One More Day

So much has happened since my last post.

I went in on Thursday to have another ultrasound and to have my blood work taken. Yet again I found out that my follicles are growing...
growing slowly, but still growing!

The doctor told me he thought they would be big enough to trigger Friday night and therefore have my IUI on Sunday. He asked me to come in on Friday morning (today) for another ultrasound, but that I didn't need to get the blood work taken. I was told I wouldn't have to get a number and wait, but instead they made an appointment for me for 9:25 a,m.

Later that afternoon, I received a phone call that the doctor changed his mind and wanted me to go in for both the blood work and the ultrasound. So my appointment was cancelled and instead I would need to go when the doors opened at 6:00 a.m. to get a number.

Of course when they called I was working and I didn't really process anything. It wasn't until afterwards that I started worrying that they might had found something in my blood work that made him want me to have it taken again.

After work I noticed I had a message on my phone. When I listened to the message it was from someone at the Regional Fertility Clinic. The message mentioned that they wanted me to get the blood work taken and that she wanted to go over the dosages of medication I was taking...

Dosages?

The person I spoke to on the phone hadn't mentioned any change in dosages so of course my mind began spinning yet again. When I tried to call back my call went straight to their answering service. I left a message, but didn't hear back from anyone.

Not sure what to do I just took my regular dosages and hoped for the best!

This morning I woke up with a start at 5:18 and realized I had forgotten to set my alarm the night before. I quickly got ready and drove to the clinic. I was shocked to discover I was going to be fourth in line.

Thank goodness I got fourth as it was extremely busy and I ended up getting to work just as the bell was ringing.

During my ultrasound I was relieved to learn that my follicles had continued growing and that I was ready to trigger. I was a little disappointed to learn that three more follicles had started growing, but that all but one would be too small. (I was disappointed because I had originally hoped to get 5 or 6 follicles so we could switch to IVF- unfortunately my extras came too late.)

With the extra one that might grow large enough I have four follicles... and hopefully four healthy eggs!

Tonight at midnight I will need to take my trigger shot.

Trigger shot- " injection of a medication called HCG, which causes the eggs to complete the maturation process. This is taken only once in the cycle. Release of the eggs should occur about 36-46 hours after the shot."                                          

 - Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago

Then Chris will go into the clinic Sunday morning to give his sperm sample to be washed and I will go in at 1:30 to have the IUI procedure. 

One more day and then it will be completely out of our hands.

Still Growing

This morning I had another appointment to check my blood work and see how my follicles are growing.

And I found out they are growing... albeit slowly!

So they wrote me another prescription for the next couple of days and they want me to go back on Thursday for another ultrasound and blood work.

So there is still hope.

I can't help but think about the phrase 'slowly but surely.'

Hopefully my follicles will slowly but surely grow and mature.
Day 12, shots 37

Still Hoping

On Saturday I went in for yet another ultrasound and to have my blood work taken.

I was happy to learn that my follicles have grown, albeit slowly.

The doctor on call was so sweet and was trying to be so positive. As she came into the room she said:

 "Three follicles! The perfect number we like to see for an IUI';"

not knowing of course that I had been hoping to have enough follicles to switch to IVF. When I mentioned this she said that next time they just have to increase my amounts... again not realizing that I'm already on the highest dose.

But as I keep reminding myself there is still hope. Although, things didn't go as I had initially wanted, there is still a chance that this round will work.

So tomorrow morning I go in again for another ultrasound and to get my blood work taken.

Hopefully my follicles are still growing...

Hopefully there are some healthy eggs growing inside...

Hopefully those eggs mature...

Hopefully this third round is the lucky round we have been waiting for!

Day 11, Shots 33

Roller Coaster Ride Continued

Roller coaster ride doesn't even begin to cover the myriad of emotions that I have been going through the past few days.

As I mentioned in my last post I was so disappointed to only have three follicles this round, but yesterday things got even worse. When I went for my ultrasound and blood work I found out that my follicles had not grown much at all.

The doctor who performed the ultrasound expressed his concern that we might have to cancel the round. He wanted to wait and see what my blood work showed. If my estrogen wasn't increasing then we would have to cancel.

So I went home and cried, and cried, AND CRIED.

Thankfully I had taken a personal day and had made plans with a good friend. This made me wipe my tears, take a deep breath and get up and go out.

So while I waited to hear back from the clinic we went for a pedicure and went to Canmore for lunch. Believe it or not I was actually able to enjoy myself and was able to take my mind off everything for a short time.

By 2:00 everything changed. I still hadn't gotten a phone call and I started panicking. I knew that if I was continuing I was going to need to get to the pharmacy before they closed at 3:30. (I found out later they actually close at 3:00 so I had even less time then I actually thought!)

If you've read any of my previous posts you will know that it is almost impossible to actually get to talk to anyone directly... you almost always have to leave a message and wait for them to call you back. This time was no exception. I had to call three different times and leave different messages one with the IUI extension, one with reception and one with the IVF extension.

Thankfully I finally did get a return phone call and was told that my estrogen had gone up so off we rushed to get to the pharmacy before it closed. We got there just in time!

Tomorrow I go in for another ultrasound and blood work.

To be honest, I'm not feeling very optimistic.

Day 8, shots 20

Cautiously Optimistic

Finally we got some good news!

Just when it looked like there was no hope for this cycle... I went in for my ultrasound this morning and found out that two of my follicles have grown big enough to be triggered!

Because there are only two eggs, our doctor told us that the odds of us conceiving are now the same whether we do IVF or IUI. Once we heard that we decided to go ahead with the IUI. (Since Chris has been working in Edmonton this was the first ultrasound he was able to come to.)

Part of the reason IVF has better results has to do with the larger number of egg follicles that are retrieved. Since I only have two the odds would be the same.

I have so many mixed emotions rights now: complete and utter joy, nervousness, fear, but most importantly hope!

After my appointment on Thursday I didn't think that this cycle even had a chance of succeeding. Now at least we have hope. The odds still aren't the best, but for right now there is a chance.

How Did This Happen?  Well on Friday when my follicles hadn't grown very much they switched one of my injections from Luveris to Menopur.

I also read online that full fat organic dairy, lots of protein, and a hot water bottle can help to make follicles grow. Now I'm sure it was probably the Menopur, however, for the past two days, even though it has been 30ºC, I have been using a hot water bottle and have drank almost 2 litres of organic homogenized milk.

Tonight I will give myself two trigger shots.  Then on Tuesday morning Chris will go in at 7:30 to give his donation, and at 10:30 I will go in and they will insert his sperm into my uterus.

*I am asking anyone who reads this to please say a prayer for us and keep your fingers crossed!

Sometimes When It Rains...It Pours.

Yesterday morning I went to have another ultrasound and blood work taken. As I mentioned in a previous post, it wasn't my doctor who performed the ultrasound on Monday,  and yesterday it was yet another doctor. (The doctors at the RFC do rotating shifts so you may or may not see your doctor for your ultrasounds.) 

Luckily I had called ahead, and when I found out that it wouldn't be my doctor, I made an appointment to meet with her in the afternoon.  

I had so many questions and I felt like I need to have an appointment with my actual doctor to find out some answers. I needed to know if the IUI didn't work what our next steps would be. Would we do another IVF cycle? How long would we have to wait before starting it? Would there be a different protocol? ...plus a million more questions!

Little did I know my ultrasound would bring more heartache and even more questions! 

Have you ever heard the saying: 'when it rains, it pours'?

Well apparently I need an umbrella!

This ultrasound showed a few more really small follicles, but before I could get excited the doctor told me of his concern that my three previous follicles had hardly grown at all.

Egg follicles typically grow 2-3 mm a day. Mine had grown less than 1 mm in three days.

This is not a good sign.

So just as I got myself psyched up to do IUI, it looks like we won't even be able to do that!

The doctor who was working prescribed Menopur instead of Luveris to try and see if we can get these follicles growing. (Menopur has FSH in it whereas Luveris does not.)

Later in the afternoon I met with Dr. F. and she reiterated that it didn't look good, and that the Menopur would be our best bet.  (another $370 dollars)

She also talked about other options for Chris and I.

If this round doesn't work then we could wait a month or two and try again, although, the odds are not good.

We could buy an egg from the United States (it is illegal to purchase an egg in Canada), and try an IVF round in which they would use Chris's sperm. This would cost us around $22,000 everything in. It would give us a mid to high 60% chance of conceiving.

We could also see about buying an already frozen embryo that another couple has donated. They cost $2000- $5000 plus there would be IVF costs. I'm not sure what the success rate would be for this. UPDATE: We wouldn't be purchasing the embryo- the $2000-$5000 is actually for lawyer's fees.

So again, we are in limbo. I have another ultra sound with blood work on Sunday and will hopefully know whether this round is going to work or not.