Talked to PPVI

I talked to a nurse from PPVI this morning and she said that the doctor (one of Dr. H's colleagues, since he's on vacation) thought that it's probably either a polyp (this would be not good) or a flare-up of the infection/inflammation that they found during my hysteroscopy in December.  If it's a polyp, I'll need to have another hysteroscopy to have it removed and I would need to figure out where to have that done since it would be really difficult (both time and money-wise) for us to go back to Omaha for it.  I don't know if there is anyone close that I would trust to do it.  Infection/inflammation would just mean doing the 10 days of antibiotics for 6 months or so (and they may do the diaflican again since they found yeast), which would be much easier and less time consuming.  The nurse said that they'd probably have me do that first before recommending another hysteroscopy.

I had my P+3 u/s yesterday but it was at the hospital's radiology center so I didn't really get any information about what she saw.  Part of what Dr. H is looking for is whether I'm really ovulating or if I have LUFS, and I'll hopefully have some answers about that in the next day or so.  I'll be posting once I hear something.

I really hope they can figure this out and get this bleeding under control.  I'm sure it hurts our chances.

Cortisol, etc.

I got my results from the cortisol draw (11.4 at 9am), and Dr. H wants me to do the low-dose cortisone since it was on the low side of normal and due to the my answers to the adrenal questionnaire.  I got the letter late today, so I'll be talking to the PPVI nurses tomorrow.  D and I also have been on the 21-day antibiotic regimen again.  The worst part is the horrible taste in my mouth that develops after I take the pill.

To Misfit, I don't think that any sort of hormonal intervention would work at this point in my cycle, plus I don't want to use up any time on hormonal support before my surgery when it's less likely to result in a pregnancy (assuming of course that once I'm cleaned out I'll actually be able to get pregnant).  It is my first full cycle after my lap so maybe that's why ovulation is delayed.  I wouldn't have thought that it would be holiday stress since the cycle didn't even start until after Christmas.   I guess I should assume that next cycle will be a break cycle unless I ovulate this week sometime or have late ovulation that cycle and don't ovulate until after the surgery.  I would be nice to be pre-peak and close to ovulation at the time of my surgery so I could do the u/s series.  I'd like to get the series done but if it doesn't happen this time, it won't happen in Omaha.  I wish I could get it done locally.

I'm feeling a bit down right now.  My grandma feel again and broke a rib.  She has problems with nerve transmission and it's really easy for her to fall down due to that.  I'm tired of waiting for my surgery since I was hoping everything would be fixed last month.  It's been 18 months since I found out about Creighton charting and over a year since I received my letter from Dr. H saying that I'd need to have the surgery done and that he suspected endometriosis.  

Yeast

Just a quick update. My endometrial cultures from my surgery came back with an unusual strain of yeast so D and I will be taking Di.flucan later this week.  I'm still waiting to hear if there will be any other treatment for my chronic endometritis (chronic inflammation of the uterine lining) before my surgery.

B/W results (lots of numbers) Updated

I got my b/w result today. According to Dr. Hilgers, the only concern is thyroid function due to the low ratio of T3/RT3. I'm supposed to be receiving information for the temps and pulse study in the mail soon. I know a few other people have done this so I'd appreciate any feedback.

Day 5 FSH= 7.3 mIU/ml (normal is 8.1+/-2.1 so it's normal)
Day 8 Estradiol= 4.1 ng/dL (the unit commonly seen is pg/ml so you multiply by 10, which would be 41 pg/ml)
Day 10 Estradiol= 9.6 ng/dL (or 96 pg/ml)
Day 12 Estradiol= 8.6 ng/dL (or 86 pg/ml)
Day 14 Estradiol= 13.6 ng/dL (or 136 pg/ml)
Day 16 Estradiol= 30.7 ng/dL (or 307 pg/ml)
Day 18 Estradiol (O-1 or Peak E2 according to graph)= 62.4 ng/dL (or 624 pg/ml)
Day 20 Estradiol (O+1)= 10.3 ng/dL (or 103 pg/ml)
P+3 Estradiol= 13.6 ng/dL (or 136 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 14.0 ng/mL (normal is 9.4+/-4.1)
Just as a note spotting started in between these two blood draws
P+5 Estradiol= 20.3 ng/dL (or 203 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 26.6 ng/mL (normal is 14.4+/-4.7)
P+7 Estradiol= 34.1 ng/dL (or 341 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 36.3 ng/mL (normal is 15.7+/-5.7)
P+9 Estradiol= 35.0 ng/dL (or 350 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 33.8 ng/mL (normal is 13.6+/-5.3)
P+11 Estradiol= 40.6 ng/dL (or 406 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 23.6 ng/mL (normal is 8.1+/-5.0)

Other P+7 results
Androstenedione= 2.0 ng/mL (normal range is 1.1-2.1)
DHEA-SO4= 118 mcg/dL (normal range is 92.8-219)
FSH= 3.7 mIU/ml (normal range is 1.9-5.9)
LH= 5.7 mIU/ml (normal range is 0.0-9.0)
Prolactin= 15.7 ng/mL (normal range is 3.0-20.0)
Total T4= 11.5 mcg/dL (normal range is 4.5-12.5)
T3 Uptake= 26.8% (normal range is 24.0-35.0
FTI= 3.1 (normal range is 1.1-4.4)
FT4= 1.4 ng/dL (normal range is 0.8-1.9)
TSH= 1.98 mcIU/mL (normal range is 0.4-4.0)
Total T3= 129 ng/DL (normal range is 70.0-170.0)
Reverse T3= 386 pg/mL (normal range is 90.0-350.0) so I'm just above normal
T3/RT3 Ratio= 3.3 (should be greater than 10)
Testosterone= 34.2 (normal range is 17.5-43.51)
Free Testosterone= 0.6 (normal range is 0.6-1.8)

I'm not clear on if the thyriod issue is hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. I think it's hypothyroidism, but I'm waiting to get my paperwork in the mail.

As you can see, my progesterone levels don't seem to be the cause of the spotting since they are actually pretty high. My progesterone levels, pre-peak estradiol levels, and post-peak estradiol levels are all above the high line on the graphs of normal values on the bottom of the results pages.

Note/Update: I don't know if the FSH:LH ratio of 1.0 is applicable for the luteal phase since these number are Peak+7 instead of the CD3 which is when the test is usually done looking for PCOS. PCOS has never been brought up as a likely cause of my infertility/ovulation issues.