Tuesday, January 4, 2011

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....

3 comments:

  1. Hey Iveta...oh I remember these days so well. The preliminary tests are SOO much work to get lined up before the cycle starts...and the frustration of the timing between CCRM's uber-efficient system compared to our pokey public system was at times frustrating...but it all seemed to work out with alot of "pretty please"!! I bought alot of nut and chocolate trays for Christmas for those I had to thank locally!! Take care...welcome to your second job...babymaking!! Hoping it will all be worth it on your first attempt!

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  2. Great news on your AMH level! It can be difficult to manage all of these appointments and loose ends... like Lisa said, it's kind of a second job! CCRM does try to help you stay organized and on top of things, but it's not always that easy. Good luck with your CD 3 testing--fun stuff! : )

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  3. It is so frustrating trying to coordinate the medical stuff from the other side of the border. Good luck!

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