Here we go again!

It seems as if July is just flying by and I have gotten way behind on the blog. Here is the latest in the ever-evolving Schunke Story!

Last week, Richard and I met with the new doctor, Dr. Phy. She reviewed our case and the notes from Dr. Jabara. While there were many things she agreed with him on, she did not think I responded poorly on the last cycle. She feels very positively that IVF can help us get pregnant. She was sooooo positive, that it almost seems unbelievable for us. It is strange to hear one doctor say the odds are not good and another to be so positive. So here we are jumping in again. And very quickly! On our last IVF cycle, Dr. Jabara controlled the start of the cycle with birth control (yes, sounds strange huh?) and had me on it for 5 weeks so that we could stimulate right after school let out. Dr. Phy works off birth control too, but only the normal 3 week time period. She is afraid that staying on it longer might supress my ovaries too much. As I was finishing the third week on Monday, we had to get ready fast. We could have waited a month, but it would have interfered with school causing me to miss the first three days of school. Talk about stress! It would have been to hard to be out that much right off the bat, so we jumped in this month.

We are going to use a different protocol this time. Most of the drugs are the same, but there are some new ones and some new combinations of drugs. Dr. Phy seems to have a lot of experience working with patients who have high FSH. This protocol is designed more for this type of infertility. I took one drug called Cetrotide on Monday. I had my baseline ultrasound and bloodwork today and everything looks good for starting stimulation. I will begin stimulation drugs on Saturday. We are using Gonal-F again as we did last time. We will be combining it with another drug called Menopur. We used this drug last time too, but much later in the stimulation protocol. She has also added one more drug, Ovidrel, in a low dosage. So, to start off on Saturday I will have four shots a day for the next week.

The big adventure is that I have to give these shots myself as Richard is out of town this weekend. Fortunately, these are relatively easy ones, so I think I can handle it.

Going into cycle number two is a lot different than when we first started all of this. There is a certain degree of excitement, but also a lot of fear. I think our biggest fear is of what happens if this does not work. Part of me feels very positive and the other part is just plain terrified. Going through a second cycle is emotinally difficult, financially difficult, and physically difficult. The schedule this time is a little crazy as well and I am worried about our cycle interfering with Richard's walk to emmaus. But, I believe God still has his hand in this and I will do all I can to trust in what He wants to do here. We will see where He takes us!