It's been an interesting month since my last post. Well six weeks I guess.

First of all, it looks like the Femara did work... just slowly! lol I started my period on Day 39, which means I might have ovulated on the Femara, just on Day 25. I went in to see Dr. Thurston on Day 3 after I started my period, and there was an 18mm cyst on my fallopian tube. Or so he thought. It had never been there before. So when I got my Day 14 ultrasound (actually Day 13 this cycle), it was completely gone. So he thinks it may have been a residual cyst.

During that same ultrasound he only saw small follicles, and didn't think the increased dose was working, but wanted to see me back in 5 days. So I went back on Day 19 for another ultrasound. I had a 14mm follicle. He still was skeptical and gave me a prescription for Femara for my next cycle, along with a prescription for follistim (injectables, ugh!).

Well I've been doing ovulation predictor tests, and yesterday, on Day 22, I got a positive! So I definitely think that the Femara is working, just not quickly. I'll have to discuss this with Dr. Thurston at my next appointment.

On a side note, I call the pharmacy about the follistim... um, it's $92 per injection, and I'd have to have 10 injections! YIKES!! I don't expect insurance to cover any of it, so if we can avoid that extra $1,000, that would be nice! lol

So that's the latest. No baby yet, but plenty of people around me are. Which is good and bad. I'm trying to take it all in stride.

Well I've got good news and I've got bad news.

The good news - the Femara worked!
The bad news - it didn't work well enough!

Yep, I went in Monday for my Day 14 sonogram and there were several small follicles, but no big juicy one. The largest was only 8 mm, and we want it to be around 18-20 mm for fertilization. Now, it's possible that it can still grow, and I'll be doing OPK's starting Friday. But this month looks like it's not going to happen.

Next step... Femara Round 2! I have a prescription for a higher dose of Femara for next month. Dr. Thurston seems pretty confident that the higher dose will give my follicles an extra kick in the pants. Let's hope so!

We decided to jump back in. Hindsight, maybe we should have waited another couple of weeks, but I'll get to that in a minute.

I went back to the doctor today... but this time it's a different doctor, same practice though. Dr. Thurston is one of the doctor's I saw when he was on-call one weekend that I needed a sonogram.

So I went in today, we talked about my history, and actually talked about some options that hadn't been discussed before. He did a sonogram and everything looks clear, so I have a prescription for Femera this time instead of Clomid.

I go back in about 11 days. Monday, March 9th. Which happens to be the day that Jack has his LapBand surgery! lol How's that for timing??? So Jack has surgery at 7:00 AM, and then I have a sonogram at 3:30 PM. Different hospitals, of course! Jack has to stay at the hospital overnight, so it will be fine. I'd be more worried if it was outpatient surgery and I had to get him home and take care of him that day.

So this should be interesting. I'm hoping I don't ovulate on Day 14 this month!! lol Normally I ovulate around Day 17-18 on the Clomid, so we'll see what happens with the Femera.

Let's see where this pony takes us!

Friday I went in for my Day 12 ultrasound... I think it was actually Day 14 since I got started on the Clomid a little late. There was no dominant follicle, but there were a few small ones. So I was scheduled to go back today, Monday.

Today... no follicle. So unless he just didn't see it, it looks like the Clomid didn't work this month. It's really disappointing. Beyond disappointing actually.

So next week I'll have bloodwork done to check my Progesterone level and see if I ovulated but we didn't see it somehow. If it's positive, then I'll menstruate on my own. If not then I'll be on progesterone to start my period.

Where do we go from here? That's been the big question.

Dr. Richards talked a little about moving to injectible meds, which would be a lot more expensive... like $1,000 just for the drugs. But they are more reliable, according to him.

I almost feel like we should take a couple of months off. I need to get my blood pressure under control... it's been consistently high. Plus I could use the time to lose some weight. We're also debating about changing doctors when we go back. Not that we don't like Dr. Richards... I LOVE him! But he's very conservative and cautious in his approach. I feel like we need to be a little more aggressive. So we're thinking maybe one of the doctors we saw on call on a weekend might fit a little better.

I don't know... it's all just talk right now. We have time to think about it, I mean we have to actually finish this cycle, right?

Just trying to think about things objectively and make some decisions. We'll see where it goes.

On the blood pressure note though, Dr. Richards switched me to a different medication on Friday. He was a touch upset that I didn't get it filled this weekend so he could see if it was working today! Needless to say I went to the pharmacy on the way home, got it, took it, and then a few hours later took my blood pressure. Holy cow! It definitely worked!! I went from 154/115 this afternoon at my appointment to 126/74 this evening! WOW! And YAY! Because that will help us avoid a lot of problems later when I do get pregnant.

*sigh* Tomorrow is another day, right?

Today was my Day 12 (actually Day 13) ultrasound with Dr. Richards. I have one follicle, but it's small, only 11mm. I'm scheduled to go back on Thursday and see the other Dr. Richards (my doctor's son) for another ultrasound to see how much it has grown. So we'll see where that leads.

Originally I was going to skip November and December because of the holidays and family stuff, but after the disappointment last month I just felt like I should try one more time this year. I'm just really hoping and praying that this is going to be my month!

I've been bad about keeping up with things... meant to blog this weekend and didn't, so here's two updates in one.

I went to Dr. Richards on Friday for my Day 12 ultrasound to measure the follicle (if there was one!). I had one (and only one!), and it was about 14mm. We want it to be 18mm, so I got sent home with instructions to do Ovulation Predictor Kit (OPK) tests. If it turned positive, call and schedule the IUI. If not, come back on Tuesday (Day 15) for another ultrasound.

Well, nothing happened over the weekend (that I could tell), so I went in today for the ultrasound. You're not going to believe this.... It was GONE!! He couldn't find the follicle. I mean, a 14mm follicle doesn't just disappear! He said it's possible that I could have ovulated and missed it (in which case I will be seriously PISSED).

So I'm supposed to keep doing the OPK for a few days in case HE just missed it on the ultrasound, and if no positive, then I'll go in early next week for blood work to see if I have an elevated Progesterone level. If it's elevated then I ovulated and missed it. If not, then the Clomid didn't make me ovulate this month. But I just find it very strange that a good size follicle, almost fully matured, would just vanish!

Call Sherlock! It's the case of the missing follicle!!

So I have the all clear from the doctor, and I'm starting Prometrium this week to re-start my cycle. I'll take it for 12 days, then start my period within a few days, then do Clomid on days 3-7. I'll go in for a sonogram on Day 12, and then we'll see where we go from there.

Jack went to the urologist. Turns out he has low testosterone. He re-did his semen analysis on Saturday, and we'll find out those test results this week. Once the test results are back he'll meet with the Urologist to decide how to treat the low testosterone. Any suggestions?? lol

Other than that, we're just plugging away!

Well, it's been a few months since I posted. I go back and forth between wanting to be public with what we're doing and keeping it a more personal journey. But ultimately I think this is a good forum for expressing myself. And maybe if I say it here, Jack won't get so tired of hearing about it at home! lol

So my last post basically said that we were investigating adoption. After that we decided to try the Clomid one more time. Well, I did Clomid that month, and OMG.... it worked! Not worked like I got pregnant worked, but I actually ovulated! Holy cow! I was using the ClearPlan Fertility Monitor just to see if I ever got an elevated or peak signal and I did! I was SOOOO excited that morning! lol Jack truly thought I had lost it!

So in June we did Clomid, I ovulated, and no pregnant.
In July we did Clomid, I ovulated, and no pregnant.

During this time I was charting my temps and watching my cervical mucus (as per the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility). I never did experience the egg white cervical mucus that is described, or anything close to it.

Also during this time, I had been seeing my regular gynocologist. He had an interest in infertility, but wasn't exactly a specialist. And his nurse... geez. I love her to death, she is so sweet, but she knew nothing about what I was looking for from an infertility standpoint.

So with all of this, I made a decision. Well WE made a decision, Jack and me. We decided to go back to where we started.... Dr. Richards. He's not a Reproductive Endocrinologist, but he is a fertility specialist.

I saw Dr. Richards in August, and even though I was a little bit past the standard Clomid window (cycle days 3-7 or 5-9), we went ahead with the prescription and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). I took the Clomid for five days, then went in for a sonogram five days after the last pill. The sonogram showed one good follicle on my left ovary, which was great! Enough stimulation, but not too much!! It was still a little small, so he wanted to let it grow some more over the weekend (the sonogram was on a Friday), and then I was to go in Monday for a follow up sonogram and then the HSG shot to induce ovulation. The plan was that I would then have the IUI procedure on that Tuesday.

Well of course my body can't cooperate! lol I felt discomfort on my left side that Sunday, indicating that I was ovulating. I took an Ovulation Predictor Kit test and sure enough, it was positive! Monday morning I called Dr. Richards' office to inform them of the change of plans... I'd be needing the IUI a day early! Dr. Richards was actually out that day, but one of his partners, Dr. Bertrand would do the procedure.

I was at work waiting for a call back to tell me when and where to go. The nurse finally called back and told me to go to the ARTS lab at Presbyterian Hospital, that I had an appointment at 10:45 AM. Well it was 10:00 when she called! I called Jack (who had been put on alert!), and he came to pick me up from the office and we headed to the hospital. Thankfully downtown wasn't congested and we got there at 10:50! Jack went in and provided the deposit and we went to have lunch and hang out at Borders until the sample was ready.

We went back at 1:30 PM to pick up the sample.... "the boys!" lol Then headed across the street to see Dr. Bertrand. After a few, um, mishaps (the air conditioning wasn't on in the exam room, the motor on the table wouldn't work, some tools were missing, etc. lol) the boys were safely and successfully deposited! Yay!

Fast forward a week.... I had bloodwork done and my progesterone was 10.2, which is the highest it's ever been! Before I started the metformin, my progesterone would be less than 1.0, which means I did NOT ovulate, so the Clomid wasn't working. June was the first month of Clomid and Metformin, and my progesterone was 8.1, which confirmed that I did actually ovulate. July my progesterone was 5.3, so I ovulated but not really good. In reality, had I gotten pregnant either of those times I most likely would have miscarried because they want it to be over 10 to be able to sustain a pregnancy. So this was good news... it was the highest it had ever been, and was definitely high enough to avoid a miscarriage. Yay!

Fast forward another week.... cramping... not yay.... bleeding... really not yay. So in a nutshell.... all that and it didn't work. Bummer.

So I went in yesterday to see Dr. Richards, for a follow up sonogram before starting another round of Clomid, just to make sure there were no lingering cysts or follicles. Guess what, I still had a follicle hanging around. So we're going to give it a couple of weeks to see if it will go away on it's own.

At the same time, we have a new challenge.... the lab did a report on the quality and quantity of Jack's sperm. When this test/report was done three years ago, before Jack's accident, he had 156 million sperm! Which is awesome! However last month, his sperm count was only 3 million. Quite a drop! So Jack is going to go see a Urologist next week to see if they can figure out why it dropped so considerably.

So that's it! If you're still reading this.... thanks! lol I know it's a lot, but I really do want to chronicle this time and part of our lives, so I had some catching up to do! I won't wait so long for the next one! :o)

~Heather

So what's next? Lately we've been talking about adoption. And it seems like everywhere I go, everyone I talk to has an adoption story. It's all around us, sometimes right in our face. Maybe God's trying to tell us something. Hmmm.... :)

I've been looking and reading and trying to get answers to some questions we have about the process, the cost, the way things work. Lots of information out there.

So we start... or rather continue... on our journey. We'll get there someday.

Can we call a do- over? :o)

For anyone who still might watch this blog, yes, I'm still here. It's been one heck of a year!

November 3rd, 2005 Jack was in a major motorcycle accident and almost lost his right leg. After two months in the hospital, sixteen surgeries, 11 months of physical therapy, one wheelchair, one pair of crutches, and now two canes (yes, I broke the first one!).... we are starting BACK on the road to starting a family!

Back in May I changed doctors. I'm working a lot closer to home now, so Dr. Richards is kind of far for me to go. My new gynocologist is Dr. Baron Atkins. Yes, I'm seeing Dr. Atkins! lol (You should have seen my mom's face the first time I told her THAT one!) He is awesome! Totally cool, young, and completely enthusiastic for us.

When I saw him in May, he did the typical exam and bloodwork. Well guess what - the bloodwork showed that I had a high TSH level (that's thyroid!). So he sent me to my primary doctor to discuss that. Well, after fighting with my primary doctor about whether I really needed it or not (hello! We've been discussing all the symptoms and you've been treating them all separately!)... he finally prescribed thyroid medicine.

About ten days later, I had a period! (I should insert some sort of fireworks picture here!) It was the first time I had a "natural" period in, um, like ten years people!! For three months I had regular periods. Granted they were short, but they were PERIODS!! So I went back to see Dr. Atkins in August and say hey doc, it's working! He says great! You'll be preggo by Christmas, see you then! Guess what.... no period since then! Just my luck.

So now, we're kind of back to square one. Well really it's more like square two and a half. I'm going back to Dr. Atkins for my pap, etc. and he'll probably start me on Clomid or something. We'll see.

But the big news is... we're back on the horse!
~Heather