Sunday, July 31, 2011

If it's not one thing....

I had my appointment on Friday afternoon. W wasn't able to make it since he was working, so I was nervous and anxious the hours leading up to my appointment. I was still bleeding and didn't have high hopes for a green light to start the FET.

 When I got there the ultrasound tech took me down to the room and told me Dr. S wanted to watch. I was shaking at that point. I told her I need Valium for all of my future appointments. Dr. S stood in the room with his arms crossed, looking at the screen. I think he was making us both nervous.

Well, my uterus looked great. It was clear of any fluid. This was such a huge relief.

Then the tech went on to scan my ovaries, and boom, huge cysts on each. I think the right ovary had 2 or 3 cysts and the left had 1. They weren't exactly small either (about 2-3 cm). Since I have had so many ultrasounds I knew the cysts as soon as I saw them. The tech told me to get dressed and meet my RE in his office.

At that point I was grateful the fluid was gone, but nervous as to what the cysts would mean. My RE then wanted to do a literature search about cysts and starting a FET cycle. Since he works in an academic setting and does research himself, he is always consulting the literature prior to making decisions. He even had 3 articles printed relating to PCOS and FET protocols that he had found prior to my appointment. Good thing I took classes about research and statistics so I can better understand when he pulls them and the technical terms out.

When he came back he told me that the cysts weren't going to pose a problem to the FET cycle. In fact, they may help if they are estrogen producing. That seemed odd to me, but I guess I don't need my ovaries to produce eggs this month, so the fact that they have cysts is fine. They typically prescribe estrogen during a FET cycle in hopes that it will build up your lining, so the cysts may help to do the same thing. My lining was at 4.7 on day 5 and he thought it was a little thicker due to the cysts. He prescribed me Vivelle patches and sent me to get my estradiol levels checked.

I have a protocol I will follow where every other day I change the patch. As time goes on, I increase the number of patches I put on until I am up to 4 every other day. I was able to get 8 patches covered by my insurance, but the rest will be OOP since that is a typical month supply. Without insurance the pharmacy quoted me $72 for 8 patches. This is going to get expensive quickly....

 I'm not sure I will get to the 4 patches every other day since we started on day 5 instead of day 1, and I likely have extra estrogen due to the cysts. He wants to wait until my lining is at least 8 before we do the transfer. The tentative date now is August 15 for transfer, but we will see. I have a feeling it will be sooner.

I kept my appointment for the 8th and they will check my lining then. It feels weird to be doing a cycle but not popping any pills or shooting up with any needles (is it possible to me a drug addict to fertility meds?) Estrogen patches are seriously anticlimactic. It doesn't even feel like I am doing anything. At some point I will start progesterone IM shots and will likely also do Medrol. This is a steroid that is given when assisted hatching is done.

My hubby and I have been talking about how amazing it would be if this cycle worked. The financial burden of fertility treatments is huge, and a big weight would be lifted if we didn't have to pay for another round of IVF. We can do it if needed, but I'd love to be able to spend money on things outside of making babies. The chances are better than it won't work, but I am holding some hope out for my little totsicles.

7 comments:

  1. Yay! I'm so glad you get to move forward!!!

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  2. Praying for you this cycle. Lots of baby dust to you!

    ~Jess

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  3. "Totsicles" lol Well Im glad the FET is still a go, despite the cysts!!! :)

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  4. I'm starting on FET too and have even fewer meds...just estradiol 2x a day, then move up to 3x a day, then add in some progesterone. After the epic schedule of IVF, the nurse even warned me that it wouldn't feel like I'm doing enough. And she's right. It's so totally weird.

    When is your transfer? We're expecting mine on 8/22.

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  5. That is interesting about the cysts. My RE always does a baseline ultrasound to see if there are any cysts present. I also had to do shots of Lu.pron to prevent cysts forming. I wonder if my RE needs to do more research on the cyst issue :)

    Congrats on being able to gt started :)

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  6. That's an awesome RE-- all willing to do research for your particular case. That's so neat that you will be able to go ahead with the cycle and that the cysts might help.

    I have my fingers crossed for you!!!

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  7. Good luck with your FET! I agree not doing all the shots seems so weird. Sounds like you have a great RE with all the research he does etc.
    Fingers crossed for you!

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