Long Overdue Update

Last I posted we were on CD1 and my lining was still too thick to start stims, so we went back on Wed, and it was perfect, 4.40mm however my Estradiol was still too high.  They wanted it under 21.0 and it had gone up from 25.4 on CD1 to 37.4 on CD3.  Argh!  Nurse T thought it was stress related and advised me to take a couple days off if I could, and relax, and to come back on Friday.  I really REALLY don't have any time to take off at work since I just started this job in December, but I did it because this is more important than anything.  Friday morning I went in... Lining still perfection and under 5mm, but Estradiol has not dropped down enough... it's 23.1.  Saturday morning I went in again... Lining = perfect, Estradiol is now slightly up again 23.7 (though they count that as unchanged since the rise was so insignificant).  They told me to come again on Monday, but I really cannot take more time off work at this point. I asked if they would consider letting me come in on Sunday, my mother would be leaving town and I would (hopefully) be calmer and less stressed.  Sunday morning... BINGO!  Finally, lining under 5mm, Estradiol 20.0, still 12 follies:  7 left, 5 right.

So I started my stims on Sunday.  The nurses there are SO behind us.  They called and were SO excited when they told me to come back and get my stims.  They know that this is our only chance. I walked in and saw the Gonal F box sitting on the chair.  So I am in the control group of this study, not the trial group testing out Afolia.  I had decided I was cool either way.  Gonal F is tried and true, but Afolia might be amazingly new and good.  Either way I would be happy, and I am.

So yes folks... I have the most photographed uterus and ovaries in all of Texas, but I am moving on to stimming.  Today is Stim day 4.  I have a little log book to track everything in.  I also received a cute water bottle and cooler for my meds.

Mr. R has started his Clomid for the TESE.  He's not experiencing any issues with it so far, but last time (while we thought the trial would start in October) he had some tingling and sensitivities with "the fellas" but so far so good.

So far zero side effects from the Gonal F, but man is the Lupron hitting me hard.  I pretty much walk around every day with a headache and last Thursday it turned into a migraine.  I don't mean "ouch my head really hurts I have a migraine," I am talking about the full-on cannot stand, whole body shaking, throwing up violently migraine.  Prior to this headaches would come and go and vary in intensity, but since Thursday I pretty much live with  a constant headache.  It's mild enough that I can ignore it most of the time, but every now and then I am forced to take a Tylenol to numb it down a little.  I had hoped that since my Lupron dose has halved it would stop, but that hasn't changed anything so far.

What's next?  Well this Friday I go in for first post-stim follie check.  And I think I go in again on Monday for a final evaluation when we decide to trigger or not.  Tentative trigger date is 2/24, Retrieval is 2/26 and Transfer is 3/1.  Mr R will have his TESE performed at the same time as my ER so we're going to be in separate rooms for that procedure, and for the ET he isn't sure he is going to be able to make it because of work... We could be in different counties while I am getting pregnant.  :(  This whole thing is SO not my childhood dream.  And even WITHIN treatment, the tiny cracks, the dream is still shattered.... *sigh* It doesn't matter as long as we have a good end result.

I belong to the TwoWeekWait forum, and in our cycle group, out of 7 of us 4 already have BFPs, 1 negative, and 2 have yet to transfer.  It looks like I'll be the last one transferring out of all of us.  Hopefully they don't use up all of our BFP luck before I can get there!  [I just realized how insane that sounds... how superstitious does all of this make us??? Meh.]