I'm calling in tomorrow morning to schedule a time to drop of the sp.erm and plan to have the nurses ask the doctor what this mysterious "synching up" means and whether he approves of the plan we came up with.
Anyway, first things first, the numbers:
3 Follicles on the Right side: 15.6 mm, 17.2 mm, 15.4 mm
2 Follicles on the Left side: 12.3 mm, 9.3 mm
Endometrium thickness: 9.5 mm
She said that she didn't think the two follicles on the left side would catch up, and thus said I have three follicles. They like to see three to five, so that's not bad. The lining thickness is great, she said.
When to trigger: At first, she suggested I should trigger tomorrow tomorrow night and come in for the IUI Wednesday. Yikes! This is way faster than they initially indicated things would go, and I was expecting at least one or two more monitoring appointments. That's good news in some ways, less expense for example, but puts things on the fast track and has the potential (confusing) downside mentioned above.
At that point, I asked her if there were any downside to waiting one more day to trigger, and she said, "No." So, I said that I didn't mind doing another day of meds, and we agreed I will trigger on Tuesday and come in for the IUI Thursday. I'm secretly hoping that 12.3 follicle will jump on board. Is that even possible?
Apparently they don't monitor you the day of the IUI because you can't necessarily tell if someone has ovulated due to fluid accumulation. A bit disappointing since I was looking forward to that absolute, "Yes! You ovulated and this is how many eggs!" confirmation.
Successfully completed my fifth round of injections tonight, and, as some of you said, it has definitely gotten easier! I bled a couple drops last night and was a bit sore, but no big deal.
I hope to hear more about this "synching up" idea tomorrow morning...
And I'm hoping those follies keep on growing, even little number 12.3. "Go follicles, Go!!!" :-)
Sounds great to me! :-D I think the 12.3 has a chance. My follicles grow pretty quickly, too. I've had them grow 3-4mm in one day before. I'm not sure what they mean by "synching up". I think you have a great chance!! Good luck :-D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, Lisa! :)
DeleteMaybe "syncing up" means that you can respond to the meds too quickly, and then end up missing ovulation? I'm not really sure, just taking a guess there.
ReplyDeleteYou are so close now, very exciting!!!
Thank you, Ali, I'm excited!
DeleteI'm not sure about the missing ovulation, as she still seemed to be confident about the trigger/timing, but good guess.
By"synching" the way I understand it, they mean all follices growing at the same pace which is the ideal scenario. It also help synch up when to trigger since majrity of the follcies need to be over a particular size, think its over 17mm, but no one follice should take a lead. But invariably you will have some that will not sync and will be smaller.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your E2 level? It is usually 200-300 per mature follicle. Your lining is fantastic, and the three front runners are a good size. Its going great!!! Good luck!
Oh, that makes sense about the follicles themselves synching up at a similar pace. I was thinking maybe she was talking about other complex body processes like with hormones or something structurally within the egg.
DeleteIts confusing to know what synching up means. Like sunflower said, If you are doing a retrieval, you might think that you wanted all the eggs to be equally mature.
ReplyDeleteI googled 'what is follicle synchronization' and I got a number of hits. This is what I got off a paper "Marked follicular size discrepancies at the end of COH may be counterproductive because they imply that a substantial fraction of FSH-sensitive follicles fail to undergo satisfactory maturation (6-7)." Basically, i THINK it translates that some of your smaller follicles are less mature. Kinda DUH.
Are you taking CoQ10(like 600 mg/day)? I think that is exponentially more effective if you are above a certain age, and may really, really improve egg quality.
BUT: it sounds like you are doing great, with the lining, and you probably have lots of estrogen too- did they give you numbers?
Thanks, Jay, I appreciate your input! I hope that's what she meant by synching. Yeah, kinda duh! I'm not taking CoQ10 but did for several months up through the beginning of this year. Have been taking DHEA 25 three times a day though... They don't test Estrogen for some reason? I'm taking 2mg Estradiol per day right now. I'll be on progesterone supplements, as well.
ReplyDeleteI strongly, strongly recommend taking Coq10, even for these last 3-4 days- this may be where its the most important. Best of luck, so awesome to have cycle buddies!
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