Update on my appointment...

Well hello everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was pretty good, minus the discovery of our leaky washing machine, which, consequently, dripped down THROUGH THE BRAND NEW FLOOR, right THROUGH THE BRAND NEW CEILING in our BRAND NEW HOUSE...but I digress...Thanksgiving was otherwise splendid. Really.

I wanted to keep you all posted on yesterday's appointment. I met with the new doctor, Doctor B & I fell in love with him from the get-go! The first thing he said as I sat down was, "you're way too young to have a file this thick" to which I of course agreed. He then asked my thoughts on future treatments (G & I had discussed doing IUI with acupuncture mostly as a last-ditch effort treatment before pursuing adoption) and then he made some suggestions for me.

One suggestion that came out was a study that is currently open for donor egg candidates. For basically free (up to $2000 simply to cover the testing for the egg donor), we would use a known donor (someone we choose...if we have no one and it were to be anonymous, it would cost about $10K) and then inject their eggs with G's sperm. After three days (this is the study part), they would take all of the viable embryos & biopsy half of them. They are studying to see the effects of biopsy on embryos. Apparently old research had said it was helpful, but new research is indicating that perhaps biopsied embryos are not more likely to stick and become pregnancies after all. This is what they are testing for. Of all of the embryos retrieved, they would then transfer back to me, one non-biopsied embryo and one biopsied embryo. If a birth results, the only post-requirements of the program would be to submit any children born from the study to a cheek swab upon birth...sounds easy enough to me!

Gregg was nervous when I told him about it, mostly because he thought that I was so against donor eggs...he's been spending this whole time thinking that I've been the one attached to having my DNA when in reality, I am more attached to the whole experience than having my DNA present. His biggest fear now is finding the right person. He especially does not want to ask someone whom we see on a regular basis - he thinks it would be a really weird situation for both us and any children we could have from the procedure...and I tend to agree. Let me know if you have any leads to someone who might be interested. There is no compensation, which is why it is a HUGE favor to ask of someone and not to be taken lightly (which I understand), but at the same time, we are on a pretty tight schedule here, since the study is a first-come, first-served basis & they are taking 50 women. The first fifty that qualify are in & that's it, so the dr. doesn't know how long it could take to find that many that qualify, but he is certain that I would.

OK - a little TMI here...(just to warn you!)
He did ultrasound and bloodwork & told me that I have a beautiful uterus (awww, shucks, Dr. B!), but that my lining was thick like it wanted to shed (which is what you would expect for not having a period in 70 days). He found tons of nice little follicles (which is also amazing since I've never really had more than two or three in there)...he showed me about 7 of various sizes. He also found a large mass (likely a cyst or an endometrioma 16x19mm in size), which he thinks is releasing hormones, causing my body to think that I've had my period when I really haven't. He ran every type of test imaginable on my blood (pg test, FSH, LH, progesterone, estrogen, estradial, plus a urine test) & I will get the results of that later today. If I haven't ovulated in the last week & my body shows no signs of an impending ovulation, he's going to give me drugs to bring on my period & hopefully get this show on the road. If we decide to do the study, I will take a month to get the preliminary testing done & then another month to suppress & prep for the egg transfer. Whew! Sounds like a busy couple of months ahead of us, but I am SO EXCITED to have some hope!

Please pray for us that we could find a donor soon...it's certainly not likely that we will ever come across an opportunity like this (studies for poor responders are nearly non-existent), but I also realize that it's a huge favor to ask of someone...it's times like this that I wish a had a sister (who didn't mind being poked with needles and going for ultrasounds every couple of days for a week or so)....