Kickoff

On Wednesday, January 5th, I had my base ultrasound appointment for my second IVF.  This cycle has finally kicked off after an agonizing 6 month wait!  The weather was great, and I had the whole day off of work.  I did the 2 hour drive, checked in at the front desk 15 minutes early, went to the bathroom and got called back to ultrasound as soon as I got out.  No waiting for once!  I have one more day of birth control pills to take at this point so it's very early in the cyle.  Per usual, my RE is nowhere to be found, but the nurse, Sheryl, did the ultrasound and started shaking her head as she checked out my right ovary.  Only 3 follicles.  She moved on to the left ovary.  After counting them up, there were 8 on the left side.  She said that was one less than last time.  But I don't think that was accurate.  Yes, at retreival, I had 12 eggs, but at my second ultrasound I had something like 23 follicles to start out with!  Am I starting this IVF with half as many as last time, really?!  Ugh.  I should bring this up at my next appointment.  The biggest follicle measured at 3mm.  Sheryl than proceeded to use the "quality over quantity" bit.  yeah, yeah, yeah.  yada, yada, yada.  My next appointment is on Friday, the 14th.  We'll see what we're dealing with at that time after a week of Femara.  Are women able to "grow follicles" in a week?  I didn't think so.  Maybe there were some that were hiding and didn't get counted.  Maybe there were some that were too small to detect.  I don't know, but all of those optomistic and unlikely possibilities are floating through my head.

In any event, meds were ordered and delivered.  I spent a pretty penny, but the nice thing is that now the meds "count" towards my insurance deductible.  The other wonderful thing that has happened is that a wonderful woman in Kansas donated some of her unopened Menopur to me via my friend Rebecca.  This woman had twin boys through IVF in September.  She had 2 boxes of Menopur leftover.  That is 10 vials!  I'm not sure how much I will be using for my protocol, but it could be up to 4 vials a day.  I'll find out on Friday.  But the value of those 2 boxes could be upwards $700 to $1,000!  I am so incredibly grateful for this.  She very easily could have sold it and made some of her money back, but instead has helped me.   I am without words at her generosity.

Now that the cycle has kicked off, the waiting game begins.  Waiting to start taking this drug or that drug.  Waiting for my next appointment.  Waiting to see if I have more follicles than I think I do.  Waiting to see if we get to retrieval.  Waiting to see if we get any embryos to transfer this time.  And if we can pass that hurdle, is there a possibility that I will ever be pregnant?  Time will tell.