Cyber Friends

I was so so fortunate to be able to meet in person two fantastic cyber friends that I have followed for years. Best When Used By and Rain were as amazing as I expected. I think the best thing of meeting people you "know" through the blogs and occasional emails, is that there is an immediate connection, things are easy, there is lots to talk about and it feels like you know them quite well already. I met Cadet who is the softest baby ever, really he's so so cute and cuddly, Oliver was really taken by him too! And Scout is such a big boy now, we had a lovely time at the park with me and BWUB chasing after the children up and down the slides. I also had the chance of meeting Rain's husband, McRuger, we had a family day out with them and again it was so easy going and enjoyable, I wish we could have done it again. Seriously! And I'm hoping they'll be coming to Ireland one day soon and though we don't have the weather to offer (Rain may actually love the weather here!) and neither the food, I'm sure we would have a great time together. Now, BWUB is about to become mom again (twins!) so I suspect she'll be busy for a while, and Rain is planning adoption number two...but one can hope right? Worse case, we'll be meeting them in Cali the next time we go over!

In FET news, today was the last scan. The Favourite Doctor was there and scanned me herself! There was a new doctor that joined the clinic and so she assisted at the scan too. I love when this happens as generally I learn a lot more. My lining is at a whopping 11.1 mm! Wow! The transfer is confirmed for thursday next week at 4pm and hopefully I won't start panicking about my penguins surviving the thaw...ok, I'm already thinking about it... Anyway. I'll start progesterone in two days time and maybe I should start listening to the meditation tape soon...Stay tuned!

Lining is Good!

My lining grew in the last few days up to 9mm!! The Favourite Doctor was very very pleased, even the lower wall is now fluffy!! She could see where the scarring had been removed also and she was very optimistic for us. The Viagra worked its (many) miracles! So transfer is confirmed for Friday at 4pm. I'm very happy but trying not to give in to the anxiety of the embryo thawing. Glad my dream was wrong!

I mentioned to the Fav Doc that we are looking into adoption also and she was a bit taken aback, her opinion is that our embryos are excellent, just didn't have the right place to nest and that worse case scenario we should look into surrogacy... Interesting she mentioned it, after a brief period in which I considered it too I kind of left the idea to one side. She said it's not possible in Ireland but that they could help us coordinate it in a foreign Country. Good to know I suppose!

I have to keep up the Viagra until the day of transfer and then stop it. I am to stop right now the Trental (another vasodilator) because I told her I feel quite dizzy on it, and we have the lining now anyway so it has done its job. I'm keeping up everything else including the extra vitamins which basically, it's the only thing I don't mind taking in a frozen cycle!

This morning I weighed Patches because I still think he's eating very little and using the litter tray also very little. He hasn't grown at all! Still only 1.8 kg (not even 4 lb). He has not lost either which is a relief, but I'm not sure this can be it's final weight. He's a microscopic cat for being 6 months old. He is alert and playful, breathes normally, just doesn't eat much and I realise I'm becoming obsessed with this. Anyway, Mike called the Ultimate Vet Hero to have an opinion (and to stop me from stressing him out!). She is not concerned once he's well, it could be the meds he's on (the antibiotic mostly, rather than the steroids which should make him eating/drinking more). Right so, I'll try not to worry and we'll bring him in as scheduled on Friday for his check-up.

Last bit of news is that yesterday I bought a new MP3 player! Remember all the problems I had with the New Toy ? Well, a part from extending the warranty on it until 2012, I also got a voucher for 100 € to spend on something I liked. I'm not much of a music person (I couldn't sing to save my life and I don't know songs/singers/styles etc...) but sure I had a very old Ipod mini which was obsolete so I decided to try out something different! Going to set it up now!

Additional weapons

My scan this morning didn't go too well, basically not much progress at all, I think after several attempts the best reading they could get was 6.5mm. Amazingly, the upper wall is really great, healthy looking and homogeneous, the lower one (the one from which the scarring was removed) isn't really doing anything. Basically all the thickness is in the upper wall. Anyway, The Favourite Doc doesn't want to give up just yet, I'm booked in for the transfer for next Friday but I have to have another scan on Wednesday.

To try and progress this lining a bit further I have to up the oestrogen to 6 tablets a day (5 orally and 1 vaginally), add a new drug called Trental which appear to be another thing to improve blood circulation, take Vit E for good luck and finally....the very thing we have all been waiting for...Viagra!! Yes ladies, I am on it. Actually I went back home after the scan to take the first tablet. It's taken vaginally 4 times a day, so far I can say that I feel a bit warmer down below, but no much else.

I'm incredibly ok with the way this cycle is going, and I'm sure you agree that it's far from being exciting or very promising, it could be cancelled on wednesday but ah well...there's nothing I can do about it is there? I'm patting myself on the back for the Zen attitude I manage to master!

I also wanted to update you on Patches. The Ultimate Vet Hero is texting us to see how the patient is doing (can you imagine? She is something else...) and the answer is that he's doing very well. He eats quite a bit more than he used too, and he's becoming more energetic day after day. His breathing is sooooooooooo much better, you can never hear him when he's awake, he's snores a tiny bit when asleep but man, you can't believe the improvement. So as of tomorrow we are starting reducing the anti-inflammatory, I think we continue the antibiotics and we keep everything crossed he won't relapse.

Last piece of news is that Mike's car has arrived in record time!! Just ten days after it was ordered! It appears to have been our destiny car. We also name the cars, so after some thinking this one is called Zoolander (it has a bit of Blue Steel look!). We are very happy and we'll go to visit the in-laws on Sunday for the big outing (they have no idea we got the car!)

On track

Can you imagine? I'm actually going to blog again about my FET this time instead of kittens... (Patches is doing well, fingers crossed now! He's purring at all of you thanking for the comments and support in the last few days...for real!)

I had a new doctor this morning scanning me at the clinic, he's American and I hand't the time to check out his cv yet, but seemed very nice. My lining didn't look too good to me and my expert eyes. It was just above 6mm and the upper wall looked much thicker than the lower one. I couldn't actually see the triple pattern that I always had. But the doctor said it was absolutely fine and not to worry about it. Anyway, still no Viagra but upping the oestrogen to 4 pills from 3. After the scan, the nurse told me about the meds and I made it clear to her that I felt uneasy about increasing the oestrogen, that I wasn't sure about the lining and all I've been through made me probably a "difficult" patient...I didn't mean to be difficult though. She was very understanding and got my Favourite Doctor to come and talk to me. I was concerned that after the hysteroscopy the lower wall had not recovered. She looked at the pics from the hysteroscopy and was truly amazed at the amount of tissue that had to be removed. She was very confident my lining was of better quality and not to worry about the different thickness of the layers, it'll even out. She's going to make sure she'll do my scan on friday. She actually checked my day 6 scan from the last FET and I had a lining of 5.6, so I'm actually doing a bit better!

And then off I went to the appointment with Dr. B. He visited me and also scanned me (wohoo two scans in a day!) he was absolutely pleased with the way things looked, very optimistic that the scarring will not reform, the histological report was completely normal and he feels it was just a fluke (I still think it was caused by the D&C in 2007). He actually said he "had a good feeling about me" and to let him know in any case. Awwhh, really lovely doctor, I wonder if he follows pregnancies...you never know, I may actually be properly pregnant one day!

I rushed back to the office to set up the viva and then off to the graduation ceremony. My student did very well in his exam and we had a happy day. I'm now going home, I feel I've done very little today but I've been certainly running around a lot!

Ready to trigger

My dears, I didn't have a second today to update the blog. Did you notice the new look? I thought I needed a change so after various attempts at changing things I'm happy with the result!

Anyway, I had my final scan today, I think they counted over 14 follicles above 14mm and 4 around 10mm. Lining looks good at 10.4 mm which I think it's the best I ever got. Now, they took blood also for E2 with the agreement that if I didn't hear anything I would have triggered with 10000 Units of Pregnyl, otherwise they would phone me.

And sure enough...

E2 is quite high, around 10000 (thankfully I lowered the Puregon!) so I'm to trigger with only 5000 U of Pregnyl this evening at 9.30.
ER is on wednesday at 9.00. I better be the first one!! And hopefully the moron won't be there to take pics of us!! They hope in this way I won't hyperstimulate as I'm borderline for OHSS with these values and number of follicles.

So strange how I responded much more to a lower dose this time around. Ah well, we just take it one day at a time and see how it goes.

Second scan: cheked!

Day 8 scan this morning and things are looking good! My lining is up to 8.3 mm with nice triple pattern, follicles on the right side are up a bit (8/9) measuring nicely between 13.3 mm and 11 mm. No newbie on the left, still 7 growing nicely (4 around 13 mm and 4 abit smaller). Dr. L (my absolute favourite!) was very pleased and once again, unless the blood comes back with some suprise this afternoon I have to stay on my medications as planned. Monday is the day of the final scan and EC still on track for the following wednesday or thursday at the latest.
I checked again with Dr. L to make sure that I'll be triggering with pregnyl and not decapeptyl and she confermed that there's nothing that is indicating possible change of plan. Delighted with it.

Feeling very well, of course I have some twinges in the belly, but overall I am better than the last time. I'm going to my acu/reiki/holistic massage appointment today and really looking forward to it. Then, in the afternoon I'm getting this intralipid infusion for good measure!

My little sister is going to NY for 6 weeks leaving tomorrow, lucky chick! Seriously considering the possibility of a long weekend over there too!! But can't plan anything now of course.
I'll try and update this evening with news on the infusion!

Go follies go!!

Day 6 scan today and although I was quite nervous (too many?? to few??) it was just right. I have 6 follicles on the right side and 6/7 on the left. They are all nice sizes between 10mm and 7mm. So I am responding well, like the last time but a bit more controlled. Last time on the same day I had a few more follies and a little bit bigger, I was on a higher dose of Pur.egon too.
Good news on the lining front too. Already trilaminar pattern and increased to 5.3mm. The nurse was very happy and so was I!

She took my blood for E2 check but she doesn't expect any surprise and I have been given the green light to start my Orgalu.tran tomorrow (unless of course blood says otherwise). I'll be back on friday (Day 8).

I had a very nice chat with this nurse, I was quite puzzled by the fact that the doctor had suggested intralipid infusion just as a precaution given my ANA borderline and the nurse last week said I didn't need it. Well, it turns out I will get the infusion and it has to happen this friday!! Just as well I asked for clarifications.

I am also happy to report that my enthusiasm is back on track, all going according to plan I'm only a week away from EC!

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Update

the clinic called!! Would you believe it, I lost three years when I saw the caller ID on the screen....they never call if things are going well (and I complained about it after my failed FET the last time). Well, it was just to say my E2 level were great (1269 so very safe and just go on as planned) and that yes the doctor confirmed I should have the intralipid infusion done on friday!