Let's get caught up!

End of July 2013 –

Well a lot has happened since I last wrote…I finished my Prometrium pills and after a few days – still no period. So Jared and I geared up to go to the beach for a week with my family and figured we’d deal with everything when we got back. A week before we would have left for vacation, Aunt Flow showed up! I was shocked. (I also forgot how painful these dang periods are – I am so out of practice!) So it was back to the doctor for a baseline scan and to see what the game plan was. Scan was perfect – thin lining, no cysts. The NP even said I have “perfect anatomy” – I am thinking, “yeah, so perfect I can’t get pregnant!”

After reviewing my blood work, the doc decided to do Menopur.  We were of course excited to be starting another round. But we were also bummed – because I’d have to be in for scans and blood work every couple days, we would likely miss the beach. Sacrifices!

He initially wanted to start me on 75 units (1 vial) per day but later I emailed him and asked him to reconsider. The doc at Danville had seemed to think that my previous cycle didn’t work because they had started my dosage too low. The last thing I wanted to do was repeat the last cycle (especially if I was going to miss vacation!). He was very understanding and opted to start me at 2 vials (150 units) and that he would back it down to 1 if things started to progress too quickly. After a few days, my hormone levels hadn’t budged so he upped me to 3 vials (225 units). – As an aside, I find it interesting that the new doc looks at all my hormones, whereas Danville only looked at one (Estradiol).

After a week of scans and blood work every other day (it was a crazy week! We managed to drive to the beach between my Mon morning and Wed morning scans!), things slowly progressed. We were at Hershey Park (since the cycle busted our plans to spend the whole week at the beach, we opted for mini day trips instead) when I got the call that I had one follicle at 17 and to take my trigger shot that night and come in for IUI on Sunday. The Good – the HCG trigger they use is a pre-filled syringe (no mixing vials!) and they do IUIs on the weekend to get optimal timing…the Bad – they only do weekend IUIs at the King of Prussia office.  As if we hadn’t done enough driving that week, it was off to Philly!

The IUI itself was easy-peasy – I felt that it was way quicker and less painful than at Danville. I love the sense of calm and happy after an IUI – it’s like everything has been done that can be done. It’s the day or 2 after the IUI that the crazy begins to creep in, haha…if I didn’t get my period before, I was to come in in 2 weeks for a blood test.

Jared & I after the IUI

 

Another new aspect with the new doctor – an awful invention called “Crinone”…this is a progesterone vaginal cream that they recommend you use once a day after IUI. It’s intended to, as it was described to me, “make your uterus nice and sticky”! Really it’s to help thicken the lining in hopes that an embryo will implant. Well, as if using a vaginal cream isn’t in and of itself annoying, it also made me feel excessively tired. I felt like a zombie for days!

Two week wait was murderous as always. I chose not to drink at all which is not fun. Plus, I read the Crinone can delay your period so I didn’t know whether to expect period symptoms or not.  Although it was 2 days later than it would normally arrive, Aunt Flow came knocking the night before I was to go in for my blood test. (As an added bonus, once I stopped the Crinone, I had “withdrawal” symptoms – a headache for 2 days and the inability to stop crying. The fun really doesn’t end.)

End of August 2013 –

So it was back to the doctor for baseline. Jared and I had talked about getting a sit-down with the doctor to try to get an idea of what is happening and where we go from here. But we were trying to be patient too – although this was our 8^th failed cycle, it was only our 1^st with the new doctor. At the baseline, I asked the doctor doing the scan about her thoughts.  Her response still rings in my ears – “At your age, with this many cycles, you should be pregnant by now.” It was haunting – I could just hear Zoma back in February – “You have been with us for such a long time.” I felt hopeless. It was looking more and more like we were on a crash course with IVF. And once that starts, the insurance money is going to run out really quickly – and then it’s the end of the road.

I ended up emailing Dr. Freedman and he called that evening and we got to talk about the cycle. Basically, it was not an ideal cycle. They decided to trigger me because I did have a technically “mature” follicle but it was only 17. He likes to have 19 or 20. But they were concerned that if they let me go any longer, some of the other follicles would catch up and I’d end up with too many mature (ie. too big a risk for multiples).  He didn’t make me feel much better about the likelihood that IVF isn’t the answer, but I felt okay about trying another round of Menopur and IUI.

So that brings us to the present – September 2013. I am on injection day #9. I started out alternating 3 vials, then 2 vials, then back to 3, etc. Two days ago my scan showed 1 follicle with a small lead – a 12 – and then 3 others that were closely behind. He kicked me back to 2 vials. This morning there was minimal growth – if anything the smaller ones are starting to catch up – not good. He is kicking me back to 1 vial. I don’t feel good about this at all. It is my understanding that I should have 1 or 2 follicles that take the lead but all of mine seem to want to grow together. I go back in 2 days and am praying for a miracle.