Saturday, February 28, 2009

First Ultrasound

I went into my first ultrasound with a sense of anticipation - what was going on down there? The first and second day that I started the stim shots, I felt a fullness in my ovaries that I typically don't feel until later on in the cycle, usually towards the end. However, I did have this feeling early on but it disappeared yesterday. Anyway, things are where they usually are and she measured off about 8 follies although they ranged in size from 9mm to 3mm. Here is the info with comparatives to my prior cycles:

This cycle: Left ovary - 9mm, 6mm, 4mm, 3mm; Right ovary - 8mm, 7mm, 6mm, 6mm, 5mm
Last cycle (cancelled): Left ovary - 12.4mm, 3.7mm, 3mm; Right ovary - 8.5mm, 7.3mm, 7mm, 5mm
Last cycle in Canada: Left Ovary - 8mm, 3mm; Right ovary - 9mm, 8mm, 8mm, 7 mm, 6mm, 5mm

So, I'm tracking about the same as my last cycle in Canada. I was hoping that the Estrogen priming that we did was going to make a big difference but it doesn't look that way. Also, it is interesting to note that my last cycle in Canada had me on 600 units a day of stim meds whereas my daily dose here has been 450 units with no noticeable difference. I am hoping that things will continue to grow in a more even fashion and that more will come along. The u/s tech did say that there were a bunch of small ones that she could see that she didn't bother measuring because they were <1mm. Maybe we can get some of those to come along too. We'll see!

Side note - for those of you who don't speak IVF, a mature follicle is usually around 20mm in size so there is a little ways to go for me yet.

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Update:

The nurse just called me and my hormones are as follows for today (day 3 of stims)
E2=188
P4=<0.2
LH=1.4

My estrogen was waaay higher in my last two cycles at this point (350-450) so this is indicating to me that things are progressing along slower than they did in the past, which is not necessarily a bad thing since I always have quite a few immature eggs. I'm on the same max dosage until Monday when I go in for my next check. We'll see how things are coming along then. I keep repeating to myself that it doesn't matter how many, we want better quality ones than before but it's hard not to play the numbers game. Thank you to everyone with your well wishes. Your comments made me smile today :) so thank you for that!

P.S. L - I have copies of all of my medical records and I asked the nurse this morning if I could write down all of the sizes. On Monday, I will actually see my own nurse for the first time and I will ask her if I can get a photocopy of the actual monitoring sheet so I will fill it out myself as we go along. I would never be able to remember all of those details in this poor, hormonal brain of mine!!

7 comments:

ME! said...

Looks like you are on the right track! How do you remember all the sizes of the follies? Do you write it down at the RE? I am impressed with the way you are able to track all that.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I am thinking your lil ones will definitely catch up and you will have more! Good luck. I am watching very closely as I will be doing the same protocol too. How many days of stims have you been on?

DAVs said...

It sounds like you're off to a good start, and with less meds, too! Maybe some of the little guys will catch up, but if not, we'll take quality over quantity! Good luck :)

Jill M. said...

KJ, I'm just so stinkin happy that you're not cancelled this time! I think because your follies are so small, you have a good chance of a lot of them catching up. I'm on the sideline rooting you on!

momsoon said...

Great start KayJay! I agree with Jill- you will def have more catching up...it's early days!

I know I get so focused on numbers and fearful because of past crap, that I forget to trust in the good possiblities that are happening right now (in your very busy ovaries!!).
I def will be checking in so keep us posted on your progress...thinking of you & cheering you on...

Sky said...

Woo Hoo! You're doing good. Hang in there!

Josée Martens said...

I think things look really great. Your follies are more tightly grouped. Not having a 12mm yet looks like great deal to me. Lookin' good!