Thursday, May 14, 2009

IVF#4 - FSH Day 8 Monitoring

Today is day 8 of stims and I am feeling it, emotionally and physically.

Today started off with a physical. Passed this with flying colors, well except for the pricking part. I have an irrational fear of getting my finger pricked, but thankfully they let me get a CBC with my standard blood draw instead. The best news, I only gained 1 pound since I started stims, wahoo!

I had my u/s and that went fine.

We met with our nurse and she had more consent forms for us to fill out, I think we've signed away our house and all our assets by now.

She handed Kerry his SA (semen analysis) from his frozen backup. His eyes lit up immediately as he exclaimed in a studly voice "volume: 4.3!" I exclaimed "alright baby!!!" and we gave each other a high five. Our nurse just laughed and shook her head. I think she's starting to learn to expect just about anything from us. He reminded us of his studly volume a few more times throughout the rest of our appt. There's never a dull moment with him in the room.

Here are the details of his SA:

Volume: 4.3 ml
Concentration: 47.5 mil/ml
Total Count: 204.25 million!!!!!!!!
Motility %: 18%
Motility Rate: twitch =((((
Total Motile: 36.76 million

So I know most of you could care less about Kerry's SA, but this is very exciting for us. Kerry had a vasectomy reversal and we've spent years fighting to keep it from completely scarring over. For the longest time, we were lucky to have a total of 5 million with 3% motile. 204 million is just incredible to us and let's us know that all our hard work and strict vitamin regime has paid off. One area we're not making progress in is motility. We can't seem to get the motility past twitching. Time for some swimming lessons I say! I guess it doesn't matter that we have 204 mil if they can't swim. But this will give them lots to pick from for IVF.

I had my blood drawn. I used my bad arm for the first time. The nurse couldn't believe how bad my arm looked considering that the hematoma was over a week ago. She said that my local nurse definitely blew out my vein. It still has a hard mass that will take time to dissolve. All went well.

After our appts, we headed to Todd's Pharmacy to pickup my Lupron trigger. I was an hour late for my morning injection so I had to shoot up in parking lot.

Here's my lupron injection. This one syringe is $501!!!!! Thank GOD my insurance covered it and I only paid a $25 copay. Finally, I get a break!


I had to order more Menopur and my Novarel trigger. Another $350. Will it ever end?

We've made our final travel arrangements now that we have a better estimate of when ER will be. We're estimating the 18th or 19th. We booked our flight home for the evening of the 19th.

We needed to find a hotel for the remainder of our stay. We did name your own price on Priceline, $40, 3-stars, Denver Tech Center South area... and guess what? We got the Hyatt again! That's 3 for 3. So Friday, we won't have to change hotels, we'll just let them know we've extended our stay.

Alrighty, here's my results:

Lining: 10mm
Right ovary (mm): 12.2, 15, 15.4, 15.5, 15.8
Left ovary (mm): 11.2, 12.2, 12.4, 12.7, 13.4
E2: 2403 (ughhhhh!)
LH: 0.7
P4: 0.6

IVF#3 results as a comparison:

Lining: 11mm
Right ovary (mm): 9.6, 11.6, 15.6, 15.8, 16.6
Left ovary (mm): 11.9, 14.1, 14.4, 14.6, 15.7, 15.8
E2: 2382
LH: 1.24
P4: 0.64

So just as I had predicted, my E2 has taken off and will probably continue at a fast pace. It's not good for E2 to go over 3-4000. I have never had my peak E2 less than 6000 and I've always wondered if this was harming my egg quality. Guess I'll never know now.

What's really strange is how similar my E2 levels have been from my last 2 cycles. It's like deja vu.

IVF 3: Day 4: 252, Day 6: 720, Day 8: 2382
IVF 4: Day 4: 345, Day 6: 761, Day 8: 2403

So if I stay on track as I'm sure I will, I'll be over 6000 again before it's over.

They've lowered my Gonal dose to 150, same as they did last cycle. Last cycle they took me completely off Gonal on Day 9 and I stalled and then they had to crank me back up again. I just really hope they don't coast me again. I don't think it's good on the eggs to blast them and then starve them.

I'm really not surprised. I knew by the way I feel that it must on its way up. I sound pretty upset in this post, but actually I'm still very hopeful, just a little bummed because high E2 is something I've been trying to resolve since my first IVF.

Day 9 monitoring tomorrow, stay tuned!

9 comments:

  1. I wouldn't stress too much about your E2..I know it's hard not to and to always "wonder" if it's effecting your egg quality, but Dr. S is "the man" and I'd trust in the fact that he does know what he's doing:0) I just think it's wonderful that you're doing an FET!

    Hang in there and keep up the good work:0)

    Kerry - way to go stud boy!!!

    love ya!

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  2. Men love to brag. My husband always brags about how great his frozen sperm is when they thaw it.

    I don't really know much about E2 and egg quality. I do think it's good that you are freezing all your embryos and therefore will not have all that E2 in your system for transfer!

    Hang in there!!

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  3. I'm hoping that the E2 is really more of a lining receptivity issue, and you won't have to deal with that anyway. After all, you made some nice looking embies that last CCRM cycle even with a high E2, right?
    Hang in there, sorry about the twitchers :)
    Are they doing MICSI or regular ICSI?

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  4. I will be following your journey. I am excited for you! i think I will be right behind you. x

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  5. Sorry I had to run last night! Brett was working storms up here and was finally calling to say his long day was over!

    I think you will do great! I'm still hoping the E2 will stabilize a little, but continue to grow and I also have hope that the high E2 is only affecting the receptivity and the FET will take care of that. I've seen women with unbelievably high E2 get pregnant on a fresh transfer, so they must have gotten some good eggs, right? Oh, I have no idea! But remember- you did get some beautiful embies last time!

    Oh, and Go Kerry! It sounds like all of your hard work is really paying off!

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  6. Go Kerry! That sure is a lot of sperm:) Thankfully they are doing ICSI (right?) so they have a bunch to select from. It looks like your follies are coming along well too. I am so glad you didn't end up with a lead follie. Looking good, Jill! I'm rooting you on and can't wait to hear the next results from your next monitoring appt:)

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  7. Those are amazing numbers for both of you!!! That's too bad about the twitchy movement but with ICSI, I'm hoping they choose a twitchier one than the rest! I was wincing right along with you when you were talking about making the trip to Todd's - that's never a cheap visit to the drug store. Ever wonder if Todd is related to Dr. Sch? They're both pretty succinct when talking to you don't you think?! Just out of curiosity - why are you doing a Lupron trigger and a Novarel trigger? Is that supposed to help with egg maturity? Good luck with things and I am crossing everything and cheering you on!

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  8. I know the E2 bothers you, and you're concerned with the qualilty, but we have faith the quality hasn't been affected, and this time your body will have time to recover from the E2 levels before transfer. You're very strong, and we're so proud of you both. Try to enjoy the rest of your stay at the Hyatt :)

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  9. Hey guys!
    Keep up the good work! Keep your spirits up too...the end results will be well worth all your labors of love...love you both...Aunt Carol XOXOXOXOXOXO

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Thank you for your comment! Hugs, Kerry and Jill