Getting Ready To Hit The Road!

So long Seattle!

After 20 days of needles, including 4 doses of stims, we’re finally ready to fly to sunny Denver tomorrow morning!

For those of you wondering about the nitty gritty, let me give you the update. And for those of you who don't speak 'IVF', sorry for all the technical jargon.


OUR PROTOCOL DETAILS:

I'm still on whopper doses of stims. 300 Gonal F, 2 Amps of Menopur. And taking dexamethasone at night. I'm starting to get really bloated and feeling pretty yucky, so I'm trying to take it as a sign that this is working. And since I'm doing the antagonist protocol this time I start back up on antagon tonight (this is the stuff that I have the allergic reaction to. They switched me to cetrotide but it didn't help) so unfortunately I will just have to live with the welts, swelling and itching for a couple of hours after the injection. UGH! But what else can I do? We've spent so much extra money on drugs and monitoring this week that we weren't prepared for, but other than that, we're happy to be monitored so closely and taking the right drugs for my body. I really still can't believe I'm on such high doses, when every other cycle I've been on less than half and responded even better. My fertility really must be falling off the cliff faster and faster every year and month that goes by.


LISA'S HORMONE LEVEL UPDATE:

Day 3 (After 2 stim doses)
E2 - 118
P4 - Less than .2
LH - 0.8

Day 4 (After 3 stim doses)
E2 - 294
P4 - .2
LH - 0.6

I have today off from the dreaded bloodwork, thankfully. Which means I had a dose last night and one more tonight, before I'm checked again. I can't say that I'm not worried about my E2 shooting up over the next couple of days due to the fact that I'm still on whopper doses of Gonal F, and the fact that I have a history of coming close to hyperstimuating. But I'm trying not to worry. Dr. Schoolcraft is on the case, and I must at least TRY to let go of my obsessive worry.


OUR FOLLICLE UPDATE:

So far I've got a total of 18 follicles growing! 14 follicles growing on the right ovary, but only 4 on the left. What a big and crazy difference! I can't say that I'm not a little disappointed in my left side -- it's the least I've ever had grow there. But all in all the right side has made up for it. The one problem to note so far is that I already have about 3 that are almost at 14mm, quite a few around 7mm, and the rest are straggling behind. It's never a good thing to have them spread out so far in size, because when we do the egg retrieval, they will trigger me based on the average size, which means some will end up post mature, and unusable, and others will end up immature and unusable. So I'm hoping that the stragglers start catching up and the others slow down and I have a healthy average size to retrieve when it comes time. But only time will tell, and this, really is completely out of my hands right now.


AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, OUR SCHEDULE UPDATE:

TODAY: Pack like crazy!! We'll be away for 2 weeks, and I want to make sure I have enough creature comforts, all my comfy loose clothing, and the right things to make it through this stressful time. Confirm flight, rental car, and prepare all medication for flying. Some of our medications have to stay cold, so we will be cold packing them in a cooler, along with the rest of the meds and needles and bringing them on my carry on with me. Security is going to LOVE this. A woman with a million syringes in her bag. But the alternative is to check them, and possibly risk having my bag not show up, which at this point is not an option. My nurse has given me a note explaining that I'm allowed to be travelling with these needles and meds for medical purposes, but still, I'm very nervous about how this is going to go over.

TOMORROW: Our flight leaves at noon (Thank you for the flights Sue and Jim -- we really appreciate it!!!). Our car will be picking us up at 10am. But first, I have to get up and drag my butt into our Seattle clinic for an ultrasound and bloodtest at 7am for monitoring. The results will be faxed to our doctor at CCRM while we are flying and when we arrive in Denver, we will have an email waiting for us, about what doses we are supposed to take for my needles tonight. So this'll be tight. And stressful, but I'm just hoping everything works out and the plane doesn’t get delayed and we are able to pick up the rental car on time, or we everything will get royally screwed up. So fingers crossed it all works out. I'm actually excited to finally be travelling, but I'm sad to leave our dog (but thank you SOOOO much mom for staying and looking after him for 2 weeks while we are gone. I feel so much better that he'll be loved and taken care of!)

SUNDAY: Starts our daily bloodwork and ultra sounds in Denver. We have a bunch of other appointments set up, and we will basically continue on my medication at the appropriate new doses until finally, at some point, the doctor will make the call to give the trigger shot. (And that is a brutal one!)

TENTATIVE EGG RETRIEVAL SURGURY: As of right now, our tentative surgury is set for Friday Nov. 14th. This could either get moved up or back, depending on how follicle growth and hormone levels.

TENTATIVE EMBRYO TRANSFER: As of right now, our tentative transfer is set for sometime between Nov. 17th and Nov. 20th depending on if my eggs fertilize, how well they divide and grow, and the big big question -- whether or not we have enough strong embryos that hopefully (cross fingers) grow into blasts this time!!!


I really can't believe that it's here already. I'm nervous, I'm excited, and I'm trying to build up my hope. This is it! This going to be the one! Cross your fingers and toes everyone.

Denver Here We (finally) Come!