Season 2

And we are back for Season 2 (about two and a half years later). Its like when you watch a show and the next season starts a few years later and all the characters have evolved somehow and you get to learn what happened to each of them. Except nothing much happened to this character and I just spared you all a boring two years of nothingness. You are welcome.

So where have I been? What have I been up to? Honestly not much. Living life. Work is going well. I am at a new job with better pay and greater responsibility always a good thing. Husband is finishing up his schooling and will, if all goes well, start working by next year (it’s been a long wait for him to get on his career path so I am excited for that new chapter to start). Everyone I know is popping out babies, as is the normal life cycle for our age group.

On the (in)fertility front we literally put the breaks on. After the last apt with Dr. H, it just felt like adoption was the only option. And even then I wasn’t ready for it. I’m still not 100% on board with adoption. DH is less concerned and would have been happy to go down that road. We even met with a few social workers and did an ‘intro to adoption’ course to get familiar with the process. But our financial and work situations were not stable enough to allow us to pursue that to any serious degree. I am still debating whether to hire a social worker to start our home study to qualify us for adoption. I don’t know why I just can’t let myself go down that road.

So why come back for a second season? Well, a few months ago, after over 2 years of HRT, I asked my team of POF specialists if it could be a possibility that the HRT could have helped kick-start my body and if my uterus might be better able to build a lining now that it has had a few years of practice with real (fake) hormones (as opposed to birth control hormones). Maybe I am reaching here but some of the studies I have read do show that some women did manage to have some success with DE IVF (even after chemo and radiation). I will leave aside the fact that many of them were not able to carry the fetus to term as their uterus was not able to handle the pregnancy. (That is a worry for another day another post).

The POF team (affiliated with a teaching hospital in the City) said that yes it is possible. They even had one of their fertility doctors on staff to speak with me. Dr. Go. He mentioned that the Ontario Government recently approved IVF funding for couples with infertility. He thought it wouldn’t hurt to give it another go with a different mix of meds (estradot patch and estrace pills) to see if we cant get the lining up to that magic o.7mm.

And so began Season 2.

My sister just had her first baby (a boy) in December 2015 and he is absolutely precious! I love him to bits. I think a small part of me started to feel ready for being a parent when I saw my nephew for the first time (it was a very emotional and happy day). I think DH feels the same way. I’ve noticed him start to say ‘if we are parents’ more and more. Until now both of us were ok with it being just us. Now I am not sure. Maybe we do want something more.

At our first appointment with Dr. Go we went through the whole testing rigmarole (for both DH and me). I shared my file from Dr. H with him as well so that he could review the previous protocols and tests.

Yesterday was my first followup with Dr. Go. Unfortunately, DH was out-of-town, but it wasn’t all bad news. Turns out DH has super sperm! Better than average on almost every score. So no worries there (phew!). For me it was as expected, we just need to try another mock cycle to see if uterus is doing its thing properly. Dr. Go even did an ultrasound at the meeting to see what my lining was like before starting the mock cycle. I was at 0.4mm. He was happy with that result. And cautiously optimistic me is happy too. (Recall that 0.4 was the thickest I ever got on a mock cycle at my previous clinic!).

So I now have my new protocol:

• 4mg of Estrace twice a day.
• 100mg patch of Estradot every other day.
• Call in on Day 1 and start the above protocol.
• Come in on Day 14 for a lining check ultrasound.

Stay tuned for results (likely within the next month or so).

Although I don’t have any answers yet, I am glad to be giving this one more try. I feel a bit hopeful. I am eligible for IVF funding from the government (at the clinic the waiting list is about 6 months for a govt funded cycle). I may have a hope of building a lining past 0.4mm.

Still a few hurdles to cross. I need to speak to my sister (again) about a possible egg donation sometime next year (once she is finished breast-feeding of course) and make sure it doesn’t get in the way of her own family planning. Also there’s the whole concern that even if I did manage to get pregnant, I won’t be able to carry the baby to term. One step at a time. For now. Focus on my mock cycle. Wish me luck!