday) or monitored at River North on Monday (which would indicate a possible trigger on Monday evening with ER Wednesday).
All that said, we still plan to leave for Michigan this afternoon. Our RE’s office has my cell phone number and we can always check our messages on our voicemail at home from the road and/or Michigan and if need be we will just come home earlier than we planned (Saturday night or Sunday morning) if I end up having an appointment on Sunday morning.
One other interesting occurrence from this morning was that when I brought Sean to his Summer Arts Camp, his teacher had not shown up. The receptionist at the arts center made some calls and couldn’t determine why, but was very apologetic and said we would receive a credit for the missed session. At this point is was 9:45 a.m. (his camp is suppose to run from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.) and my appointment was schedule for 10:00 a.m. Our RE’s office is about 1/2 hour away. Since my blood work needs to be sent out of our RE’s office by 11:00 a.m., I had no choice but to take Sean with me.
Until now Bob and I have gone out of our way not to bring Sean to any of our IVF related Dr. appointments for two reasons: 1) because we know it can be hard for women/couples with no children struggling from primary infertility to see a child at the office (it is strongly discouraged at our RE’s office to bring children) and 2) because we have chosen not to discuss the infertility treatment we are doing with Sean, as we think he is too young to understand and don’t want to get his hopes up for a sibling that may or may not happen. Anyway, it turned out not to be a big deal, as by 10:15 a.m. most of the women who need monitoring have already come and gone, especially those who work full time and don’t have children.
Sean was a very good boy and I did my best to explain what was going on, with out getting into the purpose of why we were there. I told him that I had a Dr. appointment and they would be checking my tummy with a special computer and taking some of my blood with a needle, sort of like a shot. That explanation seemed to work for him overall, but at one point, when I was lying on the table having my internal ultrasound he said to me “any babies in there yet?!” I was surprised by his comment, as I hadn’t said anything to lead him to believe that the appointment had anything to do with that! As usual, when he makes comments/asks questions like that, I tried to reply honestly, but not encourage the conversation to continue for too long. So I said “no, but I wish there was!” After I said that, he didn’t say anything else about the subject. Go figure…
If I can figure out how to use Bob’s Blackberry to post on here, if we get a phone call telling us anything different than to keep my Monday appointment at the Orland Park office, I will try to let you all know. Otherwise, at the latest I will check-in after my next monitoring appointment on Monday or whenever/wherever it ends up being! I look forward to a fun and relaxing weekend with Bob, Sean, Bob’s uncle, one of Bob’s high school friends at Bob’s parents’ and uncle’s summer home in Michigan! I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend whatever you do! Thank you for your continued support, thoughts and prayers!
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