Gearing Up

This Wednesday is my suppression check blood work and ultrasound. I'm so excited to get this all started. I can't believe I will only be on 10 units of Lupron for five more days (technically 4). I started getting hot flashes this weekend so I know for sure I am suppressed. And if it was anything like last time I should be WELL below the cut off of 80. I'm starting to get the Lupron fatigue and it's hard not to want to kick back some caffeine to get through the work day but I'm holding strong. And believe me, when you don't sleep well on Lupron AND it makes you tired it's really, really hard. But I don't get the raging aggression or the headaches so I'm counting myself lucky.

I really feel like this cycle has flown by which was helped by a much needed vacation and keeping busy on the weekends. This past weekend I have dubbed as 'Sports Mania.' My parents gave us their tickets to the college football game since they are out of town and we are dog-watching for them. We decided to make a day of it and tailgated with some friends starting around 11 am and then walked to the stadium. It rained the whole time but we had ponchos to stay dry. It was so much fun. We sat next to a young man who was really into the game so we didn't feel so bad getting all fired up along with him. (Typically my parents seats are with all the old staunchy professors who think they are watching golf and not football) And to make it even better the guy thought Hammer and I were fresh out of college and newly weds - it made my day. After spending 7 hours in the rain, screaming and cheering (BTW - I'm a total football nut) and watching my Alma mater goose egg their opponent (yeah!), we were sufficiently soggy and cold and ready for bed.

Then Sunday evening Hammer had won hockey tickets in his companies box. It was a pre-season match but free none the less. So I donned more layers to go see our local NHL team. My brother was captain of his high school hockey team so I'm very familiar with the sport as well. I wish I could say it was wins all weekend but we lost 2-4. Oh well. It was good times except that I didn't wear nearly enough layers. I'm a bit worried that I'll end up with the sniffles after being wet and cold, then more cold. But it was still worth it.

This week continues to be busy with a chiropractor appointment, more acupuncture (love it!), suppression check day, and the launching of my huge I-worked-on-it-for-a-year-and-a-half-and-it's-finally-going-out-live project. I think this week is going to fly by and Saturday starts Operation Hammer Babies Take Two first day of Stims!!!!

Holy Toledo!

***Updated: link corrected***

Have you heard about the IVF cycle gone awry recently? The incident happened just a few hours away from where I live but I guess the clinic that they go to is in another state than where the family lives. But just to clarify it is NOT our clinic. But certainly this is not some thing one wants to think of before starting IVF#2.

I heard about it on our local news and guess what? Dr. Evil Women RE was on the TV being interviewed and reporting that our clinic never has had an issue and the reporter was IN OUR LAB covering the story. Of course all I was thinking about was I could not believe Dr. Evil spoke so much or seemed so sad about the situation. She barely said one word to me and tried to run out of the room before explaining what was on the ultrasound. Such a faker.

Regardless of Dr. Evil RE, I really do feel bad for this family. But I am glad to hear that they decided to carry the baby and give him to his parents. Who knows why these things happen but they really are giving that family a gift in a very strange way. Maybe that other family would never have been able to carry their son any other way. Hopefully their surrogate, she cannot try to carry any more of their snow babies, will give them a gift as well. And imagine what a connection she will have with her surrogate after having gone through this. All I know is that I'd be asking that clinic for a full FET refund and discount on the future surrogate's transfer.

Delayed Return

Sorry for the additional days off the blogosphere but life has been crazy. Both of our computers were in the shop which made posting impossible. Our home computer is back but we basically had to erase everything on it and are slowly loading our things back onto it. Fortunately we were able to get off all our important things first.

We had a great time on vacation in South Carolina. It was so nice to visit my brother-in-law's family, sleep in all day, and just lie around on the beach. I have pictures but we are still working on loading all of our digital camera software.

Going on vacation really made the time on BCP go super fast. And because it was so crazy when I went back to work, this week went by even faster. I started my 10u of Lupron on Sunday Sept 13th. My RE agreed to do a TSH so I had to wait until Monday the 14th because we didn't return home until late on Sunday. I think that worked out well because your TSH levels increase with higher levels of estrogen. So having been on the BCP for 2 weeks I was able to get my body back to it's 'normal' levels after the lingering estrogen lowering effects of the lupron from the last IVF cycle. My lab result was 2.93 and I have been over my clinic's cut off level of 2.5 on more than one occasion. But now they finally decided to treat me. (Maybe because our last IVF cycle failed?) So Friday I started on synthroid and I'm very happy about this. I think I'll have to be persistent about getting another TSH check mid stims and then 7 days post retrieval when estrogen levels sky rocket. I refuse to get as far as we did last time only to have my TSH levels effect implantation. It's the one thing that's never been addressed even though I've asked about it several times. So my hope is that this cycle we can do absolutely everything possible to make it a success.

I started acupuncture this week as well. My protocol is to go twice a week for three weeks so that the last week is at the beginning of starting the stims. Then I go on the day of transfer right before and immediately after. She does electro-acupuncture in the beginning so each needle is hooked up to a low electric current that is supposed to increase blood flow and super simulate my ovaries so that they respond well to the stims. After last cycle where I almost didn't make enough follicles I am really hoping that adding this in as well as more Bravelle and Luvaris will have a much better outcome.

I take my last two BCP this weekend so this coming week will just be lupron (10u), synthroid and waiting for AF to arrive. The good news is that I really didn't get nauseated as much on the BCP this time as compared to last so it's been a much better experience. I'm feeling much more positive about stimming this cycle but am also trying to be realistic with the number of follicles to expect.

Arrangements

Well all my med deliveries have been arranged. They split up my order between two companies to get the best prices. I could not believe just how affordable this round is compared to the last one. I just hope that it's more successful :)

I will be getting my TSH rechecked prior to starting the Lupron so I am happy about that too.

I have to say that I'm feeling a bit nervous to get my hopes up but I feel like this time I am doing everything that I can for this to end positively.

As of tomorrow I will be MIA till the 14th. I think this pack of BCP will go much faster than the last; beaches tend to do that.

Catching Up

I'm out again on another business trip today. Yes this has been one crazy week. But I will be taking Friday off and will be MIA till the week of September 14th. So you won't be hearing from me for a bit as I will be on a BEACH! While our Flor.ida vaca in October was scuttled by my chief I was still determined to get to a beach this year. And since my BIL lives 10 min from the Atlantic coast we are crashing at their house for a cheap vaca. What I am hoping for is that hurricane Eri.ka will steer away from my get-away.

Operation Hammer Babies take two is officially underway. I have put my calendar up on the side of my blog. I have added in acupuncture this time around. I LOVE acupuncture and wish I would have done it last time. But, no looking back, this is our fresh start. And because I want to be as healthy as possible for a successful cycle I am requesting to do another TSH. Mine have consistently been over 2 (about 2.3-3.8) and studies have shown that TSH should really be under 2. I have asked my RE in the past to treat me just so that we are addressing every possibility since higher TSH addresses implantation. My 'plan' is that I get my TSH tested as close to the day where I start my Lupron as possible. Since that day will be while we are on vacation I have located a lab near where we will be (Yes I am apparently on a lab tour!) I want to get my body as close to normal as possible since low E2 will drop TSH and falsify results. By getting my body back on track with the BCP I can get my TSH more close to it's normal values. I know it's crazy but I just want to be as healthy as I can. And if I don't get anywhere with my RE I'm going to go to just a regular doc who I heard is willing to treat TSH over 2. I hate to do this but I'm on IVF #2 and at this price I want to make sure all variables have been considered.

And I learned something fun...We may be transferring on my birthday. I'm trying not to get my hopes up but it would be a great birthday present!

Without a Hitch

Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers for my busy Monday. Wouldn't you know there was a Quest labs 10 minutes from where I stayed on this business trip. I did a test run from where I stayed to the lab and then to to conference center the night before. It helped so much. It could not have gone more smoothly and in the end I was right on time for the conference.

I got the results back and while they were 'normal' (FSH = 8) they still showed that I am still suppressed by that darn Lupron. Either way I started the BCP Monday evening.

I have more to post but our computer died and I stole Hammer's lap top just to post this. More later!