IVF #1: Cancelled

Today was stim day 13, or thereabouts. I lost count. All I can tell you is that I've hit my OOP Max on my med orders. Ouch.

For monitoring, I got the super peppy ultrasound tech, who always seems to have trouble finding my ovaries, and sometimes seems to have trouble finding my uterus. At the end of the scan, she excitedly told me that my largest follicle had grown to 13! (The screen behind her said 16.) I asked if there were any others, since I'm doing IVF and one isn't very helpful. She told me that my 4 had gone to 6. She was chipper about it, then fled the room.

Note to others: When telling an IVF patient that she only has one mature follicle and won't get more, don't be fucking chipper about it.

The nurse who called later told me we were good to start cetrotide, if we were ok with retrieving only one. I asked if the doctor thought we could do better, given my AFC of 8 and past unprimed cycles with 3-4 mature. Several hours later I got a call back saying we could cancel. I was told to continue Clomid for 3 more days, trigger with Pregnyl, then start testosterone priming for my next cycle two days later.

Problem 1: when they put me on clomid, it was for 5 days. Those five days ended 3 days ago, so I"m not on clomid now. It's not possible to continue taking it when you've already stopped taking it. Apparently they're putting me back on clomid and keeping me on clomid once CD1 comes and the cycle starts. I suspect I was supposed to still be on it, and this was a medication error. That doesn't make me feel chipper. That really doesn't make me feel chipper when I know that clomid raises FSH, and my high FSH level is the number one thing we're trying to combat.

Then I get my calendar for this new cycle. Stims start July 2, which I think is roughly 4 years to the week that we started stims for Alexis and Zoe's cycle. We always have good July cycles, so I'll take that.

Based on the calendar, I'll do luteal testosterone priming, then clomid, menopur, gonal f, dexamethasone, and saizen. I stay on the clomid the entire time. All of this looks good, except for a little note that reads "Continue taking Estrace until STIM begin." Ignoring the grammar, there's a big Problem 2: Nowhere on the calendar does it say to START taking estrace. It is, practically speaking, difficult to continue taking something that you've never started taking.

So there you have it. Cycle 1 was a crash and burn and cycle 2 is, thus far, going to be confusing.

I am remaining obstinately hopeful that our July 2020 cycle will produce babies as beautiful as our July 2018 and July 2016 cycles.