To say this has been a stressful few days is minimizing the situation. My MIL won't stay down and gets dizzy. My DH won't stay down and hurts worse. I am trying to wrangle both of them and so I over do it and hurt still today.
I did get some upsetting news on Monday. We were under the impression from what the RE said, we got 9 good eggs. Turns out we only got 4 and those 4 are now frozen. It was kind of a punch to the gut after everything else that happened over the weekend. It only takes one though.....
So we just wait until it is time to fertilize and transfer them.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Sunday, April 24, 2016
The Harvest
This is the most interesting harvest anyone has been a part of. The harvest was yesterday, Sat April 23, 2016. Thursday, my DH decided he needed to have an unscheduled landing of our plane in the trees. Yes, he crashed our plane shortly after take off into a bunch of trees; the trees were the only place to land. He is ok, just has a bruised spinal cord which has caused his hands to be tingly, numb, and feel like they are burning. He got to come home from the hospital Friday afternoon. Oh, he has a broken nose and a scratch on his nose, and bruised ribs; as well as other scratches and bruises.
I was on the phone with the RE letting her know what was going on. We changed the plan to just freeze the eggs and fertilize them at a later date, when the DH is feeling better.
He woke up Sat morning and decided he wanted to try to give a sample, with my help if needed. So we get to the clinic early to see if we can make this happen. Keep in mind, he is on Narcotics for pain, a steroid dose pack for the swelling in his neck, and a drug that helps with nerve pain.
We arrive at the clinic and he refused his morning dose of pain med to make sure he wasn't too drugged. That ended up being a mistake later in the day.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to pull it off (literally and figuratively). So we went ahead and just froze the eggs.
They ended up getting 9 mature eggs. We are still looking to do the frozen transfer (FET) June 22, so this is what will happen:
They will thaw the eggs 5 days before the FET. The DH will go into the clinic and leave the sample to fertilize them. On day 3 post fertilization , they will biopsy the fertilized embryos and sent the biopsy off for genetic testing. On day 5 post fertilization, the will take the best 2 embryos and transfer them into me, and freeze any remaining embryos.
Even though this is considered a FET, it is essentially a fresh transfer, because the embryos will have never been frozen. I think this is to our advantage also, because I won't be on all the stimulating drugs like with a true fresh transfer, yet the lining will be prepared like a frozen transfer. It's almost the best of both worlds.
I told me DH to stop trying to upstage Prince and Chyna's deaths....and that if he didn't want to have kids, he could have picked a better way to tell me than to crash the plane!! LOL
Anyway: this is where we are at this point. 9 mature eggs on ice. I don't know if she got more than 9 that weren't mature, I forgot to ask. I am in a lot of pain today. Yesterday wasn't so bad with all the IV narcotics on board when I left. I did over do it though. Trying to take care of the DH.
Oh, to top everything off, my MIL (who lives with us) had a heart attack from hearing her son crashed his plane. She got to come home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. It's been an interesting few days.
I was on the phone with the RE letting her know what was going on. We changed the plan to just freeze the eggs and fertilize them at a later date, when the DH is feeling better.
He woke up Sat morning and decided he wanted to try to give a sample, with my help if needed. So we get to the clinic early to see if we can make this happen. Keep in mind, he is on Narcotics for pain, a steroid dose pack for the swelling in his neck, and a drug that helps with nerve pain.
We arrive at the clinic and he refused his morning dose of pain med to make sure he wasn't too drugged. That ended up being a mistake later in the day.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to pull it off (literally and figuratively). So we went ahead and just froze the eggs.
They ended up getting 9 mature eggs. We are still looking to do the frozen transfer (FET) June 22, so this is what will happen:
They will thaw the eggs 5 days before the FET. The DH will go into the clinic and leave the sample to fertilize them. On day 3 post fertilization , they will biopsy the fertilized embryos and sent the biopsy off for genetic testing. On day 5 post fertilization, the will take the best 2 embryos and transfer them into me, and freeze any remaining embryos.
Even though this is considered a FET, it is essentially a fresh transfer, because the embryos will have never been frozen. I think this is to our advantage also, because I won't be on all the stimulating drugs like with a true fresh transfer, yet the lining will be prepared like a frozen transfer. It's almost the best of both worlds.
I told me DH to stop trying to upstage Prince and Chyna's deaths....and that if he didn't want to have kids, he could have picked a better way to tell me than to crash the plane!! LOL
Anyway: this is where we are at this point. 9 mature eggs on ice. I don't know if she got more than 9 that weren't mature, I forgot to ask. I am in a lot of pain today. Yesterday wasn't so bad with all the IV narcotics on board when I left. I did over do it though. Trying to take care of the DH.
Oh, to top everything off, my MIL (who lives with us) had a heart attack from hearing her son crashed his plane. She got to come home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. It's been an interesting few days.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Day 12 Ultrasound and Blood Work
Went back this morning for another ultrasound and labs. Things are progressing smoothly. We will trigger tomorrow for a Saturday retrieval. I am glad it worked out this way, as my DH is only off tomorrow or this weekend. I am super busy on Friday, with a fundraiser fashion show for the Pancreatic Cancer Foundation too. So this is perfect. I would have rather not missed the show Friday, or have my DH leave a sample that had to be frozen. This way it can be fresh. Fresh is better than frozen in this case!
Here is what we have so far:
E2 - 3020.0
Progesterone - 1.14 (Just a little FYI: The body naturally ovulated when the progesterone levels get to 2.0)
Here is what we have so far:
E2 - 3020.0
Progesterone - 1.14 (Just a little FYI: The body naturally ovulated when the progesterone levels get to 2.0)
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They like them to be between 16 and 22, so by the time Saturday rolls around, these should be good. They dropped my Follastim to 200mg BID. The Lupron is still 5mg. I have one Dexamethasone pill left, which I will take in the morning. I will know tomorrow what time they will harvest Saturday.
Monday, April 18, 2016
Day 10 Ultrasound and Blood Work
Went today for another set of labs and follicular ultrasound. Here are the results.
E2: 1397.3
Progesterone: 0.73
Left ovary: 14, 13, 13, 12, 11
Right Ovary: 15, 14, 14, 13, 13, 10
Pretty sure my RE didn't measure as many as her partner did on Saturday. She just looked for the largest ones. IDK. Who knows. I go back Wednesday to see the progress.
E2: 1397.3
Progesterone: 0.73
Left ovary: 14, 13, 13, 12, 11
Right Ovary: 15, 14, 14, 13, 13, 10
Pretty sure my RE didn't measure as many as her partner did on Saturday. She just looked for the largest ones. IDK. Who knows. I go back Wednesday to see the progress.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Day 8 Ultrasound and Blood Work
I went yesterday for another follicular ultrasound and blood work. We have a few more follicles.
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Looks like we have 8 on the left and 7 on the right. They are growing slowly and are pretty much all the same size. I like this. That means one or two aren't growing faster than the others. My E2 level is 441.8. Not sure where are this fits. All I know is the hot flashes in the middle of the night are the devil. I get soo hot and sweaty I sometimes have to change clothes. I don't like it!
I will go back Monday for another ultrasound and blood work. Looking back at the other times, they want to harvest when they are closer to 20 in size.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Today's Results
Went for my day 5 ultrasound and blood work. I had 4 possibly 6 small follicles on the left ovary, and 5 possibly 7 follicles on the right ovary. This is very encouraging. I am glad we decided to go with the Lupron cycle instead of the Ganarellix cycle. My RE told me today they don't even think to harvest before day 8 or 9. She also said they have a little more control over the ovaries with the Lupron. Lupron allows the follicles to grow at a slower pace; more or less. Since we don't have to worry about starting any more medications, like with the Ganrellix cycles. I won't go back for another ultrasound or blood work until Saturday. With a Ganrellix cycle, I have to go back every 2 days.
Again, I went back and looked at all the numbers of the first two harvests. My E2 the first time was 99.9 at this point. It was 444 the second time, and 111 today. It's really hard to compare these 3 cycles to each other, because by this time with the first cycle, I was on progesterone shots getting my lining ready for the transfer. With the second cycle, we were doing Ganarellix, so who knows....just can't compare apples to oranges. There is no information on the size and follicle count from the first cycle. I am way ahead for this cycle compared to the 2nd. By this time in the second cycle, I only had 1 on the left and 3 on the right. We were considering cancelling the cycle had I not had more follicles by the next ultrasound. I exploded over night.
So to refresh:
Cycle one - we ended up with 15 eggs, 10 fertilized, and 8 survived to day 5 when we transferred 2 and froze 6. Pregnant 3 times with a singleton (1 fresh and 2 frozen transfer). Miscarried all 3 times.
Cycle two - we ended up with 10 eggs, 3 fertilized, and 1 survived to day 5, where it came back genetically complex abnormal and had to be destroyed. No pregnancy.
Cycle three - we will see how this turns out. We will be genetically testing any embryos we get at day 5, and freezing them all.
Saturday we shall see how things are progressing. I am hoping to harvest a week from tomorrow....Thursday.
Again, I went back and looked at all the numbers of the first two harvests. My E2 the first time was 99.9 at this point. It was 444 the second time, and 111 today. It's really hard to compare these 3 cycles to each other, because by this time with the first cycle, I was on progesterone shots getting my lining ready for the transfer. With the second cycle, we were doing Ganarellix, so who knows....just can't compare apples to oranges. There is no information on the size and follicle count from the first cycle. I am way ahead for this cycle compared to the 2nd. By this time in the second cycle, I only had 1 on the left and 3 on the right. We were considering cancelling the cycle had I not had more follicles by the next ultrasound. I exploded over night.
So to refresh:
Cycle one - we ended up with 15 eggs, 10 fertilized, and 8 survived to day 5 when we transferred 2 and froze 6. Pregnant 3 times with a singleton (1 fresh and 2 frozen transfer). Miscarried all 3 times.
Cycle two - we ended up with 10 eggs, 3 fertilized, and 1 survived to day 5, where it came back genetically complex abnormal and had to be destroyed. No pregnancy.
Cycle three - we will see how this turns out. We will be genetically testing any embryos we get at day 5, and freezing them all.
Saturday we shall see how things are progressing. I am hoping to harvest a week from tomorrow....Thursday.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Lab Results
I got all my lab results back, and since tomorrow is the first ultrasound and blood work since I started the Follastim, I wanted to go back and look at the two previous harvests to see how all the numbers compared. My numbers are much better than the 2014 harvest, and seem to be a little better than the 2012 harvest. I'm not sure if it's because I've lost 30+ pounds, or because I will be 40 in Oct. Could be a little of both. Today is the first day since I started stimming that I don't have a migraine. I also started my period last night. Could be because I started, or because there hasn't been rain. Who knows. I can feel that my right ovary is getting bigger. I can really tell when I lay on my side, or bounce up/down the stairs. Left one doesn't feel as full......
The fear is that I get ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS). This is bad and can require surgery to fix. Usually harvest will keep a person from getting this. Basically the ovarian blood vessels react abnormally to HCG (the pregnancy hormone) and begin to leak fluid. The fluid swells the ovaries, and sometimes large amounts move into the abdomen. During fertility treatments, the trigger shot (Ovadril) is HCG. It's given to trigger the ovaries to release the (hopefully) mature eggs (making for easier retrieval). OHSS usually occurs within a week of the trigger shot being given. If I was to have the fresh transfer and get preggo, the OHSS can be increased because the body begins to make and release it's own HCG. 1-2% of women end up having this. It can lead to fluid collection in the abdomen and chest, electrolyte disturbances, blood clots in the legs, twisting of an ovary, rupture of an ovarian cyst which can cause severe bleeding, breathing problems (from the fluid in the chest), pregnancy loss, and rarely death. OHSS usually resolves within a couple weeks. Depending on what is going on (i.e. fluid, torsed ovary, etc) depends on how they treat it. Usually with pain meds and keeping the ovaries still and under stimulated. Sometimes IV fluids are required with a hospitalization. The worst part, no sex! LOL
I go at 0830 tomorrow for the first ultrasound and blood work since I started the Follastim. So until tomorrow......
The fear is that I get ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS). This is bad and can require surgery to fix. Usually harvest will keep a person from getting this. Basically the ovarian blood vessels react abnormally to HCG (the pregnancy hormone) and begin to leak fluid. The fluid swells the ovaries, and sometimes large amounts move into the abdomen. During fertility treatments, the trigger shot (Ovadril) is HCG. It's given to trigger the ovaries to release the (hopefully) mature eggs (making for easier retrieval). OHSS usually occurs within a week of the trigger shot being given. If I was to have the fresh transfer and get preggo, the OHSS can be increased because the body begins to make and release it's own HCG. 1-2% of women end up having this. It can lead to fluid collection in the abdomen and chest, electrolyte disturbances, blood clots in the legs, twisting of an ovary, rupture of an ovarian cyst which can cause severe bleeding, breathing problems (from the fluid in the chest), pregnancy loss, and rarely death. OHSS usually resolves within a couple weeks. Depending on what is going on (i.e. fluid, torsed ovary, etc) depends on how they treat it. Usually with pain meds and keeping the ovaries still and under stimulated. Sometimes IV fluids are required with a hospitalization. The worst part, no sex! LOL
I go at 0830 tomorrow for the first ultrasound and blood work since I started the Follastim. So until tomorrow......
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Migraine from Hades
It came upon me about 1800 last night, like a force to be reckoned with. I don't know if it's the Follastim, the fact I stopped the BCP yesterday and therefor I will start my period soon, or the storms that are supposed to come in today. All I know is what I am able to take for it, isn't working at all. It's all I can do to type this and not throw up. This sucks.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Day 1 Stimulation
All the blood work came back perfect yesterday. My E2 was 30.8 and my Progesterone was .22. The ultrasound was completely normal.
I go try new schedule yesterday afternoon. They had me taking 5 of Lupron, 200 Follastim am, and 200 Follastim pm. I had written down in my notes I was to take 250 am and 225 pm. I sent the MA a note asking to verify the dosing of the Follastim, as were are on Lupron and not Gannarelix. I got a new schedule this morning. I am now to take 250 Follastim am and 225 Follastim pm, along with Dexamethasone and Lupron 5; both am.
Had I not verified the Follastim dose, I probably wouldn't have gotten any follicles and we would've had to cancel the cycle. So if that happened, would we be given a new cycle at no cost to us because the MA screwed up?? Pet peeve is when people don't read your chart. They just give blanket advice on what they assume is your treatment plan. I hate that!!
So I started the meds today. I don't remember it hurting this much. Maybe because I was fatter.
Next ultrasound and blood work is Wednesday.
I go try new schedule yesterday afternoon. They had me taking 5 of Lupron, 200 Follastim am, and 200 Follastim pm. I had written down in my notes I was to take 250 am and 225 pm. I sent the MA a note asking to verify the dosing of the Follastim, as were are on Lupron and not Gannarelix. I got a new schedule this morning. I am now to take 250 Follastim am and 225 Follastim pm, along with Dexamethasone and Lupron 5; both am.
Had I not verified the Follastim dose, I probably wouldn't have gotten any follicles and we would've had to cancel the cycle. So if that happened, would we be given a new cycle at no cost to us because the MA screwed up?? Pet peeve is when people don't read your chart. They just give blanket advice on what they assume is your treatment plan. I hate that!!
So I started the meds today. I don't remember it hurting this much. Maybe because I was fatter.
Next ultrasound and blood work is Wednesday.
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