Thursday, February 14, 2008

All clear!

Big happenings this week -- all good, too! I was going to wait until tomorrow to post (when I am not at work), but I want to write in the moment, and I am in the moment now.

First, and most relevant to the blog topic: I had my baseline ultrasound ("u/s") this morning, which is where the u/s tech looks at your ovaries to see how many follicles are developing, how big they are and whether you have any big, bad cysts that might cause a problem. I will not go into detail about how they get the best view of the ovaries, but let's just say it's...intimate. So, my report said 5 small follicles on the left, 5 small follicles on the right, and one 11 mm cyst on the left. This cyst is most likely an endometrioma -- a bit of endometrial tissue that has attached to my ovary and caused a cyst to grow. I had a big endometrioma removed a year ago. Thankfully, this cyst is too tiny to matter, and I got the "all clear" to start the next level of meds tomorrow. I am celebrating!!!

After the u/s, I had to get blood drawn so they can check my estrogen level. They moniter that, along with other hormone levels, throughout the process. Later today, the nurse (Nurse Honey -- that's her real name -- she says her parents were hippies) will call me with the test results.
Then, I stopped in the special "all fertility meds" pharmacy and picked up a few more cool-looking vials of fancy meds. I think I will post some pictures tomorrow.

It's been two weeks now of Lupron shots, one a day. Starting tomorrow, I will add to that regimen two injections of Follistim, one in the morning and one at night. Follistim does what the hormone FSH does -- it makes the follicles in the ovaries grow (Follicle Stimulating Hormone). There is supposed to be one egg in each follicle. When a woman ovulates, whichever follicle is the largest releases its egg, and the finger-like ends of the fallopian tubes go pick up the egg and send it through the tube to the uterus. Amazing. Anyway, the dose of Follistim will be adjusted as needed over the next two weeks to grow as many mature follicles full of nice, healthy eggs as we can get. (Then, we will bypass the whole fallopian tube part of it altogether.)

My husband and I had to sign a bunch of forms that I turned in today, giving our consent to the procedures, acknowledging the risks involved, stating what will happen to any frozen embryos in the event that we divorce. Wow. There's a dose of reality for you. Forms aside, I knew this day would be a milestone for me, emotionally. I was holding back until I knew we were okay to go forward, but I am deeply invested in this process now, in my heart and in my hopes.

Okay, other piece of news: I quit my job yesterday! I'll take a few weeks to wrap things up here, take nice break in March, and start my new job on April 1st. I am celebrating!!!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

1 comment:

kaaron said...

kathy, that is big news on all fronts! Hooray for being able to move forward with IVF! And hooray for having a break between jobs. You must feel very liberated.