Almost happy

If you can get the song reference in the title, I will be your eternal fan. But then, I'm a huge fan of most of you already, so perhaps this is the wrong incentive...

Ladies, I give you the facts. They're quite good:

• On the left: 16, 14, 14, 11
• On the right: 22, 19, 18, 17, 15, 14
• Lining: 10.6mm
• E2 3659 (997 American)

Clearly my right ovary is going for the mid-term performance turnaround, while my left is still skulking in the "could do better" corner. Not to knock it, or anything. I'll take those four follicles, thank you very much indeed. The growth seems very random - a couple have grown just 1mm, while others have shot up by 6mm, and two on the right seem to have come from nowhere. I assume that at least some of this wierdness is due to the follicles being hard to measure accurately. It's fairly miraculous to think that we could retrieve as many as nine or even ten eggs. That is of course assuming they can get all of them, that the little ones keep growing, and that all the follicles actually contain eggs. But still, that's a lot better than three! I bow to all of your superior wisdom on this point, particularly Wessel who took the trouble to write all that detail in the comments.

The doctor took 20 minutes to do the scan, and was very good at telling us what was going on once he'd had an initial look. He showed us all the follicles and described what they'd have to do to get round the endometrioma. I now have three follicles, all on top of each other, all directly behind the endometrioma. That's the right ovary pretending to play nice, but secretly trying to mess us around and still get an A. They'll basically have to go in with the needle straight on top of the camera probe, and try to get one at a time without losing them or puncturing the endometrioma. Sounds like fun. He kept telling me how complicated it was and what a difficult scan it was. Luckily once I saw all the follicles I was in a considerably better mood and was able to crack jokes about what a tough patient I am. This doctor, by the way, was Dr ICU. I think Dr Candour spread my memo around the place as Dr ICU was a different man today than at my last interaction with him.

So we trigger tonight at 22:30, for retrieval on Friday morning. I'm sort of excited now. Of course, they may not get all those eggs, and the eggs may be crap, etc etc., but I think I'm allowed a little excitement after the general shittiness of the news so far this cycle. The good news is that they will (probably) put the most experienced egg retriever doctor on the case on Friday. The bad news is that this is Dr Condescending. I'm sure that her medical skills outweigh her interpersonal ones, or they wouldn't be suggesting this. After all, it's in their best interests for this to work.

And I almost forgot the really good news. From a conversation with a colleague at work where she figured out I was doing IVF, I was pointed to our company's administration office in the US to check on the global health care policies. Apparently since I am now quite senior I'm covered by an additional insurance policy that I didn't know about, and it covers fertility treatment. All our costs are covered - drugs and everything! I still have to submit everything and given all of your experienes with US insurance companies I'm sure it won't be entirely straightforward to get the money, but it will be a great help to get it. Our insurance also covers up to $10,000 of adoption costs. The only thing they don't cover is surrogacy. Since that's not an option we've considered (yet), that doesn't make me too sad. Confused about why that would be excluded, but not sad. I'm thanking my lucky stars and feeling very blessed to work for such a generous organisation.

Picture me breathing a big sigh of relief, and repeating the mantras from your comments on the last post. Grow, follicles, Grow! I'm still working on Ovagirl's image of them "like coloured balloons, blowing up into beautiful rounded globes of goodness." There's no mistaking that she is a writer and I am not, is there? Thank you for all your thoughts. I'm in a much better place today, and even feeling slightly foolish for my trauma at other points in this cycle. No doubt I will be foolish again before this cycle ends.

Comments

[Kath]

Yay! I'm so relieved. Have a happy trigger tonight, and I'll send ballooning thoughts your way for a good retrieval on Friday. So glad for you!

[fisher queen]

Hurray! Three cheers for the follies! Three cheers for your employer! Three cheers for Thalia!

[April]

Oh how wonderful! I'm going to be postitively giddy waiting to hear how Friday's retrieval goes.

And it sounds, my dear, like it's going to be good news.

[pixi]

Woohoo! I'm so glad it's going forward. Good luck with the retrieval. Hope those little eggies quit playing hard to get. Don't they know they've got the opportunity of a lifetime in front of them?

[Alexa]

Clapclapclapclapclap--Applause all around! Have a gleeful trigger (as gleeful as you can be whilst injecting yourself with something) and tell those behind-the-endometrioma follicles to stop being coy.
I am SO excited for you.

[laura]

Foolishness is just part of it. And don't fret about low numbers ... I only got 9 eggs (only 3 lived on), and apparantly, something worked! Lots of excitment for you!

[Pamplemousse]

Fabulous follicle check today! I am glad you have had your spirits lifted and another hurdle can be overcome.

[DD]

Gosh, I'm so excited, I almost pee'd my pants! Ok, just kidding..., but still totally excited for you.

See? We told you so.

[Anna]

Oh what a tremendous relief! I'm ticked pink, and hope all goes well during the retrieval on Friday - I'm sure we'll all be here looking for an update. They should tell you that day how many eggs were able to be retreived.

Happy happy joy joy! Good luck with everything!

[Larisa]

Oh! I'm so thrilled that those ovaries are being more cooperative. And what fantastic news about the insurance coverage!

Best wishes for Friday. I know all of blogland will be thinking of you.

[Julie]

Ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy

[Liz]

YAY!!!! I'm so happy things worked out. Good luck with the trigger shot and don't forget it gives the follicles an extra boost and helps them mature.

[Leggy]

Happy triggers- hope your retrieval goes well.

[Dooneybug]

What a great way to go into the ER!! So happy that things are looking good (physically AND financially speaking). And of course in your situation, you are allowed to be all over the board when it concerns your fears and emotions - no one can call you foolish for that!

[Molly]

So happy the scan went well and you got good news from your employers. So much happy news in blogland today!

Hoping for a successful trigger and lots and lots of eggs.

[chee chee]

I am so happy that this cycle is going well! I think 10 follies are great! I totally hope that they retrieve just as many mature eggs on Friday.

Good luck!

[heleen]

Thinking about you lots, hoping everything will be smooth. Good luck!

[zhl]

What great news! Good luck with the trigger and Friday's retrieval. We'll be thinking of you.

[Amanda]

This is good news indeed. Yay! I'm so glad your follicles have decided to get themselves in gear. And to find out that you have full insurance coverage on top of that? Well, that's a standout day in my mind. Woo hoo!

[Teresa]

Lovely follies... I hope all continues to go beautifully.

[Caroline]

Hooray for the "I think I can, I think I can" follies! Good luck tonight with the trigger and on Friday. I will rouse myself from my bed on Friday (post retreival tomorrow)to check for your results!!

[S]

Yah! I'm so excited for you!! I just got the call too-I trigger at 11:30pm (23:30) tonight and have ER Friday morning as well....

I'll try to check in and see how you'r doing-good luck!

[Claudia]

Great news all the way around! Plenty o' follicles, and the insurance news is just about as good as winning the lottery.

Good luck at retrieval, hope they get bunches of beautifully mature eggs.

[mm]

Oh yay! I get to use my favorite red neck exclamation of joy: HOT DAMN! Seriously girlfriend, that's more like it. While I'm sure Dr Condescending isn't your first choice (at least as far as her bedside manner is considered), take comfort in the fact that you will be in la la land for the retrieval. You won't even know she's there. I'll have everything crossed for you on Friday. Can't wait to hear how it goes. Good luck!!!!!!

[Jill]

Yes, indeed, you are "allowed a little excitement"--in fact, there's a lot to be excited about! All those beautiful big follicles and unexpectedly discovering that you have more insurance coverage than expected! Woohoo!
Best wishes for the retrieval on Friday. I hope to read more good news from you in the days ahead!

[millie]

Oh what happy news for me to come home to today! See, I don't want to say I told you so but...

That insurance news is just the cherry on top.

I'm glad you're almost happy,almost content but I really hope your head doesn't hurt. ;)

(New lyrics for T's Choice--much better name, don't ya think)

[Dead Bug]

Wonderful! And, even if the condescending doctor is the one doing the retrieval, you hardly need to see her at all--that's one big plus to being anesthetized!

Wishing the very best of luck to you and your lovely follicles.

--Bugs

[Julianna]

Such wonderful news! Good luck with the trigger and I hope you are able to rest well.

[T]

Rock n roll! Excellent news all around - ovaries, insurance, ova girl, balloons...lovely, lovely! Wishing you all the best for Friday.

[Lori]

What great news all around! I hope the retrieval goes smoothly despite the trickiness of it.

[Nico]

Oh, Thalia! What a sigh of relief I just breathed. I hope that Dr. Condescending lives up to her billing and gets all those tricksome eggs out of there. Woo-hoo!

[labia lady]

Hey, gooooood luck with trigger et al. May all your follicles contain mature eggs.

[Sparkle]

Great news Thalia, great follicle nos. Don't give the difficult procedure another thought - you've got the best egg retriever on the job! Hoping it all goes really smoothly.

[Lisa P.]

Happy for you about everything! I'll be thinking of you on Friday.

[Cali]

yay!! Fab news for such wonderful growth.
Counting down to Friday...

[Cricket]

This is wonderful. Good luck on Friday - and to know it is covered by insurance ........ sweet!

[heleen]

Have a good night sleep... Tomorrow is your big day. Fingers crossed and I hope you have an easy retrieval and a quick recovery.

[wessel]

Told ya! :-) This is great news, Thalia. I will be thinking of you tomorrow morning. Good luck!

[Teendoc]

I remember hearing that 200 units of estradiol (American) represent one viable egg. So you are doing well. Good luck!

[Manuela]

SO wonderful! Dying for an update!

[Meg]

Good luck with the ER, I'm so excited for you.
I love it that your insurance will cover your cycle.

[Simone]

Close in my thoughts, sweet Thalia.

[Emily]

Sounds right on track. Excellent news about your follicles.

Good luck on Friday.

[ManhattanAnne]

Yea! May the baloons float up, up, and away.