Day 11: Trigger Day

That's right, girls and... er... girls! You read the title correctly. No, I am not hosting a photo exhibition honoring Roy Rogers' horse. I am triggering tonight, because my E2 was 4356 as of ass o'clock this morning.

4356, what can I say? I can say that

1. It's above some clinics' cutoffs for retrieval/transfer, but below others'. A lot of clinics use 3500 as the cut-off, but others use 5000.
2. It's much much much better than I had feared. See, I was getting what I believe is called a geometric progression -- doubled between days 5 and 7, almost tripled between 7 and 9... the fact that it only went up to 4400 between days 9 and 11 is marvelous.
3. It still puts me at risk of OHSS, but whatever, right? People say it's unpleasant, but it's not fatal. And you know what else would be unpleasant? Doing this whole damn thing again if I don't have to. I'll take my chances, spike the retrieval IV with albumin, and hope for the best.
   
4. It's a very cool number because if you transpose the first two digits it's 3456, a numerical keymash.

Once again my prodigious powers of worrying have, by the force of my mind, managed to avert disaster.

Retrieval is scheduled for 8 am Wednesday. Have to be there at 6:30. Without having had coffee. HAHAHAH. Still not sure how we're going to get there -- cab, I guess. My darling doesn't drive and I'll be in no shape to be driving home afterwards

EE EE EEE! Excited! Happy! Mood swingy! I LOVE ALL OF YOU -- YES, YOU OVER THERE, ESPECIALLY YOU.

Day 10 of Stims

When some people need to be soothed and inspired, they go to church. I head to Value Village. Today I was richly rewarded for my faith: for $1.21 I picked up a copy of Robot Building for Beginners.

I really think this could change everything for me.

the stats that don't show up on the lab slips

Number of hours spent obsessively Googling all that could go wrong with this cycle: 5
Number of women I found with E2 lower than mine who got canceled, had OHSS, or both: nine gazillion
Number of women I found with E2 higher than mine who were just fine, proceeded to transfer, and now have adorable bairns in their sigs: dunno, I'm sure I wasn't looking, why read about that when you could read about the bad outcomes?
Prolonged hysterical crying fits I had on my beloved's soft bosom: one
People who are now allowed to use the internet only for pre-approved purposes: me

Day 9 of Stims

This morning's ultrasound was fine -- reducing the Follistim dosage to 75iu seems to have slowed things down a good deal. Counted 14 follicles; one was 13mm, two were 17mm, and the rest were 14-15mm. Uterine lining 13mm.

Things I am worrying about now: did the follicle growth slow down too much? Will my uterine lining be too thick by the time we transfer? Will I break the internet by over-Googling?

The E2 results should be back soon, and then we'll know the plan. Likely trigger is Monday, with retrieval on Wednesday. This pleases me because I have a lot of annoying meetings on Wednesdays.

ETA: Bloodwork back. E2 is a startling 3460. 75iu of Follistim/75iu Menopur today, no Follistim at all and just Menopur tomorrow. I think this is called "coasting". A swift google reveals that coasting does not compromise pregnancy rates, and may even lead to better-quality embryos. (or perhaps the women who are responsive enough to require coasting simply produce better-quality embryos. either way I'll take it.)

Monday morning more bloodwork, another ultrasound. Dr said probably trigger Monday night for a Wed retrieval, but if my E2's very high at that point I imagine I'll coast another day or two.

ETA2: after looking around, I'm not sure it qualifies as coasting since we're continuing the Menopur. So now I'm all worried about OHSS again. Man, if this cycle gets canceled I'm going to feel as flat as a very very flat thing.

Day 8 of Stims

I can't think beyond two weeks from now. I keep trying to make Passover plans and I can't. My brain just keeps fuzzing out.

Logically I know I'll be perfectly fine no matter what happens. But I am simply unable to imagine myself two weeks in the future, either pregnant or not pregnant.

Day 7 of Stims

Real post later -- right now I just want to jot down the stats for my own reference and, like, the historical record:

Counted 6 follicles on each ovary, range 11-14mm. Lots of smaller ones which likely won't amount to much.
E2: 1181
Follistim reduced to 75iu. Staying with Menopur 75iui and Lupron .05cc.

Day 5 of Stims

So far, so good! For posterity I record: right ovary, 7 follicles near 10mm. Left, 5 follicles near 10mm. Estradiol: 667.

My dosage of Follistim has been dropped to 150iu, holding steady on 75iu of Menopur and .05cc of Lupron.

Apparently the estrogen is somewhat on the high side, and of course I am furiously googling to find out the worst case scenario of having high E2. But I am cautiously pleased. I figure if I were hideously overresponding he wouldn't have dropped it to 150iu, he would have dropped it more. I know we don't want the follicles to grow too quickly -- less than 10 days of stims usually means poorer egg quality, I think. But at least I'm not, as they say, stimming like a granny.

*revs up ovaries, Leader-of-the-Pack style*

Yeah, I'm pleased. I didn't hear the two things I was most afraid of: "one huge honking lead follicle" or "poor response". Hopefully we can work out the rest of the details, bring everything into balance so we end up with a lovely large plump cohort of eggs in a dignified time period.

Of course the timing of all this positively couldn't be worse. I've got a two day class on Thursday and Friday, and our fascist training department requires written medical release for coming late to a class. The doctor's office did manage to dig up a sheet of letterhead that doesn't say "Baby-Making Doctor" on it. Hopefully the fact that it does say "Gynecology" will dissuade anyone from asking about the details. IT'S ABOUT MY COOCHIE OKAY. SHH.

Anyway, if we manage to extend the stim period for the desired 10 days, then my retrieval will be on Monday. On Monday I am scheduled to be in another all day class. This is a very special class taught by Fancy Consultant, who was flown 3000 miles and paid eleventy-million dollars to teach it. And I will just not be able to be there. Ooops. Oh, my 12 little follicular chickadees, see how I already am sacrificing my professional prospects for you?