Of course...too good to be true

You can usually tell when I'm on a medicated cycle because I'm too exhausted to update the blog :)

Last we left off on Sunday, July 15th and I was about to go in the next morning for an ultrasound and bloodwork...

Turns out, my suspicions were correct and lining was thin, e2 was low and I was given the go ahead to start the stims. They started me on 75iu of Follistim and 150iu of Menopur at night plus a Lovenox in the morning and was instructed to come back on Friday for a follow up.

I'd like to just say that I wish all injections were like the Follistim. Why can't the drug companies manufacture all their needles the same? Why do some have to be super fine and sharp while others are big and dull?? It makes for unhappy campers over here in this place....let me tell ya.

Fast foward to Friday....great news!!! After 4 nights of the injections, my e2 was in the mid 200s and there were several follies under 10 plus one exactly 10 on the right and "lots" on the left under 10. They kept my dosage the same and asked me to come back in two days, Sunday morning.

Sunday morning...again, great news!!! After another two nights of the injections, my e2 was in the 400s and there were three follicles at 13, one at 12, one at 11, and lots 10 and under. They instructed me to start my Ganirelix in the morning with the Lovenox and stay on the dosage of Follistim and Menopur at night....yes we're up to the four shots a day routine now! They said they needed me back in another two days, Tuesday morning.

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday....why have you forsaken me?? I wore my lucky flip flops and everything but you did me wrong. My e2 dropped down to 240, however the follicles seem to be growing somewhat. I then had...one 16, two 15s, and everything else dropped down to 11s or lower. They increased my dosage of Follistim to 150iu and kept the Menopur at 150 and asked me to come back the next morning....which brings me to today.

Wednesday morning, I again woke up at 5am and headed out to Northwestern. Anxiously awaited my call back. I should have known something was up when it took until almost 1pm to get a call....and it was my RE on the other line. Yup, cancelled. Apparently the Ganirelix has shut my system down majorly and she doesn't know what to make of it. E2 and follicle sizes keep dropping. Someone else recently in her office had the same reaction. So she said to just see what happens on my own and if no AF within 2 weeks to call her for some progesterone/Provera. However, tomorrow I should call the nurses and reorder my medications but with Lupron this time instead.

I've got some scheduling conflicts here and there so I'm not sure how this is all going to work out for us....yikes.

All I do is wait, wait , wait...getting good at it :)

The whole process is all about hurrying up and waiting, that much I've learned in the last 1.5 years of this process.

My neurologist appointment was Friday. The longest 3 weeks of my life getting to that appointment but its come and gone and is now Sunday. She told me what I dreaded hearing....there's nothing they can do for my migraines while I'm ttc, I just have to trudge through them. Once I either have a baby or am no longer trying to have one, she can prescribe a preventative medication for me at that time but they are not safe while pregnant. Great! She did say that pregnancy has a tendency to alleviate migraines in women who suffered from them beforehand, so I'm hoping that is the case and in which case I'd really like to get knocked up soon so I can take back my life! Oh yeah, and a baby would be nice too, LOL :)

After my appointment, since the neuro. cleared me to start my stims, I went down to my RE's office and asked to speak to one of the nurses. She came out with my chart and I explained what the neuro said and asked if I could come in Saturday morning for my baseline and bloodwork so that stims could begin that night. Well...unfortunately, my RE was on vacation (only until Monday, but still!!) and she had it in her notes that a withdrawal was required before stims. DOH!! Knowing how my body operates I'm 99% sure that it isn't necessary so when I got home I emailed my RE asking if I could come in for an ultrasound and bloodwork just to see what everything looks like first because I had a sneaky suspicion that I'm low enough all around that I dont need the Provera/Prometrium. Thankfully she is an awesome doctor and emailed me back over the weekend while she was on vacation and said I could do that. So tomorrow, Monday , I'll be headed downtown with all fingers and toes crossed for a go ahead on the stims to start tomorrow night.

Me and my calendar are best friends....I over calculate every possible date. Potential ER, potential ET, potential due dates... So, I'm hopeful this cycle starts tomorrow night and works the first time around because then...

a) ER & ET will be done before my birthday

b) ER & ET will be done before my CNA Class (I'm changing careers...thats for another blog, LOL)

c) Since they'll be done, I wont have to worry about bedrest while taking the CNA class

d) My due date would be end of April...meaning I can stand up in my friends wedding May w/o a huge belly

e) There's another reason but I can't say because I don't know who reads this :)

f) If it doesn't work the first time we still have a few months in 2012 for zero cost IVF

See what I mean, this July cycle means a lot to me :)

Water sucks, it really really sucks..

They say to chug Gatorade like its your job and that is what I plan to do!!!  My RE tells me 100 fl oz a day is what I should be taking in and Gatorade works good with water of course to keep away dehydration. I'm determined to ward of any bout of OHSS that I can control. This whole counter full of beverage-y goodness only cost me $19.90 before taxes. I'm such a great couponista so I searched for the best deals before stocking up :)

There is only 5 more days until I see my Neurologist. All these posts about IVF on the message boards are making me sooooo anxious...I want to start this whole thing and get on with it already!!

Well this is just depressing...

My TTC Journey in a box

Getting antsy...meds are here but I can't take them!

At our consultation, the IVF nurse recommended that we order the medicine early in case there are any delays in shipment. I tended to agree since I've been hearing of other women having issues getting a hold of their Ganirelix and the last thing I wanted was to be finally ready to go but missing a medicine.

I placed the order and they arrived the next day in full while I was in Kentucky. Ironically enough, my inlaws had family over and here the fridge is stuffed with all sorts of stuff!!! At first the Cigna Home Delivery rep almost gave me a heart attack when scheduling the delivery. The lumped the entire shipment into one order although some of the medications need to be ordered at a pharmacy and not under our medical coverage so she tells me there is a $1,000 something copay and wanted to know if our Visa on file was the correct place to charge. I about flipped out until I asked her what the copay was for...that is when I realized they were for all the pills. PHEW!!! So...there's about $5,000 IF meds in the fridge right about now and another $1000 to be picked up from Walgreens for a total of like $20. Sweet deal :)

Here's my current stash minus the pills...

I'll start out with 3 shots a day...increase to 4 shots a day...decrease to just one and then go in for my removal. I'm trying not to think about it...one day at a time.

Speaking of one day at a time, I still have to get these migraines sorted out before I can start stabbing myself each night. Thankfully they had me get the MRI before my appointment so I did that two days ago. No big deal, I'm a pro at MRIs at this point of my life. I took a shot of my Lovenox beforehand though so I'd avoid getting a clot. I put all that information down on my information sheet but apparently no one read it. When they took out my IV after the MRI, I was pretty bleedy so the nurse says really excitedly, "Are you on blood thinners like baby asprin or something, you're really bleeding!!!". I just looked at her and was like, "Uh yeah, Lovenox...I have Factor V Leiden its on my sheet". So after that, she just taped the gauze extra tight and didn't say another word, haha.

Today is the 4th of July which means 9 more days until my neurologist appointment. I'm going to try to convince her (if she needs convincing) that I can start my stims now (after my baseline u/s and bloodwork of course which I would hope to do on Saturday the 14th) and if she puts me on preventative medication it'd have a full month to kick into my system by the time my migraines would come back anyways....so why delay the stims!!! Hopefully my plan works out the way I want it, because I'd like to be on stims that Saturday night so that my removal is before my birthday. Who wants to spend their birthday on bed rest right?!? 

Well...only time will tell. I'll update when I have more informations!