Tuesday, September 30, 2008

And the Testing Continues...

Oh the joys of stirrups, speculums, ultrasound wands, and catheters. Sometimes I wonder if I should be charging admission!

But after a morning of more testing, I'm just happy to have it behind me. Another check mark on my calendar that puts me closer to the end of the testing portion of the program.

First I had my complete physical and pap, which wasn't so bad. Next I had the dreaded endometrial biopsy -- OUCH! But, thankfully it didn't last too long and I managed to survive -- even though she had to do it twice!

For those of your curious about the nitty gritty fertility stuff...
The endometrial biopsy (e-tegirty test) is done to check the receptivity of the uterus for embryo implantation. It's an immunohistochemistry test to determine if the beta-3 integrin protein is present or absent in the uterine tissue. Studies have shown that women lacking the beta--3 integrin protein have lower pregnancy rates than women who have the beta-3 integrin. Most doctors don't do this test, but it can be useful in cases of patients with prior failed If's. So if I'm found to lack it, then there is a treatment that the doctor can use to help restore it prior to the IVF cycle, consisting of special monthly lupron injections.

Other than that, I have one more test left to do (next week) before all my preliminary testing will be considered complete. It's a panel of day 3 bloodwork to test FSH, LH and E2. And then I'm done with the testing -- thank the good Lord above!

But for now it's more nail-biting as the results slowly roll in...

Will we or won't we be able to try again?

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