As I mentioned below, we've had a number of blood tests and ultrasounds this week. The way this works is, we arrive at the clinic at 7:30 AM. (This, incidentally, means we leave home at 6:00AM; again, the clinic is in Memphis.) Sarah has blood drawn and (since Wednesday) an ultrasound; we're on the road home by 8:00. We typically get back to town by 9:15 or so (traffic differences), and go straight to work.
Meanwhile, the lab is doing an E2 test and the ultrasound tech is preparing a report for Dr. Ke. Sometime around midday, the doctor and nurse meet and discuss our progress, and make two decisions: what (if any) changes to make in the injection regimen; and when we need to come back in.
Friday night we started stimulation. The original injection regimen was: 75 units (ie, 1 vial) of Menopur in the morning, plus 0.05 mL of Lupron and 125 units of Follistim in the evening. The precise timings were up to us, but the morning and evening injections need to be 12 hours apart. We chose 7:30, AM and PM. Every twelve hours at 7:25, Sarah's phone starts playing the ABBA song "Honey Honey" (I think the version sung by whats-her-name in the Mama Mia movie, technically speaking). When that happens we stop everything we're doing and prep the relevant shots, then give them right at 7:30. We do this religiously, and very rarely miss an injection time by more than about 30 seconds.
At this point the astute reader will have noted a conflict: we're giving injections at 7:30AM, but we're also arriving at the clinic for tests at 7:30 AM. The resolution is simple: on test days, we mix and inject the Menopur in the car right before we walk in the doctor's office. Yes, this means I shoot Sarah up right there in the parking lot. It's class all over, I tell you.
Anyway, Monday morning Sarah had blood drawn. Her E2 must have looked a shade low, because the nurse called on Monday afternoon and told us to up the Follistim dosage sightly, from 125 units to 150 units.
Wednesday we went in for both E2 and ultrasound. In the ultrasound, things looked good: all of Sarah's follicles were between 9 and 12 mm in diameter. And the E2 must have been good too, because the drug doses were unchanged. We were told to come in on Friday morning, as expected.
Friday (ie, today) was another E2 and ultrasound day. Interestingly, I think we got the broke-ass ultrasound machine today, because it was hard to see anything. (Sarah's right ovary, which is usually crisply defined and easy to see, was hard to make out; her left, which is hazy under the best of circumstances, was nearly invisible.) What the tech could see was good news; Sarah's follicles had grown, from the previous 9-12mm bracket to 12-15mm.
That said, when we left Sarah was feeling discouraged, about two things: first, that the tech couldn't see nearly as many follicles as the other tech did with the other machine on Wednesday; and second, that we were told that her follicles are growing more slowly in this cycle than they did during the 06 cycle. Interestingly, what I heard the tech say was "you're progressing a little slower, and that is perfectly OK", while Sarah apparently heard something like "you're progressing a little slower, and that is THE END OF THE WORLD." Later, in the car, I would insist that what I heard was much closer to reality, but she would have none of it. The ride home was very quiet.
Well, guess who was right. Much as I hate to admit it, the party closer to reality was .... well, actually, it was me, and I don't "hate to admit it" at all. The nurse called about 3, and it turns out that we're in perfectly good shape. There are no changes in the medications, and we go back in on Sunday --- at the practically civilized time of 8:00AM.
So that's where we're at: the follicles are 12-15mm. They grew 3mm in two days (from 9-12 on Wed to 12-15 today), and we're looking for them to be 18-20 mm for retrieval. Assuming linear growth (an assumption that I base on absolutely nothing --- just so's you know), we'd be talking about retrieval on Tuesday or so. Backing up this theory, we ran low on Menopur late this weekend were told by the nurse to order more -- but only enough to take us through Monday. So it looks like we're at least tentatively planning on wrapping up stimulation Monday or Tuesday, and doing retrieval Tuesday or Wdensday of next week.
Hopefully we'll know more concretely on Sunday.
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