Nurse Rachel is My Friend

Today I talked to Nurse Rachel (Jennifer doesn't work on Mondays). She agreed with the nurse I spoke with on Saturday with respect to the estrogen level not being reliable because I had already started the patches. She wasn't sure why Jennifer had requested an estrogen level and said that, if it were her, she would have requested a progesterone level and LH to test for impending ovulation. But she did say maybe Jennifer was thinking of something that she wasn't, so she would make sure to talk to her when she was back in the office (tomorrow).

We talked about how we could get comfortable that I am properly suppressed. She suggested that since I'm coming in for a blood draw on Wednesday, we should add a progesterone and LH to the order. She said they could squeeze that in without the business office knowing so that I wouldn't have to pay extra out of pocket. The clinic requires payment for the cycle up front and for FET's it only covers one blood draw and one ultrasound at certain times in the cycle. This is why I had to pay for the blood draw last week separately.

Nurse Rachel also agreed to move my U/S date up from the 25th to the 22nd. I will still need to go in on the 25th for a blood draw and possibly another U/S, but the U/S may not be necessary depending on what they see on the 22nd. She is going to check with the business office to make sure I won't have to pay extra for the U/S being earlier or for having 2 if we end up doing one on the 25th as well.

She also assured me that having a heavy period did NOT indicate that the Lu.pron wasn't working. In fact, after reading my chart (imagine that!), she thought that it was likely just a sign of my body being back to cleaning itself out more effectively and it could be that it was triggered by the D&C. She also said that if that is the case, she thinks this is a really good sign that my lining might me much better this cycle. We also discussed the irregularity they saw on the U/S for my last FET when it was cancelled. She said it was possible that the irregularity itself was preventing my lining from getting thick enough. She said those types of irregularities (in her experience) are not related to hormone levels. So now that they've cleaned me out, the hormones they have me on should be able to do their job without the irregularity getting in the way. She just had a way of explaining things that made sense. She was logical.

Not only did she answer my questions, but she gave me my hope back.