OK, this is not for wimps...

Well, I said in my last blog that I couldn't feel my ovaries yet.  Well, that must have been the kiss of death because the next morning, if I walked too fast, jumped, or even just breathed deeply...I sure felt 'em. It's an odd sensation. Like I have two stones in my lower abdomen that feel bruised.

Speaking of bruisies...check this out!

This is my bruised, swollen belly that is taking the brunt of this process.  Ain't it cute?

Yeah, so thanks to the baby aspirin, I bleed all over my shirts if I don't use a bandaid and then I just form sexy little bruises.  Plus the bandaids help me know where I injected myself so I don't use the same place over and over.  You know, the whole blood clot thing...

BJ is just thrilled, as you could probably guess.  Nothing is hotter than a wife with multiple bandaids and bruises all over her body.  I feel like Pig-Pen from Charlie Brown! Yuck! Both injections seem to be leaving bruises at this point, and the Menopur definitely is like stinging myself with a bee.  I thought it wasn't so bad yesterday, and then today it came back and bit me. I guess I'll have time to experiment some more as the week is still young.  I still wind up with a headache every night and am dog tired from 2:00pm on.  However, the laundry situation does not resolve itself, unfortunately so I must trudge on.  (I still think BJ could just go to Wal-Mart if he needs more underwear...)

I had my first monitoring appointment yesterday with Dr. D.  I have 10+ follicles on each side that are close to approaching the 10mm mark which I thought was disappointing since it wasn't much bigger than last Thursday at my baseline.  Dr. D explained that it was just great because in an unmedicated cycle several of the follicles would already have been reabsorbed at this point. Also you would expect some follicles to begin to dominate, which we do not want to happen because I want all 20 eggs next week!  Dr. D also said he'd probably know by Saturday when I would have my retrieval.  Yikes! Can't wait!

They also took more bloodwork.  They hit the vein in two attempts this time. My estradiol (E2, otherwise known as estrogen, but calling it that wouldn't reinforce all the money the doctors spent earning their MD's...) has gone up from 37.5 to 435.  My E2 may get as high as 3000 something if all goes well.  Anything above 4000 indicates I may have ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome which is no fun and we would like to avoid.  My progesterone level is nice and low (I'm still deficient, but that's ok on this side of the cycle), and my luteinizing hormone (LH) dropped from 4 something to 1 and some change which is good because LH is the hormone that surges to cause ovulation.

They had me remain on the same doses of my medication until my next appointment which is tomorrow.  How exciting! Here's to growing follicles and tennis ball-sized ovaries.

Peace, Love and Tylenol,

MK