My follicles are maturing just as they should be. They're the right size and growing at almost the same rate. I'm ready for my trigger shot tonight and then the egg retrieval/fertilization will take place Friday morning.
Then there's the bad news:
My maturing follicle count has decreased dramatically. The doctor counted 29 on Sunday, yet this morning he only counted 14. I haven't had a chance to ask about this yet, to know whether or not this is a common occurrence. But it doesn't seem like a good thing by any means. And the worst news - my estrogen level has skyrocketed past 8000, when it should be below 5000. Because of this, my risk of developing OHSS is very high and would be made even higher if we went ahead with the embryo transfer this cycle. So it's been cancelled :\
What this means is that all of the resulting high-quality embryos from this IVF cycle will be frozen for use at a later date. None of them will be transferred in "fresh." So there's zero chance that I will end up pregnant this month. Now, there are some positive aspects to this. For one, my uterus (and body in general) will be much happier during a non-medicated cycle, and many think that doing a FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer) actually has a better chance of success than fresh IVF because of this. Secondly, I'll hopefully avoid OHSS (or at least a serious case of it), which really is a big deal. It can land women in the hospital. And lastly, I won't be ready to pop at my BFF's wedding next spring XD
But, of course, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with the news at all. How much thinner can our patience be stretched?? I just hope we get a really good number of eggs and embryos out of all this. That would at least mostly make up for having to wait AGAIN.
2 comments:
Good luck with your retrieval tomorrow!! Follicle count can definitely vary from one u/s to the next, partially because the meds won't always recruit all of them, and partially because counting can be an inexact science. 14 is a fantastic number, although I very much know the pang of wishing for more, especially when you think you can have more.
Sounds like you've found a lot of pros for doing a FET, and OHSS is definitely not something to mess with. Hoping you can avoid the worst of it and have a perfect FET soon!
(Btw, I no longer remember how I found your blog, but I'm an IVF/ICSI grad myself, so I'm definitely rooting for you!!)
Thanks Jenn!!! It's good to know that varying follicle count is no big deal. And who knows, perhaps a few more will pop up over the course of today :)
Thanks so much for your hope and encouragement! I'll keep you posted as to how it goes :)
And I'm SOOOO happy to hear that IVF/ICSI worked for you!! That gives me the most hope of all :)
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