The Numbers, Good and Bad

I've gone in for blood draws a couple of times this past week. The news has been a mixed bag, although I do think the good outweighs the bad.

First, the bad: I had a CD 21 progesterone test, and my progesterone level was only 0.5. I was pretty sure even before the test that I hadn't ovulated, but then as soon as I got home, it became clear that CD 1 was on its way. The test result only confirmed all of that.

If I continue to not ovulate, that clearly puts a crimp in our plans to try naturally.

However, the good news: Since it's been 2 1/2 years since my last FSH test and CD 1 showed up, I decided to get a CD 3 LH/FSH test done. FSH was 4.1, LH was 10.3. That's a pretty typical PCOS ratio, which isn't great, but I'm too thrilled by the FSH level to be very bummed about the PCOS right now. (Apparently, somewhere in the back of my mind I keep hoping that maybe the PCOS will go away...)

At least that FSH lets me feel like I have a little bit of breathing room in terms of time. If I do start to ovulate, we will try naturally. However, I don't think we'll spend a lot of time on that approach if my eggs don't seem to be making regularly scheduled appearances.

I've been thinking some more about my consultation with 2nd Opinion RE. As much as some of his comments were totally thoughtless, I do think his overall approach to our case has significant merit.

Every time I've pressed Doc, he refuses to acknowledge (to me, at least) that perhaps 32 eggs were a few too many. He is also adamant that we should go with the same stim protocol as last time. I, however, do not see the merit in continuing to bang my head against the wall with the same approach while hoping for a different result.

2nd Opinion thinks that 32 eggs were too many and probably compromised egg quality, therefore leading to embryos that might have looked good but were likely chromosomally abnormal. He thinks Doc used a valid protocol (4 vials for the first 2 days, then 3 vials per day after that) given the information he had to work with and the fact that it was my first IVF, but at this point he would recommend an even slightly lower dose of stims and would aim for significantly fewer eggs. I feel much better about that approach, because everything I've found in my research says 32 eggs are too many.

So now hope is sneaking its way back in, and we may be doing another IVF sooner than we planned, though it will still likely be late spring at the earliest.