I had a scan on Tuesday and another today. I think that takes us to 5 so far. This is possibly the most frequent action I’ve seen down there since Toby was born*.
On Tuesday we saw one follicle that perhaps was slightly bigger than the others (8-9mm instead of 5-6mm), but it still fell significantly short of the 15-17mm we are after. So I was asked to continue at 75 IU for another 4 injections, and come for another scan Friday – today.
This meant we were/are getting very close to John’s operation on 6th March, and he had called to pre-warn them we may have to cancel.
I was actually a bit hopeful today. I felt things might have been happening inside me, and was hopeful that follicle on my left ovary might have been busy sucking up the yummy FSH this week.
But no. That little black blob was not any more significant than the other follicles around it today, and with my legs in the air I was told there was no progress from Tuesday. The drugs at this dose were not working.
I was shown into a consulting room, and after she had a brief chat with our consultant, the nurse returned to tell me I now had a choice: Take 150 IU for three days and get scanned again on Tuesday, or give up this cycle and probably move to IVF.
I was a bit shocked. I thought we’d perhaps have another few cycles trying progressively higher doses of FSH, as this is what we were told previously. However, and to the best of my understanding, the fact I’ve simply failed to respond in any way thus far means that the higher dose is unlikely to solicit a measured effect (i.e.1-2 eggs developing). And the higher we go with the doses, the more chance I have of getting over stimulation and OHSS, which can be very nasty. This, coupled with the cost of starting a whole new cycle to try the 150 IU dose (about £1k), makes IVF a more controlled and cost effective option from this point forward.
So, our choice was – tack the 150 IU, which is unlikely to work, onto the end of this cycle, and hope that either 1) it works or 2) if it doesn’t work, it can at least be used to inform the nurses about which doses to start me on for IVF, OR abandon and do IVF for our next cycle.
The added complication was John’s operation this Monday. We could, of course, cancel this. But the 150 IU FSH might not work, and then his op has been cancelled for no reason. I needed to speak to John about all this, as I’d gone on my own to the appointment. So I was offered the office phone and got him on speaker. I called the nurse back in and had her explain the situation. I had the receptionist go find the nurse a second time, who then went to find the consultant, dragged him out of a meeting, and he took part in the conference call too. Other patients were giving me strange looks – who was this woman that kept appearing from a consultation room, demanding members of staff? She must be very important.
It eventually became clear that even if the higher dose did work it’s magic and we saw some effect on Tuesday, we likely wouldn’t need to get jiggy till the end of next week, and even then, I could “self inseminate”, which basically sounds like we’ve finally eliminated the need for men altogether**. So given this info, we’ve decided to go ahead with the extra doses this cycle. And with John’s op.
Next week should be interesting.
*They use a condom on the probe to keep it clean. I think this could be why we’re not getting pregnant?
**It involves a pot and some form of turkey baster I believe.
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