Post 94: Another Day at the Doctor

We had our third monitoring appointment of the week today! Linda drove me to the appointment again, and it was a doozy. When they made my appointment, then squeezed me in between other patients. They had no openings for the day, and I was told ahead of time that there may be a long wait. When I checked in, every seat was full in both of the waiting rooms! They sent me to have blood work first, to kill some time. 

When I finished, it was back to waiting. Finally, it was my turn for ultrasound. Oh today was not pleasant. I usually have an ultrasound tech in the room, and occasionally a med student or other nursing student observing. Today, med student was in charge. Ugh. She was not gentle, wasn’t quite sure what buttons to push, and took about twice as long as normal for the exam. I’m also pretty sure she was checking my throat through my vagina at one point. Ouch. 

Right off the start they told me that I had a ton of mucous, which is what they were looking for! I also had a thing endometrial lining, which is perfect for helping embryos stick. The found 9 measureible follicles on the right side. And then it was time for the left. They’ve struggled with my left ovary with every appointment this cycle. After the med student said she couldn’t find it, I then got to have two sets of hands on one ultrasound probe between my legs, fishing around, hoping for the best. Ouch, I say again. There were comments made about my ovary hiding, twisting, and being behind my uterus. The ultrasound tech eventually pushed on my stomach to get the ovary into view, while the med student maneuvered the wand. It was so painful that they didn’t even worry about measuring. The just took a few quick photos, and called it at day. They measured five more follicles after the photos were taken, so we’re up to 14 measurable now! 

After the exam, I met with Roxanne. I was pleantly surprised to see her. She doesn’t usually work on Friday, and it was a holiday weekend, so I was expecting to see Chelsea or Lauren. I talked with Roxanne about how sick is been, and she told me I could stop the antibiotics, and that she’d call in a prescription for zofran to help. Then we got to the good part. They don’t really know what to do with me right now. My follicles are growing beautifully, but aren’t mature enough for trigger yet. However, my estrogen level is getting high, and they don’t want to have me overstimulate. If they trigger too soon, I won’t have enough mature eggs, but if I hyperstimulate it can cause a different set of problems. She sent me home with another Gonal F pen, since I didn’t have enough for another dose, and said I’d receive a call later in the day with a plan. 

Linda and I killed some time after the appointment, shopping for groceries for Easter. When we hadn’t heard anything, we grabbed a quick lunch at Whole Foods, and headed home. I ate a few bites of chicken and mac n cheese, which was the most I’d eaten in days. 

On the way home, Roxanne called. They’ve decided to has me come back again tomorrow. Ugh. They want to see how much more I progress overnight, to better determine when to trigger. I’m to take the same doses of medicine (100 Gonal F, 75 Menopur, and 1 Ceteotide) tonight, then they’ll update for tomorrow. Depending on my progress, we’ll trigger some time between Saturday and Monday. Please don’t let it be Monday!