Bob the Pro

So… My period came yesterday.  The luteal phase was only 12 days this time, which kind of confirmed that maybe my basal body temperature spiked a couple of days after ovulation as my usual luteal phase is 14 days.  I emailed Dr. E to ask about the next step. She said she’d send me a calendar today.  Today came and there was no sign of said calendar from Dr. E at 5pm.  I usually wouldn’t want to be pushy, but I do want to know what the plan is.  So I emailed her.  She actually thought that she had already sent me the protocol and calendar.  In my mind, I thought she was going to prescribe Femara to me, alternating two pills and three pills and then add Menopur on day five.  But apparently she had other plans for me.  I received two options.  One is to do pure injectibles, meaning four vials of Menopur a day.  The second option is to take three Femara for five days and start Menopur on day four or five.  She asked me which option I felt like doing and my gut was telling me.  

I never thought that I would have a say in what protocol I would like to use.  I sat there minutes before I had to leave work to go to my Bible study and had to quickly make a decision.  I considered quickly the two protocols.  Our first IVF brought us the most success (one frozen day 6 blastocyst) and it was that protocol that we used four vials of Menopur.  The difference is, I had 6 antral follicles at the time and this time I don’t really know how many follicles I have.  The second option with Femara happened to be the same as the second and third IVF cycles, which yielded poor results.  One gave us embryos that didn’t grow.  The other one gave us one follicle.  What did my gut tell me?  My gut told me to go with the protocol with four vials of Menopur a day.  I quickly wrote back Dr. E.  She said that was her gut feeling as well.  So that was the decision making process: gut feeling. 🙂

I emailed Bob who enthusiastically said, Let’s do it!  I had to change my plans for tonight.  I led my group discussion and left early without listening to the lecture.  I still had 26 vials of Menopur left.  Bob was watching a cricket game online, India vs. New Zealand.  I took out all of the Menopur vials and the Omnitrope vial, sterilized all of them, and set out the syringes.  Bob began to draw out the liquid and started mixing the powder.  I sat there and watched him.  He was keeping an eye on the score on the computer screen while mixing the meds.  I found it so amusing to watch him do both at the same time.  I still remember six months ago when we were doing the same thing for our first IVF cycle.  I wiped the table and laid everywhere out in an orderly manner for him.  He was very focused and did everything meticulously without any distraction.  Compared to the very first time when table was free of any non-IVF related stuff, the table this time was chaotic.  It had my laptop, his laptop, a Bible, a water bottle, two placemats, my cup, Menopur packaging, and other miscellaneous items.  This time, it felt like second nature to him.  He knew exactly what to do and did it like a true pro.  It’s definitely NOT a skill that I would want him to master since it means that we have done it one too many times.  The upside of it is that at least I won’t worry about him spilling anything on the table.  Every drop is worth a lot of money.

So here is it guys.  IVF #4 has begun.  I feel pretty good.  We shall see what these Menopur vials can do for us.  We’ll find out more on Friday.