Friday 14 March 2014

Tracking ultrasound and blood work

Yay- I have follicles! 25 to be exact; 16 on my right ovary and 9 on my left ovary. I had my ultrasound done yesterday at a regular radiography clinic close to where I live rather than with my IVF clinic and unfortunately the lady doing my scan didn't really know what she was doing. She complained about her back hurting and how the receptionist didn't allow enough time for the appointment and I just lay there hoping that she would be able to work it all out. After more than 30 minutes of poking around with the vag wand and much counting and recounting to ensure she had measured everything she informed me that my endometrial lining was 12.6mm and my larger follicles were all around 18mm. I asked to have a look (pretending I was interested) but I really wanted to make sure she had measured everything correctly. She wrote down the 3-D measurements e.g.18 x 16 x 14mm of the follicles when I am used to just the one measurement but I figured the more information my doctor had the better. I was a bit sceptical about the 12.6mm endometrial lining but I tried to reassure myself that the results would at least be close even if they weren't exact. I was also surprised by her announcement that my uterus was retroverted as I was sure that in all my other scans that I had been told it was anteverted. It made me worry that my previous embryo transfers may have been effected as my first doctor had never used ultrasound guidance. Again I tried to push that stress out of my mind and focus on the fact that everything was looking pretty good. The clinic faxed my results immediately to Monash IVF and my nurse contacted me not long after to let me know that my blood work (taken the day before) and follicle results indicated I was ready to trigger this Sunday night for egg retrieval on Tuesday! I had expected another ultrasound and blood collection on Monday so was excited that it was all moving along much quicker. My nurse told me to continue with gonal-f and menopur and that I would be called with my trigger time on Saturday. I hung up without realising I didn't ask whether I needed to continue with my HGH and when I needed to stop clexane and start my antibiotics. I tried calling back without luck but did manage to get onto a different nurse after 5pm. In the middle of all of this my sister rang to say that the post-office did not inform her that my menopur had arrived so that she could put it straight in the fridge and had left it out all day. At this point I figured I could hardly stress about something I couldn't change and after double-checking with my clinic I just asked my sister to put in the fridge as soon as she could. I have to say that it has been very difficult trying to make and take so many phone calls and emails while working full-time...especially when I work with children and it is very obvious when I need to leave or check my phone for emails. Being further away from Monash IVF has meant that I need to be extra-prepared and triple-check all paperwork. I'm sure I have well and truly annoyed my doctors main nurse with all the queries and requests I've made in the last few weeks. Luckily it all appears to have paid off as there has been a number of problems that would have become bigger issues if I hadn't clarified them or followed them up. Now I just hope we have some good eggs next Tuesday after my intralipid infusion on Monday. I'm hoping the luck of the Irish helps me at egg retrieval as it just so happens to be St Patrick's Day :)

6 comments:

  1. Have been checking in all week to see if you had posted on your blog! All sounds really positive [albeit super stressful] and lots of lovely big follies there. Best of luck for Tuesday and please let us updated and let us know how it goes xx

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  2. Thanks Sophie, I will :) How is everything going with you? You have been in my thoughts this week too xo

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  3. You are lovely. No luck for us Hun..but maybe it was because they had to transfer a 4d emby which may not have made it to a blastocyst stage anyway? We then had 2 good blastys so will do a FET with those next so remaining positive. See Dr N in 2 weeks for plan. As you know the constant waiting for the next stage, and having to be patient is one of the hardest thing in IVF. We seem to 'wait' our lives away don't we?! xx

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  4. Oh no :( I'm so sorry Sophie. I hope Dr N has a good plan for your FET. Yes the waiting is terrible...I think 1 day is the same as 1 week or 1 month with infertility. It's been lovely to see your comments (although obviously sad to hear of your results) so please stay in touch. I'm typing one handed at the moment as I have my intralipid drip in my right arm...egg retrieval tomorrow x

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  5. You will be in theatre [or recovery] as I'm writing this. Thinking of you today. Hoping as its a Tuesday morning that Dr N will be doing it himself as he did for me 3 weeks ago today! Dying to hear how it all went xx

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  6. Thanks Sophie. Yes Dr N did my egg retrieval in Clayton. I've added a post to let you know how it went x

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