IF Testing & Treatment w/o 11/22

optimistgardener · November 2021

Ovarian Follicle Photograph by Microscape

[A micro-photograph of a follicle!]

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: What's the plan this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you traveling or staying close to home? Excited for family time or no?

[edited for spacing, grrr]

optimistgardener · November 2021

Diagnosis (if you've been): creaky, dusty, old and lonely ovary, maybe endo

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): stims!

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): retrieval cycle #2

How are things going?: good! i had my baseline u/s yesterday and, can i just say, i really like my RE. when i turned up he was doing all the stuff that the nurses usually do (calling folks from the waiting room, taking blood pressure and weight, etc.) when i asked him about it he was like, yeah it was a quiet day today and the nurses needed a day off. we wound up standing around for ages just chatting about this and that because i think i was the last patient he had to see. i asked him all kinds of things about my treatment plan and he satisfied for me (again) that what we're doing makes sense. i brought up some articles i'd found in my pubmed snooping and he gave his opinion on their findings, and we eventually wound up way off topic in "what is the world coming to" type conversational territory. it's nice to feel like you're on the same page with your doctor, and it almost made up for the 3-hour drive.

ovary stats in spoiler:

he thought he could see anywhere between 5-9 antral follicles. obvs i'm pulling for 9, but this is roughly the same as my last cycle when i had an AFC of 7, and is (hopefully) better than the two medicated IUIs i did with this clinic late last winter, when i had clear AFCs of 5. he said the uncertainty is because in addition to the easier to count mid-size antral follicles, i have a number of small ones this time around that are hard to get a good count on. this is the first cycle I've done in which the the baseline has not been like "woah good thing you came in today because you've got a big lead follicle that's right on the edge of being too big." this time my largest follicle is around 6.5mm, which almost made me feel like i should have actually followed their directions about taking out my nuvaring on wednesday instead of thursday.

unsurprising but i feel an emotional rollercoaster coming on. on the drive up, i spent the whole time thinking that that i was just wasting my time doing this whole thing again, and that i just "had a feeling" that all my eggs are crap and there's nothing in there but disappointments. but then during the u/s i started feeling hopeful again, and it was hard not to interpret the unusual absence of precocious follicles in this cycle's crop as a good sign. i also opted to hear the high side of the AFC range more loudly than the low side.

Any questions?: not at present.

GTKY: What's the plan this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you traveling or staying close to home? Excited for family time or no? i'm headed up to spend thanksgiving with my mom and her wife, which is also convenient for my stims-day-5 ultrasound check-in. i'm not a big holiday person. that having been said, i do like thanksgiving because the whole point is just good food. no costumes necessary, no gifts, no bad music. just tasty food and a lazy day of toodling around in a warm kitchen. i'll be sorry though not to partake in my usual thanksgiving day-drinking.

[edited for bad writing]

@walkawaynee i hope that cyst disappeared for your baseline!

gingermama29 · November 2021

@optimistgardener your RE sounds awesome! FX for 9 follicles!

Diagnosis (if you've been): PCOS

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WTO

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): Letrozole, metformin, myo-inositol, and TI

How are things going? Things are pretty good. My period arrived on Saturday as expected and I immediately reached out to my RE’s office. They ordered Letrozole for me and I start that today, though they want me to get blood drawn for an HCG beta just to confirm and cover their bases, despite my period. They also want to do an HSG since I haven’t yet. They normally try to do that before CD 10 but their earliest availability because of the holiday is my CD 11 (next Tuesday). We’re going to do it then though because I consistently don’t O until right around CD 20 in my medicated cycles. We’ll also do my US right after since I’ll be in the clinic already. I’m also upping my metformin dosage for the last time starting tomorrow so that’ll be another fun GI treat.

Any questions?: any advice for the HSG? This will be my first time experiencing this.

GTKY: What's the plan this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you traveling or staying close to home? Excited for family time or no? We’re visiting my ILs for Thanksgiving. Their health hasn’t been great so DH and I are cooking. But we’re really excited to see them and spend time with family.

hanshotfirst77 · November 2021

@gingermama29 take some ibuprofen before hand to help prevent cramping. Mine wasn’t too bad but I have heard from others that it can be pretty painful. Though I found the SHG worse in my opinion.

@optimistgardener yay for 9 follies! I’m super hopeful for you though I understand how hard it can be to be hopeful sometimes. But I’ll be rooting for you!

Diagnosis (if you've been): Unexplained secondary IF, PCOS, unexplained RPL

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): waiting on insurance

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): just a lot of waiting…

How are things going?: well just got back from vacation and I’m so glad I went. It was wonderful. And I’m off work this week as well leading into Thanksgiving so getting some downtime is super nice and relaxing. The things you can get done when you don’t have to work lol.

Any questions?:

GTKY: What's the plan this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you traveling or staying close to home? Excited for family time or no?

going to my aunt and uncles for thanksgiving. We don’t have a huge family but it’s nice when we do get together. I’m on dessert duty so making some yummy stuff on Wednesday in preparation. I’m excited to all be together but there is some family drama so hoping everyone keeps calm and we can have a happy day.

acleverusername · November 2021

@optimistgardener let me reassure you that what you're doing isn't in vain. Even though I only know you on this platform, I have no doubt that you deserve and will be a great mother. I am rooting for your 9 follies. I also love the sound of your RE. Sounds very much like mine. Goooooo ovaries! Also cool shot of the follicle close up. I love it when you talk nerdy to me! 🤓

@gingermama29 Obv I'm sorry that AF showed up, but so glad you're getting going on your plan! Re: HSG... listen everyone's pain tolerance is different, so you YMMV (your mileage may vary, as they say in the deals forums). When I did my HSG, I was still with our first RE and she didn't mess around and prescribed me Ketorolac which was lovely. I still felt a REALLY BAD PERIOD cramp for like 10 sec, but I can only imagine how bad it would have been without it. So, ask for that, and if your doc agrees, just take is 45min before the procedure. (Note: there's like a lot of prep involved in the procedure, so like 15 min before you go in is a good time to do it. Well... at least that was the case for me cause I had mine done in a hospital radiology lab.)

@hanshotfirst77yay for vacation & being off work this week! Remind me: what's the insurance hold up this time?

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

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WTO

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): IVF retrieval #3 mid-luteal start!

How are things going?: I'm feeling jazzed this morning cause I got a great night's sleep, even if it meant swatting MH's attempts at middle-of-the-night sexy times. Lol. He wasn't too pleased but I'm like... "DUDE, I'm just about enjoying the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. None of that." PS... I did actually swat at him like a fly. Teehee. (Separately though, I have like 0 sex drive these days because of being on Lexapro. Currently talking to my psychiatrist about maybe adding Wellbutrin to the mix to help with that side of things. I think @inthewoods23 is/was taking that; wouldn't mind getting your 2 cents.)

Anyhoo, I'm just waiting for Sergio, so that I can do my baseline 3 days thereafter. I am really hoping that Letrazole helped speed things up, since MH's bro and sis-in-law arrive on Dec 12, and I want to be close-to-done by then. At this point, I've given up hope on being done, so I'll take the 2nd best thing.

Otherwise, MH and I have been having a "what's next for us after this retrieval" convos and we have a GREAT plan in place that I'm excited to share with you guys. First of all, we're gonna not do PGT testing this time. We'd like to think of these embryos (if we make any... cause you know... there's still a chance that it doesn't happen) as our "backup embryos." So, hopefully we won't need to use them. And if we do, I think we'll be having a whole different conversation then. Not doing PGT testing will "save" us $6900. So, we've also now decided to do our transfer with TEW!!! OMG, I'm so excited about this plan. She's been so instrumental in our fertility journey that it will be nice to come a full circle and finish things with her. Of course I really love my RE now, and he's helped up make beautiful embryos. But, I also miss that hand-holding I always get from TEW, so I feel like it's the right thing.

As for timing, we also talked about that and decided that we're gonna aim for end-of-March/April timeframe. We actually want to take most of Feb and into March and drive across the US to FL. My sis is taking the fam to Disneyworld for a week at the end of Feb and we're gonna meet up there. But also, there's a potential Artemis shuttle launch happening in Feb as well as the Daytona 500... both things MH and I would love to see "once in our lifetime." Plus, we never got the chance to have a honeymoon since we got married on Feb 2, 2020, so this will be like our "honeymoon trip." We're super excited that we also get to do this with our doggo. And in the meanwhile, I'm hoping this time will give me the opportunity to detox and mentally prepare for transfer.

Any questions?: Nope

GTKY: What's the plan this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you traveling or staying close to home? Excited for family time or no?
This is my fourth Thanksgiving in the US and since neither of us have family nearby, I've done a bunch of different things each year. This years, MH and I have decided to do a solo Thanksgiving. We're gonna skip all the traditional foods and try to go down to the pier and get some fresh fish / oysters or something and make that! And then we booked a hotel stay + spa treatment for me Sat through Mon just the 3 of us (dog included) so we're looking forward to that. That's our usual "get away before stims start."

Edited because I tagged @walkawaynee instead of @hanshotfirst77.

inthewoods23 · November 2021

*coming out of lurk-dom to answer the call*

@acleverusername yep that's what I'm on. I think Wellbutrin/bupropion are one of the few antidepressants that don't reduce your libido. IIRC, Zoloft will reduce libido so some are put on lower doses of Zoloft and Wellbutrin together (I think @kiki047 mentioned her H taking this route to help maintain libido). And Wellbutrin is pregnancy safe!

My PCP started me on the 2 doses a day regimen but I have since moved to the extended release version that's 1x a day and didn't have any changes to my mood during that adjustment. And, I'm actually on a lower dose with the extended release (2 100mg pills originally vs 1 150mg extended release pill).

kiki047 · November 2021

I apologize, these are in no particular order:
@acleverusername I'm not personally on Wellbutrin so take this with a grain of salt but @inthewoods23
is correct, MH is on Zoloft with a side of Wellbutrin and it makes a big difference for him in terms of libido and his "performance", ahem.

Without it he has basically zero sex drive. I'm chuckling at the image of you literally swatting YH

Spoilering this anecdote because NSFW and also TMI

I sleep bottomless and MH sleeps completely naked so the universal sign for "don't touch me" is for one (or both) of us to wear undies to bed. For me it almost always coincides with AF and/or being on progesterone suppositories, so there's a clear reason why it's off-limits. But even still, I have also had to swat MH away when he's poking around the danger zone. And as a sign of his advanced maturity, his usual reaction is to give me a wedgie.

Image: https://media.giphy.com/media/LiTTNQx8gGlrO/giphy.gif

@optimistgardener oh friend, you're not alone on that emotional rollercoaster. This process is just full of twists and turns, you never know when the ground is going to give out from underneath you. I'm sorry you have that feeling of impending doom - I do hope that your seemingly positive baseline update is a good sign for great things ahead for you!! FX!
@gingermama29 ick to the final bump in your metformin dose, hopefully it's not as rough as the last two increases have been. But I'm keeping everything crossed that maybe that is the missing piece for your protocol for this cycle! I haven't had an HSG but I echo what others have said. Advil an hour before, and expect a really massive period cramp that can last for a few seconds. And take a pad to wear after in case of any spotting.
@ha@hanshotfirst77 so glad you had a good vacation and that you have some down time leading up to Thanksgiving. FX for no drama!

optimistgardener · November 2021

just a lil drive-by complaint here but i seem to be responding to my first menopur shot this morning with waves of nausea(?!). super unpleasant way to stumble through my lecture today, ugh.

walkawaynee · November 2021

@optimistgardener It's great that you love your RE and he sounds like an amazing human! I am quite sure many REs wouldn't behave similarly. Sorry about the nausea on your 1st day of stims, hopefully it's temporary. FX for the high side of your follicle count!

@gingermama29 FWIW I took Tylenol before I left for my HSG, it was a little uncomfortable but wouldn't call it pain and I didn't feel anything after.

@hanshotfirst77 boo for insurance wait times. What yummy things are you making? I need inspiration for dessert duty.

@acleverusername that is a very exciting plan for banking/transfer. I have good feelings about this for you!! Also a cross country road trip with YH!?!? Thus sounds like so much fun, I need an excuse to do this! BUT middle of the bught sexy time? Hard pass, I take sleep very seriously.

@kiki047 your whole spoiler...

Diagnosis (if you've been): AMA, DOR, low morphology, giant honking cyst in the way,

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): limbo/wto

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): maybe starting stims this week.

How are things going?: Had my baseline US today to check on the cyst which went from 6cm to 5cm since last week. Pending bloodwork to see if it's producing estrogen before I get the green light to start stims.
Boring details:

RE *thinks* the cyst is an endometrioma in which case it is only in the way physically but we can still proceed with stims/retrieval as long as my bloodwork from this morning is ok. My AFC was 11 on just my right ovary because he couldn't see my left one at all with the cyst in the way. I asked if that would impact retrieval from that ovary and he said no. So now we wait.

Any questions?: NATM

GTKY: What's the plan this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you traveling or staying close to home? Excited for family time or no? Visiting my family at my uncle's house and then dessert with his family. Thankfully both are within 5 miles of our house so it's easy to go between families. We both have lots of family that live in town so it's rare that we aren't running around on a holiday. We have done as many as 5 houses on Thanksgiving before.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@walkawaynee nice stats on your AFC! Hopefully you'll get the green light to launch so you can take advantage of that great count. I'm curious how they would get around/through(?) the probable endometrioma for a retrieval. also boy howdy that puppy is big. my fibroids were about that size and when i got out my tape measure to better visualize them i was like 😬. here's hoping it keeps shrinking!

@kiki047 i laughed out loud about yr NSWF spoiler, hah!!

@acleverusername i hope sergio shows his golden, wavy, coiffed locks and gleaming pecs soon so you can get retrieval #3 on the road. that's exciting that you're going to do your transfer w/ TEW. do you have a sense apart from general handholding that she offers a more nuanced approach to the transfer process itself for you?

@hanshotfirst77 ugggggh about the endless waiting. do you have any idea of when you'll get to start moving forward? or just total limbo?

@gingermama29 i feel like i should probably spare you the details of my HSG story because it was no fun. suffice to say the guy that did it admitted afterwards that he doesn't normally do this procedure (he's a radiology guy) and he didn't really know how to deal with my cervix (or presumably like, any cervix). plus at the time i had two undiagnosed big honking fibroids taking up space inside my uterus and i feel like that made the whole process more painful? anyway, what the others said about organizing some kind of painkiller in advance is spot on. hopefully it will be nbd as @walkawaynee's was. but if it turns out to be painful AF, i say have no shame in screaming like an injured wildebeest, which is what i did.

laura-kay · November 2021

@gingermama29 I had a bad experience with my HSG, but I think that was due to my healthcare providers at the time. They didn’t have straps for my legs (apparently no tables with straps were still available), so my legs were slipping the entire time, they told me that their instruments were too big for my cervix, the doctor said she hadn’t done this for awhile, etc. It caused a lot of pain and they had a hard time getting it through. They gave a false diagnosis of blocked tubes, which was found to be false when I had a laporoscopic surgery. Honestly, it was a nightmare for me!

All that said - it is not very common for something like my experience to happen. I think painkiller would help. If they don’t have harnesses, don’t hesitate to push back for it, and be open about any concerns you have. There is no invalid concern to discuss. I think most of my problems were related to the scenario around it rather than a properly performed procedure.

If you are like the vast majority of women, it should be perfectly fine.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@laura-kay ugh that's the worst. my question is, what's the deal with these procedures being performed by people who are aren't experts at them? the guy who did mine, i got the sense that most of the time he was like, taking x-rays of people's broken arms and stuff. and reading your account makes me think back to mine... at the time it was very early in my TTGP odyssey so i don't think it occurred to me that i should have had a bed with stirrups but i think they just put me on a flat table and asked me to fold my legs up? (@gingermama29 don't listen to any of this. your HSG is gonna be performed by someone who knows what they're doing. and if they don't, fend them off and tell them to send the expert.)

hanshotfirst77 · November 2021

@acleverusername so excited for your plan! It’s sounds great! And your trip plans sound super fun too. I’ve always wanted to do something like that.

@acleverusername and @optimistgardener I need to wait for the pre auth for my FET cycle and my insurance company is notorious for taking forever. But I’m trying to be patient and grateful that I have the coverage. I’m going to call and follow up after the holidays but hoping I’ll get the green light before the Christmas holidays. But even if I do I probably won’t be able to transfer until my January AF.

@walkawaynee I’m making this mint chocolate brownie recipe I found online. It’s got a layer of brownie, then mint frosting, then chocolate ganache. I’m a huge chocoholic and chocolate and mint is one of my favs. So I’m really excited. Plus I am not big on the traditional thanksgiving dessert pumpkin pie. But my aunt requested it so I will make one of those too.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@hanshotfirst77 i know yr comment was aimed elsewhere but i'm just gonna horn in here because gaaaah that brownie sounds amazing. i'm all about the chocolate-mint combo although some think it's controversial.

walkawaynee · November 2021

Got the results and cyst is not producing hormones! Stims start tomorrow!

@optimistgardener absolutely no clue how he thinks he is getting around it. My hunch is that he is hoping the other side produces "enough" that he can ignore the side with the cyst. (I clearly have trust issues)

@hanshotfirst77 I am not a pumpkin pie fan either but I do love pumpkin bread! Mint and chocolate is a favorite of mine too! I might try to do a PB chocolate cheesecake this year.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@walkawaynee yay cycle buddy!! yeah i hope your doc has some other plan in mind but... even if not, yr right ovary sounds like she's doing some heavy lifting right now on the AFC front so that's great.

kiki047 · November 2021

Sorry I disappeared after I did my tags yesterday, the day got away from me.

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

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): Limboooo

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): WFAF, story of my freaking life. Need to wait until CD1 to schedule my biopsy so we can move on to FET.

How are things going?: I had some more inconclusive spotting on Friday night that made me hopeful that AF was imminent, but it tapered off to brown then nothing as of Saturday so I dunno what that was but FML. I'm at odds with my body right now so I'm feeling all kinds of uncomfortable in my own skin, which I know is all just a mental battle. We're ready to move on, so I just need my hormones to get on board. The nurses didn't seem to give a damn about the spotting, just told me to call with full flow.

Any questions?: NATM.

GTKY: What's the plan this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you traveling or staying close to home? Excited for family time or no? Canadian here, we celebrated our Thanksgiving over a month ago. So my plan is to indulge in some Black Friday (online) shopping and drink some wine just cuz I can.

fantasyflyte · November 2021

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

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WTO

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): just waiting for this cycle to end, and I guess technically naturally trying but that hasn't exactly done much before. 🙃 also ordered the motility supplements my RE recommended for my husband, which should arrive today or tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow since I'd rather be home when they come so they don't sit outside in 35F/1C weather in the mailbox.

How are things going?: eh, baseline ultrasound was good last week. He didn't mention anything specific, just said it looked good and we're good to go for an IUI in December. I do wish the clinic had a patient portal because I'm a data hound and would have liked to see the actual results myself just because. Also did the blood draw for the genetic carrier screening, and should have those results in the next couple weeks. In the meantime, just counting down to next cycle and trying to get through the end of the semester and the holiday rush at work. Going to be a busy few weeks.

Any questions?: For anyone who's had an IUI - if I tend to be uncomfortable and have some pain with pap smears, I'm assuming it'll be the same for the IUI since it also uses a speculum, right? And I know the speculum is the problem, the vaginal ultrasound was totally fine last week, and I've been okay with the junior sized speculums in the past.

GTKY: What's the plan this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you traveling or staying close to home? Excited for family time or no? Normally we go out of state, but we're keeping it small this year again, yay covid. I work retail so I'll be working all weekend afterward. Which also means we started decorating for Christmas a couple days ago because busy times coming.

kiki047 · November 2021

@walkawaynee YAY that's great news that you can start stims! FX that cyst doesn't cause any more trouble.
@optimistgardener hope day 2 of stims treats you better. Menopur is the worst.
@hanshotfirst77 I feel like we need to resurrect the crafting/baking thread because all this talk of desserts is making me hungry.
@acleverusername I got distracted by the first part of your update and neglected to comment on the rest lol. I'm so glad you've come up with a plan that you're comfortable with and that actually excites you! Are your FETs not covered by insurance? I know that factored into your decision not to do your ERs with TEW in the first place, so if you have to pay OOP anyway you might as well go with your first choice! Your road trip sounds amazing, and I love that you not only get to bring the doggo but you can hopefully cross a few things off the bucket list while also finally getting to have the honeymoon you've been putting off.

I can feel the joy through your update and that makes me so happy for you.

fantasyflyte · November 2021

@optimistgardener that sounds like an excellent doctor, I'm glad you landed a good one! The ultrasound definitely sounds optimistic, fingers crossed for you. Your holiday plans sound nice and relaxed.

@gingermama29 I hope the GI effects are kept to a minimum for you. Your Thanksgiving sounds fun, glad you're able to spend it with family!

@hanshotfirst77 ugh, waiting sucks. Vacation leading into the holiday sounds great!

@acleverusername (ngl, whenever I read "wandering sperm" I picture a bunch of little sperms wandering around with the little bag on a stick over their backs) Your plans, both TTC and general, sound great! I love that you're including your dog in the spa day. Also, FWIW, my husband and I have both been on Wellbutrin (him now, me in the past), and never noticed any libido effects. We both had it paired with other antidepressants as well that DID affect libido, but the wellbutrin itself never did.

@walkawaynee I'm glad the cyst shrank at least a little, and fingers crossed it doesn't affect things for you.

@kiki047 ughhh, I hope AF comes soon and stops dilly dallying. Limbo sucks.

hanshotfirst77 · November 2021

@optimistgardener I honestly don’t understand when people say they don’t like it. Gah it’s amazing!!! Or when people say something to too chocolatey like how?! lol I’m going to attempt it tomorrow so I will report back after thanksgiving how it turned out.

@kiki047 sorry if this has been mentioned before but has your RE considered giving you provera? My cycle has a tendency to be all over the place and often in the past I would need provera to jumpstart things or we could be waiting forever. Anyways hope your wait time is short.

acleverusername · November 2021

@laura-kay that's truly a horrific experience. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Btw, how are you doing? Have you looked into functional medicine like you were planning to?

@walkawaynee HOORAY for starting stims! Wooo. So glad you get to cycle with @optimistgardener. It's always nice to have a cycle buddy.

@hanshotfirst77 I love your attitude of gratitude. Totally. Insurance will eventually pre-auth and you'll get on with this journey. Luckily you've already done the time-critical stuff.

@fantasyflyte Yes, you also get a speculum inserted for the IUI. I've honestly found IUIs to be much less uncomfortable than paps but then again, for me, most of the discomfort during paps happens when they swab my cervix. So, if you tend to get most of the discomfort during the speculum insertion, I would just mention it to your doctor. She might give you a Valium or something. No information is off limits when it comes to fertility treatments. Re: being a data hound and not getting specifics, contact your clinic and ask for report from the ultrasound. They have it, and it's you right to have access to your own information. That's what I typically do.

@kiki047 "and drink some wine just cuz I can." YEAH YOU CAN! Woooooo! Also, wtf is going on with your cycle? I wish your doctor would just have you come in for blood work so that you can get some clarity as to where you are in your cycle. Argh. You have way more patience that me. But also, it does kind of suck that in Canada you can't just self-order/self-pay for these tests. AFM, re: insurance, with this next retrieval, we will have maxed out our benefits, and basically I'm won't get any more unless either MH or I switch jobs and find something with a company that offers more. Whilst it's a possibility for MH, it's not immediate (also, he is miserable when interviewing, and I don't need that on my hands right now). So, since insurance isn't a consideration, back to TEW we go! Oh, and thanks for the input re: Wellbutrin. I think I'm gonna ask for it. Not having any sex drive is awful. Also, thanks for amusing with your spoiler. Lol. Maybe it's time for a signaling framework for MH and I.

@optimistgardener sorry that you're get nausea on Menopur. Ark! I'm guessing your clinic has you taking it in the AM? It might be worth mentioning it to them at your Day 5 visit and seeing if they can switch you to taking it in the evening. As for TEW and what's so great about her... TBH, I just like her approach better. She'll also have me do mock cycle with ERA and ReceptivaDx, something that my currently clinic is like "eh... there's not enough conclusive evidence." And I'm like... I'd rather have this info cause if I have silent endo, I don't want to be wasting my embryos. You know what I mean? And as much as I feel like a partner with my current doc, I feel it even more so with TEW. For e.g. I'm just gonna propose that to be my lining up to snuff, we do exactly the protocol we did when I had my IUI with her. And I have a feeling she'll be on board. This will have me grow 4 follicles, but I know my lining was 9.9mm, and my progesterone was excellent post-trigger.

@inthewoods23 thanks for answering "the call". 🙏🏻

kiki047 · November 2021

@fantasyflyte ugh, I also hate the speculum and find it to be the most uncomfortable part of that whole process. The catheter for the IUI itself is tiny and you likely won't feel that. My RE would swab my cervix with an antiseptic first, then the whole thing is done in like 15 seconds. You'll be asked to lie on the table for 5-10 mins after then that's it!
@hanshotfirst77 I've taken provera in the past but technically if I count the days from when I had my withdrawal bleed post-ER, I'm only CD30 with two bouts of spotting in between. My cycles are usually around 29-32 days, assuming I'm ovulating regularly but stims always mess with my hormones and it takes me a while to get back to normal. If I ovulated, which I don't think I did, based on symptoms alone I would expect AF sometime next week. *shrug* we'll see.
@acleverusername I also hate that I can't just self-order those tests because I'd 100% do it. I did go in about 3 weeks ago on what I thought was my CD3 but turns out not to be, and he said to just sit tight and wait for my normal cycle to return. I'm just hella impatient, lol. Last time my first cycle following my ER was only 23 days long. This time I'm already at 30 days so *shrug* I don't know. I like that you're coming full circle back to TEW, and I'm so hopeful for you that she will get the job done no matter what.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@fantasyflyte weighing in here on the IUI thing, people's mileage definitely varies as I don't have trouble with the speculum (but they should be willing to use the small size for you if that helps), but I DEFINITELY feel the IUI catheter going into the cervix. It's a bit like the weird nauseated tweaky feeling I get when I dig around inside my bellybutton. Am I weird and alone in this? I dunno. But there's also a problem of getting the cervix lined up properly with the vaginal canal so the catheter goes in smoothly. I find it helps to hang my butt like haaaaalfway off the edge of the table. Anything to avoid them having to use the tenaculum grabber tool, lol. Hopefully yr doc will be willing to work with you on all of this. Just say something like "hey, if we can avoid it I don't want you to have to use the tenaculum, so could we just mess around a little bit with how my hips are situated to try to line up my cervix most effectively before we do that?"

@acleverusername that's a good thought re switching the Menopur to evening. Unfortch by the time I get to my day 5 check-in, i'll likely be only a day or 2 out from the end of stims anyway. My body responds so so so fast to this stuff. Also, I hear you on the silent endo/wanting not to waste embryos front.

laura-kay · November 2021

@acleverusername We are planning to have one more cycle of the superovulation IUI first. I’ve been looking at different doctors though. One doctor has a combination of functional medicine along with a fertility concentration in his medical practice. It’s not cheap though, so we are exploring everything still. (Of course, nothing in our infertility journeys is cheap

)

optimistgardener · November 2021

@laura-kay good to see you on the board! crossing my fingers for your next IUI.

@kiki047 i am so sorry that your body is messing with you like this. i know how disorienting it can feel to have things not going the way that they should. to the extent that you can and i know it's silly and like, not going to bring you the CD1 that you really need here, but maybe just schedule or do a thing that is just about feeling good about your body? like a long walk or a massage or even just a nice long bath. your uterine lining may be giving you all kinds of sass right now but in other important ways your body is strong and resilient and just generally awesome.

@fantasyflyte i forgot to comment about the first part of your update re: getting the report on your ultrasound that like the others say you should definitely be able to ask for a printed report. the other thing I always do is tell the person wielding the wand to talk me through what they're seeing. occasionally you get someone who will say like "i'm just the technician you'll have to talk to the doctor about how to interpret the results" but often even the techs will tell you what they're looking at and why it's important, and the doctors almost always seem pretty chatty if you ask for a running narrative.

AFM i had my genetics phone consult yesterday morning and it was really interesting! nothing earth-shattering but it was nice to have someone talk me through, in detail, what was up with my 4 abnormals. deets in spoiler.

so i already knew that two of my embryos were "complex abnormal" and 2 were straight-up abnormal. of the latter, one was a trisomy 21 and another was a monosomy 14. trisomy 21 embryos sometimes implant and often (but not always) go on to become fetuses and sometimes babies with down syndrome, but miscarriage rates are high. she says monosomy embryos of any kind almost never implant.
she says that my two complex abnormals were both mixtures of different monosomy (deletions) and trisomy (extra chromosomes). she says of complex abnormals that they are really common, and typically in any given batch about 25% come back with complex abnormalities, so my 2 was, while higher than "average," nothing particularly eye-raising. she says the degree of complexity is really all over the place and that she's seen embryos that have as many as 15 or 16 different types of abnormality (mine showed 4 and 6 different kinds of abnormality, respectively).
again, nothing new here but she says for someone of my age she would normally expect a batch of four blasts to come back with 1 normal embryo. either 0 or 2 would also be within the range of normal, and i happened to fall into the bad side of that but i'm nevertheless "within range." (sigh.)
she said the good news with my embryos is that their abnormalities were all over the map, and that no pattern is a good thing. if all my embryos were coming back with one kind of abnormality, it would point to a chromosomal issue either with me or with the donor, but there is no sign of that. she sent me packing with the word that if I come back with more embryos, she would still expect them to follow the 25% normal rule of thumb.

acleverusername · November 2021

@optimistgardener fascinating stuff; thanks for sharing! I’ve also decided to have a genetic consult to discuss this last round plus learn more about the trisomy 21 low level mosaic that we have from round 1. Will post the outcome of our discussion after it happens next week. But for now, some of the stuff you mentioned is really reassuring (specifically around not seeing patterns.)

@laura-kay I’m really excited about this doctor you’ve found! Keep us posted.

@keikilove I’m sure I don’t need to mention that we’re all thinking about you and rooting for you!

fantasyflyte · November 2021

@optimistgardener thanks, I'll have to keep that in mind. My doctor was the one who did the ultrasound, but he also had a med student with him so he was kind of walking her through what he was doing. So I got tidbits like apparently my right ovary is behind my uterus, and he did a lot of counting, then said everything looked good anf I'm go for IUI in December.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@fantasyflyte haha yeah, always so much counting. they always measure the dimensions of your uterus from a variety of different angles and then also measure the thickness of your lining, and count your follicles, measure them if you're getting close to ovulation, etc. pity about the med student. but maybe next time! meanwhile, chase that report down.

optimistgardener · November 2021

Update from my stims/day 5 u/s this morning. It's kind of an a mixed bag.

The doc only sees 5 follicles, which, damn. My E2 is also super low, like only 63. How is that even possible? It was 42 on Sunday. But here's the interesting part: all my follicles are about the same size, and they're all only like 9mm. Contrast this with my previous IVF cycle where by this time I had several follicles that were in the 12-16mm range, and with my two medicated IUI cycles, where on one occasion had several large follicles already in the mid-teens, and on the other, one totally massive blown out follicle and nothing else. The doc says he is hoping that this slower and more even progression I'm having this time may allow my follicles the opportunity to develop along a more "normal" trajectory, and for him to catch all of them at a good moment. FX.

The really nerve-wracking part of it? I'm totally gonna run out of Gonal-F, and I may run out of Menopur also. *pausing here to grab a phone call from the clinic* I just spoke to the nurse coordinator and she's going to put through an order for another 900unit pen, which is going to be expensive because I have to order it domestically. The nurse, for her part, is way less optimistic than the RE about this cycle. She's all like "real talk with you here, I'm a little worried your cycle is going to be canceled because you're not responding."

acleverusername · November 2021

@optimistgardener 1) YGPM 2) Summoning @bumblebee0210 with your insight re: slow rising estrogen during stim cycles. 3) It's possible that you might have gotten over suppressed cause that E2 is WAY low.

optimistgardener · November 2021

le sigh.

bumblebee0210 · November 2021

*lurking*

@optimistgardener ymmv, but all of my cycles that had low E2 rise like… did not get better. No euploids, even if I got eggs. I did a nice graph of my e2 rise in each cycle and the higher the e2, the more euploids. I would wait to see how day 7 looks but, I agree it seems like you are not responding.

optimistgardener · November 2021

thanks @bumblebee0210. i appreciate the info even though it's not good news. I'll keep everyone in the loop for my day 7 results and likely make the call with the RE on Monday.

walkawaynee · November 2021

@optimistgardener I have no words of wisdom for you but wanted to say I hope you get a positive update at your next appointment.

walkawaynee · November 2021

Had my first monitoring appt since starting stims, it was with the other RE in the clinic because it's the weekend and they alternate.

Details:

He only saw 4 follicles on my rt side, which was bit of a let down from the afc of 11. He could see one on the left but didn't measure because Mr. Cyst is in the way. I have one lead follicles at 15mm already some wants me to start cetrotide today. The other 3 were 10-12mm. I go back on Monday to see my RE.

acleverusername · November 2021

@walkawaynee I'm sorry the results aren't as good as you'd expected given such a positive AFC. This happened to me in my first cycle back in June, which I ended up cancelling because I didn't want to waste a cycle covered by insurance for just a few eggs. The subsequent cycles have been better and there's some (colloquial) evidence that it takes at least a couple of cycles for the ovaries to warm up to treatment. I'm not suggesting that you cancel (although the doctor might suggest that; generally though, they don't make that suggestion unless you are likely to get fewer than 3 mature oocytes. But definitely know that it is fully within your rights to cancel if that's what you want to do) but only offering some optimism if you end up having to do multiple cycles.

walkawaynee · November 2021

@acleverusername thanks for the reassurance. I fully expect to need multiple retrieval but it's still such a roller coaster when every appointment is a new a different story.

optimistgardener · November 2021

@walkawaynee emphathy on the roller-coaster front from yr cycle bud over here. your trajectory so far sounds a little bit like my first cycle, in that you're getting a really fast response from your follicles. I also had to go on cetrotide after 5 days of stimming, and they wound up doing the retrieval like 3-4 days earlier than planned. fingers crossed they'll get a few more "surprise" follicles out of the mystery left-hand side, and that the eggs will turn out to be good quality.

Want a personalized experience?

IF Testing & Treatment w/o 11/22

Re: IF Testing & Treatment w/o 11/22

Choose Another Board

Search Boards

Want a personalized experience?

IF Testing & Treatment w/o 11/22

Re: IF Testing &amp; Treatment w/o 11/22

Choose Another Board

Search Boards

Re: IF Testing & Treatment w/o 11/22