Just keep doing what you’re doing, says the nurse. It is Sunday, so the doctor is out.
I get poked – blood shows my estrogen is at 1671, progesterone is 0.9, leutenizing hormone 0.6, all good and normal.
On the right ovary (above, right) you can see 6 follicles of varying sizes – they are the black sort-of-circles. Some are big (18mm+) and others smaller (12mm). She counts a whopping 9+ 8, which means 9 look like they will grow to maturity, and there are another 8 that are growing but lagging behind and may not be fully ripe when it’s harvest time.
On the left (above, left) you can see 3 follicles on the left and what I think is a gas bubble that obscures the view. The nurse somehow manages to count 10+, which completely surprises me. I press her for more details, but she’s not into it. Just gotta wait.
If we get to harvest time (retrieval) and they pick 19 ripe follicles from the trees, that could be a really fabulous start. Yet, I find myself unable to get excited at this news, given that last time we went from twelve to none in less than 7 days. You can’t count your chicks until they hatch, so we keep doing what we’re doing. Get brunch, followed by the Portland Pride Parade. Two things we never do.