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....

Welcome everyone

Hi there - I've gotten a few more followers who are in the same boat - or want to be in the same boat - well this on is heading for Colorado, so hang onto your hat and FSH level. Thank you all for caring and wanting to come along. I'll try to keep down the acronyms, as not all my followers are IVF sailers.

Over the holidays, I'm wondering if I should go off DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) for my Cholimd Challenge, as it has a tendancy to mess with hormone readings - most of the time for the better, very rarely for the worse, but I want my doc in Colorado to be aware of my true readings, not DHEA influenced. And, trying to keep my weight down - the holidays and DHEA have not been friendly to it. DHEA is supposed to lower your weight as well as many other bonus side effects but it has had the opposite effect on me....great! So all the best for the holidays everyone and I'll keep you posted!

Was I Dreaming?

My memories of my one day work up in Colorado now feel like a dream - one where I was transported to a futuristic society. Where everyone walked around in lab coats and beautiful outfits, was young and pretty, always smiling, in a grand builiding that was something between an ultra-modern 5 star hotel and a Paris train station. Everyone had answers to any question, no matter how hard and how many times reapeated (but I didn't do that ) and ushered me around from room to room with the gentleness and ease of a spring wedding. Everyone eager to attend to the silliest or the most profound thought you may have - even the lady at the in-house cappucino bar. Having no US cash on me, she gave me my first Latte in a week for free, and laughed it off with a wave and a smile. Like scientists from another world, they spoke and performed examinations and proceedures I had never even heard of - fagile X chromosome testing for severe retardation (bought that one), Comprehensive Chromosome testing of embryos, hysteroscopy (no biopsy, but the needle in the cervix was a little coocky), Doppler ultra sound to test blood flow to my uterus and many more. I came home with not only a binder, but a stack of consent forms for us to sign and fax, lab work to be done and shipped frozen (they don't trust other labs - why should they? they're from Saturn), having to notorize some of our signatures, and general paperwork to get us on our way.

The proposed timeline is this: Day 3 of cycle in January means day 3 blood work, a chlomid challenge test to test my ovaries and hormones, Day 10 blood work along with Stef's blood work, all frozen at the lab in the hospital and shipped overnight to Colorado. Speaking with our doctor on January 13th to assess our prognosis and probability of pregancy based on the tests carried out during my one day work up and the chlomid challenge, and a decision about moving forward. February: if all goes well, I will start what they call "my calendar" or "IVF cycle" in February, which entails taking a birth control pill to suppress and take over my natural hormone system, followed by stimulating my ovaries to overproduce eggs - on one of their 21st century ultrasounds, they found 12-13 follicles right now, which means I may produce as many as 15 eggs. At the end of February/beggining of March, I would be there for egg retrieval. If we chose the embryo chromosam testing, I have to go home after that and will not have an embryo transfer. They get tested and frozen - I would come back at a later date for a frozen embryo transfer. They freeze their embryos by a process called 'vitrification' which guarantees a living thaw at 97%. If we do not opt for chromosmal testing (it sounds simple but it's not - there are risks involved of not having any embryos in the end and it's $6700 extra) then we will have a fresh transfer and go home. Their labs are second to none, so I'm hoping one way or another, an embryo(s) will find it's way into our life as a happy child/children. The success and prestige of this clinic was confirmed to me by the driver of my $100 towncar ride to the airport (hey! I got a needle in my cerix!) A wealthy couple from Spain flew in on their private jet to purue their egg hunt at Colorado - and he was their private chauffer for the entire time. If figure if millionairs from a country with state of the art fertility clinics of their own are prepared to spend some gas money on their jet to kiss the skies and try their hand in Colorado, we have a half a chance.

Wake up Call

I got to the lobby this morning just in time to wolf down some resemblance of breakfast and jump on the shuttle to the clinic....when something instantly seemed odd when I arrived. It was pretty quiet for a supposed busy time of the morning, and the kitchen was just putting out the breakfast when it should have been out already for almost an hour. I looked at my watch to see exaclty how late the kitchen was... and a chill went down my spine as I pulled the sweater back on my wrist.....and there it was.... the small hand was in the wrong place. It was an hour earlier than I thought....or at least an hour earlier than the alarm clock in the room. I couldn't believe it.....I had even spent time telling the front desk that their automated wake up call came into the room an hour late. Here I was greatful I set the alarm clock...boy! I shouldn't have touched it - turns out I set the time ahead by an hour accidentaly when setting the alarm. I figured both the alarm clock and the hotel wake up call should get me up. Never did I think I would find an hour the next day. As mild sleep deprivation sets in knowing I got up at 5am, I ponder at what a girl does when she is given an hour as a gift. Well, she goes back to her hotel room to spend more time on hair and make up of course, comments on someone's killer shoes in the lobby and learns they are Mark Nason's - so looks them up on the net and updates her blog. Sometimes a wake up call is just that - a wake up call - so set your clocks right. And if you find an extra hour out of no where - see it as a gift, rather than a sleepy nuisance.

Boy! I feel like a Denver

Not the sandwich - the place. Got here! after a one hour shuttle ride and being whoosy all the way here today - don't think my breakfast agreed with me. The hotel will do and it's a good deal. Will probalby be here for two weeks in February. Nice location - lots of cool little restaurants near by and a place with the words "YOGA" in big letters. Sure hoping that's a yoga studio! Bonus! rather than a clothing place. Yoga is going to help me keep my sanity while I take injections every day again and watch myself grow a melon over my jeans. So, catching the 7:15 am shuttle tomorrow morning to the clinic. I hear it's spectacular - can't wait to see it and take pics for Stef. Looking forward to tomorrow but a little scared of the tinkering under the hood....had a PAP this morning at my docs in Regina and she gave me a cold, clear heads up that the hysteroscopy is painful....oh good...I hate it when nothing hurts. Will let you know how it all went!