So we're home. I'm pretty much feeling the same as I did last time except I was in more pain directly afterwards than before. The nurse kept coming in and sort of insisting I ask for more pain meds in an indirect way. I of course being stubborn was not. She finally saw me shaking and hardly able to get up or down and she gave me the good stuff. Within minutes I said something along the lines of "wow that feels nice." They did end up wheeling me out this time. Anyone who has ever been in a military hospital knows that in most cases for out patient things you're walking yourself out. I did last time. This time I was shaky and heavily drugged so the nurse called for a chair. I was in recovery for a very short time...again the military, they kick you out fast. They gave me juice, crackers, had me pee, drugged me up and called for a wheelchair. Now the initial pain has worn off and I'm just sore.
Now for the good news. When the surgeon finally came in to see me I was pretty much a nervous wreck. I had been sitting alone for about 45 minutes just waiting. I was getting more and more anxious by the minute thinking I was losing eggs. So she comes in and starts talking to me. I finally got around to asking to hear her perspective on our drastic drop in E2 and the results of the progesterone tests. She looked shocked.
She said "I had no idea you were aware of that. I have to tell you the lab made an error your E2 was actually in the 6700s." I almost died right there. She was very apologetic and said she couldn't imagine how I had been feeling up until that point. Around that time Patrick walked back in and I told him the news. I just started bawling. I was so relieved to know that we hadn't lost any of our precious eggs. The surgeon actually started to tear up as well as I told her how I thought we'd lost them all. It was a huge relief. I of course was so emotional about it because obviously my estrogen was incredibly high. That often makes women teary. She went on to discuss everything and said with how I handled the last surgery is a good sign and hopefully I will not develop OHSS but that since my E2 is high I have about a 20 to 30% chance of having some form of it. Honestly at that point as long as we weren't facing a transfer cancel I didn't care. I was just so thankful we still had a chance I didn't care that it had spiked again. She said they are not anticipating a transfer cancel but that I will need to seriously increase my salt/sodium intake and down the powerades and gatorades. They will discuss all options as we get past each day.
And now for the not so great news. They were able to get 18 eggs. After having over 36 follicles that's not really a lot. Even worse she said that there weren't that many that looked mature but that they need to assess them after they are washed and ready to fertilize. She didn't give a number but said that she thinks there is more than last time. Which was only 5 so we are kind of thinking somewhere between 7 or 8 based on having 14 eggs last time and only 5 mature. Now they believe that my egg maturity issue doesn't have much to do with the medicine doses last time or this time. My eggs just don't mature like a normal 25 year old. They hope they were able to get more by having more follicles but they aren't sure. This is something that cannot ever be corrected. It's just likely they don't mature. Probably another good reason why IVF is our only option.
Overall the retrieval went better than last time. I did have more pain but instead of waking up terrified of the nightmares I had just had I woke up this time crying and hugging the nurse who had just spent the 10 minutes in the OR talking to me before the surgery. She was awesome. She's also the one who has been doing my blood every morning and is pretty awesome at that too. I kept asking for her when they wheeled me out and when she came back I was crying and hugging her. I vaguely remember it. She was super helpful in the OR though. My heart rate started to really increase right before they put me out and she was a lifesaver being next to me keeping me from completely breaking down. Damn that estrogen.
I'm feeling much better about this time. I'm sad that my eggs seem to be so crappy but I really hope we got an awesome one in there and this is our time. Thank you all for the outpouring of support I have received in the past couple of week and especially today. It means so much to us.
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