Stim Day #10

I blasted Eminem on the stereo while I was on my way to my appointment today. I felt it was appropriate, and it definitely put me in the ass kicking mood. It didn't hurt that I had some little people in the back of the car doing some head bobbing along with me. :-)

I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid
To take a stand, to take a stand
Everybody, everybody
Come take my hand, come take my hand

We'll walk this route together through the storm
Whatever weather, cold or warm
Just lettin' you know that you're not alone
Holla if you feel like you've been down the same road

I am done feeling sorry for myself. I am done being afraid. This cycle will do what it is going to do, but I am not going down without a fight.

Ahem.

So, how are things going?

Righty has two follies: a 20mm and a 13mm. The smaller of the two is the same size it was on Monday, so it is probably out for the count.

Lefty had three measureable follies: 2, 16 mms and 1, 15 mm.

We're looking at a total of 4 eggs.

Sigh. Not what I was looking for exactly, but should all of them fertilize and divide like good little eggs, all is not lost. Hell, if I think about the bright side, I can just transfer all of them and not have to worry about extra yearly fees for frozen storage.

See, it is not all bad.

I stim for one more night most likely. I'll go in tomorrow morning for another scan/blood draw, but I'll probably trigger tomorrow night. Retrieval is on Saturday morning.

The nice thing that came out of today's appointment is that I had my RE scan me, and we got a few minutes to talk about what is going on with my response.

• He first gave me the option of triggering tonight and converting to an IUI. That isn't the optimal plan, however, because my only tube is on my right side. Plus that tube is "iffy" at best. I told him I decided we would proceed with the retrieval/transfer.


• We're $5000 invested in the cycle with the meds alone, I just can't bring myself to not go all the way with this cycle.


• He feels we'll likely retrieve 4 eggs. There is the possibility of a 5th (another 10 mm on my left), but he doesn't think it is better than a 30% chance of catching up to the others.
• He again said that my fsh is manageable and I am still young. (I love it when he says that.)


• He told me that he doesn't feel that this response is/should be typical in a further cycle. He said he's thought a lot about my response this time around and agrees that the birth control pills could be the huge contributing factor. My hormone levels were suppressed and stalled, that much is clear. The only new thing added into the mix was the bcps. It is logical that the one is affecting the other.


• He would likely change my stim protocol should I need to cycle again, although he did say that there is no reason that we can't be successful with the cycle this time.


• I tend to do better with fresh cycles over FETs anyway -- 4 fresh cycles = 4 pregnancies (1 stuck for the boys probably due to Lovenox and some luck) 2.5 FETs = 0 pregnancies


• I did tell him that while I was not suggesting that I won't be successful with this cycle, I was already trying to wrap my mind around a plan B. I asked him his thoughts about remaining on the PIO for a while longer to prevent myself from starting AF should I get a negative beta. (I will be at a conference in San Diego the first week of August, just when AF would show, which would mean I couldn't get the blood work/scans needed to start another cycle in August.) He wanted to know if I had any breakthrough spotting with my other cycles while on PIO. I told him no, so it said that there is a good chance that would work. He did say that there is the possibility that I could retrieve and freeze the eggs from this cycle and force another cycle in before I go. (Not optimal, but would be doable apparently.) I decided against that because again, my pg success rate is higher with fresh over frozen cycles anyway.

So, now we wait for the levels for my estrogen and progesterone to see if we continue as we expect today. As always, wonky levels on the blood work can throw yet another wrench in the plan. I'll let you know what they are when I get them.

Update: E2 - 968, p4 - 0.6 (less than Monday? Is that "normal"?)

Was told if prog. # stayed low may stim two more nights...