Follicle Check #1

Yesterday afternoon, C and I received a letter in the mail from Cooper describing all of the testing we still need in order to proceed with our ER. First of all, (holy schnikes!) it is so surreal that we are actually counting down to ER! Secondly, it brought up yet another test that I had known about from my Google PhD in infertility medicine and from the boards, but that had never been mentioned to me before at Cooper. Ho, hum... This is just their way, I guess.

The letter stated that I still needed my HSG and current Pap (sent over from Penn a few days ago), infectious disease bloodwork (done at Cooper last Saturday), vaginal cultures (done at Cooper on Monday), and a mock transfer. Sh*t. I had completely forgotten that such a thing existed and it was never mentioned as a prerequisite to cycling. Luckily, I had an appointment this morning and I gathered up the papers to bring with me with questions.

I got to the office this morning and it was pretty slow. I got in immediately for my ultrasound and bloodwork with no waiting. (This is after almost two years of cycling at Penn where the waiting rooms usually looked like an airport in a snowstorm.) During the ultrasound, they found that the lining looked great and that I had four measurable follicles and "a whole bunch" of smaller ones, and this is just CD6. (Yay!)

After the monitoring, I spoke to the reception desk about briefly seeing an IVF nurse about returning my loaner meds (which I totally wanted to keep after paying $4k just a few days before), and also about scheduling this mock transfer. As it turns out, only two IVF nurses were in today, and they had two ERs scheduled for other patients. In other words, "it's going to be a while." Thank goodness for smartphones.

When a nurse was finally able to see me, I returned the meds (grudgingly) and asked about the pre-testing. I explained that all of the other tests were already done, but that it was likely that the results just weren't back yet. Then I asked about the dreaded mock transfer. It went something like this:

Me:       All of the other testing here is done, but I guess I need to schedule a mock transfer? When should I do that?

Nurse:   Have you ever had an IUI?

Me:       (slight chuckle) Um, yeah. I have had nine.

Nurse:   Oh. Well, did they ever have difficulty with the catheter?

Me:       Never. They all went perfectly, other than the fact that they didn't work.

Nurse:   Then you don't need a mock transfer.

Well, that was easy. What's that old expression about one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing? Yeah, seriously. Isn't it written in my file somewhere that I have had nine freakin' IUIs? I digress...

As I mentioned before, I have been babysitting for the past few weeks, which has worked out perfectly with my appointments. I have been getting back in PA with plenty of time to pick up the little girl from her bus stop at 12:30, then take her and her older brother out for lunch. Of course, the call from my nurse came while I was in line at Wendy's trying to get the missing apple juice from our cheeseburger kids meal. Oy.

Anyway, I'll take the awkward timing because the news was good. Everything looked great and it seems like the dosage is really working. We will continue with 75 iu of Menopur in the evenings and 150 iu of Bravelle in the mornings and on Sunday night, we will start adding Ganirelix to prevent early ovulation. Again, holy sh*t.

I am sitting here making plans for birthday parties and lunches next week, and it is just sinking it that I may not be able to do any of them. It's really no big deal planning-wise, after all, I made arrangements with my few IF-informed family members to bring my gifts to the party if I'm at home recovering, but just wow. I can't believe that after three years of TTC, two years of treatment and all the waiting and testing and then more waiting for IVF that our ER may be right around the corner.

Well, it's back to Cooper on Monday for another monitoring appointment. I'll know more then, but for right now, I am just excited and hopeful. Please let this work...