All Systems GO

I had my u/s today and everything looks awesome! I have 8 follies that are now over 18 and two of those are over 20! RE thinks we should get 8-9 eggs! I am all set to trigger tonight for a 6am retrieval Thursday!

Growing, Growing, Growing

I am so pleased to announce that my follies continue to amaze me at their growth over the last 2 days. All my follies are now over 12, most over 14, and those babies on the left are over 18!! WOOHOO! I filled out all the consent forms today for a Thursday ER. I had to rearrange some other appointments but that's OK, I'm making it work. DH will be at a football camp so I'm driving an hour tomorrow to meet him and have him give me the HCG shot and will get to have dinner with my friend who's 39 weeks pregnant too.

I have an u/s scheduled for tomorrow morning to get a final check on the little beauties growing in my abdomen. He said after the retrieval on Thursday they would fertilize all they could and then freeze them Friday morning. I have a much better chance of more making it to freeze by freezing after 18 hours than if we did it after 3 or 5 days if this was a fresh transfer.

My old RE who said I would never be able to use my own eggs can SUCK IT! Just goes to show that you should never give up and you have to be your own advocate. I'll update with my E2 from today when the nurse calls.

Update: E2 is 911!!

Monitoring Appt. #2

Let me start off by saying my stomach was a wreck last night and this morning before my appointment.

We got to the RE's office and my own RE saw me and did my u/s which is nice because I haven't seen him since I started this cycle. I told him that my cyst was bothering me and he said he'd make sure and drain it when they did the ER. WHEN, not IF! So the 10 follies are doing their thing, some still slow but they are growing and that's all I can ask for. I have two follies on the left that are over 14 so tonight I am starting to inject Ganirelex to make sure I don't ovulate on my own. I am also upping my meds to 300 IU of Gonal F since Ganirelex is a suppression drug. I have several follies on the right that are now over 10, so that's good but they are just over 12 so we want them to grow a bit more. I think I have 2-3 that are still at 7 or 8 but that's OK.

I have another monitoring appointment on Monday at 11:15 am and that night we'll probably do the trigger shot. He said I would have an ER Wednesday or Thursday!! He's going to go ahead and retrieve whatever I have since I'm starting the chemo next week. An EGG RETRIEVAL, did you hear that everyone?? HOLY MOLY!

I'll update with my E2 when I know it.

GROW FOLLIES, GROW!

EDIT: E2 is 560!!!!

All or Nothing

I am so nervous about tomorrow morning's appointment. This one really is make or break. If we don't have growing follies, we're done. I hate to be so what seems like negative, but I have to get on with chemo and getting this cancer gone.

If you have any extra prayers, please say them for me that we get some follies and get to do an ER early next week.

Thanks!

Only have 2 days available for ER

In getting ready to start chemo on the 15th, I'm sure you can imagine how many appointments I'm going to have. Normally my RE does egg retrievals on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesdays. I know mine won't be on Monday because I have a monitoring appointment on Saturday and that wouldn't be enough time to give the HSG shot (which is OK because we're going to a chemo class on Monday morning). The class is a what to expect...rather funny since I would rather be learning how to become a mother, not a cancer patient.

The nurse thinks more like Tuesday or Wednesday...which is fine. IF, I happen to need longer I'm not sure what I will do. I have a PET scan scheduled for next Friday and I have to get my chemo port put in on Thursday so that really doesn't leave me any other time. DH has a football camp to go to, which I wish he wouldn't but I won't ask him to miss, so I'm going to be doing most of these things (with the exception of the ER because he has to be there) on my own. He offered to not go to his camp but he said it in the way that husbands do when they really want to go and want your blessing, you know what I mean?

I don't mind going to things alone, but my chemo port I won't be able to drive because I'll be sedated so I have to ask my mom. Just another pain in the ass for me...oh well, I'll live.

Thanks for listening to yet another rant.

Monitoring Appt. #1

I have five follicles less than 10 on both ovaries, that's 10 freaking eggs I could have. My IVF nurse was very pleased with this number. I am still very skeptical because of the fact that this is the way they've started out all other times too and then never grown. I start taking Estrace again tonight so that should help my E2 levels and get those follies growing. She was a little concerned about the cyst on my let side that I've had forever...it's 42X41 (HUGE). She said she was worried about not getting anything from that side but then saw I had 5 follies over there so was a little relieved. I just wish they would've drained it before since I've had it and they continue to see it.

Continue on the meds I am taking and my next monitoring appointment (the true test) is Saturday at 8:45 am.

UPDATE: nurse just called and my E2 is 112....this is the highest it's ever been at this point, normally I'm around 70 and she said I had 6 more follicles than I ever have too.

Cha Ching

Just got 12 vials of Menopur in a package on my doorstep...$706.00 later...HOLY CRAP! I'm scared to think of how much I've spent on meds this cycle. It's over $3000 that's for sure. YIKES!