Pretty Lame When No-one Shows Up to the Party

You know that feeling when you've spent a ton of time and money cleaning your house, decorating and cooking and you get a lame turn out for the party you were preparing for? Well, that's kind of how I feel right now! Remember that party I was supposed to be having in my recently remodeled uterus? Yeah ... that's not really happening!

I went back today for my 2nd ultrasound monitoring appointment and only the 2 largest follicles have grown much and the 2 smaller ones have actually gotten smaller (grrrrr)!! it's looking like, at the very best, we may only be able to hope for 4 eggs (and that's assuming they're all mature/viable), MAYBE 5, but that's doubtful! I just don't know if it's worth moving forward with this cycle or not (for IVF).

Dr. K said we might consider cancelling this cycle and trying a different protocol. Although, he did admit that he just doesn't know if we can expect another cycle to turn out any differently! The pattern of one follicle growing quickly and really outpacing the others is very consistent for me, so I really don't know that I trust that anything will be different with a different protocol. The really frustrating thing is there is nothing, to date, in any of my tests or bloodwork results, to suggest that I should be such a poor responder to ovarian stimulation, so what the heck is the deal?!?

While typing this Dr. K called with the results of my blood work from today's appointment. The estrogen (E2) results were nice and high and the progesterone (P4) results were nice and low. He said he's happy with the results and that he's encouraged that my estrogen is high, because, typically, there is a positive correlation with high estrogen and egg quality. So, in general, that means that although there aren't many eggs, they seem to be producing good estrogen. Since my P4 is still well within pre-ovulatory range the plan is to continue with the meds tonight and tomorrow, with a follow-up P4 test tomorrow to make sure it's still on the low side, and then go back in on Friday for another ultrasound to see if any of the smaller follicles catch up.

Dr. K did say that he doesn't feel this cycle is bleak and that although the response isn't what we had hoped for, there is still a good chance for success, although the likelihood of having anything to freeze is very, very low.

Friday is the crossroads: if there are 4 follicles or less we have to make the decision whether to go forward with the egg retrieval (low numbers) or cancel and sacrifice the $1000 in u/s and office visit fees + a week's worth of stims (~$2500) that we've already spent.