IVF Meds Take Two!

Now that the stim start date is inching closer and closer, I went ahead and placed my order for the next round of IVF! Since we had such good success with IVFMeds.com last time and the meds are SO MUCH CHEAPER, we went with them again. Even with the good amount left over from the extra we had to buy for last cycle I still had to order a tooooon of Menopur.

Thanks IVFMeds.com for saving me a ton!

Last cycle I had some extra Menopur left over from my second IUI and even with that extra, I still used a few of the last minute Menopur order. If this cycle is anything like last time, they expect me to use 90+ vials and stim for at least 11 days so I'm ordering over 80 vials of Menopur. Since I was one short last time, I also ordered 5 Cetrotide injections and hopefully that will be enough.

After the second batch of meds took a bit longer than was ideal to get here last time, IVFMeds.com offered to credit me the difference in cost for the extra vials I didn't use. I was skeptical because come on,  that's really excellent custom service, much more than I would expect from an online company based in another country. Instead of placing my order online, I rang up customer service and got the same wonderful rep that helped me last cycle. He remember me and my order snafu and in just a few minutes was placing my new order with a credit for the difference in the extra vials.  I'm still kind of shocked! It was all quick and easy, I rang them up, rang the bank to authorize the transaction since it got flagged again, and my nurse emailed me the new scripts to upload only minutes later. After all the calling and price checking and back and forthing of last cycle, I never knew the process could be so smooth.  

Impossible to beat these prices!

They're moving like ninjas this time and have already shipped out the first batch of my order, 40 Menopur and 5 Cetrotide. Like last time, I ordered so much Menopur that their pharmacy can't fill it all at once from in store stock so they're shipping it in two separate batches. This order went out on Friday so I'm not quite sure when to expect it. Priority Mail Express International does a lot of things regular Priority doesn't do, it's even delivered by a separate branch of USPS. If the package moves on Sunday, it should arrive in New York tomorrow and will probably be delivered by Monday. If it doesn't travel on Sunday, it'll hit the big apple on Monday and I'll get it Tuesday.  I also have to call Kaiser to authorize them ordering my Omnitrope and needles/syringes. The order was called in on Friday but from past experience I know they won't actually order it until I ask for it.

It doesn't make a difference protocol wise if the Menopur arrives on Monday or Tuesday since I don't need it just yet, but since I have to be here to sign for it in person, I have to plan my schedule around the delivery. Kind of a pain but well worth the savings!

10 Fabulous Follies!

This mornings appointment yielded even more good news - I have ten wonderfully growing follicles! TEN!

ohmyfuckingholyhellmindofficiallyblown

I'm not sure if the ultrasound tech was counting the left over cyst as one of the follies though, I had a new tech today and asked her about it. She was a really nice, positive and gentle tech but she tried to give me a bit of a lecture on how all follicles are cysts -_- I asked again specifically about the SIMPLE cyst, the opaque little circle, not the dark, clear follicular cysts, and she said it might have shrunk down so much that it looks like a regular follicle. I left it there but I just can't believe that I have 10 legit follies after being told I should never expect more than 3. It seems too good to be true.

They seem to be growing more slow and steady this cycle than they did last time. Last cycle they jumped from 13 to 19mm from CD 7 to CD 9, with a decrease in medicine, and this time the largest follie was still only ~16. This means I'm on the hook for at least two more days of stim injections but I think slow and steady growth is a good thing.

As I understand it, a mature follie is 18-20mm and several of mine were still 10-12mm. I know we won't be triggering until as many of them as possible are in that range. When Dr. Danzer called today he said he thought I might be on track for a Saturday trigger and a Monday retrieval, so my next appointment is Friday morning.

I've also read that larger follies are better quality in "younger" women (under 35) but poorer quality in "older" women (over 35). The big question is - do my ovaries make "young" eggs or "old" eggs? Do they act like 27 year old eggs or does the premutation make them older/poorer quality? What is the ideal size for 27 year old, premutation eggs? If they're all committed to growth, they should grow 1-3mm per day so that lead follicle could potentially be 22mm after two more days of stims. I guess we'll just have to see!

Cetrotide, Menopur and Omnitrope

In the meantime, it looks like I'll be enjoying my 4 injections per day for a little bit longer, including the wretched Cetrotide. Every time I inject it I dislike it more and more - this last shot was ridiculous, it wouldn't prime and I wasted a ton of drops and still had a bubble that wouldn't get out. I'm actually thinking of using a different syringe all together for tomorrow and just chucking the glass one that you're supposed to use. Definitely not worth the hassle.