FSH dosage increased-> everything is happening so fast!

Hello,

Today we went to Austin to our followup appointment for our IVF cycle. The appointment was at 11:45am, but Pablo had class with Dr. Angela Reed at 9:30am, so we both went to Truett Seminary. The class addresses spiritual guidance and direction, and Pablo was presenting this morning on the topics of Ethics and Referral and he led the class in a spiritual discipline. Dr. Reed was very understanding and kind by allowing Pablo to step out at 10am after his presentation this morning. She is awesome.

Right after Pablo's presentation we drove to Austin. The traffic was not to bad. We made it right on time; we arrived at 11:30am. We were called into examination room #9; we wanted to take a picture in the room, but simply put, the room does not put you in a mood for taking pictures. So we took a picture of the bed where they do the sonogram, and Pablo tried to make it look better with Instagram and its thousand filters and effects, but there is no way you can make that place look pretty, appealing, or welcoming. That bed is just a reminder that something wrong may or may not have happened, and we are about to receive the news.

After a few minutes, Dr. Lisa J. Hansard, stepped into the room. She was dressed like a nurse, and started to examine Nancy and speak up numbers to another nurse taking notes. We thought "who is this nurse? She is not Dr. Burger! who is this stranger". Pablo asked, "Excuse me, who are you?", and she replied, "I am Doctor Lisa Hansard", and she made a big emphasis in the "Doctor" part. And Pablo wanted to reply, well in that case, I am "Doctor Pablo Rivas", with a big emphasis in the "Doctor" part; but he did not say a word. This doctor did not explain things to us; thus, we understood that everything was fine because: a) there was no change the planned dosage (which was planned to increase twice as much), and b) we still have an appointment for next Wednesday at 8am.

Right after there, we went to the laboratory to get some blood work for Nancy. The doctors are monitoring closely the levels of estradiol. "Growing and maturing follicles will produce estradiol in your body, which is measurable in the blood stream. So, a small number or smaller follicles will produce less estradiol. A large number of follicles or larger follicles will produce more estradiol. Because each woman is different, there is no magic number that should be attained for estradiol results. Ultimately, we don’t want to see estradiol results too low or too high. Levels that are too low may indicate that you are not responding to the medication and require a higher dose. Levels that are too high may indicate an increased risk for multiples, due to a high number of follicles, or an increased risk of the development of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)." So, once again, they put a needle in Nancy's arm to get more blood samples.

On the way back to Waco, around 3pm, we visited our friend Johanna Rojas in Temple, Texas. You may know her for her famous fundraising youtube video (click here to watch it) where she is the voice speaking Spanish.

Today was a good cold day in Texas. And in the spirit of thanksgiving, we want to say THANK YOU to those who have supported us financially in the last few days:

Josue Calero $500
Nick Wright $510
Johanna Rojas $75

Guys, you have no idea how much your gift is helping us; you all are awesome. If you want to support us too, click here.

The expenses in this visit were:

• Sonogram + 15 min consultation with Dr. Hansard (not covered by insurance): $200.00 dollars.
• Saint Davis Surgical Center deposit for extraction and embryo transfer (not covered by insurance): $2,250.00 dollars.

Total: $2,450.00

Thank you! Please share our story!

Peace,

Nancy and Pablo