Welcome to International Comment Leaving Week for November.
I look forward to reading many new and familiar blogs this week. I also look forward to leaving comments wherever I go. I may not have the most witty, funny or perfect words to say, but know my heart is in the right place. May you learn something you didn't know before, find a new blog or just reacquaint yourself with a blog you hadn't read in a while. But most of all, I hope you enjoy your week of ICLW giving and receiving thoughtful comments.
Remember you still have until December 15th to submit your best post of the year to the 2011 Creme de la Creme list! It's less than a month away and with the holiday season upon us, the time is going to fly by fast!
The doctor called my name and away we went to the room. First the doctor figured out which language to conduct the appointment in: Finnish or English. Finnish, unless I don't understand, than I'll ask. The doctor asked when my period had started (Wednesday, thank you very much) and then had me get undressed. They don't mess around here. I hop up on the table and in went the wand. My lining looked good and my ovaries are inactive. Yay! I hopped off the table and put my clothes back on.
The doctor then proceeded to explain about the past two IVF cycles and why we were going to do this time. It got to be a bit too much for me and I asked if she could explain it in English. I'm so glad I did! I followed most of what she said, but there were just some things that I was able to grasp much better in English.
What she said was:
In the first IVF round one year ago, they retrieved 15 mature eggs. Of those, only 8 fertilized. The rest either didn't fertilize or too many sperm found their way to the eggs resulting in abnormal fertilization. Of those 8 that fertilized, we transferred the two best and none were frozen.
With the second IVF round earlier this year, 11 mature eggs were retrieved. Only 6 of those fertilized. The same reason was given for the ones that didn't fertilize. We again transferred two, but this time we were able to freeze 3. The following 2 FETs also failed.
Since my body has responded quite well to the hormones both times, but with a better quality of eggs during the second round of IVF, we'll continue much the same for this round. The down regulating drug, Synarela, is different and the doctors will perform ICSI in hopes of getting all eggs to fertilize, but everything is the same, I believe.
As of yesterday (Sunday), I've lowered the dose of Synarela by half and I started my ovary stimulation drug, Menopur. I'll be injecting 300IU for the next 4 days and then I'll head back to the clinic. Based on the previous 2 rounds, I'll most likely do 9 days of injections and then the retrieval date will be Friday, December 2nd. The transfer will be either on Monday the 5th or Wednesday the 7th. (My clinic is publicly funded and therefore not open on weekends or holidays; Dec. 6th is Finnish Independence.)
This means that I'll be either totally thrilled for christmas this year or I'll be totally devastated. I'm hoping for the former, but only time will tell.
What's your favorite holiday food? Is there a particular dish you're looking forward too?
For Thanksgiving in the USA, it is my mom's Osyter Balls (I need to see if my stepmom has that recipe.) and Pesto Torte. For the Finnish christmas, it is the Rutabaga Casserole and all the sweets.
