ChezPerky

I had bloodwork drawn and an ultrasound done this morning. My beautiful 14.7mm follicle is now 16mm. Lining is 8.9. Doctor wanted one more day and then have me back tomorrow to check before probably triggering tomorrow night.

Except I can’t come in on Saturdays, which the tech remembered and pointed out. I wasn’t planning to say anything about not coming in on Saturday, I figured I’d work it out with my nurse when she called with my E2 and LH levels and instructions.

If I absolutely had to have an IUI (or in the case of IVF: retrieval or transfer) on a Saturday, I’d do it. There’s a hotel within walking distance, and the clinic knows how to handle patients who have to come in on Friday to show ID and sign paperwork if necessary. But for a monitoring appointment, my Rav, while willing to say I *could* go if there were no way around it, doesn’t love the idea (and neither do I. It’s a lot of trouble for not a lot of gain). This is my fifth IUI cycle. My body is pretty predictable.

Fortunately, the doctor agrees that it’s not entirely necessary (though possibly preferable). After he gets a look at the E2/LH levels, he’ll confirm, but his suspicion is that we’ll give that beauty of a follicle another day to ripen before it hatches so that it’s around 18mm when it’s released. So that means no more monitoring appointments, but a trigger tomorrow night and an IUI Monday.

I would have preferred a Sunday IUI, but I can live with Monday. Can’t be too picky, after all. Plus with my mother out of town, I don’t know what we’d do with J if my husband and I both needed to be at Shady Hell on Sunday (though I suppose he could go and come back and then I could go, but I’d be cutting it really close for my appointment if we did that)

This is the fastest cycle on record for me. Triggering on Day 11, if that’s what happens, is unprecedented. My previous IUI was on Day 16, which was already super-early for me (but it worked, so I’m not complaining). I’m all for this cycle being over, though… the discomfort on my right side has turned into quite considerable pain. Not debilitating, obviously, but enough to make me want it to go away.

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I had bloodwork drawn and an ultrasound done this morning. My beautiful 14.7mm follicle is now 16mm. Lining is 8.9. Doctor wanted one more day and then have me back tomorrow to check before probably triggering tomorrow night.

Except I can't come in on Saturdays, which the tech remembered and pointed out. I wasn't planning to say anything about not coming in on Saturday, I figured I'd work it out with my nurse when she called with my E2 and LH levels and instructions.

If I absolutely had to have an IUI (or in the case of IVF: retrieval or transfer) on a Saturday, I'd do it. There's a hotel within walking distance, and the clinic knows how to handle patients who have to come in on Friday to show ID and sign paperwork if necessary. But for a monitoring appointment, my Rav, while willing to say I *could* go if there were no way around it, doesn't love the idea (and neither do I. It's a lot of trouble for not a lot of gain). This is my fifth IUI cycle. My body is pretty predictable.

Fortunately, the doctor agrees that it's not entirely necessary (though possibly preferable). After he gets a look at the E2/LH levels, he'll confirm, but his suspicion is that we'll give that beauty of a follicle another day to ripen before it hatches so that it's around 18mm when it's released. So that means no more monitoring appointments, but a trigger tomorrow night and an IUI Monday.

I would have preferred a Sunday IUI, but I can live with Monday. Can't be too picky, after all. Plus with my mother out of town, I don't know what we'd do with J if my husband and I both needed to be at Shady Hell on Sunday (though I suppose he could go and come back and then I could go, but I'd be cutting it really close for my appointment if we did that)

This is the fastest cycle on record for me. Triggering on Day 11, if that's what happens, is unprecedented. My previous IUI was on Day 16, which was already super-early for me (but it worked, so I'm not complaining). I'm all for this cycle being over, though… the discomfort on my right side has turned into quite considerable pain. Not debilitating, obviously, but enough to make me want it to go away.

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5 days of Follistim under my belt, and it was back to Shady Hell to see what was going on. Here are the basics:

Right Ovary: 1 follicle measuring 14.9mm; 7 follicles under 10mm.
Left Ovary: 1 follicle measuring 11.7mm and on measuring 10.3mm; 6 follicles under 10mm.
Endometrium: 8.7mm (is that good? they seemed all excited about it)
E2: 103 (again with, is that good?)

Two more days of Follistim at the same dose, and back on Friday. I have this feeling that I’m going to end up triggering on Friday (CD10) and having an IUI on Sunday. That’s the fastest cycle on record (for me). Shocking.

Oddly enough, I’m having some pretty noticeable pain on my right side, enough that I notice it and I’ve got a pretty high pain tolerance. It’s not debilitating or anything, but it’s definitely distracting.

Also, I realized tonight that I’ve been taking the wrong dose. I was supposed to take 66IUs per night, but I accidentally have been going one more click on the pen than I should and have been taking 75IUs each night. Obviously nothing horrible has happened as a result, and it’s not a big difference, but I feel a little sneaky. Except, well, I wasn’t being sneaky, I was being careless. Well, anyway, I’m not going to revert to 66 (particularly since it’s working and I didn’t have some scary alarming response that made everybody worry), but I imagine I ought to mention it to my nurse anyway. Sigh.

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5 days of Follistim under my belt, and it was back to Shady Hell to see what was going on. Here are the basics:

Right Ovary: 1 follicle measuring 14.9mm; 7 follicles under 10mm.
Left Ovary: 1 follicle measuring 11.7mm and on measuring 10.3mm; 6 follicles under 10mm.
Endometrium: 8.7mm (is that good? they seemed all excited about it)
E2: 103 (again with, is that good?)

Two more days of Follistim at the same dose, and back on Friday. I have this feeling that I'm going to end up triggering on Friday (CD10) and having an IUI on Sunday. That's the fastest cycle on record (for me). Shocking.

Oddly enough, I'm having some pretty noticeable pain on my right side, enough that I notice it and I've got a pretty high pain tolerance. It's not debilitating or anything, but it's definitely distracting.

Also, I realized tonight that I've been taking the wrong dose. I was supposed to take 66IUs per night, but I accidentally have been going one more click on the pen than I should and have been taking 75IUs each night. Obviously nothing horrible has happened as a result, and it's not a big difference, but I feel a little sneaky. Except, well, I wasn't being sneaky, I was being careless. Well, anyway, I'm not going to revert to 66 (particularly since it's working and I didn't have some scary alarming response that made everybody worry), but I imagine I ought to mention it to my nurse anyway. Sigh.

Read Full Post »

5 days of Follistim under my belt, and it was back to Shady Hell to see what was going on. Here are the basics:

Right Ovary: 1 follicle measuring 14.9mm; 7 follicles under 10mm.
Left Ovary: 1 follicle measuring 11.7mm and on measuring 10.3mm; 6 follicles under 10mm.
Endometrium: 8.7mm (is that good? they seemed all excited about it)
E2: 103 (again with, is that good?)

Two more days of Follistim at the same dose, and back on Friday. I have this feeling that I'm going to end up triggering on Friday (CD10) and having an IUI on Sunday. That's the fastest cycle on record (for me). Shocking.

Oddly enough, I'm having some pretty noticeable pain on my right side, enough that I notice it and I've got a pretty high pain tolerance. It's not debilitating or anything, but it's definitely distracting.

Also, I realized tonight that I've been taking the wrong dose. I was supposed to take 66IUs per night, but I accidentally have been going one more click on the pen than I should and have been taking 75IUs each night. Obviously nothing horrible has happened as a result, and it's not a big difference, but I feel a little sneaky. Except, well, I wasn't being sneaky, I was being careless. Well, anyway, I'm not going to revert to 66 (particularly since it's working and I didn't have some scary alarming response that made everybody worry), but I imagine I ought to mention it to my nurse anyway. Sigh.

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So I had 11 vials of blood drawn today. First, I went to Ye Old Fertility Clinic to have a blood draw to see if I could start taking Provera today. I have to admit I had these silly romantic notions in my head of not needing the Provera. I had this weird feeling last week that maybe I was ovulating (like I would know what that feels like? Duh! I told you it was a silly romantic notion!) . And well, not that you need that much detail, but it seemed like a good time for my husband and me to spend some quality time together. And gosh wouldn’t it be funny if … ?

Yeah, see, I knew you’d think it was ridiculous.

Ahem. Back to my story.

During my “lunch” break this afternoon, I went to Ye Old Phlebotomy Lab to have another 10 vials of blood drawn for the thrombophilia panel that Dr. Amazing wants done. While I was at Ye Old Phlebotomy Lab, my doctor called. But not Dr. Amazing. I mean Dr. T., the original Dr. Wonderful. She called to let me know that I could start Provera tonight. Yeah, definitely no ovulation occurring naturally. So much for my ridiculous romantic notions. Oh well.

She also said she was very sorry to have to talk to me again so soon, and that even though she knows I’m really an optimist (I am? Really? Huh?) that it isn’t easy to have such a loss. She asked if I had any questions for her about the plan Dr. Amazing had laid out for me in her absence and I don’t really. I did want to hear her opinion about it, since she knows me best. She agreed with Dr. Amazing’s assessment, and said it would be a good idea to have the thrombophilia panel done (good, since I’d just had 10 vials of blood drawn from me), and she agreed that the risk/benefit ratio of taking metformin in the first trimester shifts if there’s a history of miscarriage (in other words, she agrees that it’s worth it to stay on the metformin if I get pregnant again). All in all it was a very good conversation.

At any rate, it was the first time I’d talked to Dr. T. since I was eight weeks pregnant. But she’s officially back from maternity leave though she is transitioning primarily to the Columbia office. I’m faced with a decision I don’t really want to make. I can keep Dr. T. as my primary doctor and just deal via phone consult if I need to talk to her directly (this doesn’t happen very often), or I can change to having Dr. Amazing as my primary doctor. This really doesn’t make a huge difference either way, since the doctors rotate the monitoring appointments and they work as a team for the most part.

I love Dr. T. Completely. I adore her. She listens to me, she takes my concerns seriously, she gives me serious answers to all of my questions and she always makes me feel as if she’s got all the time in the world to talk to me, whether in person or over the phone. I also really like Dr. Amazing. I think they are both fabulous doctors. I think they both listen to me as if I’m a real person and not patient number 333687 (yes, I really do have my patient ID number memorized, and no, that’s not the real number). While I do like the idea of having my doctor physically accessible in Rockville… does it really make a difference? I don’t have consults very often… really only when things aren’t going right. And Dr. T. works just fine via phone (and she will be at the Rockville office once a month and Columbia isn’t THAT far away).

I dunno. I think I’ll just get through this next cycle and go from there.

Yeah. That sounds about right.

Meanwhile, beware! I’m taking Provera, and it ain’t gonna be pretty. IUI #5 (for real this time) here we come!

Read Full Post »

So I had 11 vials of blood drawn today. First, I went to Ye Old Fertility Clinic to have a blood draw to see if I could start taking Provera today. I have to admit I had these silly romantic notions in my head of not needing the Provera. I had this weird feeling last week that maybe I was ovulating (like I would know what that feels like? Duh! I told you it was a silly romantic notion!) . And well, not that you need that much detail, but it seemed like a good time for my husband and me to spend some quality time together. And gosh wouldn't it be funny if … ?

Yeah, see, I knew you'd think it was ridiculous.

Ahem. Back to my story.

During my "lunch" break this afternoon, I went to Ye Old Phlebotomy Lab to have another 10 vials of blood drawn for the thrombophilia panel that Dr. Amazing wants done. While I was at Ye Old Phlebotomy Lab, my doctor called. But not Dr. Amazing. I mean Dr. T., the original Dr. Wonderful. She called to let me know that I could start Provera tonight. Yeah, definitely no ovulation occurring naturally. So much for my ridiculous romantic notions. Oh well.

She also said she was very sorry to have to talk to me again so soon, and that even though she knows I'm really an optimist (I am? Really? Huh?) that it isn't easy to have such a loss. She asked if I had any questions for her about the plan Dr. Amazing had laid out for me in her absence and I don't really. I did want to hear her opinion about it, since she knows me best. She agreed with Dr. Amazing's assessment, and said it would be a good idea to have the thrombophilia panel done (good, since I'd just had 10 vials of blood drawn from me), and she agreed that the risk/benefit ratio of taking metformin in the first trimester shifts if there's a history of miscarriage (in other words, she agrees that it's worth it to stay on the metformin if I get pregnant again). All in all it was a very good conversation.

At any rate, it was the first time I'd talked to Dr. T. since I was eight weeks pregnant. But she's officially back from maternity leave though she is transitioning primarily to the Columbia office. I'm faced with a decision I don't really want to make. I can keep Dr. T. as my primary doctor and just deal via phone consult if I need to talk to her directly (this doesn't happen very often), or I can change to having Dr. Amazing as my primary doctor. This really doesn't make a huge difference either way, since the doctors rotate the monitoring appointments and they work as a team for the most part.

I love Dr. T. Completely. I adore her. She listens to me, she takes my concerns seriously, she gives me serious answers to all of my questions and she always makes me feel as if she's got all the time in the world to talk to me, whether in person or over the phone. I also really like Dr. Amazing. I think they are both fabulous doctors. I think they both listen to me as if I'm a real person and not patient number 333687 (yes, I really do have my patient ID number memorized, and no, that's not the real number). While I do like the idea of having my doctor physically accessible in Rockville… does it really make a difference? I don't have consults very often… really only when things aren't going right. And Dr. T. works just fine via phone (and she will be at the Rockville office once a month and Columbia isn't THAT far away).

I dunno. I think I'll just get through this next cycle and go from there.

Yeah. That sounds about right.

Meanwhile, beware! I'm taking Provera, and it ain't gonna be pretty. IUI #5 (for real this time) here we come!

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