Mid-cycle

Well, I went back to XXXX clinic today. As I had feared, the scan was pretty painful on my leg. More embarrassing, though, was the fact that I was completely unable to get up off the trolley when the guy had finished, and I ended up asking him to come back and haul me upright.

He measured my lining at 11 mm, then looked at my left ovary and said I was going to ovulate from that side this month. I had a 17 mm follicle, and everything looked normal. Then he looked at my right ovary, and there was a 16mm follicle there too, so apparently ovulation is not one of the things I have problems with.

He talked again about getting immune testing done. I hadn't really thought I wanted it, but one of the things they test is thyroid function, which can affect FSH and other hormone levels, so that swayed me in favour of getting it done. Fortunately, I'd had some breakfast before I went down to the clinic - they took 19 phials of blood from me. As I said to the phlebotomist, since I give blood I'm used to having that much taken from me at once - but I do usually get a cup of tea and a biscuit afterwards.

The next thing is that I have to use OPKs for the next few days and call them again when I get a surge, then they'll take more blood four or five days later to test my progesterone level.

They want to do the hysteroscopy as close as possible to the start of my treatment cycle, so wouldn't book an appointment for it just yet, in case the immune testing shows up anything that needs to be treated before we start. The immune results usually take about three weeks, but they're going to try to rush it through a bit.

If all goes well, I'll then have a hysteroscopy the week before Easter. AF is due on Good Friday, and as the clinic is open 365 days a year, the four day weekend won't affect my day 2 blood test. Assuming everything is OK with that, I should be able to start the short protocol straight away.

If we can't start straight away, I won't be too bothered - it'll give my back more time to heal and the supplements and new regime more time to take effect. We were told not to try to conceive until we had finished the full four month programme, but if everything is OK to start next month, I'm not going to delay. A delay would also give us more time to save the money to pay for it, though.

I'm resigned to the fact that we won't have any firm answers about either the current job situation or our IVF chances before I have to make a decision about the new job. I have an interview next Monday, and the easiest thing would be if I they don't offer me the job. If they do... well, then I have a difficult decision to make.

In the meantime, I have sticks to pee on - and for the first time ever, I'm pretty confident that I'm going to get a positive result in the next few days.