[Oriyan]

So some updates for all :-)

The bad news:
We are VERY VERY thankful we decided to do IVF now. DF's sperm count dropped significantly in the last 2 months. We went from 7.5 million total in 2003 to 1.5 million total in July 08, to 200,000 total this past tuesday. We froze tuesdays sperm and will be freezing sperm every tuesday until the end of October. (Which may or may not work in the past he's gotten 0 sperm outta freezing, but we still wanna try just in case, ya know?) The doctor is VERY happy we didnt wait. He said that we made the right decision by starting now. I feel better knowing that we are doing this now. I wouldnt have been very happy in February to find we had no sperm and needed a donor. Dr K has no clue why the count is dropping so fast all of a sudden. Could have a lot to do with DF having several family members on his moms side who are male and all sterile before 30. Could be because DF has a cold. We dont know. But, at the end of next month, we repeat the s/a before the ER.

The good news though is even though his count dropped a lot, we have increased out motility from 14% to 50%!!! and our morphology went from 1% to 5%! Dr K said that all the vitamins he is taking (theres like 12 of them i think) have definetly helped in that respect so for our ladies who have Male Factor issues, if you want the list of vitamins, let me know! He also has over 80% viable sperm, up from the 30% or so (something like that) in 2003 and 75% in July.

The Synthroid seems to have helped my thyroid BIG TIME! We went from a TSH of 7.89 down to 1.22 which is completly and totally NORMAL now! We are not sure if i really have hypothyroidism or if my ovarian cyst is causing it. What we do know is my Estridol level last month was 162 and this month it was 68 (which is awesome). Which either means a) I really have hypothyroidism or B) removing the polyps really helped out that much with my E2 levels. We wont know any of this until our Thyroid experiment between ER and ET where i will be off synthroid, my cyst will be drained and i get retested. If all is normal, it was my cyst. If all is not normal, I have hypothyroidism.

Speaking of hormones-- FSH was 7.41 and LH was 5.04. Everything is completly NORMAL now!

My D&C I had --the report from the biopsy on the linning and polyps -- I do NOT have endometriosis. Nothing was found. Just your ordinary polyps! So we can rull out endo and officially know that my cyst on my ovary is really a functional cyst and not endo.

My boobs are also completly and totally normal. No lumps, cysts, masses, anything. Normal healthy 25 year old boobies! (More like 12 year old boobies lol)

We had injection teaching today -- All went well. 1 shot a day for a bunch of days and then 3 shots a day for another bunch of days. My clinic will be giving me my PIO shots Thank gosh cause i wasnt about to do that one myself. Heeeeeeeck no. Thats a big friggin needle man! 1.5 inches no thank you! I only will be on PIO from ER to ET. Then i will be on the wall paper paste vaginal thingies. Yuck.

So to recap: Thyroid is now normal, I dont have endo, my E2 level is NORMAL, my boobs are normal, my pap was normal, i have no STDs, I am completly normal, and have been given.....

THE GO AHEAD!!!!

Its officially official! October 7th I start my first injection!

I can't believe its almost here!

Dr K is my new hero. I just had the most blissful AF this past cycle. He said if its like that for the next one, then we have our answer to my horrible AF's. This man is awesome.

[soImarriedAnerd]

That sounds great!!!!! One quick question--PIO-Whats that? (not a abbreviation I know-i'm guessing the trigger shot as of now)
Good luck!!!!

[midnight_starr]

I am so happy that everything is moving along so smoothly for you!!!!

[Oriyan]

PIO = Progesterone in Oil (Its seasame oil actually. I was told to watch for any reactions, but i have seaseme oil all the time so i know i will be ok!)

My trigger shot is Ovidrel which is NOT an IM shot, its a Sub-Q shot (WooT!) Its the ONLY trigger marketed for Sub-Q use. (So i was told.)

[thepinkleprechaun]

OMG how scary that his sperm count is dropping so much! I'm glad you guys didn't wait

So if there is any sperm in the frozen batches will you be able to save it if you want to have more kiddos?

[soImarriedAnerd]

never heard of the PIO before. My trigger shot was IM-and troy gave it to me---It made me want to go hug all those patients I gave my first shots to LOL He did great with my SQ ones (yes even nurse angela couldn't give herself any shots--i was just a big chicken)

[Patriciamomofboys]

Wow, it really is a good thing you didn't wait! I've got my fingers crossed for you guys that everything from now on goes smoothly.

[Oriyan]

Being you were a doner you wouldnt have been given PIO. Because womens bodies are hormonally out of whack when they have IVF, there bodies dont naturally produce progesterone, so we have to shoot ourselves up with it, and continue it for 12 weeks to support pregnancy :-)

So if there is any sperm in the frozen batches will you be able to save it if you want to have more kiddos?[/b]

We'll have the 5 day embryo's stored. But, just in case (Either we only have a few embryos of not great quality and decide to transfer them all, or they don't make it past thawing, or we have another blackout like 2003 and they all die or something like that), we wanted to freeze the sperm, too. BUT, DF's sperm have been yielding 0 when we thaw them. But, its a just in case measure, maybe we can get SOME to thaw well. We speculated maybe its cause his previous sperm in 2003 was only like 30-something % viability and now that he has over 80% viability, maybe we'll get some to thaw :-)

I get embryo storage for 12 months for free. Then, DF and I will be dishing out around 1700 a year to keep eggs and sperm froozen. (His is like 500 a year or something I think, I am 1200 a year) We plan on doing an FET in 2011 (we're gonna try for twins then) and then our last will be 2015ish.

[Kiwi]

Glad to hear everything is finally going to plan!

Your thyroid levels are normal already? It has only been like 2 weeks! Maybe a cyst is causing it then because that is really fast and it usually takes more then 2 weeks to improve that much (says my endocrinologist). I mean, I am no doctor but it is a thought, which would be good for you since it saves you taking syntheroid for the rest of your life!

Good luck! I hope IVF works your first try, and that everything fertilizes well. It is good you are doing this now with his count dropping so drastically. I think it is funny you have your whole reproductive future planned out. I still can't get past pregnancy #1! But I guess when you are making yearly payments on stored mojo, that's what you gotta do!

[Oriyan]

Your thyroid levels are normal already? It has only been like 2 weeks! Maybe a cyst is causing it then because that is really fast and it usually takes more then 2 weeks to improve that much (says my endocrinologist). I mean, I am no doctor but it is a thought, which would be good for you since it saves you taking syntheroid for the rest of your life!

Good luck! I hope IVF works your first try, and that everything fertilizes well. It is good you are doing this now with his count dropping so drastically. I think it is funny you have your whole reproductive future planned out. I still can't get past pregnancy #1! But I guess when you are making yearly payments on stored mojo, that's what you gotta do![/b]

youll get pregnant soon!

see, ive been saying all along its the cyst. which is why we are doing the test between er and et to see what happens. if my levels are stable off the meds with no cyst we know i am ok. if they shoot up, we know i am not. synthroid is my saftey net just in case i do have an issue. would hate to get pregnant and lose the baby cause of my thyroid. its not hurting me to take it it doesnt bother me...no side effects. so i am ok with it!

[Garfieldbear]

Some things in life, you just can't wait for....I am really happy that you guys are going with IVF now. All signs point that this is the best decision, and the fun will begin next month....and I'm not being sarcastic when I say fun, I thought that my injections were fun....yeah, can't wait for October!

[Mars]

I'm glad you guys decided to go now as well. I can't wait for October!!

[petalfuzz]

I love your updates! So detailed! So direct! So positive! With that positive attitude, you will achieve your goals of fertility! Fertility Now, Sisterhood!