We went back for the 1st scan since starting the FSH injections (Gonal-F). We had been taking a dose of 300 for 6 days… well, I say “we”, but I mean the missus.
This time there were two nurses. We’re not sure what their different roles were, but the 1st nurse had troubles doing the scan so handed over to the 2nd nurse. Perhaps one was junior and the other more senior, or one was an embryologist whilst the other was more experienced at scanning (?)
Anyway, the scan seemed to be fairly similar to the scan before starting the FSH injections, i.e. the right ovary was still not visible, seemingly very inactive. The left ovary had a cyst still, and had a few small follicles.
At this stage, I think they were expecting the follicles to be larger.
They suggested that we increase the dose of Gonal-F to 450, and then go back for another scan on Friday (3 days later). This means we’ll have to have a courier deliver more Gonal-F pens.
On Friday, hopefully we’ll see a better scan, i.e. larger follicles, otherwise they will have to cancel the cycle. I’m not sure what will happen after that, but I guess we can discuss it at that point, if we have to.
I felt sad throughout the day. It seems to confirm that there is a ovarian reserve problem – which we weren’t really sure about due to the conflicting results we’ve had back before.
I thought that since there doesn’t seem to be a good enough response to the drugs that perhaps it means there is no point in trying IVF in the future.
In a way, this could be a good thing. It would be worse if it seemed there was a half-chance, and we went all the way through the cycle and it failed. And worse still if we tried IVF several times and they all failed. Both for the emotional, and financial cost.
The other things I’m wondering now, is if other clinics would have any more luck. Or also there seems to be a “short protocol” which can work for some women who don’t respond to the “long protocol” that we tried.
Also, there is anecdotal stories about acupuncture helping, but the missus seems quite against trying that, so far.
IVF couple 
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