Hoping for a good SnS tomorrow!

So it's been a few days and you might be wondering how things are going in our world. I'm kinda wondering too. Just kidding, things are going great with our injections. But seriously I AM wondering how my little ovary is taking this bombardment of hormones. I'll get some clues for us all tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my first SnS appointment after starting my stims. What is a SnS appointment you say? Well, SnS is a completely non-technical abbreviation that someone made up on an IVF message board. Someone at some point in time referred to the blood work and ultrasound appointments as "stick-n-stir" - stick as in the needle stick, stir as in the unpleasant ultrasound wand that goes stirring around in your hoo-hah. So stick-n-stir became SnS and that's what we refer to these appointments as now.

Anywho, the purpose of the SnS appointment is to check a couple things. The u/s will be used to see how many follicles are growing and how large the follicles are getting. I should be hearing the doctor call out measurements of the follicles soon, as the number of good-sized follicles will indicate when I start the Ganirelix (antagonist injection) and when I do the trigger shot prior to egg retrieval. If I had my say, I would like a good number of follicles and I would like them all nicely mature and consistently sized (if you've got a minute to take care of that for me God.)

The blood work will measure the E2 (estradiol) level, which should rise accordingly with the increasing size and number of follicles. An E2 level that does not rise appropriately could cause a cycle to be cancelled due to lack of response. An E2 level that rises too much could indicate OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome) which can be extremely painful and dangerous. The 2 stim meds I'm currently using work to increase the number of follicles that mature, but one of them also provides Luteinizing Hormone (LH) which helps the follicles mature. So the SnS appointment could lead to a decrease or increase in both meds or we could see them cut back on one med I take while increasing the other.

Oh, and want to know a weird fact??? The Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) in my meds is purified from the urine of post-menopausal women. Apparently post-menopausal women make high quantities of FSH and LH...who knew!?!?

Well, I better get to bed soon so I can get up at the crack of dawn for my SnS appointment. Hopefully I'll have good news on the follie & E2 level front. I'll know the u/s results as they see the follies on the screen. The b/w usually takes 2-3 hours to come back and they'll call me with the results so I know whether I need to adjust my meds. So I'll be back on tomorrow night to let you know what happens next. Until tomorrow...