I did talk to Nurse #1 again this morning and she said everything is fine with the dates -- actually she said "everything is fine" several times -- so I guess I sounded a little stressed out in my voicemail... :)
She also has no clue why Nurse #2 randomly called to change the dates at the last minute...since my plan is all clearly written in my folder...very odd. Nurse #2 is one of my favs so I am surprised...
We are all packed and ready to go!! I'm so excited about our trip (it's been a while since our last one - funny how IF consumes your life) -- I might even have trouble sleeping tonight because I just can't wait!! This time tomorrow we'll be dining out somewhere in Victoria, Canada (after traveling to Seattle and taking a seaplane up to Victoria!!).
Oh! And I did get a letter from my RE today so I can carry my Lupron needles on board. I'm starting that on Wednesday... And I am bringing my herbs...BCP & BA pills...and 100 supplements...it's borderline ridiculous.
Not sure how much I'll get online while we're out there...but hope everyone has a great week!!
here is the new plan because I wanted to push it back a week (it's actually the time on Lupron that gets extended -- not the time on BCP)...
7/19 - start BCP & baby aspirin
7/26 - start Lupron (10u)
8/2 - stop BCP
~8/22 (or CD2 - which ever comes first) - go in for b/w and u/s and theoretically drop down on Lupron (5u) and start Estrace Valerate IM injections on Tuesdays and Fridays (ramping up dose from 2mg to 5mg)
~9/6 - FET!! and start PIO + prog supp.
~9/20 - beta (few days before my 34th b-day)
And my herbs might be ready by tomorrow...and I've already started to ramp up my fish oil dosage...I'll post more about that later.
AND I cannot wait until we leave for our vacation!!!!!!!!!!!
I went back to my RE's office for the first time in a loooong time this morning -- it was so weird! I love that the receptionist remembered my name immediately. Or maybe that's a bad thing. ;)
I've thought about it more and I really want to relax during this process as much as possible -- so I'm pushing it all back a week (one more week on BCP). Part of me thinks that my TSH gets all whacked out when I'm stressed so that extra week will be good. And then if all goes as planned I'd have my beta just a couple days before my birthday in September. Yikes!
So assuming my bloodwork from this AM was OK, I'm starting BCPs today (and going until 8/16).
Then start Lupron (10u) on 8/9.
Then 2 weeks later (when I get my period) I lower Lupron (5u) and start Estradiol (via IM injections every 3 days) .
And then FET on 9/6 and start PIO/prog suppositories.
No steroids or Intralipid for this cycle. (I'm on the fence about this now)
Acupuncture 2x per week + herbs.
YIKES! I'm scared/nervous/exciting about starting all of this again!
tomorrow - start BCP
2 weeks - start Lupron
FET on 8/31
which is 2 weeks after my stressful work weekend (release)...now I'm debating pushing it further back so I won't be as stressed right before the cycle...
I've been trying to get in touch with the IVF coordinator to schedule my FET and she hasn't called me back yet. I did just unexpectedly get my period today (the cramps are ouchie!!)...going directly from my personal longest cycle (40 days) to my personal shortest cycle (25 days). I thought I had at least another week to get this scheduled. Anyway, I hope that doesn't push everything back even further. :(
I'm talking to the acupuncturist tonight about starting herbs for the FET cycle. She works with an herbalist who creates everything. And my RE still hasn't responded to me about my last request for steroids for the FET...so I'm guessing he's just not going to do it.
AND I'm also debating about just going ahead and doing the Intralipid -- assuming I can do it as a one day trip to Chicago for the first infusion...
Non-IF news...we finally booked the rest of our Seattle trip! I'm so excited about it!! I'm most excited about the seaplane up to Victoria!
Anyway, I might be slow with the updates because work is still a bit rough (our release date got pushed out 5 weeks - argh!).
But I am still enjoying reading everyone else's blogs!
Dr. C said that everything looked OK except for "moderately" increased NK count and activity. She did recommend some treatment options for us to improve our chances of implantation -- for IVIg she said it would theoretically bring up our changes to 50% (really?!). The other option was participating in an Intralipid research study with her in Chicago.
She walked us through their advantages/disadvantages:
> IVIg is more expensive (~$2500+nurse) and has potential risks because it's a blood product. But it is medically proven.
> Intralipid is still just in a research study and isn't proven yet (but based on my test results I did suppress better with Intralipid than IVIg); it is cheaper (~$500) and isn't a blood product; and I'd have to go to Chicago at least twice for that - so when you add up additional travel costs & vacation days I wonder if it might become almost as costly as IVIg?
They each would require an IV infusion before ET and after BFP (with additional followup testing to see if more is required).
So I'm going to research our options (I think I've read that some other doctors treat with steriods?, acupuncture/fish oils, etc.) more so Nick and I can discuss more tonight...
I'm leaning towards just doing acupuncuture/fish oils for this first FET and then more aggressive with either IVIg or Intralipid for the next (assuming that we end up with enough frosties for 2 attempts).
our call with Dr. C is later this morning...after all of our Fedexing and FAXing I hope that they have everything now. At least if we do a consult with TopNYCDoc later this year we have all of our paperwork in order now!
And I had to share my fav line from her bio: "Despite all of her accomplishments, she considers her greatest achievement to be the fact that she is the proud mother of 10 wonderful children."
Work is out of control - I've had more emergency meetings with VPs this week than I can count... :(
I'm also on a research binge about immunity issues since I finally got my results back from Millenova (except for Nick's results) and have a consult with Dr. C on Thursday. Oh yeah - I realized that I forgot to send her all of my medical records last week - Ooooops!
Anyway, my NK Cells were a little high but maybe not high enough to treat with IVIg:
Natural NK Cytolytic Activity = 12.6% killing (<10% normal)
And I had some other high/borderline results:
RIP: CD16+/CD56+ = 12.8 (0-11 normal)
APA: IgG PA was borderline = .166 (.139-.175 normal)
Everything else seemed fine -- including ATAs (surprising!).
Hopefully on Thursday I'll know more about what all of that means then and our options...but I've heard she is only really into IVIg and not prednisone at all.
I'm hoping she'll just recommend that I continue acupuncture, fish oils, and take Medrol...or something easy like that.
And my RE is supposed to call me back tomorrow when he's back in the office (we've been playing phone tag) about the endo biopsy -- which he's already left me a voicemail saying that I really don't need it...OK...but will it hurt?? Same with the Medrol... I'm not really looking at being scientific and methodical about all of this. Just want to get PG already!
Anyway, I'll try to update as work allows...
Somehow I have a major pain in my neck (in addition to my current project at work) -- OUCH! I woke up yesterday unable to move my neck/shoulders very much -- so I end up leaning over the left side all day. Looks like I should be in one of those V8 commercials...
I went to the doctor and have started my mega Advil dose along with a muscle relaxer... Is it wrong to be doped up at work? ;) I'm feeling pretty good right about now...
I'm now trying to push my RE to do an endometrial biopsy and let me take Medrol/antibiotics around the transfer...we'll see what he says...
And theoretically work should get much better 2 weeks from now!! I'll need to start counting down the days....
I just left a message yesterday with the RE's office that I'm ready to start planning out our FET. I think he mentioned that I'd be on Lupron for a couple of weeks so it'd be good to start that in July -- so then I'd hope that we can do the transfer in August.
I've been very up & down about TTC lately. Totally fine at a big party with lots of kids and babies - holding babies, etc. And then driving home from work one day I see a woman pushing a stroller and break out into tears. I am so afraid that will never be me. And then we're sorta trying "au naturale" right now and I'm thinking maybe we'll get PG now -- we are unexplained afterall -- there's nothing stopping us, right? But then I think we've been here before. And not to mention had some help (3 IUIs, 2 IVFs) and still nothing. It's just this circle in my mind going from hopeful to hopeless back to hopeful...rinse and repeat.
But I'm ready to try again. Work *should* be calmed down by then. Also we're planning a trip to Seattle at the end of July...so August should be good for us. Plus I want to take advantage of the higher summer success rates for IVF (assuming that translates over to FETs). ;) And by that point I should have dropped some more lbs and had a couple of months of acupuncture under my belt. A couple more months on Levoxyl and having a normal TSH. All things to help our chance, right?
My phone consult with Dr. Coulum (immunity testing results from Millenova) is next week and they still haven't sent me the results. I'm still assuming that it says everything is normal, but I'd still like to see that in writing.
And I'm really liking my acupuncturist the more that I see her. I didn't have the instant connection that I did with my first one, but I still am enjoying it!
We're definitely into our healthy eating routine now (except for Nick's b-day party on Saturday and a BBQ we went to yesterday - oops!)...and I'm feeling much healthier. I found this old tea that I used to drink -- and realized how much I LOVE it -- Jasmine Pearl Oolong (http://www.adagio.com/oolong/dragon_pearl.html?SID=c8795c609904c0e4b35bcc932b12a79f). Actually before our wedding I had a non-traditional Ladies' Tea at a Chinese tea house -- and that was the tea that I gave out as "favors". So thinking back to that happy time made me smile.
And I cannot wait for our vacation -- it's been long overdue. And I LOVE the planning aspect (reading restaurant reviews, etc.) so that should be fun too...
Oh - and now that the kitchen has been updated only ONE person has seen it. WTF St. Joe? So we're planning an open house for next weekend. And then maybe drop the price $20k more a couple weeks after that. I just DON'T GET IT!!!!
We took Maggie for a swim at Roosevelt Island this morning (her shoulder is 95% better now!) and saw all of the people starting to set up along the Potomac. I just don't have it in me anymore to sit out in the heat & humidity all day long to watch the fireworks. So we're having a nice & peaceful day at home now. Maggie is curled up in a ball next to me. I love her so much...
Anyway, off to enjoy my lazy day!
