Tag Archives: GonalF

IVF #4 Upcoming – The 411

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baby - ivf egg and sperm

Last night, Dr. Robert Kiltz, who owns CNY Fertility Center and Spa, called me and said he wanted to schedule a phone consult with me for Saturday morning.  He said he was reviewing my file and would call me.  This morning, as promised, he called to discuss my latest failed cycle and to make a plan to move forward.

He wants me to try one more cycle with my own eggs prior to moving on to donor eggs.  He feels that I have good equality and is happy that he sees all my embryos making to blast.  He feels that I need to do a few things:

–  Add Saizen / human growth hormone to my cycle to improve maturation and egg quality

– Use neupogen post transfer

– Do a neupogen wash

–  Do a Hysteroscopy with biopsy

– Do an endometrial scratch on day two of my cycle to improve implantation

– Continue on an estrogen priming protocol

– Use 300 Gonal-F and 300 Menopur with Lupron for stims again

I have decided to give my own eggs one more last shot while I am saving up for a donor egg cycle.  I am going to detox my body first.  All of these hormones have take a toll on my body.   I am going to start a protein train on Monday (protein shakes only, apple sauce, sf popsicles, sf jello, water, diluted apple juice, oatmeal).  I will actually start by drinking only water with lemon, cayenne pepper and grade A maple syrup for two days to detox my body from my sugar habit.  It really does work !  By drinking loads of the lemon cayenne tea, it cuts sugar cravings and helps you follow the Bariatric diet more easily.

For those that did not know, I had gastric bypass surgery March 31, 2004.  When I follow a strict diet for short periods, it helps me refocus and I also drop weight pretty quickly.  I want to get back to my starting weight prior to starting stims.  I should be able to drop the few pounds I have gained due to the hormones.  It can only help with my quest to get pregnant.  Weight loss releases the hormones that are stored in body fat back into the bloodstream.  This is why a lot of women who became infertile due to obesity find themselves pregnant unexpectedly after gastric bypass, lapband, or significant weight loss.

Ironically, one of my friends out of the blue reached out to me late yesterday and said that God had laid on their spirit to relay to me to hold on…. that my bundles of joy were on the way.  I told my friend to go back and relay a message for me…  I will hold on, but can He speed up this timeline ! lol

IVF #3 Stim Day 11 and Beyond…. – The 411

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baby - waiting

Today, I went in for what I thought would be my LAST monitoring appointment.  Alas, I got the call from my nurse to continue on the same meds thru the weekend, go in for monitoring on Monday and then they should be ready to do my retrieval on Wednesday.

I had to call the hotel, call Amtrak and get an appointment for Monday for monitoring.  I was able to get everything done.  I decided to just stay in Albany the entire week instead of coming back to check on my mom.  Since I leave on Tuesday, there is no point in my coming back on Thursday and then going right back there on Sunday for Monday’s retrieval.  I actually got a $35 refund on my ticket because I changed the return date to a week out.

Currently, I have 12 large follicles and there are still some smaller ones that are growing.  They want to make sure all 12 are maxed out in size before they try to do a retrieval.  They are not in the range they should be yet to get me to the finish line.  My E2 is now 1000, which is good and will surely rise quite a bit between now and the time they check it again on Monday.

I am a tad disappointed that I am not ready for retrieval yet, but at the same time, glad my doctor is closely monitoring me and making sure that we maximize this cycle and work to get the best possible eggs.  By waiting until Wednesday to retrieve, I will have more mature eggs to work with which means better quality, stronger and will likely have more fertilized eggs.

I am in the process of mixing my meds now and will do my injection at 6pm.  I let my meds sit out at room temp for 30 mins before I mix them. I am short on my Menopur since I have to stim longer.  I am short 75 units per day.  The doctor said I can substitute 75 units of Gonal F for the missing Menopur.  WHEW !!  I was about to go into total freak out mode !  lol  Tomorrow I am going in for an acupuncture session and will probably do another on Monday before heading to Albany on Tuesday…. hey… it can’t hurt !

baby - IVF3 stim day 1

IVF #3 Stim Day 8 – The 411

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baby - IVF3 stim day 1

Today, my mom had her first follow up with one of her surgeons.  Her plastic surgeon took the drain out and said everything looks good !   My mom is more alert and is coming out of the anesthesia fog.  Today, she went out with me for an hour to take the car to the Audi dealership so that they could replace the brake light bulb, but it turns out the whole LED assembly has to be replaced… $600 !  REALLY?   Okay….. gimme the loaner car and fix it!  It is nice to be able to hang out with my mom because truly things could have gone another way !

I had a date tonight with an accountant I met on Match.com.  He is really sweet.  He is Philipino  and Ecuadorian and is 6’2.  He is very family oriented and is a huge music and movie buff.

I got in and immediately mixed my meds and did my injection. My gonal-f was increased to 450 for the next few days to get my E2 level to rise.  When checked on Monday, it was only 123.  It needs to rise this week to over 1000.  Since they are stimming me slow and even, they expect it to rise late in the cycle but my RE did agree to max out the Gonal-F to help kick the E2 up.

Tomorrow is my next blood work and monitoring appointment, and then my mom has a follow-up appointment with the breast specialist/ oncology surgeon.

I kinda worry what reaction I will get from guys I am dating and interested in once they learn I am undergoing IVF treatment.  I see no need to put my mommy quest on hold.  I may or may not ever meet Mr. Right, so who ever God sends in my life will have to accept me for what I am… twins on board and all !