Stalled/Falling E2... Can It Be Saved?

[Megg33k]

I'm in the middle of my 2nd ICSI cycle. We did our first in Nov/Dec 2010, and it worked. We had a beautiful little heartbeaty bean until 10 weeks.

We're back in treatment now, and following the same protocol. After all, it worked last time. My first cycle had some bumps in the road, but we ended up with 4 eggs, 3 mature, all 3 fertilized.

This time, we've followed the same protocol, but my E2/follies aren't cooperating. These are my numbers from last time and then from this time.

E2 prior to stimming (Mar 24): 34

6th Day of Stims

Apr 4 (1st U/S & E2)
Lining: 11.6mm
Right Ovary: 7 x 14mm
Left Ovary: 6 x 14mm & 1 x 15mm
E2: 336
Repeat U/S & E2: Apr 6 @ 8am

8th Day of Stims ***TODAY***

Apr 6 (2nd U/S & E2)
Lining: 14.32mm
Right Ovary: 4 x 14mm, 3 x 15mm, 1 x 16mm
Left Ovary: 7 x 13mm
E2: 321
Repeat U/S & E2: Apr 7 @ 8am

Upping my Follistim to 200IU and hoping to save the cycle, but not looking good!

Last Cycle's #'s

Spoiler

E2 prior to stimming (Nov 23): 72

6th Day of Stims

Dec 3 (1st U/S & E2)
Lining: 13mm
Right Ovary: 2 x 12mm, 3 x 13mm, 2 x 14mm, 2 x 15mm
Left Ovary: 3 x 11mm, 2 x 12mm, 1 x 13mm
E2: 584

8th Day of Stims

Dec 5 (2nd U/S & E2 - triggered that night)
Lining: unknown
Right Ovary: 4 x 14mm, 7 x 17mm, 1 x 18mm, 1 x 19mm
Left Ovary: 4 x 14mm, 1 x 15mm, 1 x 16mm, 1 x 22mm
E2: 1299

Obviously, the follies didn't grow like they should have. And, my E2 dropped a teeny bit (which could be considered more of a plateau/stall due to daily fluctuations). My FS is upping my Follistim from 150IU to 200IU for tonight and tomorrow, and we're rechecking on Friday morning to determine if we have to abandon the cycle or not.

I'm having trouble finding examples on Google that aren't MUCH more drastic than mine. It seems most people have like 1000+ E2 and then it drops to 200 over night. That's obviously not salvageable. But, I want to believe that maybe mine isn't too far gone to recover... I just don't know if its logic or hope talking.

My coordinator swears that they will NOT go through to egg collection unless they believe that I stand a good chance at a successful cycle, because I have a finite # of tries available on my insurance and it "doesn't count" if we don't do EC. I just wonder if I should be holding out any hope? Or, if I should just plan for it to fail like there's no other way? (Don't worry about me "getting my hopes up" or anything... They've been dashed all they can already. I'm looking for straight up honesty.)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Megg33k]

16 views and nothing? That seems like a bad sign for me? I'm going to hope you don't know the answer rather than prefer not to give me really bad news. LOL

Either way, I'll update tomorrow for anyone who might find this in the future. Thanks for looking, girls. xxxx

 

[Starbright]

Hi Megg
Sorry to hear that things aren't responding well. Don't know the answer i'm afraid but didn't want to read and run.
I really just wanted to say that I was sorry to hear you had a m/c after your last icsi. I m/c'd after IVF last year. I haven't got the strength (or the cash) yet to go through all that again. It must be really hard to get up the nerve to have a 2nd cycle and then find it's not going as well as hoped. I really do hope that things turn around and you go on to have a successful cycle
xxx

 

[Omi]

 

[Megg33k]

Hi Megg
Sorry to hear that things aren't responding well. Don't know the answer i'm afraid but didn't want to read and run.
I really just wanted to say that I was sorry to hear you had a m/c after your last icsi. I m/c'd after IVF last year. I haven't got the strength (or the cash) yet to go through all that again. It must be really hard to get up the nerve to have a 2nd cycle and then find it's not going as well as hoped. I really do hope that things turn around and you go on to have a successful cycle
xxx

If it weren't for my insurance paying, I definitely wouldn't be back in yet. Its only been barely 2 months since I lost our LO. It was 2 months ago on the 2nd, actually. But, the only way for us to feel like we were getting past it was to move forward. So, this bump in the road is a lot more devastating than it might have been under other circumstances.

I'm sorry to hear you also MC'd after your IVF. Its an awful feeling. Felt so much like a broken promise. Everything was just perfect on one Tuesday, and the next Tuesday was my last day with him/her. We still have no clue what happened. I still can't think about it without crying.

 

[Flake-y]

Megg, just popping in to wish you lots of luck with this cycle, I really really hope it doesn't have to be cancelled. You deserve some good ttc luck coming your way!!!