Daisypath Anniversary Years Ticker

7/03/2008

Trekkin' right along

This morning, I had my 2nd ultrasound/blood work appointment. So far, I've been on 6 days of stimulation injections/meds. That's a total of 12 pokes in my belly and 2 steroid pills. The nurse measured 20 follicles plus some little unmeasurable ones.



Here's a comparison from my old doctor's results to my new doctor's results for me. After 4 days of stim meds (was 225 units of meds versus now with a total of 150 units of meds), with the Pensacola doctor my estrogen level was 634 (7 follicles) whereas on Tuesday my estrogen was 71 (18 follicles). After 6 days of stims, with the Pensacola doctor my estrogen was 1548 (18 follicles) whereas today my estrogen is 131 (20 follicles). Wow! What a difference! The estrogen level is key to whether or not a woman hyperstimulates or not. This new doctor is monitoring me every day now, including July 4th and on the weekends. (In Pensacola, that doctor doesn't do holidays or weekends.) I'm just going to have to "cook" my eggs a bit longer, so our stay here in Denver may be extended at least a couple of more days. Even though I am homesick, I know my new doctor is doing what's best for me unlike my old doctor who only thought of his schedule and had to do egg retrieval on a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.



I had my physical this morning as well. My blood pressure was 110/70, a bit higher than my normal of 100/68. My pulse was 70, still a bit higher than my normal of 60. I don't know if it's due to the altitude or nervousness. The nurse also weighed me, as a baseline for monitoring fluid retention.



We sat down with the nurse to discuss the results. She stressed again that they are keeping a close eye on me due to the fact that I had severe hyperstimulation before. The nurse said that the doctor personally told all the nurses that I have a history of severe hyperstimulation - so my chart is flagged all over the place. The nurse told me that the last case they've had of hyperstimulation that required hospitalization was about 5 years ago. That woman was an egg donor, and had 80 eggs! But the nurse re-assured me that Dr. Schoolcraft has customized my own special protocol, triggering me with Lupron instead of hCG. They've never had a case of hyperstim triggering with Lupron, and that's usually done for women who have a history of hyperstimulation like myself. But she did say that even though they will try to prevent severe hyperstim, it's not a guarantee, which I totally understand. It's one of the risks involved, but at least my new doctor's number one priority is his patients and not the bottom dollar like my old fertility doctor. Anyway... Below is a picture of the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine.




Here is what you see when you first go through the front doors. It's a waterfall thingy, very peaceful and relaxing. To the left, you have check-in for ultrasounds and labs. To the right, you have check-in for doctor's appointments, physicals, and other office procedures. This fertility clinic is huge!




Here is a picture that I took coming back to the hotel. We're on the 11th floor and so we can see practically the whole city of Denver from our room. I took Buttercup to the window to look out, and her little head was moving around following the cars. I wonder what she was thinking.



So Jerry really likes it here. The weather is perfect, not hot and muggy like Pensacola. We naturally prefer cooler weather anyway. Jerry wants to move here now. He's even looked up housing areas, especially around the Lone Tree area near our clinic. The houses and the neighborhoods are really pretty. We passed by a subdivision and the sign in front of it says "Now selling custom homes from the high 900's." Eeek! Way out of our price range. So Jerry looked up some houses that are within our price range and still having that mountain view. I reminded him that I know my family will follow me where ever I go, it'll take a miracle for his family to move. We're very family oriented people, so I like having both sets of parents close by. Jerry is just mesmerized by the weather here. He says that he wants our future child/children to grow up in a place where there are different seasons. He told his mom that he wants to play with our child/children in the snow and his mom said that by the time our child is old enough to play in the snow he'll be too old. How funny is that? Anyway, the topic isn't closed according to Jerry. We'll see.

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