What's Up Doc?

We were excited to talk to our doctor, Dr. Minjarez, on the phone today. The point of the conversation was for her to look at all the results of all the the tests in the pasts month. She was very happy with all the results and said we were great candidates not only for IVF, but to push our embryos to day 5 - which I'm nervous about but hopeful and excited too. Pushing the embryos to day 5 is the ticket - not only because they can only be genetically tested at day 5, but it means they lived that long outside the body and therefore are strong and have a chance. In Calgary, we had to do a day 3 transfer because only 1 of 8 embryos lived to day 3 properly. So it's scary to think of pushing our luck to day 5, but we have much more confidence in this clinic. Oh! did I mention I will be on FOUR injections?! Yes, not always at the same time, but it will be a needle fest for sure. In the month of February, we'll be focusing on getting my medications from the States and getting ready to go to Denver. I will be there the last week of March (possibly April instead) and going home after the egg retrieval. Please don't add 9 months to March in your head. This is IMPORTANT - unlike Calgary, I will NOT be coming home possibly pregnant. I leave my eggs behind and get on a plane. I will have a frozen embryo transfer at a later date - sometime in the summer. Thanks for following and till next time....!!

Montreal and Denver don't mix

Thanks for your comments! LisainSK asked what my AMH came in at. AMH, or anti-mullein hormone measures egg reserve. CCRM likes to see it at 1.1, and mine came in at 1.1. So right on the border! Also, I talked to my nurse today - she truly this wonderful, young, sweet, pretty lady that I am so fornunate to have at my beck and call during all of this. Anyways, she let me know that based on all of my results, Dr. Minjarez has chosen a protocol for me (the drugs I will take and the time line) so we went through what February will potentially look like. It turns out that the day I would have to have an ultrasound for my injections falls on a day that I will be at a National Meeting in Montreal. So, we're set to go in March instead. To be honest, I'm relieved. I want to go as soon as possible, but also feel that I need a break after this crazy month. And my eggs need a rest - after all, they're about to be put in one basket!

Day 10 results are in!!

First of all, thanks to all od you who felt my pain at the thought of my post clomid serum melting in Memphis. I really appreciate all your good vibes and support. So, thank goodness I was tracking the serum on FedEx. I called them as soon as I saw that it was stuck - sure enough - they would have let it sit there and melt all weekend if I hadn't called. I cant't even imagine it. FedEx was actually good about it all and so was CCRM, setting it all up to get it there for Saturday morning. FedEx also put it in a cold storage until it was on the move again! IT GOT THERE SAFE AND FROZEN on Saturday morning. Yey! It got tested today and the result is: FSH:7.5! My day 3 was 6.5! What all this means is that even after the clomid "stressed" my reproductive hormones to uncover a disguised high FSH, it was proven that my beautiful 6.5 FSH is the true one, which at the end of the day means that I have descent egg reserve and quality. Once the FSH is close to 10, you are not a good candidate for IVF. So this good news. And, as usual, here's the BUT. My estrogen and Leutinizing Hormone was through the roof. That is expected after a clomid challenge, but mine was through the roof of the building next door. We are talking about my estrogen level having multiplied by a factor of 11. That may not have an impact on anything. I'll be talking to my nurse about that tomorrow morning. For now, let's celebrate me passing the clomid test, having good egg reserve and quality and that we are still on schedule to cycle in February! Now, to keep my egg quality up, let me go to bed early and to swallow my fist full of herbs. Royal jelly, wheat grass and CoQ Enzyme, here I come!

Cause and Effect

Just when I thought I could relax, that all the stress of the tests is over.....the bomb went off. I was tracking my Day 10 and Stef's serum by FedEx on line and noticed it not moving after it cleared customs. I called them and was told that the plane that was supposed to deliver it today has mechanical difficulties and it won't get there till Monday. I totally freaked on the phone.....very politely. If that's even possible. I explained how imparitive it is to either keep it frozen or get it there for Saturday morning. I got a call a couple hours later saying that they have it in cold storage and are trying to get it on a flight for the next day. I still haven't seen it move but at least it's in cold storage. The serum better stay frozen. So let's keep our fingers crossed. This could jeapordize my chances to cycle next month, with possibly having to repeat the clomid challenge. Yikes

Speaking of my Clomid challenge......some good news!! My Day 3 and Day 10 FSH is the SAME!!! at least on the Canadian side. What they find in Colorado should be same, even if the actuall value is a bit higher - it went right back down on day 10 - VERY good news. This means that my normal FSH is the true FSH, which means my egg quantity and quality are descent. Again, a big BUT. My estrogen was off the chart - it multiplied by a factor of 10. They expect it to have increased - not by that much. So we'll see what they say about that. The thing that really upset me about today, was that when I had my Day 10 blood drawn, I had to get my T4 (thyroid hormone) drawn as well, because it was missed during the last course of tests I had taken. My Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) was tested back then and it was normal. When my T4 was tested along with my Day 10, my doctor needlessly ticked off TSH again as well. So when my TSH came back for the second time, along with my Day 10s, it was through the roof. My nurse in Colorado called me about it. She said that I have to get it retested because if it's even close to this last value I'm going to have to go on thyroid medication. I can't believe this. Clomid affects the pituitary gland and increases all hormones, including TSH. I suggested it was becasue of the Clomid, but they needed rested anyways. So now I am going for my THIRD thyroid test, because someone missed checking off a box.

My message to the masses this evening is.....ALWAYS check on other people's work....and don't care if it insults them or not. It's your ass, your blood, your time, your God knows what on the line and everyone is prone to making a mistake every minute of the day. Especially busy people in the medical profession. Thanks for keeping me company as I decompress from a very stressful day.....and oh did I mention I whipped up a Tiramisu cake for family we had over for dinner? don't ask how much of it I ate.....

Enough Already!!

OK, I've had it. The testing is done (let's hope it all gets to the states the way it should) and just in time. We went for the last (knock on wood) of our blood tests yesterday to a lab who knew what was up and was willing to assemble and ship the kits to Colorado. The nurse did a great job of a complicated task with one exception. She didn't read the instructions on how much blood she was supposed to take from Stef for one of the tests, and ended up taking more than twice the amount she was supposed to - in oversized tubes. Oh, and two full ones were already on the table. Stef turned green even before the plug was pulled. It wasn't pretty - he didn't recover until I dug out a biscotti I had gotten him a month ago out of my purse. Now I know why I kept forgetting to give it to him. He spent that morning at work replenishing his red blood cell count. As for me, the blood tests were a breeze but then there's the mammogram. I was warned about how painful it would be...so I went in pretty psyched. It was my first time, so me and my girls were pretty weirded out by the tech grabbing me all over my chest and shoulders to align my body into this machine that squeezeed the crap out of them. I actually didn't find it painfull at all......so you can imagine my suprise when a fainting spell hit me....by the last picture I was barely hanging onto consciousness and had to focus through the stars to not fall when the vice let me go. Was that bizzare.

So now just waiting to hear that it all got to the states. Then we're scott free. Good....cause green is not Stef's color.

Day 3 Results Are In

Sort of a good news/bad news thing. My FSH, the cornerstone of IVF, is well below the limit of 10, at 6.5 (the very same blood sample showed an FSH of 5.4 here at home. No wonder they want the blood shipped - they get drasticalliy different results). So that's the good news. Not so fast. My estrogen is elevated. Not drastically, but enough to possibly cause a FALSE low FSH. So my shinny 6.5 could actually be higher. That's where the chlomid challenge comes in. This test will uncover my 'true' FSH, taken on Day 10 - this Wednesday. It is these results that will determine my IVF protocol and our chances of success. So we'll hold our breath until the end of the week. If you're interested in how FSH and estrogen are related, I attempt to explain that here:

...that's if you're up for a science class. This is only my understanding and interpretation of what I've read - not out of a text book. Here it goes: The pituitary gland produces FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) to do just that -go down to the ovaries to produce a follicle, in which an egg resides. Once the follicle starts to grow, it needs to tell the brain to shut the FSH off, because it's doing its job and doesn't need anymore reminders.  So the follicle makes estrogen as a messanger to got back up to the brain to shut the FSH faucet off. As we age, our ovaries get tired and our egg reserves slowly deplete. So the regular dose of FSH to the ovaries no longer gets the job done, and the body has to turn up the volume. Once the ovaries get the hint, they send back the estrogen message, just as loud. Hense the elevated estrogen. Why the FSH does not get reported as elevated is because the estrogen is high and artificially suppressing it. So to get a true FSH with an elevated estrogen, we can take chlomid (which is FSH in pill form) on days 5,6,7,8 and 9. In those 5 days, your FSH should go through the roof, (because you're supplementing with it) and your estrogen should double panic and shut the FSH faucet down harder than usual. So FSH levels should return back down to day 3 levels by day 10. If not, your true FSH is higher than what Day 3 showed. OK - I hope someone got something out of this - I stayed up an hour past my bed time to put it out there - again - only what I understand, please don't take is as medical gospel - I could have some of it wrong.

Day 10 coming up! hopefully my FSH isn't! till next time...

I'm chlomid challenged

Thank you for all your good luck wishes with getting everything done for CCRM across the border. Actually, it was way harder than I thought it would be. Both because I dealt with the hospital to ship my Day 3s instead of a normal lab, and the actual act of getting everthing accomplished on time, in order, amongst what seemed like 100 phone calls, faxes, drives to places, e-mailes, messages, ect. It's almost all done - I have an appointment tomorrow at a lab to send the next 3 blood tests - my Day 10 following the chlomid challenge, Stef's blood tests and his genetic test. I start the chlomid challenge tomorrow and am a little nervous. My day 3 FSH was spectacular; 5.4 (they start to be concerned at a level of 9) and what this test does, is it pushes my FSH high up to see how quickly my body naturaly recovers. I get retested on day 10 to see. I read an article saying that 40% of women have a great FSH at day 3 but a crumby one on day 10. So this will determin my egg reserve and quality, hense our chances. I know it's going to be fine, I just don't like how this will manipulate my hormones. I guess I should be used to that by now, but you never get used to that. One thing I have become used to during this process, is needles. Now think about how many needles you'd have to get, to actually not care one bit that you're getting another one. Acutually, I BEGGED to get two in one day yesterday, just so I would not have to drive to the hospital for the third time. They refused. And you know what else? I've become an expert on the finess that some people have in taking blood. It's like a hair dresser. Some are good, some are reall assholes at it. You can walk out feeling like a million bucks, or feel pissed off that they didn't care to take the time to make it painless. I'm just glad I have one less fear in life to deal with - the poke in the arm.

Oh how shall I count the days....

Happy New Year everyone! and welcome back. It's been a while since I posted -  had not much to report over the holidays, but things are starting to sizzle! For those of my non-IVF followers, do you know when the first day of your cycle is? NO ONE, not even a doctor, answered this properly untill I went to an IVF seminar. The first day of your period is NOT at the first sign of one, but when the dam breaks and there is mean, relentless flow. And get this - if this happens after 5 pm, the NEXT day is day 1. A period punching a clock - crazy stuff. Another thing I learned is that Day 3 of your cycle is ooober important. The estradiol, LH and FSH hormones on that day tell the doctor the health and status of your "reproductability". Tomorrow, I'm taking my Colorado shipping kit to the hospital and getting my Day 3 tests drawn. They have to freeze the blood, wait for my Day 10 sample of the same tetst and then ship it all over the border. Right after the lab, I have to get a Day 3 ultrasound to rule out ovarian cysts. Sound easy? Not so much... the ultrasound was booked solid...... ahhh...the perils of our goverment run medical system.  I had to beg to get in, saying that if I don't, my whole IVF cycle gets postponed a month. So they are sqeezing me in. Thank God for nice people! ...Why not book well in advance you ask? because I have no clue when my Day 3 will be. My cycles are normalizing after the Calgary fiasco. When I called them on my Day 1 - they were already booked.  In the mean time, another shipping kit is on its way to have Stef's blood tested for what they need to see and there is yet another shipping kit in the living room for Stef's genetic testing to get sent to a lab in the states. All this happens with at least 3 contacts per day to my nurse or another contact in Colorado. Between the consent papers, phone calls, e-mails, faxes, lab requests, begging receptionists, blood samples, shipping kits, doctor appointments to rewrite Colorado's requests and prescriptions, I'm not sure I can keep track of what day it is, never mind what "Day" it is.

A test they ran in Colorado to measure my egg reserve (AMH) was 1.1 - bang on. So that's positive so far. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the Day 3 and Day 10 LH, FSH and Estradiol. I'll be counting the days....