IF Testing and Treatment w/o 11/1

inthewoods23 · November 2021

This is a place for those of us who have already started TTC, but have started infertility testing and/or treatments. You can express your thoughts, feelings, and frustrations on infertility. TTC can be a long journey naturally, then add in the difficulties associated with infertility, and it becomes a whole new ball game. The road to infertility can be lonely, frustrating, and complicated, so let's make this a place where we can vent, ask questions, and support one another. Feel free to resurrect this thread at any point in the week if you have something to say. Treat this as an ongoing conversation.

Diagnosis (if you've been):

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):

How are things going?:

Any questions?:

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving?

bumblebee0210 · November 2021

Diagnosis (if you've been): RPL, DOR

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): PIO/e2 FET prep (I think in a natural cycle I would already be in the TWW?)

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): FET

How are things going?: Pretty good. Having all of the anxious/excited/nervous/dread/hope feelings. Not loving the PIO.

Any questions?: YES-- any tips on my butt not feeling terrible for the next 2-8 weeks? I had to do 2 PIO shots yesterday, and then they will be nightly. The shots felt fine going in but man! I feel like I got a COVID vaccine in each cheek. I tried to half-heartedly heat up the vial beforehand but maybe I should do this more seriously this time?

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? Sides, obv. Does anyone answer turkey? Turkey is not good.

kiki047 · November 2021

@bumblebee0210 oof, PIO. I always swore by warming up the vial before injection because it goes in and disperses more easily, and then I also used a heating pad* after and make sure you massage the area and do some squats to get the muscle working. Otherwise, in my experience, the muscle soreness lingers for a while. *after transfer, just make sure it's not too hot and only use it for ~5 mins. It shouldn't significantly increase your body temperature enough to impact the embryo. I used one of those magic bean bag hot compress things and it was just warm enough to relax the muscles.

From the weekend:
@acleverusername I'm learning as I go here so from what I understand about the 3-for-2 batching is you pay the $4,000 flat fee for the first 8 embryos, regardless of whether that all comes from 1 cycle or 3. All embryos thereafter are $250 each. So if I only got 4 from the first cycle I wouldn't need to pay another $4k the second cycle if we got 4 more, and we'd pay per embryo for the third cycle. If we didn't batch them, we pay the same $4k on the first 8 for each cycle. In the end, assuming we get >8 each time, we'd save about $4k. But that is now a moot point because my RE called me out of the blue on Friday night while I was out for dinner and I panicked and told them to go ahead with the testing because I just need answers. We may or may not have the results back before we start again but at least we'll know sooner than later.
@optimistgardener thank you, now that we've had some time to sleep on it we're feeling really good about 9. Our RE is just thrilled, and we're feeling more relieved and reassured everyday. Keeping everything crossed for you as you start again too - I hope your improved test results correlates to a great cycle!
@bumblebee0210 YAY for a good lining! That's awesome news. The way I understand the batching is that they biopsy and freeze both the blast and the biopsy sample right away, so they don't need to thaw the whole thing, only the sample.
@keikilove uuggghh just when we think we have our bodies figured out, something like that happens. I'm so sorry you were thrown for a loop with the timing and how that impacted everthing thereafter. I hope the second half of your DuoStim goes smoothly and without any more drama.

@zwink1 from what I can tell, it's mostly a cost-savings method for both patient and clinic because they can biopsy and freeze the blasts and the samples from each batch and test them all at once. We pay less, they only have to do the testing once, etc. You're right though, it's way too stressful not knowing until the end so we bit the bullet and we're going to test them as we go. How are you feeling so far??

gingermama29 · November 2021

Diagnosis (if you've been): PCOS

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WTO

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): testing

How are things going? Things are good. Starting metformin has been a bit rough with the GI side effects. I cycle between feeling nauseated, gassy af, and starving throughout the afternoon. Hoping my body acclimates to it soon because I have to increase my dosage to two pills next week. I’m getting initial blood work done either Tuesday or Wednesday this week (I’m thinking of taking a mental health day from work and doing it that day) and then getting a baseline US done on Wednesday afternoon. So grateful I can do all of that locally. Assuming everything looks good, I’ll start Letrozole shortly after.

Any questions?: my doctor wanted me to start myo-inositol but I haven’t been able to find it. My pharmacy was going to order it and call me but I haven’t heard anything back. When I searched online, I pretty much have only found myo and d-chiro inositol combined. I’m assuming this would be a better question for my RE but I figured I’d start here. Is there a reason not to do the two combined? Should I be searching strictly for myo-inositol by itself?

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? Sides and pies!! 😋

@bumblebee0210 sorry about the soreness from the PIO. I want to say that I heard warming it up helps slightly and then lots of moving of those muscles. I hope you find something that helps.

fantasyflyte · November 2021

(I'm going to start posting in here because we have our RE appointment in a couple days so it feels official enough)

Diagnosis (if you've been): PCOS, low morphology

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): TWW

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): We have our first RE consultation on Wednesday afternoon.

How are things going?: Sorry for the wall-o-text, I'm mildly panicking ahead of the RE appointment. The clinic does all of their consultations virtually so the two of us can log in together from home, which is nice. It's going to be the main setup so I'm expecting a relatively long appointment because we'll speak with a nurse first, then the doctor, then the financial counselor. I'm also terrified they'll tell me they won't do anything because of my weight. I know I've read that some clinics won't do anything with patients over 40 BMI. My gyn wanted me to lose weight anyway but it's been difficult. I'm hoping if the weight IS an issue, that we can still start whatever we need to do while I lose weight, because I can be under 40 BMI if I lose about 15 pounds which is doable, I just need to stick to it. I'm anticipating not being able to do an assisted cycle until December anyway because I'm assuming they'll want to do an HSG first and I'm also assuming we'll have to wait until my next cycle starts to do that. I've been talking to a friend who used the same clinic when she was TTC, and they had similar issues to what we have, and they did HSG then clomid and IUI, so I'm thinking we'll be similar, especially since my obgyn had told us over the summer that she thought we'd be good IUI candidates.

Any questions?: I don't think so right now, we're just kind of hanging on waiting for the appointment at the moment.

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? Definitely the sides. Especially my mom's stuffing (which some people would say is actually dressing because it's not cooked in the bird). Bread, sausage, egg, some veggies, and spices, and it's 100% the best part of Thanksgiving dinner.

@bumblebee0210 sorry the PIO is kicking you, I hope warming it helps at least a little.

@gingermama29 sounds like you've got a good plan going! I hope the metformin side effects wear off for you soon, those were not super fun.

kiki047 · November 2021

Diagnosis (if you've been): PCOS, RPL/RIF, MFI

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): Calling this CD8, but WFAF I guess? I don't think I'll ovulate between my withdrawal bleed and the start of my next actual period so I feel like I'm essentially just WFAF at this point.

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): Waiting to start ER 2/3 (4th overall), and also waiting for PGT results from the last round. We decided to bite the bullet and pay for PGT per round instead of batching them together (see replies from my last post on how that works. I apologize if I'm not clear on this, I'm figuring this out as we go so I don't think I fully understood how it worked before either). I was originally told 2-3 weeks for results but the lab quoted me 3-4 weeks, so either way I'm hoping they'll under promise and over deliver.

How are things going?: Much better this week. We've had some time to sleep on it, I finally feel like a functioning human again post-ER, my energy is back, physically I feel good and strong. Need to get back on my supplement routine because I took a short break during recovery because of the sheer number of pills I needed to be taking, I wasn't eating at predictable times so it was just too stressful to try to time all the pills so they were all sufficiently spaced out 2 hrs before/after each other. Thank you all for your support through my public unraveling. We're feeling grateful and reassured at this point, and just anxious for PGT results.

Any questions?: NATM

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? The sides. Specifically gravy. You could probably get me to eat anything as long as it has gravy. My (late) uncle made the world's best turkey gravy and holidays aren't the same without him.

gingermama29 · November 2021

@fantasyflyte my RE said their BMI cutoff for IVF is 40 (which I’m literally less than 1 over) and is 50 for IUI. I know it’s different from clinic to clinic but hopefully they’re flexible for you. I follow a lot of body positive fertility accounts on IG that have been really helpful for me as a plus size person. Good luck with your consult on Wednesday!

@kiki047 glad you’re feeling better!! FX for good PGT results! Hopefully you’ll get them more quickly than you were quoted!

kiki047 · November 2021

@gingermama29 sorry to hear the Metformin is rearing its ugly head... it was 100% the worst side effect for me. Otherwise they consider it to be the gold-standard as far as drug side-effects go because the GI upset is basically the only negative to taking it. As for myo-inositol, I think in the end it really comes down to personal preference. I've tried a couple different brands over the years but the one I liked the most and I felt the best on (and is one of the more expensive on the market) was Ovasitol, which is a 40:1 ratio of myo-inositol to d-chiro inositol. Both are naturally occurring in the body but in non-PCOS patients the natural ratio should be 40:1 of myo and d-chiro, whereas in PCOS patients they find some women over-convert myo to d-chiro so sometimes it is recommended to just take myo. There's a PCOS-specific dietitian that I follow on IG who has some interesting posts on inositols. Take it with a grain of salt because she does push her own specific brands from her web store but I think the information is useful. Some inositols can also cause GI upset but I haven't had any side effects whatsoever of Ovasitol (made by Theralogix).
@fantasyflyte excited your appt is almost here! Breathe, friend. It'll be ok. Yes, expect a long-ish first appointment with a lot of information gathering. Hopefully you get one of the more progressive REs who isn't all hung up on BMI. I've heard it happening and I know it's an industry-wide problem. You mentioned you have PCOS too - are you taking any myo-inositol? I found that and the metformin were key in helping me shed some of the stubborn weight. There's a high correlation between insulin and cortisol levels in women with PCOS and difficulty losing/keeping weight off. Granted I put all of that weight back on during the last 2 years of IVF but it was easier to manage when my blood sugar was more balanced.

fantasyflyte · November 2021

@kiki047 I don't actually know why myo-inositol is, I've just seen it mentioned in TTC circles in passing. I can ask about that.I think the metformin has helped me at least not be gaining weight, even if I've only lost 10-ish pounds since I started it several months ago. It HAS been AMAZING in regulating my cycle though, holy crap. I've ovulated on CD20 for 4 cycles in a row, it's mind-blowing.

kiki047 · November 2021

@fantasyflyte check out the link I posted for gingermama above - it's probably one of the most important supplements you can take for PCOS. Some say you can even use it to wean off of metformin but I take both and feel good on it. Really helps keep the sugar cravings at bay, has helped with hirsutism (in my case, not excessive body hair but random hairs popping up in unwanted places, lol), my skin, etc. Honestly both of my REs have been 'meh' on it, they both wanted me on metformin exclusively but in almost ever other PCOS-specific support/nutrition/natropathic circle/resource I've seen, they ALL recommend it.

inthewoods23 · November 2021

I'll come back for tags and a regular post, but I just wanted to share that I FINALLY got my biopsy results!!!

The decidualization score is anywhere from 0-6 with anything above 4 being good. I'm at a 1.

So yeah... from what I know my body is not baby friendly and doesn't allow implantation. Can't wait to talk to the doc about it, but that won't be for another few weeks.

But omg yay something IS wrong with me!

inthewoods23 · November 2021

Diagnosis (if you've been): self-diagnosing myself with a lazy uterus lmao, low morph

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): TWW

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): still have some genetic tests to be run

How are things going?: good and bad. I'm glad to have the biopsy results back, but I still haven't done the genetic tests. I'm not also super worried because DH's company is changing insurance companies for 2022 medical and the RI I'm seeing does not accept that insurance. I don't know if I'll get clearance before the end of the year. Need to call the clinic and see what we'll have to do. I don't want to be paying for out of network.

Any questions?: anyone else had to deal with the insurance changes for new years? How did that work out for you?

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? I'm all about certain sides like mashed potatoes and gravy. I almost always go back for seconds on the sides but will only ever do 2-3 slices of turkey and that's it. Is there even such thing as a moist turkey? lol

kiki047 · November 2021

@inthewoods23 ooh it's exciting when you start to get results rolling in, even if you're not sure exactly how to interpret them just yet. FX this is the missing piece of the puzzle. As for your turkey question, I make a damn good turkey so there's no dry cardboard meat in this house. We dry brine our turkeys, and so far it's been a failproof method.

acleverusername · November 2021

@bumblebee0210 what @kiki047 mentioned about warming up the bottle ahead and then rubbing the area where you inject + doing squats are the best tips I heard out there. I follow @tashablasi on IG and she's a fertility consultant; she did a live video on surviving PIO shots last week which I happened to join. She also suggested that prop your butt over the arm of a chair (stationary) to get a good dollop of your a$$ fat (< really don't know how to phrase that any better).

@kiki047 thanks for explaining how everything works. 3-4 weeks is a long time to wait. I'm with you re: under promise/over delivering. How many days post ER are you? You'll probably be starting another round any day now! Glad to hear you're feeling a little more like a humon.

@gingermama29 sorry to hear about Metformin. Argh. I hope your body adapts to it. Is there anything - like a probiotic - you can take to ease the side effects? As for myo-inositol, I remember that when I was taking it back when we were in month 5-6 of TTC before my PCOS diagnosis from my early 20's was blown out of the water, and I remember reading this article (I think) that helped me understand the difference. As @kiki047 said, Ovasitol is the "brand name" for myo-inositol.

@fantasyflyte "welcome" to our great little supportive micro-community within TTGP. Hopefully your RE will let you do the testing/some treatment while you start your weight loss program, and it sounds like your friend's experience might be a good indication of this. Good luck! Remember to take lots of deep breaths.

@inthewoods23 HOORAY YOU ARE BROKEN! (Said no one ever, except for those suffering infertility). I am really happy that you've gotten to the root of the issues, but I'm super eager to find out what that means for you. I did a quick search and came across this: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcell.2021.613277/full (a very recent article). I will queue this up for further reading later. As for insurance changes, I'm afraid I don't have any experience with this. Hopefully you can do as much as you can this year before the changes take place.

Diagnosis (if you've been): official - unexplained; unofficial - AMA, Hashimoto's, wandering sperm

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): technically WTO (CD3), but also deep into mid-luteal start IVF stim cycle.

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): mid-luteal start IVF egg retrieval

How are things going?: Actual current footage

It's only Day 12 of stims, which is technically already 2 days longer than last cycle, but I feel like it's not that long? It's a weird feeling. Anyways, went in for a u/s yesterday and we were no where near close to triggering. So I"m back tomorrow and we might or might not trigger. Who knows. For convenience, I'd rather trigger on Wed so that ER is on Friday and I can roll into the weekend. But it's all up to my ovaries. My doses are super low now (75IU Menopur and 100IU Gonal-F, so things are definitely growing less aggressively, except for the 3 big follicles that really took off, that we're most certainly letting over mature. Spoiler function is being buggy so I'll skip providing the details but it's still looking like we might get what we've been expecting.

Any questions?: Actually yes. 2 questions:
1) When do you normally start BCP in IVF? I feel like it's around Day 1 or 2 of your cycle? What is that supposed to do...stop your period in its tracks because of rising Estrogen/progesterone? And then when you come off of it, is it supposed come back? I've never used BCP, and sounds like I will to prepare for a transfer, so I'm trying to think that through. But also, I'm wondering how doing mid-luteal IVF affect AF. I started bleeding on Saturday evening, and it's been very weak/stuttering. So I'm wondering if it's the same as going on BCP.

2) For those of you who've done multiple cycles, some longer than others... have you noticed that longer stim leads to lower quality of oocytes? I've only found some older research that seems to indicate that, but also research that looks at quantity of gonandotropins as opposed to time of exposure. I'm on pretty low doses at this point.

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? Give me all the dark meat of the turkey. Seriously though... when you cook a turkey right, it's DELICIOUS. Last year, MH smoked it and it was to die for. I also HATE stuffing. (There! I've said it!) I grew up with my mom stuffing turkey with apples in spices, so when I left home and realized ppl were putting some kind of mixture of breadcrumbs and veggies inside the turkey, I'm like... WTF?

inthewoods23 · November 2021

@kiki047 and now I'm hungry for turkey lol

I realized I failed to do tags earlier

@bumblebee0210 yes massages around the injection site and a heating pad were my go to. I think walking around a bunch helped too. Even doing stretches like touching your toes may help work it through your muscle so it hurts less.

@gingermama29 hope you get acclimated to the metformin soon. Sounds like a miserable time with those side effects

@fantasyflyte does your OB or maybe the RE have some good resources for weight loss?

@kiki047 you and I both have been unraveling a bit in the last week

aren't we supposed to reduce stress for TTC?

A forever losing battle. So glad you're doing better this week and FX future ERs are gentler on you!

ETA - adding comment to Clever because I'm trying to multitask work and TB ahah

@acleverusername hooray for being broken! haha hysterical. Please enjoy this study a TB grad found for me that talks about all the markers for the decidualization score if you're interested. I know you like a good study! 12 days of stims is quite a while! Hopefully that timing works in your favor so you have the weekend to recover.

https://www.fertstertreports.org/article/S2666-3341(20)30130-6/fulltext?fbclid=IwAR3Tm9DStEuSuSXb62ytaI2T-PwHQ_AGA_B__JM4vlUnOGBKQ0d27II_QGs

kiki047 · November 2021

@acleverusername I'm now 10 days out, from ER. I only have one other ER cycle for comparison but on that one I had a withdrawal bleed 8dpER, then my actual period 23 days later (my 2nd ER was a fresh transfer so those stats were skewed by the estradiol/progesterone). I honestly have no idea what to expect this time around so I guess we'll just wait and see. Re: your Q about BCP, I started CD1 of the cycle leading up to ER, took it for however many days/weeks they wanted me on it to stall my ovaries until I could start stims. I did continue bleeding while I was on it, and then I had another withdrawal bleed after coming off BCP, usually a few days later, and it was usually pretty meagre, not like a legit period because my lining never really had a chance to build back up again in that time. I used it for ER prep but not for FET prep, though I'm tempted to ask if it is an option when we do start thinking about transferring just because of how unpredictable my cycles can be. I don't trust my body one bit to do what it's supposed to when I need it to.

Another dark meat fan over here - I will fight you for the oysters. I refuse to eat stuffing that has been inside the bird, it makes me gag, but I will eat "dressing" (if we're getting technical here) when done right. My MIL's is to die for.

walkawaynee · November 2021

@bumblebee0210 the PIO shots sound so scary, i hope they get better for you!

@gingermama29 I have seen a brand called Pregnitude that is myo inositol in a powered form. No direct experience but ibhave seen ads for it.

@fantasyflyte good luck with your RE consult! I sincerely hope they don't make a thing about your bmi! I know there are plenty of clinics that don't fuss about it.

@inthewoods23 it feels weird to say but congrats on there being something wrong with you! Hoping for good direction now that you know! Not sure about the insurance change but hopefully it works out.

@acleverusername hoping yubget a good ER! Your beached whale comments have me so scared, I mean I am a beached walrus on a good day so I can't imagine what Stims are gonna do to me!!

Posting from my phone in a parking lot, sorry if I missed someone/thing!

Diagnosis (if you've been): AMA DOR Low Morphology

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WFAF

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): bcp to prep for stims in a couple weeks!

How are things going?: AF is being super shy, 2 days late (clearly my lazy tracking got O day wrong) and she is only coming at me with spotting today so just waiting for it to actually start so I can let the clinic know.

Any questions?: natm

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? UPO I am not a fan of Thanksgiving food in general, including pies. Everyone is always so stuffed and I am over here making a frozen pizza when I get home.

inthewoods23 · November 2021

@walkawaynee it's funny how AF is always MIA when we don't closely track O. Hopefully it shows soon so you can get started!

I'm probably going to be MIA tomorrow since we are officially in our new office building tomorrow so I'll update with additional news I got today. I got all but the A1C (why?? 🙄) results from Quest. I still have the genetic tests to do (side note, I called to check that insurance was working on the pre-determination and they couldn't see anything in my file 🙄😑). Everything looks good except for free testosterone (was high), I'm positive for anti-nuclear antibodies with a titer of 1:160 (1:80 or lower is good), and I have high histone antibodies. The very little reading I've done tying these results together is that there's some autoimmune comment to our IF. Hopefully it's a simple fix for all these results. I'm excited for my future follow up!

optimistgardener · November 2021

omg you guys. this thread again!

@bumblebee0210 i'm so sorry about the sore butt. PIOs suck, no denying it. i dunno if you recall but i wound up getting some kind of weird reaction to the pio, albeit much delayed, so i'm not sure i'm a good person to offer advice because who knows what went wrong there. still: the others are right about trying to warm the oil and also warming the muscle afterwards. do your absolute best to focus on getting that muscle totally relaxed in advance. i did the shot while standing and, like, putting all my weight on the other leg so the side i'm injecting is just hanging there.

@kiki047 thanks for the well wishes! i'll need them! also: you did not publicly unravel! you were, quite rightly, worried about grappling with a really weird and difficult process in which the stakes are so high, and yet for the nurse who is delivering the news to you it's just like every other day at work and she's probably distracted and who knows what all. and that's a weird disjuncture.

@fantasyflyte i don't have any thoughts but welcome! i hope your first consultation proves productive and you get to start treatment asap.

@inthewoods23 yaaay! a problem someone can pinpoint! I hope this means there will be reasonable fixes for it and the doctor will be full of smart ideas. as for insurance changes, all my recent highs and lows on this board have been related to my g**da** insurance issues, i feel like. i switched insurance at the beginning of october for my new job. apart from a ridiculous misunderstanding about when my fertility benefits kick in, my other complaints mostly revolve around having to get all my doctors to re-establish my referrals. EVEN THOUGH IT'S THE SAME INSURANCE COMPANY, just a different plan. i hate them all vigorously.

@acleverusername day 12 of stims?! eep! so interesting how the tapered response seems to work for you. Re: your question about BCPs, i'm not sure exactly how they work with respect to a retrieval cycle, but for and ER it's to stop the follicular selection process, usually around day 2-3, and plateau your estrogen so they can hit your ovaries with the big guns while you still have a large number of littles in contention. in my proposed transfer cycle they were going to put me on BCPs before adding lupron and, after a week, remove the bcps and then after another week decrease the lupron and add the estradiol valerate. in my ignorance, i see the BCPs in the transfer context as a means of letting the clinic seize control of the landing gear.

@walkawaynee do you mean you're starting the stims in a couple of weeks or starting the bcp in a couple of weeks? we're likely to be, if not exactly on the same calendar, close!

Diagnosis (if you've been): DOR, AMA, 1 ovary, endo, blah

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): TWW/WFAF (tested a tiny bit early today and got my expected nope).

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): looking forward to starting the retrieval process at the end of this month! i'm going to start bcps as soon as cd1 appears (I'm guessing the end of this week).

How are things going?: Ok. I'm low-key panicked about how i'm going to manage my teaching load while also driving halfway across the state every few days for check-ins and then likely a retrieval hopefully after the last week of classes is complete. Also the financials person at my clinic is apparently having a bad week/month because we have had a ridiculous series of phone calls over the past week or so in which half the time she's trying to do math out loud and sorta failing at it and then just giving up and asking me how much money i think i owe, and then charging my old expired credit card and having to call me back, and redoing the same conversation about what i owe, etc. i would be annoyed except that i am totally sympathetic.

Any questions?: natm

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? as a vegetarian i guess it's all about the sides for me by default, but i'll say that i've made some interesting alternative centerpiece dishes over the years. one of the most successful ones was an indian vegetable biryani cooked inside of a hollowed out pumpkin, with all the extra fancy trappings like pistachios.

ok phew. made it to the end!

walkawaynee · November 2021

@optimistgardener I will start BCP when AF shows and I am scheduled to start stims somewhere around 11/24-11/29. Sounds like we will be close in calendars!

optimistgardener · November 2021

@walkawaynee now that we're cycle buddies i need to quiz you about your drug regimen. what will they have you taking? i'm going to do a high-dose combo of gonal-f and menopur with cetrotide after the first few days and then a novarel trigger. i expect to stim quickly as i have done the same in the past.

kiki047 · November 2021

@walkawaynee I hate it when AF is being all coy - like c'mon lady, let's get this show on the road.
@optimistgardener I feel you on low key panicked, that's basically how I felt this entire month when we snuck that cycle in without warning. Keeping everything crossed for you that it will all work out as it should.

Speaking of stress, I have a lovely cold sore brewing, which has happened with every ER cycle so far, either before or after. Took my prescription antivirals that I always have on hand, and hoping I can stop it in its tracks before it gets really bad. Stress + hormones = Kiki gone haywire.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@kiki047 dude, samesies. i don't have a cold sore but i do have a canker sore, and i don't even have the hormones to blame. i used to get them all the time when i was a stressed-out grad student, but i haven't had one in years. this week? canker sore, big honker. ugh.

LJMoon6 · November 2021

Thank you everyone for the kind words last week. I really meant to get back here and respond to everyone but the week got away from me. Answering a few questions from last week:

@acleverusername @hanshotfirst77 I don’t know if we’ll consider IVF. We always said we wouldn’t do it… but I entered the grant drawing for CNY so maybe I am more open to it than I thought. The hold up is the cost. My insurance only covers $5k a year towards treatment, and only at 80%. So that would be a huge expense that we’re not 100% ready to commit to. I do think we have an advantage of time on our hands, since we’re both still pretty young. So we’ll probably just keep trying naturally on our own for a while. Although I am going to push my OB to do a laparoscopy to look for endo if this cycle doesn’t work.

I did think about going rogue. I even blatantly asked the nurse what would happen if I did. In the end I decided to stick with the lower dose of letrozole starting on CD3 (more on this below).

@keikilove I hadn’t heard of letrozole thinning the lining before either. I always thought it was just clomid. But idk. It seems like too much of a coincidence to happen during both my high dose cycles when I haven’t had an issue with my lining before (besides my clomid cycles). I did join some IUI support FB groups and I have seen a few people mention it on there too. So maybe it is a thing… idk. (I’m sorry about your last cycle. You show such strength though all of this. Big big hugs!)

@kiki047 We do have a few other clinics in our area. They are a little further away but I’m willing to sacrifice convenance for better care. Our current clinic is only 10 minutes from our house. A 30 minute drive is no big deal. Although I have a few ideas up my sleeve that I want to try first (laparoscopy and maybe even traveling to CNY for IVF).

Ok, now for this weeks tags:

@bumblebee0210 O.M.G. You are getting sooooo close. I am super excited for you. I have no experience with the meds question but I hope you figure something out soon. That sounds painful!

@gingermama29 Taking a mental health day so that you can go to your appointments sounds great. It sounds like you’ll be able to start treatment soon. That’s awesome!

@fantasyflyte Welcome to this horrible club. I hope you’re able to get some answers at your appointment. One of my friends actually went ahead with IUIs without getting an HSG. They had known MFI, so maybe that played a role in the decision. I probably wouldn’t recommend skipping it, cause if your tubes are blocked then you would be paying for treatment that would never work. But if you wanted to get a cycle or 2 in without wasting time, that may be an option. Of course, it will depend on the clinic. Just a thought though.

@kiki047 I’m so happy to hear how your last cycle went! I’m anxiously waiting for your PGT results. Do you think you’ll get the results before your next cycle? Would that influence your protocol at all?

@inthewoods23 I’m so glad you finally have some answer! This is huge! I have no advice on the insurance changing. I hope you’re able to get some appointments in with him before the end of the year. At least then you can come up with a plan.

@acleverusername I’m glad your cycle is progressing as well as it is. I’m excited for you to get to retrieval and also fertilize those frozen eggs!

@walkawaynee I hate when AF plays tricks like that. FX you can get going soon.

@optimistgardener Omg. Your finance and insurance problems make me ragey. Why does this process have to be so difficult! I hope you’re able to find time in your schedule for your appointments coming up. That’s always such a stressful part of this whole journey.

Diagnosis (if you've been): Unexplained

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WTO

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): IUI #4

How are things going?: Things are going fine. I got another call from my clinic last week. They needed to change my appointment time because apparently, they triple booked the time slot. I hung up on the person. I’m not usually a bitch and completely understand these types of things… but come freaking on! I know. I KNOW! I’ve done this to myself for continuing to go back. But it’s clear to me that we need to be done with them.

I did take an extra pill (my RE’s prescription was written for the higher dose, so I always get extra pills when I get a refill) for a 6th day, like the extended low dose protocol. But I haven’t decided if I’ll take any more. I’m nervous to go too off script. I don’t know if it’ll make any difference though.

Any questions?: Nope

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving? Hate turkey. Love the sides.

bumblebee0210 · November 2021

@LJMoon6. I think searching for the endo makes sense before moving to IVF-- if endo, or anything else that inhibits implantation, is the issue, then IVF is not going to fix it, and you're just going to spend a lot of money to be really disappointed.

@kiki047 OK i have to admit I never understood the clear-cut definition of a "withdrawal bleed" relative to a "real period". Does a "real period" always mean period following ovulation? Because obviously no one ovulates after an ER (if you do it right), so that would mean that any bleeding following an ER is "not a real period" even if it takes 2 weeks. At my clinic, bleeding was bleeding, they didn't really care if it followed ovulation or not, but this seems ta matter at other places, and I don't really understand why.

@inthewoods23. OMG I am so glad you are getting some answers! Hopefully they will be answers with solutions attached, but at least it's nice to get the why.

@walkawaynee. It's always such a funny feeling in TTC to be like impatient for AF. Hopefully she gets the show on the read so you can get going!

@acleverusername. Such a long stim! I guess its the crazy low doses. (I'm like constantly maxing out the follistim pen over here). Looking forward to the results, hoping it ends up as good as it's looking so far.

@optimistgardener. Woot for getting the show on the road soon! I feel you no the teaching schedule thing but students are adaptable, and there is no way to plan in advance, so you just kind of have to deal with it however it comes up.

Thanks all for the advice on PIO. I did the heating pad thing last night and it helped a lot. I am beginning to think this will actually be manageable for 2-8 weeks. And COVID test was negative so that was my last hurdle for FET on Friday. Barring some sort of thaw or catheter issue, I'm 3 days out from being PUPO? Weird feeling for sure.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@acleverusername i didn't notice before your advice re: hanging yr a$$ over a chair back for the pio shots. i'm gonna try that next time, thanks! Also re: your question about longer stims/lower oocyte quality, that recent article I posted a couple of weeks ago about various gonadotropin regimens claims to show that neither quantity of stim, length of stim, nor combination of drugs have any meaningful relationship to euploidy rates, which is of course the only thing that matters.

@bumblebee0210, Clever, and @kiki047, as far as i have encountered, "withdrawal bleed" is a term used purely to refer to the (usually minimalist) bleed that happens after stopping hormonal BC; when the steady drip of low-level hormones craters, the body responds by dumping the very thin lining characteristic of a BC cycle, and starts gearing up for a "real" cycle. "Real" bleeds are typically heavier because the lining in a natural cycle is way chunkier.

walkawaynee · November 2021

@optimistgardener I am waiting on the final meds list based on what my insurance allows but what they told me to expect is Menopur 75, Gonal-F 300 and Ganirelix 250mcg. The nurse said they assume stims will be 8 days since this my first medicated cycle we really don't know how I respond yet. Also referring to a natural cycle as "way chunkier" is the most unexpected type of real I heard today.
Edited to add trigger with novarel or pregnyl depends on what my insurance covers but he prefers to use Pregnyl

acleverusername · November 2021

@LJMoon6 I'd have hung up on the lady too; btw, that triple booking stint happened to me at my first clinic as well. PS --- think about the lack of stress you'll have with a clinic that has superior care even if you have to drive 30 min to get there. SO WORTH IT. (My current doctor works at a clinic 45 min drive there, and over an hour back... and he's worth every penny. Mind you, I also love to drive, so the trip time is therapeutic.)

@optimistgardener thank you for being sweet & sympathetic to your financial gal who's clearly having quite the week. I bet it would be different though if you were pumped up full of hormones. Hehe. (I have NOT been sweet to ppl lately. Nearly bit off the head of the pharmacy customer care who tried to tell me that Gonal-F pens had different strengths... I'm like NO, it's a different size of pen which gives you more or less doses, but the strength is the same.)

@walkawaynee dude, no joke about it, but if you have >12 follicles that all respond to medications, it's gonna get pretty uncomfortable towards the end of your stim. I'm not sure what your antral follicle count is, so that will depend. To be honest, last time, only 6-8 of my follicles responded, and I didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable and I do this cycle.

Update from this morning: still waiting on E2/LH results, but it's pretty likely I'll be triggering tonight for an ER on Thu. Stats in spoiler.

On my right, I had 5 follicles, measuring 12.6mm - 21.4mm. The doctor thinks we'll likely get 3 MII from right side (discounting the smallest and the biggest follicles, we have 3 between 14.6 - 18.6mm).

On my left (hardworking) side, I have 11 follicles, measuring 12.33mm - 24.33mm. The doctor thinks we'll only get 6 from this side, discounting 3 largest follicles, and 2 smallest. Without those, we have 6 that are in the 13.6-19.4mm range.

Side note: my doctor is very conservative so, I'm hoping for at least 10 MIIs and up to 14.

kiki047 · November 2021

@LJMoon6 OMG, good for you for hanging up on the person that called about triple booking you. WTF! Curious to see if that 6th pill makes any difference this cycle. I hadn't heard of letrozole thinning the lining either, I know that is a common side effect of clomid, but every body responds differently. I will say, I picked my first clinic out of convenience because it was close to home/work and have since switched to one further away/a huge pain in the ass to get to but I'm much happier with the level of service/care I'm getting there. So far it feels worth it, even if I did like my old RE. I hope you're able to find a happy medium, there's no reason why little things like scheduling should be so damn stressful.
@bumblebee0210 Glad the PIO tips seemed to help last night. I'm SO damn excited for you to be PUPO!!
Re: I think optimist explained it as well as I could - withdrawal bleeds are typically categorized as a bleed brought on by a hormonal shift, whether that is coming off of hormonal BC (pills and IUDs too) or stims. Since you don't ovulate on BC the bleed is triggered by the hormonal crash as opposed to the corpus luteum breaking down. So by this definition, women who have a "period" every month while on birth control aren't actually experiencing a real menstrual cycle, it's actually a withdrawal bleed. I did not know this until I came off BCP after 15+ years when we started TTC 4 years ago. I was especially confused by this in the context of my anovulatory cycles because I did still have a period eventually, but I know a lot of women with PCOS need provera in order to induce a period each month because of hormonal imbalances.
@optimistgardener ugghh to your canker sore. I've had like 6 cold sores in my entire life, all coinciding with major (stressful) life events. This is 3/3 for IVF-related cold sores. Why must our bodies hate us so much?
@acleverusername that all sounds encouraging!! FX you get your 10. Can't believe it's here already, I feel like you just started stimming, even though it was almost 2 weeks ago.

acleverusername · November 2021

Update: triggering tonight! Retrieval 7am (😵) on Thu. Will have to board my dog overnight.

keikilove · November 2021

@bumblebee0210 So sorry about your bruised backside! PIO is the worst. Ditto to all the good advice you’ve gotten here. If you continue to feel very lumpy & very sore, you could have a reaction to the oil that the progesterone is delivered in. Some people have to switch from the usual brand to a specialty PIO due to allergies to the usual sesame oil.

@kiki047 It’s wonderful to hear you & YH are now feeling really good about your 9 lil embryos. FX that you hear great news about them in a few weeks. It’s also good to hear that you’re feeling well both physically & mentally. That makes such a difference going through these (seemingly never-ending) processes. P.S. I don’t think you unraveled at all— you were just having a natural reaction to the news at each step of the process. Completely understandable and relatable.💕 Thank you for your supportive words regarding my last topsy-turvy cycle.😉

@inthewoods23 The “good” news just keeps pouring in! So happy that you feel like you’re getting somewhere with all the testing and these results. FX that these are fairly easy fixes so you can get your THB! P.S. Love the meme this week. 👍🏽

@gingermama29 Ugh, sorry about the Metformin side effects! Unfortunately, it is known to affect most people that way. Are you on the extended release version? That seems to help a lot with limiting the side effects. I’ve also heard that you should keep your carb intake very low before taking Metformin. Personally, I felt so horrific on it (huge amounts of hair loss, deep chest pain, frozen shoulder, etc) that my doctor took me off of it and kept me on Ovasitol (the brand name that Kiki recommended). Before I bought Ovasitol I was able to find straight myo-inositol (no d-chiro) maybe at Whole Foods? Or another local health food store. Good luck!

@fantasyflyte Welcome! I hope your upcoming appointment goes really well. It’s nice that your SO can join in too. You seem to have a good sense of the other helpful things that you can do while you work/if you have to lose the 15 pounds you mentioned. Hopefully the doctor won’t even require that. The only good thing I can say about Metformin is that it definitely helped me lose weight by killing my appetite. 🤷‍♀️

@acleverusername LOL at that whale gif. It took me a minute to get it.🤪 Love the info in your spoiler. Seems like a good cycle. Hope you’re feeling ok and that you get to trigger soon! As far as your question with BCP & transfer, my understanding is that it is strictly used to make planning your transfer cycle & day of transfer more convenient. So after the bcp & the ‘fake’ period, then you supplement with estrogen and progesterone to mimic a natural cycle. I’ve also heard of it being used to “quiet the ovaries” before a transfer but not sure why that would be necessary. Maybe it’s similar to using Lupron before a transfer to quiet any inflammation… ?

@walkawaynee LOL at you making a frozen pizza after Thanksgiving dinner! I’ve never heard of that!😄 I’ve definitely known a couple of people who are grossed out by the gluttony of a traditional Thanksgiving meal and can’t enjoy it though. It’s exciting that you’re getting ready to start stims. Come on down, Aunt Flo!

@optimistgardener Sorry about the bfn. But wow, you are starting stims again already— This year is absolutely flying by! Being that you are doing bcp on CD1, can you time everything to do the retrieval on/very close to the Thanksgiving break? That’s probably what you mean when you reference the last day of classes… 🙈 And bless you for your patience with the finance lady. That does not sound like a fun skit to be a part of. On the other hand, Your holiday dish inside the pumpkin sounds amazing.

@LJMoon6 YESSS! for hanging up on your clinic! At some point they have to realize how difficult they are for patients to work with, right? Bet you can’t get out of there soon enough! If you do decide to travel to CNY there is a FB travel support group online with tons of tips about how to do it, where to stay, even how to get your meds cheaper. I’d done a lot of research on them before deciding to travel to my current clinic (closer to me). Hope you find the clinic that you feel very satisfied with in the near future.

acleverusername · November 2021

@keikilove I actually have an answer for you re: "quieting the ovaries in a transfer cycle"... I'll be doing a modified natural cycle (taking Letrazole + triggering), and they want to quiet down my ovaries so that I don't respond to it like I normally do (i.e. ovulate in 12 days) allowing for sufficient time for lining to build.

Oh, and apparently I'm starting BCP on Saturday... yes, THIS Saturday (2 days after ER) for transfer prep. 🙈

bumblebee0210 · November 2021

@acleverusername yayyyyy for trigger and yay for transfer prep! Take care of yourself tomorrow— I have all the fingers crossed.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@bumblebee0210 woohoo! friday is so so soon. i'm rooting so hard for you.

@LJMoon6 re: the ivf decision, it's a tough one for sure. for a long time i had drawn my own personal line in the sand at the point of having to commit to ivf (and now here i am doing my second round, hahahaha *sigh*). the cost is a lot, and also, for me at least, there was an aspect of just having to admit i needed that much medical intervention to make this happen. i really wanted to believe in my own intrinsic fertility. You're right that you are still young, and with any luck you'll soon find yourself KU without the big guns getting involved. knowing it's out there, and thinking about at what point maybe you'd want to start putting money aside for it or whatever if that's a path you eventually take, might be useful.

@walkawaynee i'm all about the adjectival realness around here

. Thanks for sharing your drug regimen. I'm 225IU menopur/225IU gonal-f, and i forget how much cetrotide. the standard amount, whatever that is, i believe. I stimmed last time for 5.5 days (5 days of g-f and 6 of menopur). But 8 is pretty standard! hopefully you'll respond vigorously. My clinic believes in hitting me hard because i'm DOR and AMA. But considering I only have 1 ovary, my AFC has up to this point not been terrible (knock on wood) and, assuming i catch it early enough in my cycle before any of them are too far along, i have tended to recruit whatever is there (last time for ex: i started with an AFC of 8 and I wound up with them collecting 8). The doc puts this good recruitment up to his v. aggressive approach with the drug dosage, but honestly who the heck knows.

@keikilove i just went back and looked at my ivf calendar again and yup, it has me starting stims the monday before thxgiving. spoilering the rest because deep dive into my boring, boring calendar.

my stim start time that monday allows me to do my cd5 check-in on the friday after thxgiving. this is a key day for me because last time on the fifth day of stims they were like, "woah crap your follicles are already huge" and hurriedly put me on cetrotide 2 days early. according to the default calendar i'm presently on, i would keep stimming for another 3 days and do another u/s check on both the following monday and on wednesday with an egg retrieval on friday dec. 3 (my last week of teaching, plus i have 2 classes each on mon and wednesday, and my u/s appts require a 3-hour-drive 1-way so there's no way i'd be able to do either class those days). So basically if i stim longer than i expect to, my calendar will suck. But if my calendar is more like my last time stimming, they'll look at me the friday after thxgiving, put me on cetrotide, and have me trigger on sunday for a tuesday morning retrieval. if that's how it goes, i'd be able to prep and post a video lecture maybe for tuesday (when i only have 1 class) and conceivably just cancel classes for wednesday, which i suspect my students would not cry about, or else do them remotely because i'll still be up at my mom's place, which is much closer to the clinic than i am.

bows22 · November 2021

@bumblebee0210 I’ve done a very bad job of posting lately and can’t remember what I’ve actually said to you versus what I have replied in my head but I’m so excited for you! I hope the PIO gets better!

@kiki047 I was obviously following your saga from vacation even though I never got to chime in on here but I am so glad you decided to go ahead with the testing. And even more glad that you are feeling good about everything now❤️

@gingermama29 I feel like we keep missing each other on this thread based on the weeks we participate - glad to see you this week! I hope your body adjusts to the metformin quickly!

@fantasyflyte good luck today! Can’t wait to hear how it goes!

@inthewoods23 excited for you that your results are showing some answers, I hope whatever is going on is something that can be easily addressed

@acleverusername good luck tomorrow!

I’ve been working on this since yesterday so am just going to post what I have so far in case I don’t make it back here soon!

edit for reading comprehension or not knowing what day of the week it is. Maybe both.

walkawaynee · November 2021

@acleverusername yay for trigger and transfer tomorrow! Take good care of your self today and this weekend. FX for you!

@LJMoon6 triple booked an appt!?! I would hang up too! Hoping you find a solid fit wherever you when you are done with this clinic. The girls in the office at clinic are super rude and snobby but them seem competent at least!

AFM AF finally showed so I got my official calendar yesterday afternoon. Starting stims the day before Thanksgiving and estimated ER on 12/4. The clinic batches cycles so I am not sure what happens if I need to trigger sooner than their ER week but I guess we cross that bridge when we get there. Going for a baseline US tomorrow and starting BCP.

bows22 · November 2021

@walkawaynee I’m glad AF showed its face and you have your schedule set!

@optimistgardener i pretty much live in a constant state of low-key panic so you are in good company! It will all work out though!

@LJMoon6 omg triple booked? I’m glad you hung up on her. If you have another option that takes your insurance i think it’s definitely worth switching even if it’s a little further. My clinic sucks too but I’m stuck because of insurance.

@keikilove oh friend. I somehow missed your whole ordeal while I was on vacation. I’m so sorry that happened. Looking forward to seeing what your next steps are ❤️

zwink1 · November 2021

Omg this thread lately. I need to start posting sooner!

@bumblebee0210, everyone pretty much covered the tips and tricks to making it easier. I've also noticed that the soreness generally reduces over time, sort of like a workout lol. It never really goes away, but it changes from like a deep soreness that feels like you worked out for 7 days straight and over taxed your muscles to more of a general low key ache. Good luck on Fri!!! I hope everything goes smoothly with the transfer!

@fantasyflyte, welcome, and good luck this afternoon! Hopefully they're able to at least provide a plan of action for moving forward.

@kiki047, I'm glad you're feeling better, and I totally get your need to know. I probably would've done the same thing! Hopefully you get results back on the short end of their timeline and are able to learn more asap!

@acleverusername, FX for a smooth retrieval tomorrow morning!! I think by now you've gotten an answer to your BCP question, so I'll just concur and say yep, scheduling/quiet ish down for transfer prep.

@walkawaynee, I'm glad things went well and you were able to get a schedule locked down!

Diagnosis (if you've been): primarily MFI +ovulatory dysfunction

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): TWW (it's been ages since I typed that and meant it... sometimes I miss the naive, optimistic, early days of TTC).

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): Waiting.

How are things going?: Things are going okay. I had a ton of abdominal pain and cramping going on on Monday that was sort of stressing me out, but that seems to have calmed down a bit. Initial beta is scheduled for Fri morning.

Any questions?: nope.

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving?
I'm actually up for all of it. I'm an equal opportunity eater of all things sides and Turkey. And leftovers. If I had to pick, I'll go sides just because of the much larger choice of options lol.

Probable UO - I secretly prefer Thanksgiving to Christmas/Dec holiday season!

bows22 · November 2021

@zwink1 I was thinking of you when you didn’t check in yet - fingers crossed that cramping was your embryo getting cozy and hoping for great news on Friday!!

Okay now for my check in!

Diagnosis (if you've been): unexplained,AMA,endometrial polyps/thickening

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WTO

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?) Clomid + IUI

How are things going? Well after a kind of late ovulation last month, I was surprised to get a positive OPK last night on CD12. IUI will be tomorrow morning. I didn’t temp this cycle so I won’t have any way of knowing if we get it done in time so hopefully my RE knows what they are doing.

Any questions? DH isn’t going to be able to be there for the IUI. I’m okay with it but I think he is pretty bummed. Is he going to be okay or full of regret haha ugh

GTKY: Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides at Thanksgiving?

I love all of it. The sides because there are more options but I wouldn’t give up the turkey! And I love the leftover turkey sandwiches. Yum. I can’t wait.

kiki047 · November 2021

@acleverusername YAY it's almost time!! I can't believe how fast they'll have you starting FET prep too. That's freaking exciting! Will they have PGT results back from this upcoming cycle in order to be able to choose the "best" embryo or is the plan to transfer one of your euploids from your last cycle?
@keikilove thank you for your constant support. I'm thinking of you - are you flying back to MX today? I hope everything goes smoothly for the latter half of your duostim.
@bows22 welcome back! Sorry YH doesn't get to go with you tomorrow, I know he was happy he got to go last time. TBH MH was able to come in with me for all my IUIs and FETs and I would have felt weird not to have him there because as far into this process as we are, I still can't reconcile my feelings on the idea of him not being "part" of the process, other than the obvious. Keeping everything crossed for you!!
@walkawaynee thaaank you AF. Woo hoo. I hope BCP is kind to you... as I'm sure others can attest to, it can be a doozy.
@zwink1 ahhh Friday! Are you a serial tester? Will you POAS before then? FX that cramping was a good sign.

LJMoon6 · November 2021

@bumblebee0210 Omg, you’re getting so close! I definitely don’t want to move to IVF without having this done. I just hope I can convince my OB to do it.

@acleverusername I think I understand why the triple booking happens. But it still sucks. And is just the cherry on the cake for me and this clinic. The problem with driving a little further to a different clinic is that I have to drive deeper into the cities… which usually gives me anxiety. But after I do it a couple times, I should be more comfortable. Yay for triggering!!! I’m so excited for you! I can’t believe you’re starting BCP soooo soon!

@kiki047 I’m not sure if the 6th pill really did do anything… but see update below! I think we’re (or I should say “I”) leaning towards no more treatment. And if we do end up doing more it might just be going to IVF with CNY. Idk. It’s hard to know what to do next.

@keikilove That’s great to know there are FB support groups for traveling to CNY! Thank you for sharing that. The clinic I would be looking to go to is the Colorado one. It’s one of the cheapest places to fly to from here, with flights usually under $100. I don’t know what we’ll end up doing though. I really just need a break from treatment for a while.

@optimistgardener I think you’re right. I don’t think I’m quite there yet in thinking I really NEED the big guns. I’m feeling like I maybe just need to be more patient. But there’s clearly SOMETHING wrong. We’re coming up on a year of trying with treatment. I feel like if we keep doing IUIs I’m just beating my head against a wall. Gah. Idk. Like I said above, I just need a break.

@walkawaynee That’s funny. The staff at my office seem super nice but their level of incompetence is so high! I would take a little rudeness for better care lol. Yay for getting your calendar!

@bows22 Luckily my insurance is pretty good and I think I could go wherever I want. But they just don’t cover enough. That’s one thing that still pissed me off about all insurance. Why is infertility treatment considered elective!? We didn’t choose to have infertility! It sounds like we’ll be cycle buddies. MH has only come to one of the IUIs we’ve done. I think I prefer it that way. It just feels weird for him to be standing there while I have a nurse all up in my whoha lol.

@zwink1 I’m glad your pain has subsided. Friday will be here before you know it!!!

AFM: I had my follicle scan this morning. My lining was at a 9 (compared to 5.5 last cycle on the higher dose of letrozole), although I couldn’t see a distinct line to place the measuring cursers on… but, obviously I’m not a nurse/ultrasound tech. I also have 2 mature follicles, 1 on each ovary. So over all I’m feeling pretty hopeful for this cycle. I’ve only ever produced 1 follicle on the lower dose of letrozole, so I don’t know if the extra day actually helped or not, but I’ll take it! I also got a customer satisfaction survey from the clinic yesterday. Lol. That was fun to fill out. I didn’t hold anything back. I really hope they make some changes. But I won’t be sticking around to find out.

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