I just ducked out of my first class of "Religion and Science" to conduct my nightly prayerful IVF injection ritual.
(Estradiol numbers from my morning bloodwork were good and higher than expected at 117. So I'm in the stirrups first thing tomorrow 7:45am followed by more bloodwork.)
Past time for a fertility update. When I left off in November we were looking forward to beginning stims. Alas there was a large cyst on my right ovary. So we waited for that to go away. Then there was a simple cyst on my right. So they put me on low-dose birth control pills to try to suppress me. (We also finally triggered a period as I had been without one for five months.)
Though I did get the worst period ever, my body revolted and I sprouted four cysts in defiance of all known medical beliefs. So now I've been on high-dose birth control pills for two weeks trying to get the cysts to go away and my ovaries to shut the &$!* up already.
I'm miserable, so they must be working, right? Incredible fatigue, headaches, crankiness, emotions, and I'm even more introverted and people-wary than usual. Whee.
Thank gods for my anti-depressants.
The introversion upswing means that while good wishes and virtual hugs are welcome, offers of in person contact will probably just increase my stress. I'll take care of the migraine today, but I refuse to feel this way tomorrow. Be warned spare room---I'm coming for you ... Soonish.
I know I've been pretty quiet recently, but that's going to start changing soon, at least on the fertility front. We originally planned on only doing one IVF cycle, but we had anticipated having enough eggs/embryos to freeze and make multiple attempts. After my last cycle Dr. A pointed out that given the low number of eggs retrieved the fact that we ended up with embryos at all was encouraging and she thought we would have much better luck with a different protocol.
We went through my blood-test results and looked at how I responded to the last cycle with her. Then we went did some research on the new protocol she recommended and had some discussions. We decided to try the new protocol - a decision that was further cemented by new blood results a few weeks later showing that my thyroid had fallen severely out of whack (I was hyperthyroidic! TSH at 0.13!) and my vitamin D levels weren't rising. So we took some time to get that worked out.
So the fertility filter will be picking back up in the next couple of days. If you would like to be taken off (or added on), just let me know in the comments.
So I decided that I needed a new icon for the fertility filter and went poking on google images. I decided to go with a diagram of the female reproductive system for now, and flipped through a couple options. Then I found this one. I'm sorry, but the idea of putting on my fertility hat, was just too marvelous to resist.
(I'm being a bad person and not linking to the original source because when I tried it crashed my computer. It's one of those "we'll print anything on anything" sites.)
As a few of you may already know, Brooks and I have been trying to have a child for many years now. 2010-2012 we did several cycles of Chlomid followed by (not)Chlomid followed by a try at IVF. (The IVF cycle was cancelled midway through due to a spike in my blood pressure.)
We're getting ready to try another IVF run, and this time I'm planning on posting about it in more detail. This is partly because it's good for me to have a wider support network and a place to record the details. Also several of you have mentioned being interested in the science and the emotional journey - and it's a very interesting lesson in biology, chemistry, and emotions.
But this one is going behind an opt-in filter because I'm sure there are many of you who do not want to have this much information about my ovaries! (And I certainly don't want to make it public either!)
The posts will include general notes about what's going on (starting with some background on where we are now), with more detailed medical stuff (and possibly pictures of the ultrasound screens, I haven't decided yet) behind cut tags. There will also be "how I feel about this" commentary.
Comment here if you want to be included in the filter. I will also be posting very general updates publically here, so don't feel like you have to be in the filter to support us!
(I'll also be cross-posting these to G+, but not to Facebook. So you can choose to opt-in here or there.) (Brooks, Kevin, and the Pod... be warned that even if you don't opt in - you're going to hear about it anyway.)
worried