Friday, February 02, 2007

Craptastic!

Let's Review!

Me: 31 years old.
Diagnosis & History: Anovulation due to PCOS; Four (+) year history of infertility. 5 IUIs. 1 pregancy, resulting in 1 miscarriage at 12 weeks. No male factor.
Usual response to Gonadotropins: Super-responder. No problems whatsoever. Go me.
This cycle and last? SERIOUSLY MESSED UP.

Okay, so here's the deal. If you don't remember, last cycle, I had a little plateau problem... my E2 level went up, went back down, went up a little bit, and hung out for a couple days without doing anything interesting prior to IUI. Follicles were all wonky (splitting, disappearing, whatever). It kind of freaked me out a little bit, but it had to be a fluke, right? Yeah...No.

And now we find ourselves caught up to date for everything prior to this cycle. Now just to refresh your memory....

CD8 (Wednesday)
Right Ovary:
9.6 & 10.2. Another 10 follicles smaller than that
Left Ovary (hereafter referred to as the useless ovary: a bunch of small, meaningless, boring, uninteresting ones.
Lining: 9.2
E2: 71.5
LH: Unknown (they didn't tell me)

CD 10 (Today)
Right Ovary:
8.5, 8.9, 9.2, 10.3, 11.9 (and about 7 smaller ones)
Useless Ovary: 7.0, 7.1, 9.0 and 6 smaller ones
Lining: 9.6
E2: 71.5
LH: 1.85

Follicles are expected to grow at a rate of about 1-2 mm per day (I'm nearly always on the low end of the growth chart... averaging a little over 1mm per day... most normal humans are closer to 2mm per day). My biggest follicle on Wednesday was 10.2, so they would have hoped for it to be 12-14 (preferably closer to 14) today. Instead, it was 11.9. Not quite 1mm per day. And did you notice that lovely E2 level? I didn't either. I only see the craptastic one. That is, the craptastic 71.5 that has not changed at all in the two days since the last level was checked. So again, I'm facing a plateau which might possibly mean this is all useless.

Now, the truth is, I never ever put much faith in any individual cycle. I have complete faith that eventually something will work, but I never believe any individual cycle will work. However, I'm not normally so ridiculously negative as to believe any given cycle is a waste of time. I'm beginning to feel that way now.

And by the way, should I be worried that my right ovary (hereafter lovingly referred to as the "Not-As-Bad-As-The-Left Ovary", or NABATLO for short) is always the producer? Is my Useless Ovary really and truly useless? Is it just there for looks? Did God just want me to have a matched set, even if they don't work? Or is it purely coincidental? I get that none of you actually know the real answer to that question, but I'm asking anyway, even if I'm not sure what kind of answers I'm hoping for.

BLEH.

6 comments:

Watson said...

God I am so sorry, sounds incredibly frustrating!

I wish I had some good assvice for you, but I really don't.

I just hope NABATLO gets some sweet relief soon and things turn around for you!!!

Kris said...

Are your cycles every other month or successive months? When I was going for scans every month I noticed my ovaries alternated being the slacker.

Do they not have you on any estrogen support? I was always either on patches or pills.

Hope the plateau starts a nice climb for your next scan.

Baby Blues said...

It's really frustrating. I'm sorry I don't have the answers. I'm looking for it as well.

decemberbaby said...

Sounds like your overachieving right ovary is intimidating the left. They need a stern talking-to.

I'm sorry things aren't working out right now. Blech.

Thalia said...

I thought one of my ovaries was chronically underperforming, but then on the last cycle it woke up and did pretty well, so who knows.

What is up with your E2? Weird things are happening. I do hope this works out anyway, that it's climbed when you go back tomorrow, but have you thought about maybe taking a month or 2 off if it doesn't? Maybe your body needs a bit of a break?

Jackie said...

I also have a crappy left ovary. It is also buried under a ton of bowel so it is really difficult for my sonographer to find, like every single time I have a cooter scan. Anyway, my right ovary is the go-to ovary, I only hope I can have some kids before it runs out of follicles... I have a theory about blood flow and whether differences between blood flow to the right and left ovaries could explain differences in responsiveness. Hmmm, maybe I should review some anatomy books.
PS, I'm a little new to your blog but have been spending the last several hours catching up on your life!