Days 8-9

Today, I had a good ultra sound. My follicles on the left are 20.28, 17.92, 17.12, 15.4, 13.08, 12.33, 11.59 and I have one lone follicle on the right at 16.3. Yes, that's right, I have 8 follicles after 8 days of stimming. This is better than last cycle and better than a few days ago when I had my last check on Sunday (4 total). I am happy that more have popped up and am hopeful there will be some mature eggs in there somewhere (more than 1 would be an improvement from last cycle).

The less than exciting news is that my E2 (estradiol) is only 286. This is low. Lower than it was at this point last cycle, even though I have more follicles this time. There are many reasons why one will have low E2, but I am tired of googling and speculating because I just don't know so I am not worrying about it. At least it is going up. But the general target is 150-200 for each mature follicle. So it's possible there are not eggs in my follicles. Or that they are poor quality. Or that the Ganirelix is suppressing the E2 number. Again, no more speculating for me. But I am still hopeful it will start to go up and fast.

Next check is tomorrow morning, so at least I don't have to wait long. Trigger could be anytime between tomorrow and Saturday. I am hoping for tomorrow or Friday so I can have my retrieval on the weekend again. That works out so much better for John's schedule and so we don't have to spend hours in traffic. But I want to have the retrieval when it's best for my eggs, so if that means Monday, then of course we will make it work.

The other good news is my nurse is back. I feel bad because she was out sick for a week, so she must have been pretty sick, but I feel 100% better now that she is back. She is so amazing and she knows my history and she is always on top of things and she really is the best. I know nurses (and doctors) are people with lives outside of their jobs, but my doctor is also out of town so it was stressing me out to have all these "strangers" calling the shots.

I saw a chiropractor today for a consult and had some x-rays done. Tomorrow I go back for my first treatment. He went up and down my vertebrae one at a time and made all these notes to his assistant about all the parts of me that are "deficient." I just want him to help me with the back pain, but maybe my lazy ovaries will get a little help too? One can hope I suppose. I still haven't heard anything from the trucker's insurance. I hope they are excited about the rental car and towing storage fees they are going to get to pay. I'm certainly not worried about it.

That has been my mantra this week: don't worry. I have been trying to stay distracted and relaxed. Having a bunch of appointments at least gives me something to do. And driving is getting less scary.

And Kayla and Sam got a kitten. Isn't she cute?

Nala