Productive Phone Consult

After my post yesterday, my very proactive nurse called and scheduled a phone consult with my RE for today.  I am very appreciative of her.  The time she suggested fit right into my very busy schedule today, during the one hour down time I had.  I responded to her saying that the time would work as long as Dr. No Nonsense calls me on time.  Her response was, “Thanks for being flexible and taking the consult on such short notice.”  Oh I’ll take being able to talk to the doctor himself any day.

The phone call was good.  Dr. No Nonsense called this cycle a “failed Clo.mid cycle”, meaning follicles did not result from the effect of Cl.omid.  It doesn’t mean that I will or won’t ovulate on my own this cycle.  It may be a natural cycle when my ovulation is later than usual.  Or it may be a cycle where I won’t ovulate.  We won’t know until we do a scan and monitor.  As long as Bob and I are okay with having just one follicle and the possibility of one egg and one embryo or no egg and no embryo, Dr. NN is okay with that too.  We discussed the next steps.  He invited me to return tomorrow for an ultrasound scan to check on the follies.  Depending on the state of my ovaries, he may say to return on a weekly basis until we see activities.  He may even prescribe Letro.zole to me just to help push things forward.  Bob and I are scheduled for an appointment tomorrow at 8:15am.

We discussed the cause of the lack of growth this cycle.  He said that it’s very hard to predict the state of my ovaries at this point.  It could have been the Estrace.  It could have been the Cl.omid.  It could have been an off cycle for my ovaries.  There is no way of knowing.  So we just take whatever information we can get and move on with the cycle.

I asked whether he still recommends transferring next month even if we don’t have embryos this month.  He suggested making decisions on a scan to scan basis so we don’t go ahead of ourselves.  I like that.  So we won’t look too far ahead.  And I am determined not to let the uncertainty of the timeline affect my emotions negatively.

One thing that I am pleased about is that Dr. NN seems to have softened up on his stance on using Clo.mid.  I have always been a bit leery of using Cl.omid during a fresh and transfer cycle due to the possibility of thinning the lining.  Dr. NN had been adamant about using Cl.omid I guess because of my good response the last two cycles.  When I asked him one more time, he said that we can use Fema.ra during our transfer cycle which is more favorable for my lining.  I am so glad he said that.

I also asked about PIO as I have never used it.  He said it doesn’t matter what form of progesterone I use for a fresh cycle but he’d recommend using PIO for a frozen embryo transfer.  I didn’t ask him why.  I just jotted it down.

Since I had him on the phone, I asked a few more questions that had been on my mind.  Yes we’ll do assisted hatching for our transfer cycle (meaning extra $300 for the cycle).  No he does not suggest doing herbs to thicken the lining during a fresh cycle but he’s okay with using herbs during a FET.  And yes I should continue with all of my supplements including DHEA until I’m pregnant.

It was a productive phone call.  I did my homework and asked my questions.  I am so happy to get some answers and a plan.  We’ll see what happens at the scan tomorrow.