Note: I'm starting this blog post at 11:33 pm and hoping to publish by midnight, so this might seem rushed.
I'm realizing that I don't really know how to count the days...the date of my last menstrual period seems to matter less when you throw birth control, suppression, and stimulation into the mix. For what it's worth, though, today was Cycle Day 18 and Day 6 of ovarian stimulation (stims).
Richard and I returned to my RE's office yesterday for bloodwork and another ultrasound, and there were follicles visible on the ultrasound! Eggs grow in follicles (but not always all of them), so seeing follicles on the ultrasound is a good sign. IVF is basically a giant funnel with attrition expected at several points. This website explains it in detail, but after we see how many follicles contain eggs, we'll get a count of mature eggs retrieved. From there, we will see how many eggs fertilize into embryos, followed by how many embryos make it to day 5 (blastocyst), and how many of those are chromosomally normal. Then, we see if the embryo implants during a transfer.
So, we have a few steps to go. Right now, though, we are focusing on follicles.
With my diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), we are not expecting to be on the high end of normal, or even in the normal range at all. I mentioned before that something to note about DOR is that it doesn't tell us much about egg quality. However, if there are fewer eggs overall, proportionally, it is likely that the number of high-quality eggs is also lower.
Our ultrasound showed four follicles. Three are in my left ovary, and one (the biggest one!) is in my right ovary. Their sizes are 10 mm, 13 mm, 17 mm, and 18 mm. (That's micrometers, not millimeters...but everywhere I have looked, it's written as "mm" rather than "μm." I don't know why that is.) In the picture below, you can see where I printed and cut out little circles to represent each follicle. They are not actual size, but they are proportional to each other. I need to figure out a better way to display them on future boards.
We still have somewhere between two and eight days of stimming to go, so hopefully, we'll have some more follicles appear. We also don't want the ones I do have to get too big, though. It's a balancing act, and I'm glad I am not the one who has to make the major decisions to manage it. I just do what I'm told.
My RE mostly left my injections the same, except we cut out the evening Follistim. I am fine with fewer injections, though I am fortunate that the only side effect I have had is being tired. Tomorrow, we go back to the RE for another ultrasound and bloodwork. Hopefully, I will need to cut out or draw a few more little circles.
Something that made today great: Taco Tuesday with Elena and friends followed by excellent dissertation writing!
Time I woke up: 9:30 am
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