Monday morning I had my 5th monitoring appointment. I honestly didn’t go in to the appointment with very high hopes after my last appointment on Saturday. My follicles had shown a little bit of growth, but were still measuring between 9 and 11mm and my estradiol level was a measly 147.2.
When I arrived at the clinic, they were behind schedule and I wound up having to wait for almost an hour. Once I was called back to the room, vitals and blood were drawn and the ultrasound tech came in to do my scan. My uterine lining was great but my follicles hadn’t grown at all. I told her that with those numbers and the low e2, I think that we should cancel the cycle. She told me that the nurse would be in to talk to me about it and then left.
When the nurse came in I again expressed my concerns with the lack of growth and low e2 level. The nurse pulled up all my past labs and my previous cycle to compare. My body definitely responded differently this cycle than it did last cycle. I was told to hold on for just a little bit longer until the days labs were back in to see if there was any forward progression. If there was barely an increase in e2 levels they would call to talk, but wanted to run it all by the doctor before making a final call.
The nurse called me at 4pm. Admittedly the results were in my portal at 3, and I looked before they called. Not only did my e2 level not increase, it actually decreased. Paired with no follicle growth, the difficult decision was made to cancel this round. The follicles were likely empty, or the eggs being produced weren’t a good quality.
I was advised to stop all stimulation meds, as well as the prednisone and plaquenil for now. They also recommended that I start taking Serovital and DHEA in addition to the supplements I’ve been on since November to help with egg quality next cycle. They are going to review my two cycles and see what changes can be made to the next cycle to hopefully be more successful. I’m not sure if we’re trying a higher dose or a lower dose, but will know more when I call on cycle day 1.
At this point I need to buy more Follistim/Gonal F and am going to get Menopur instead of HCG-LH to see if that makes a difference. I also need to buy more Cetrotide/Ganirellex because I used 4 of the 6 I bought last round. I still have the triggers that I bought for this round and won’t need those.
My emotions are all over the place. Some (a lot) of it is probably hormonal. I go through phases where I feel like this is Gods way of telling me that I’m not meant to have another child. To get one abnormal embryo and then the following cycle is cancelled is a huge blow to my mental state. I also have periods of time where I feel like this is just a test to see how far I’m willing to go to have my dream come true. I just need to remind myself that everything happens for a reason, and to take things one day at a time.
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