IVF #6 cycle day 9 (already!) – and all that has gone before.

Yeah, yeah, I know,  I’ve been a crap lazy blogger!  My only excuse is the same one I always use: there hasn’t been time.

Let’s start off with the cycle news:  my oestrogen was rising so slowly that yesterday afternoon I was expecting the clinic to tell me the cycle had been cancelled, and had (literally) started packing my stuff to go home.  When the nurse told me the day before that it had only gone from 510 (day 6) to 560 (day 7), I truly believed I was doomed. But it seems that I have been given a reprieve and it jumped from 560 to 1,100 (day 8) and then to 1,700 today so I am still in the game.  I almost cried when she told me that the cycle was going ahead.  Talk about stressful!

So, any of you following along at home will know that those numbers are not startling for where I am at in my cycle, but they do reflect my age, and given I have 6 follicles (measuring 15,15,12,10,7,7 as of today) I can hope for perhaps four eggs.  I’m trying not to EXPECT four eggs, but I really would like four!  Considering that two days ago I thought I was about to get none, then anything seems good at this point.

I am still not entirely sure when egg collection will be, but I’m guessing perhaps for next Thursday.

Meanwhile, since I posted last, a LOT has been going on.  Yes, even more than usual.  DH took two weeks off work and this is what we did:

Mon 8th November: Trip to Bunbury where both of us went to the therapist I am seeing.  Wasn’t particularly earth shattering and an hour is never long enough and we didn’t seem to cover much but I think it was a useful introduction for if/when we need to go back with a real problem.

Tuesday 9th November: Gym; waxed legs; packed for Perth and Rottnest; quick tidy of the house.

Wednesday 10th November: Last minute house things like watering the veggies, then off to Perth where we did a spot of shopping before heading to our counselling session with the clinic for the surrogacy process.  An hour of intense and sometimes gruelling questions (such as ‘who will you choose to leave your baby to if you both die while it is in the surrogate’s womb?’) and then we drove straight to the ferry terminal in Freo to catch the ferry to Rotto.  We were met by our friends who collected us in their Riviera and spent a luxurious two nights in style, lapping up the relaxation (even though the weather was not warm enough for swimming) and a spot of mini golf and lunch on the Island.

Friday 12th November: Drove back home just on dark, unpacked, did a load of washing, fell into bed exhausted.

Saturday 13th November: Got up, re-packed for the next trip(s); drove to my folks’ farm and had a lovely afternoon/evening with Scorpio birthday family members and friends.  Stayed overnight, off lunchtime the following day. Too short.

Sunday 14th November: Drove to Walpole and stayed in our friends’ holiday cottage for two nights.  Again, weather was crap – overcast and cool, so no swimming and only a couple of short walks.  But very relaxing.

Tuesday 16th November: Drove home, unpacked, did loads of washing, went to the gym, started IVF drugs (Gonal F). Re-packed for next trip.

Wednesday 17th November: Drove up to Perth, straight to the clinic where we saw the head of embryology for half an hour to discuss PGS, which we have decided to go ahead with (if we get more than one embryo.  If we only get one (or none) we will leave it until transfer to the surrogate and test then). Following that, we had a two hour session with the counsellor, all four of us together – me and DH, M and her hubby S.  All the same questions over again, with more detail and more gruelling.  At one point I asked if we could move on from the dead baby scenario, it was doing my head in.  All this talk of yet ANOTHER dead baby – and it hadn’t even been conceived. Lordy.  Did she LIKE seeing me cry?  Then the four of us went for coffee and food, and chatted so long I forgot to pick up my medication and the clinic was shut when I dashed back.  Just meant there was then one more thing to do tomorrow…

Thursday 18th November: Began the day with breakfast at a cafe, with M, S and their 4 gorgeous kids whom DH and I had not met before.  Then we all went off and met their lovely babysitter (who has been doing us such huge favours through all of these appointments!) and then all drove to the gynaecologist, where we had separate meetings and all went well.  Then I had an acupuncture treatment (with a friend) and then drove to the other end of town just before peak hour, to collect some herbs from my regular Chinese medical practitioner, and then fell into bed early.

Friday 19th November: Packed, did some chores, left the city, drove home, our weekend Guest was already waiting, sunning himself on the verandah with a beer from the fridge; unpacked, put the washing on, got the dinner on, had dinner, managed to crawl into bed by about 10pm.

Saturday 20th November: Woke up with a raging sore throat and developing snotty nose.  Well what a surprise!  Spent the day on the sofa, and prepared pizza dough and toppings.  DH and guest went bike riding, and DH made pizza while I remained largely in the supine position feeling generally unwell.

Sunday 21st November: Guest left early afternoon, I cleaned the house (finally, after two whole weeks!) and packed for the next trip to Perth.  Another early night…

Monday 22nd November: our anniversary (6yrs married, 14 together) and we did separate chores in the morning, then went out to lunch at the Bronze Gallery which was lovely.  I had the clever idea of wandering into the jewellery shop next door and managed to come out with some gorgeous earrings for my anniversary gift.  Opened the packet of guff I had collected from the accountants to find a message telling me I needed to open a new bank account before the end of the month.  Slightly freak out as I only have tomorrow morning to get it organised.

Tuesday 23rd November: Up early, water garden, do house chores and final packing, dash off to the bank where I somehow manage to see the manager straight away (even thought they only do by appointment and I didn’t have one).  She knows our business well and holds all our accounts so was fairly clear about what had to be done but said if she needed clarification she’d just phone the accountant and talk to her, so I didn’t need to worry.  I gave her my signature and left her with it.  Just another reason why I love this town so much!  Did a couple more urgent chores in town, dashed home, packed the car and drove to Perth.  Arrived at the Mosman Mansions (my kind friend who always puts me up for these expeditions) in time for dinner. And another early night.

Wednesday 24th November: Cycle day 6, and into the clinic at 7.30 for bloods and ultrasound, then over to the other side of Perth to see the (regular) acupuncturist. Normally I see him in Busselton but he’s recently moved to Hamilton Hill so that’s handy right now.  Still have cold.  Go op shopping and score some bargains.

Thursday 25th November: Early blood test, organised fuel cards for surrogate and hubby, dropped home made jam and quince paste Xmas present off to the gynae because he is SO nice (can you believe he only charges us $30 for a visit and we get ALL of that back on Medicare?) and had a free (only because I spent so much money there over the past year that I acquired the points!) Jurlique facial for half an hour.  Bliss.  Get the call of doom from the clinic: oestrogen isn’t rising, doesn’t look good, prepare for the worst.  Crap. Phone DH and have a bit of a moan.  Both a bit bummed out. Had a great catch-up dinner with my little bro at a yummy Malaysian joint in Leederville.  And ANOTHER early night!

Friday 26th November: Yet again an early blood test (I’m getting up each day at 5.30 so I can squeeze in just the smallest amount of yoga and meditation before shower, dress, eat, take all my pills, inject myself and then leave the house at 7am).  Figure if I am going home on the weekend I better get the sewing projects done with Gill, so we take up a couple of pairs of trousers and tweak a skirt and top.  Mid way through this the clinic calls and tells me the bloodwork was promising and I breathe a huge sigh of relief.  Gill drops my sewing machine off to get serviced and I cook risotto for dinner.

Saturday 27th November: Blood AND ultrasound this morning.  Follies growing slowly but surely.  Eostrogen at 1,700.  Drove to the compounding chemist to collect my T3 script, then into the city to look at an installation that wasn’t open due to the ‘strong winds’, so trekked back to the Art Gallery that still wasn’t open, so then dawdled about in Kakulas Brothers‘ wholefoods shop and back to the car to move it before my ticket expired.  Then back to the Art Gallery to look at the visiting Peggy Guggenheim exhibition (which was great) and a scoot around the free exhibits and then over to my little brothers’ place for a spot of technical help with my new iphone.  Getting pretty hot out at this stage and I was wilting, so home for a rest.  Except there were helicopters hovering about for ages which meant I couldn’t nap, then frittered the late afternoon away downloading apps for my phone and organising crap.

And here I am.  I have to go in to the clinic AGAIN tomorrow for bloods (normally you get a couple of days off going in throughout the whole cycle, but Dr T is obviously keeping a very close eye on me) and then I am meeting a friend for coffee (well, I will have decaf) and then we are going to the BEACH.  Yeah.  (Can you believe I haven’t made it to the beach yet even once this trip?  And the weather has been absolutely magnificent the whole time).  And then I am having the rest of the day off.

Monday I will probably have more bloods and an ultrasound, then I have an appointment with the acupuncturist and in the evening I *might* go to the Sommerville for the first movie of the season, to catch up with a mate I haven’t seen for a month or more.  But I will wait to see how my cold is travelling….

So that’s the potted version.  The surrogacy application process is inching along.  We have the clinic’s counselling requirements now met, and we each have a lawyer’s appointment (mine is Mon 6th December) but DH and I still struggling to make the psych appointment.  Of course the behind-the-scenes crap that it takes to get all these appointments MADE, then re-scheduled when things change or fall apart goes unnoticed by the rest of the world (and I certainly won’t bore you all with the tedium) but it is a large part of the process and takes an inordinate amount of time.  One of the doctors doing my ultrasound this week asked me what my job was and I told him: “THIS!  This is my FULL TIME JOB!!!” Lol.

Other good news on the surrogacy front:  Dr T is willing to transfer two embryos (should we have two to transfer at some point).  The clinic is willing to forgo the embryo 6 month quarantine period as long as the surrogate signs a waiver.  M is more than willing to do this, so YAY.  It won’t make any difference to the frozen embryo we already have, nor really to any that might come out of this cycle, but it does mean that should we need a fresh cycle in the future, the option is there.  Also, M is considering the future option of using her eggs.  This is a lot more tricky with the clinic and will require the WHOLE donor egg process to be gone through again (ALL the counselling and the 3 month cooling off period).  But it IS an option, and one I am very grateful to have.

Meanwhile I have tried to sort out the password thing, but realise I there is actually a lot more involved and it is going to take FIL’s help and a free day (of which it is apparent I have had none in the recent past).

Well so much for my early night, but at least you are up to speed and can see that I have not been idle.  I will endeavour to update with any news of interest as it comes to hand.

Now, to bed – before I fall asleep at the wheel….