Sorry I kept everyone hanging after my post on Friday about SEVEN crazy follicles. This week has been SO weird and if I were to be abducted by aliens tomorrow I frankly wouldn't be suprised at all.
When we left off it was Friday and I had seven follicles and a really really high E2 level - 1284 I believe. After hearing my cycle would likely be cancelled I left the office in shock but luckily rebounded a few minutes later and called the office back to ask about converting the cycle to an IVF. I got to work, posted to the blog and waited for news. Finally I hear back from the less than awesome nurse that, while we still needed to get an authorization from the insurance, I should keep on my regular medication routine (not skip the Gonal F as I had been instructed to do earlier) and we would see where I stood on Monday.
Monday came and I now had NINE follicles - holy snap! Everything looked good in the office and I was told to plan on an egg retrieval on Friday. I still hadn't heard from the insurance but frantic googling had told me I had a good chance of being approved. I got into work so excited at the prospect of retrieving NINE eggs in just a couple of days.
Monday afternoon, however, I was able to get my lab results online and saw that my E2 had plummeted. It was now only 143. This didn't look good. I frantically called the nurse and asked her how this would affect the cycle. She told me that my doctor said maybe I was having a late reaction to the Ganirelix and I was directed to increase my Gonal F to 150.
(There was also some crazy drama with the entire United States being out of Ganirelix just as I needed to order more and lo and behold I am never working with that nurse again but I digress.)
Yesterday I went back for another follicle check. There were still nine - 16, 17, 14 and 14 on the Lefty, and 17, 16, 15, 18 and 11 on the Righty. The new (and amazing!) nurse explained that the follicles may even be bigger but they get crowded when there's so many. I knew at that point that retrieval wouldn't be Friday but was still hoping we could schedule it soon. I drove to work and anxiously awaited the results of my blood work.
The verdict: my E2 only rose to 186. I was instructed to double my dose of Menopur and we will check again tomorrow.
Meanwhile I asked for Monday, Thursday AND Friday off from work for unspecified medical reasons. If that wasn't awkward enough now I'm faced with the prospect of coming into work anyway if this cycle gets cancelled. I'm really hoping for good news tomorow and there will be a miraculous rise in estrogen.
BUT the REALLY EXCELLENT WONDERFUL news is that my insurance company approved me for one cycle of IVF! It just may not be right now. Stay tuned.....
Huh, your E2 cannot be that low if you have that many mature follicles. The follicles give off between 100-250 e2 per mature follicle, with the lesser ones adding in some e2 as well. Ganirellix cannot stunt it that much. Something is confusing. Any clues?
ReplyDeleteNo clue. I asked the nurse but she didn't seem to know either other than the original explanation about the Ganirelix. My progesterone and LH have been checked at every appointment and neither of those indicate premature ovulation. Can eggs just die but the follicles remain? Two consecutive lab errors? I don't know. Part of me just wants to do the retrieval and see what happens but that may be a colossol waste too.
DeleteE2 at 1284 with 7-9 decent sized follies, well that adds up. Then you begin Ganirelix, and your E2 still climbs, but the E2 rate slows down, it doesn't decline drastically. Something very strange here.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of eggs dying but the follicles remaining. I have heard of premature ovulation and empty follicle syndrome, but... with an E2 of 1284 something was/is going on in there.
My last IVF, I only had 6 potential eggs and my E2 was 800ish, pre trigger.