I would love it if I could stop second guessing my RE. No, let me rephrase that, I would love it if I didn't have to second guess my RE. Because apparently I do. Or I think I do. Or I'm on 225iu/gonal-f a day and my ovaries have now taken control, think they're in charge, and think they know a thing or two. And this is what my ovaries are thinking about:
Let's review my last cycle, IUI#3. The one where I stimmed for, wait, let me refer to FF... 15 days (!!), and didn't have the IUI until CD21 (!!). The one where I was on 75iu of gonal-f for all but the last 3 days, when they finally upped me to 112.5iu/day. And the whole time they were saying "it's fine, things are going great, no, it's not too slow," while I was like "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, GROW, FOLLIES, GROW" (see this post).
This cycle, IUI#4, I started at 75iu/day for the first 7 days, then was increased to 150iu/day for 2 days, now we've gone to the ovary-exploding 225iu/day for 3 days, and we'll see if my reproductive system is still in one piece at the u/s tomorrow.
Having gone to a higher dosage much more quickly this cycle, and based on the fact that all I heard last cycle was that everything was fine, nothing to be concerned about, etc, etc, you'd think that this cycle was going even slower than last cycle, and that they really wanted to kick start it. Nope. Let's just see the 2 cycles together, shall we:
IUI#3:
CD9: Biggest follie 11.5; Lining 6.5; Estrogen 132
CD12: Biggest follie 13.5; Lining 9; Estrogen 169
CD14: Biggest follie 14.3; Lining 9; Estrogen 277
CD 16: Biggest follie 15.4; Lining 9; Estrogen 295
CD19: Biggest follie 24; Lining 9; Estrogen 613
IUI#4
CD7: Biggest follie 13.6; Lining 5.5; Estrogen 126
CD9: Biggest follie 12.6; Lining 6; Estrogen 167 (don't know why biggest follie is now smaller than on CD7)
CD11: Biggest follie 14.5; Lining 8.9; Estrogen 226
CD14: Tomorrow
My estrogen was higher (226) on CD11 this cycle than on CD12 last cycle (169). My biggest follie was bigger (14.5) on CD11 this cycle than on CD12 last cycle (13.5), yet last cycle on CD12 my RE said things were going great and to stay at 75iu/day (see this post), and on this cycle on CD11 with everything higher my RE took me up to 225iu/day.
You know, this is like a code that I don't have the key for. I really have no idea what the above means except that I am not pregnant and therefore somebody needs to work harder. And obviously my ovaries think it's them. Since they're the ones who are over analyzing all this. Not me.
Okay, it is me.
Is There Anybody Out There?
5 months ago
I am surprised that they started you out at 75iu again thsi cycle. At this point, I think they're either sensing that you don't think last cycle went fast or well enough so they're trying to respond to your preferences (some people might prefer to go the more conservative route (not me)), or stubbornly realizing for themselves that maybe your ovaries would simply respond better to more iu's to get the show on the road.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope the extra gonal-F does the trick this time!!
I haven't done injectables so have nothing intelligent to say. But your ovaries sound pretty smart. And maybe they are still a little suspicious of the RE's judgment because of the whole beta a 9dpo thing (which is suspicious, I must say). In the event that this IUI doesn't work (heaven forbid) you could ask them if they'd like to get a second opinion. If IVF is your next step anyway, this might be a good time to shop around.
ReplyDeleteIt is like a huge mystery isn't it? Like what is the equation that will finally = pregnancy!!! Ugh, I totally overanalyze this stuff too...ahem, I mean my ovaries do as well! ;) It's so easy to question, especially when the answers keep changing. I hope your ovaries survive the extra dose, and that it gets those follies to where they need to be this cycle!! Hang in there!!!
ReplyDeleteI haven't done injectables yet, so really can't comment. I tend to analyze everything so I probably wouldn't be a good person to give advice anyway. Hoping it all works out!
ReplyDeleteI sure do hope that after all this extra work from your ovaries, analyzing things and all, that Gonal F brings you this BFP. Your RE's methods seem like madness to me! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is it though, its enough!
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