*Sunshine05*

madelyn07

Hey...didn't you have your appointment the other day? At ART? Or am I still totally out of my mind and thinking of something completely different....?

If I haven't lost my mind and you did have your appointment, how did it go? 

 

Sunshine05

Yes, I did have my appt on Thursday. It went really well. I really liked the doctor, she was very personable and friendly. We met a ton of people and got shuffled from room to room, but it really was very organized.

Since I'm on day 42 with no AF in sight, I'm starting prometrium and scheduling an HSG and SIS (is this the same as an SHG?) with this new cycle. I'm nervous about these procedures... any input? There seems to be a wide range of pain to expect, from a pap smear to mild cramping to the worst pain ever.

They also redid an SA since UAB doesn't use the Kruger method, but all of his numbers came back normal to great. So we'll be starting letrozole this cycle as well. Is that normal to take that while having the procedures done? I assumed we'd gave to wait a cycle. Just curious about your experience.

madelyn07

I'm glad it went well! And I'm glad you liked the doctor.

There is a lot of shuffling at the first appointment but I'm glad it was all organized. 

The SIS is the same as the SHG. I really didn't have a lot of pain with the HSG...I just took some ibuprofen before and it hurt when they injected the dye but it was over quickly. I had zero pain for the SHG. 

I was never on letrozole and to be honest, I don't even know what it is..? 

I'm glad his numbers all came back great! That's awesome! 

 

Sunshine05

Sorry, the RE kept referring to it as letrozole, but it's the generic Femara since I'm anovulatory. I'm taking it days 5-9 and supposed to schedule my procedures from days 5-12, and she said they can't be done the same day.

To be honest it was all a little overwhelming... I just kept thinking that this wasn't even IVF and it was a lot to take in! I'm excited she is able to start us now instead of January, I just wish we would have switched earlier!

So I do the HSG, SIS, Femara, and HCG trigger with u/s monitoring. On my ultrasound monitoring they saw some dark spots on my endometrium that they think might be adenomyosis and that's why they ordered the SIS. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about!

madelyn07

Oh, ok. I did two cycles of Clomid with them and then my RE moved me to Follistim.

It is so much to take in...but they are really good about answering questions, just make sure you call the nurse line before 2! 

Or you could always ask me

Everything sounds good. I had the SIS because they saw something on my HSG and wanted to see it better...they are very thorough and I appreciate that.

GL with everything! I'm excited you are starting sooner, too! Let me know if you have any more questions...I can even tell you which nurses are the best  

 

Sunshine05

Yeah, I asked to try Femara instead b/c I've heard there's less side effects, produces fewer but higher quality targets, and doesn't have the effects on your lining like Clomid can.  She was receptive to that, so that's what we're doing.  I just started my prometrium tonight, so just waiting on AF at this point!  (eek!)  I'm sure I will have questions for you as we go along! 

At the appt, since I hadn't gotten AF, they did an ultrasound to see where I was at.  The lining looked good and I had a 16mm follicle but when they did the bloodwork, my numbers didn't look good so they determined I didn't ovulate/wasn't going to... so I'm starting the prometrium instead to bring on AF.  During the u/s is when she saw the dark spots and said she thought it was adenomyosis which is apparently similar to endo (which I have) ... although I still haven't even had a chance to really do any research on it at all yet.  

Yes, please tell me all about the nurses!    The NP Casey did my physical, she was very sweet and personable, and the only one who's name I remembered b/c it's my cousin's name.  I can't remember most of the other women... there were so many! 

Oh, and you are not going to believe my DH!  He was so worked up after the appt, he insisted we go look at a new car that afternoon (we had both taken the day off)!  I knew we planned on getting a bigger family car eventually, but hello... even if/when I'm finally (hopefully) pregnant, you still have 9 months to car shop!  Nope, he said he wanted one in the next month for when we drive back to Cleveland for Christmas.  Sure enough, he found one on Friday and we went that night to go look at it and drove it home.  Not sure how he talks me into these things, but we're now the proud owners of a Ford Explorer.  I really hope his blind optimism doesn't let him down.