Surfacing

I did go to Colorado, we did end up with blasts to test. But, it certainly wasn't easy, although it was quick, getting there.

I went to Dr. M's office on that Friday for scan/blood. The scan showed three follicles growing on my right (at 18 (!), 14, and 14) and one on my left at 11ish. I had two super small ones, one on each side, that hadn't grown. The cyst, thank goodness, had not grown, either. Later that day, I found out my E2 was 625, which is crazy high for me after only 4 days of stims. When I talked to my nurse at CCRM that afternoon, she gave me a heads up that we would probably be triggering sooner than expected (Sunday or Monday) based on that lead follicle at 18.

We left for CO the next afternoon. B originally intended to come out there with me on Saturday, do his frozen back-up Monday morning, and fly back home Monday afternoon so he could be at an important presentation on Tuesday. However, based on my nurse advising that it was possible we would trigger Sunday, we had to plan accordingly. So, we left not really knowing when we were coming home and if B would make his presentation.

We went to CCRM Sunday morning for blood/scan. The scan showed basically the same (three on the left, one on the right with a few smaller ones). I asked the nurse that was there that day to call my cell as soon as she knew what was going on and told her that, if at all possible, I wanted to trigger Monday. B and I went back to the hotel for a little while and then decided to go hiking. We drove up to the Red Rock area and started hiking--it was a beautiful day, 80 degrees and sunny. I hiked with my phone in my hand, constantly checking to see whether I had service. When I hadn't heard from the nurse at 1:30, I made B turn around on the hike and head back to an area where I did have service. I ultimately reached her and she told me that I was triggering at 10 pm that night for a Tuesday morning retrieval. I felt quite defeated and we ended our hike early. Thank goodness because by the time we got back to the hotel it was raining pretty hard.

Sunday night consisted of watching football, rearranging flights, canceling our hotel after Wednesday, and B talking to his partner to let him know he would not be at the presentation.

Monday morning I got up and got ready to go to CCRM for blood, my IVF physical (which had to be done that day, obviously), and genetic counseling. B decided he was going to stay at the hotel and work, so I went alone. It was raining and pretty cold when I got there. However, I was pretty surprised when the genetic counselor came back into the room after stepping out during our meeting and told me that it was snowing! The only major thing that morning, was the GC telling me that their protocol is to do PBB when someone has less than 6 fertilized embryos. I knew that we would have less than 6 fertilized embryos, and I told her that we were going to blast no matter what. I didn't go all the way to CCRM to do PBB. I had to sign some consents because of that, but she was fine with it.

The retrieval on Tuesday was fine, once I got used to the fact that Dr. Surrey wouldn't be doing the retrieval. Dr. Gustafson did it and he seemed nice enough. Dr. Surrey did come see me in my drugged haze afterwards and told me that we had 6 eggs. I was pleasantly surprised with that. Imagine my surprise with the embryologist came by and told B and I that there were actually 7! Recovery from the retrieval was, as usual, easy and we flew home late that night.

Wednesday morning I learned that 4 of the 7 had been mature and all 4 fertilized. None of the others had matured overnight. On day 3, I was advised that all 4 were looking good and were 8 cells. At that point I felt pretty confident that we would have 2 blasts, which I was fine with. I just really wanted more than one, so that I didn't only have an "answer" for one embryo.

On Monday of this week, I heard that they had biopsied 3(!) blasts. They had biopsied one on day 5-a 4BB, and two more on day 6-a 4BB and a 2/3. The fourth had apparently made it to early blast, but then stopped growing, so we almost had 4. I am pretty happy with 3, though.

We had a regroup with Surrey yesterday. Basically, he said our embryos looked great on day 3 and the blasts certainly could result in a pregnancy. He seemed pleased with the outcome and said stimming that fast is normal on Saizen. He said he would call as soon as he receives the Microarray results, but to call him in mid-November if I still haven't heard. He said "hopefully we'll have one or more to transfer, but there is a possibility that all will be abnormal."

So, now we wait. And at the end of this, at the very least, we'll hopefully have an answer.