Finally!

Yesterday was another long drive up to see Dr Z. The minute we started the u/s I knew the cyst was still there and as large as ever. It filled the entire screen. I was hugely disappointed and frustrated. I didn't want to be sent home once again and told to remain on Lupron until it finally decided to go away. I've already been on Lupron for 3 weeks and the headaches are getting much worse. After some discussion with Dr Z his recommendation was for us to aspirate the cyst and move forward immediately with the cycle.

I've now had cysts go away on their own, I've had them rupture, I've had one removed during a laparoscopy and now I've had one aspirated. The only thing I don't know about cysts is how to prevent them.

The aspiration was actually pretty interesting. I was pretty nervous b/c I expected it to hurt. Really wasn't bad at all. They give you local anesthesia and then guide this long needle with the u/s probe to the cyst. Once they puncture the cyst they drain out all of the fluid through a syringe. They removed two and a half large syringes full of fluid. I guess it was a lot...Nurse were talking about it around the office.

Basically the cyst was just a shell that wasn't going anywhere... or doing anything. Dr. Z said the cyst may fill up a little bit again but that it won't cause a problem b/c it's no longer secreting hormones and it wouldn't get very big. My estradiol is now 14 so obviously everything is very quiet... hopefully not too quiet! 14 is pretty damn low.

I start my Medrol, Doxycycline, and Gonal-f/Repronex today and will decrease my Lupron to 5 units. I'll be having my first IVIg tomorrow so I'll make sure I post again to tell you what that is like. Dr. Z won't bring me back for another u/s and blood work until next Sunday after 6 days of stims. My Natural Killer cells will be tested again at that time to see if I need another IVIg after the retrieval. J will do his part by providing a back up sample in what they call the jungle room.

Call out to Watson at My Dear Watson. I enjoyed our chat very much and hope we can meet up together soon.

Twiddling my thumbs...

as I wait for my cyst to go down...When will that be since it has now grown from 40mm to 57mm in just 5 days. The even stranger part is that my estradiol (E2) is down to 50 from the original 255 so the Lupron is finally working. Dr Z feels that the cyst is at its limit in terms of growing and should burst anytime now since the estrogen supply has been cut off. So my E2 is where is should be but I have this huge mass hanging out and it sure doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. During the u/s Dr. Z did his best to try and rupture the damn thing. It seemed like he was putting all of his weight on that probe... forcing it to push on the cyst. I could see it moving and bouncing back on the screen. Dr. Z kept asking if I was in much pain and I wasn't which amazed him. I was just thankful for having an empty bladder b/c he would have had a face full of urine from the pressure that was also being applied to my bladder.

I go back once again on Sunday to see if it's gone as Dr. Z predicts. He basically feels that it should go away quickly now that my E2 is low. My lining was thin and my other ovary was quiet so I'm in the exact place I should be to start my cycle except for this damn cyst. Dr. Z plans to keep me on the Lupron until the cows come home (cyst is gone) and doesn't seem worried at all that I'll be too suppressed. Trust me when I say I'll do the worrying for him. We talked about him aspirating the cyst and he said he'd rather wait it out b/c the cyst can just fill right back up with fluid if it's not ready and he said the procedure is somewhat unpleasant. I guess only a tropical or local anesthesia is used and it will help but not completely take away the pain. I'd tell him to go for it if we didn't have to worry about it filling right back up and he seems so damn confident that my cyst will be gone soon.

I didn't have any side effects the first two weeks on the Lupron but now I'm feeling a little under the weather. Just in time to replace the chest cold that is finally starting to disappear. I'm on my 3rd week of Lupron (10units) and I have a headache and feel tired and somewhat like I'm in a tunnel. I figure the side effects are now starting up since the E2 is finally down. The Lupron probably wasn't having much of an effect when the cyst was producing all of those hormones.

Gross side note: I can feel the cyst easily as I press on my lower abdomen. I can even hear the fluid moving around in it. I now play with my cyst throughout the day hoping I'll either pop the thing myself or notice that it is no longer there.