Pages - Menu

Monday, November 22, 2010

Round 1 (IVM): Step 2 (Expect the Unexpected)

There are times in life that simply do not make sense… and this weekend was one of them. On Saturday I went in to the hospital for a CD3 ultrasound, the first of this cycle. In the past, I have always seen a number of tiny follicles at this point waiting to grow and nothing more which is good for that stage of the cycle. This was also my hope for Saturday, but not the case.

When using both Clomid and Gonal-F in the past, the goal was to reach a follicle of about 18mm in diameter so that I could continue the process in order to get pregnant one way or another. However, this never occurred and all of my follicles simply remained around 8-9mm. We began to think that reaching anything larger was impossible and this is why I changed to IVM. There was no use continuing on with daily injections if they weren’t being effective.

On Saturday, the doctor started to do the ultrasound and the first thing we both see is a large black circle on the screen. He measured it and, sure enough, it’s a 20mm follicle! That’s great, in the sense that it means I am not completely useless and I can actually do it (and on mine own - without medication), but it is HORRIBLE timing. Basically, there is no way to be exactly sure what it is and what it is going to do at this point. It is definitely left over from my last cycle, but is it empty? Is there an egg inside? Will it go away in the next couple of days to give room for the new follicles? These are all questions that remain unanswered for now.

If it is in fact a proper follicle with an egg in it, taking Provera has messed up my “natural cycle” and has now ruled out the possibility of using that egg. And if there is an egg inside that is still giving off estrogen it will cause the other follicles around it to make lesser quality eggs and I need high quality eggs to continue with IVM so we would have to wait until it is gone to try again. The other side to this is that it may be empty and ready to shrink down any minute now. Who knows?

Initially the plan was to cancel the cycle and try again next month. But, after speaking with a nurse, they have decided to give this a second try. They took a blood test to check my estrogen levels and called me back later in the day to schedule another ultrasound for Wednesday (CD7). If all goes well, they will allow me to continue… but if the larger follicle is still there, I will have to start all over again next month!

Expect the unexpected! That is all I can say at this point.