Thursday, June 25, 2009

Track Marks on The Belly

I went in today for cycle day 2 blood work and an ultrasound. At this point in the cycle, they are checking out the lining of your uterus, how many antral follicles you have, and if you have any cysts present. In addition, the blood work will tell them if any of your levels are elevated.

Well, much to my surprise, I have 2 sizable cysts, one on the left ovary, and one on the right. However, just got the call from the nurse, and it appears that I’m OK to start my meds tonight. I only had 9 measurable follicles this morning, so I hope they increase. The goal for this IVF cycle is to get as many eggs as I possibly can without the threat of OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome).

I will be on a total of 300 units of stimulation drugs a day, and I’ll be doing acupuncture 2xs a week for the next 2 weeks (already started that this week). I just hope we can get some nice quality eggs.

I am also getting a little concerned. I’ll be 35 in August and when we started out with IVF over a year ago, my FSH level was 3. Today’s bloodworm reflected a FSH of 7. Now, that could just be a fluke, or a sign that I definitely getting older.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Killing time until IVF 5 Part A Begins!

I guess I haven’t been as good about posting on my blog as I thought I would. Oh well, better late than never.

So, I’m about to embark on ivf cycle 5 part A. Incase I haven’t explained what Mark and I are doing this time around. We will do a full stimulation ivf cycle. We will have our egg retrieval. Depending on the number of eggs that the doctor is able to get, we will use ICSI on almost of all them, save maybe 3-5 for conventional fertilization. Backup, and I’ll tell you why we are trying this. Back during our 2nd IVF cycle, we retrieved 18 eggs. The doctor thought that we should do ICSI on 9 and conventional fertilization on the other half. Well, NOTHING fertilized conventionally, so we have been doing ICSI on everything ever since. Our new doctor isn’t sure if we truly have an issue with sperm, or if IVF #2 was a fluke…so, assuming we retrieve enough eggs, we will try it again. If nothing fertilizes that way, we will definitely know that I can’t get pregnant the old fashioned way, and that IVF is our only hope.

So Part B of our 5th IVF cycle won’t be until September. After our egg retrieval, the embryologist will freeze any viable embryos on day 2 after our retrieval. Mark and I will then wait through 2 full natural cycles to make sure that all the drugs are out of my system. We are also debating about going down to Nogales, Mexico in September for a special procedure called lymphocyte immunotherapy. It helps with immunological issues, and my doctor has done studies where pregnancy rates increase after LIT in women who have had 3+ failed ivf cycles…and we clearly fit that criteria : ( If we do travel down to Mexico, I’ll definitely put the details in my blog.

I’ve been seeing an acupuncturist for the last couple of weeks. I think he’s great…and he’s only a 30 minute walk from work. Hmm, notice the sarcasm there? He’s much better than the guy I used in Haddonfield. He had the nerve to tell me that his daughter (who was 12) would never have to worry about infertility, as he was sure she’d have kids no problem. Would you really tell someone who is experiencing infertility a comment like that?? People are stupid.

One nice thing that I’ve realized over the course of my journey is that there are tons of MEs out there. Not just on the message boards that I frequent, but some of my close friends are going through the same things. It’s nice to be able to “suffer” with someone else, and when one of them has good news, it gives me hope.

So, I guess this entry is just me babbling, and once I start my extensive drugs in a few days, my blog will be more IVF intensive.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

On a forced break

This is my first entry, but certainly not my first foray into in-vitro fertilization. We had started with our 5th ivf, and after 2.5 days of stimming, we were canceled. Now, it could just be a freak thing, but I'm convinced it was a mess up from our RE's office. I'm trying not to get upset about it. I've decided to do acupuncture this cycle with a new person in Old City, Philadelphia. I'm excited for my first appointment on Wednesday. It's good to be adding something new to the mix, and I hope to be able to add an entry in July, announcing my BFP.

One of these days, I'll post an entry with a quick rundown of my experiences thus far, but today is not that day!