Better News

Today was much better news from Dr. Ahlering!  He immediately started off by saying that all of my bloodwork supports that there is lots of follicles and eggs in me still!  WOO HOO!  He didn't give me exact numbers, but he was more than pleased with my bloodwork and really thinks this is going to work.  He said it again, he thinks it is going to work.  I asked him if this bloodwork shows if my eggs are good or bad based on my FSH levels.  He said that you really can't truly tell if they are good eggs or bad eggs until they harvest them for the IVF cycle.  It is then you will see the eggs develop into embryos or fizzle out.  He said that you can have good batches and bad batches of eggs it just depends on the eggs. There is no blood test or unltrasound that can determine quality of the eggs.

The most exciting part of the phone call was hearing that Dr. A, doesn't think that I have PCOS based on my blood tests either!  BIGGER WOO HOO!  He said that there is nothing to indicate this except for the fact that my ovaries had a lot of eggs on the ultrasound that we did last week.  He said yes that I have irregular cycles and lots of follicles, but nothing else indicates that I have true PCOS.  He isn't 100% sure at this time if I have to take Metformin or not, but he doesn’t think that will help me with an IVF cycle especially with the side effects that I experience with this drug. He said in the old days people thought that Metformin improved eggs, but that doesn’t pan out in his eyes with all of the research that has been done since that time.  He said a true PCOS patient has lots of irregularities on the labwork and my bloodwork doesn't show that.  I asked him if I still had to do those other 2 blood tests and he said no not at this time, but he is going to recheck my files to double check.  He did tell me to let him know when I start this month so I can start on birth control to get my body more stable and ready for IVF.  I can't believe that in about two months we are going to be starting this process!  Unreal!

I have dates for everything now too!  Here is what he said about how the whole thing will work.  He did say that I need to read on his blog about IVF at a distance to figure out how we are going to make this work. It isn't going to be easy with it being the end of the school year and packing up my classroom, but I can do it, I am superwoman!

Not sure on what day I start medications, but it is usually day 1.  Based on my blood tests, I am going to have to do minimal amount of drug which means lower costs!  WOO HOO!  I am thinking more like 2 grand instead of 3 to 6 grand like it said on the financial sheet. 

May 31: Day 9 of my Cycle (Appointment Day)  Chris and I will go to St. Louis to have my eggs measured and see how the drugs are working.  This will establish a lot of information on how the rest of the week will work.

5 to 7 days from there is when they harvest the eggs, but that all depends on how my eggs grow and how many eggs I have.  We want at least 20 eggs for a good chance of IVF working.  I am not too concerned as last week I had over 20 eggs and that was without drugs.

Gap of 5 days after that is when they implant them back in.  He said that he implants 2 eggs or embryos back in.  He chooses the best 2 embryos that were harvested and puts them back in which is very similar to how they do the IUI procedure which I had done numerous times.  It isn't fun, but it is tolerable.  Then a couple of days of relaxation in which they will hopefully implant in.

Then the worst part...waiting two weeks to find out if it worked.  I am so excited and nervous all at the same time.  Now it is time to try to save up as much as we can and charge the rest of the costs.  After thinking about it, this is more than worth it and I know it is going to work as God has led us on this road and I have the greatest support group made up of amazing friends and family.  Nothing but happy thoughts these next two months.  I still can't believe we are doing this!