Our First Rollercoaster

It’s been a bit of an odd week. On Wednesday I had a blood test as scheduled to check my body’s response to starting the Puregon (FSH) injections the Friday before. I had my blood drawn first thing in the morning as instructed, and a Fertility Associates nurse called me just after 2pm that day. They let me know that my blood test suggested my ovaries weren’t really responding to the FSH injections, as my oestradiol level was only at 189, and they would hope it would be in the late hundreds or early thousands at this point. They said it’s looking likely that we wouldn’t achieve egg collection this time as the blood test indicated that I wasn’t producing or maturing any or many follicles, and we might need to try again with a different medication regime. She double-checked that I was administering the medications correctly (I was) and said to continue with the same doses and they would refer me for a scan and another blood test on Friday to see if anything had changed. Apparently, sometimes it can take the ovaries a little longer to respond to the FSH injections for patients on what they refer to as the ‘long cycle’, which is IVF treatment cycles like the one I’m on where they start with the Levlen (or equivalent) pill for several weeks before a few weeks of Buserelin.

We felt a bit deflated and disappointed, but not devastated. The injections haven’t been too taxing on me as I don’t mind self-administering them and I haven’t experienced any side-effects so far except for bruising on my poor stomach. This wouldn’t count as one of our two funded IVF cycles, as a cycle is only considered complete once an embryo has been implanted (unless they have to call the whole thing off for medical reasons). It was frustrating, but we started coming to terms with trying again next time.

A stock photo showing a follicle in an ovary. (I'll try to get photos of mine next time)

I had my blood test done Friday morning as instructed and had my scan (internal ultrasound) done later that morning. The technician measured my ovaries, and then measured and counted any follicles they found in each ovary. They found 3 larger follicles that they said ‘met the criteria’ in one ovary, plus several smaller, less developed ones. There was another larger follicle and a few small ones in the other ovary. The technician couldn’t tell me what this might mean for my treatment, so I had another long afternoon waiting to find out.

My stomach after 30-odd injections over the last few weeks (it doesn't feel as bad as it looks).

Finally a nurse from Fertility Associates called later Friday afternoon. They wanted to give my follicles a little more time to develop and wanted me to keep giving myself the injections. I am to travel to Christchurch in time for a blood test and scan there first thing Wednesday morning next week, with a view to egg collection on the Friday. We are relieved to hopefully still be on track after all. 

To add to the excitement, the pharmacy that Fertility Associates sent my Puregon prescription to (I need more to get through to the appointments and MUST inject it daily) is closed over the weekend. In desperation I approached a neighbouring pharmacy, which while they didn’t stock Puregon were able to tell me the other one is open for one hour 9:00am-10:00am on Sunday as a methadone clinic. The pharmacist even knew someone who worked there and was kind enough to call them for me and confirm that I’d be able to collect my prescription during that window.

It’s going to be a busy week.