high five, fist pump.

You know what one of the best things about blogging is? 

You learn how much other people care. And how freakin funny people are. Exhibit A: a comment I received last night on yesterday's post-

I almost fell off my bed laughing at this. Homegirl (okay, Abby) made a SURVEY for me??! Clearly qualifies for BFF status, that's all I'm sayin'. 

But I guess that brings us to the topic at hand that Abby was alluding to: yesterday's follow-up appointment. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you probably saw me go all crazy-excited with WE GOT GOOD NEWS!!!!!!! as I was leaving the appointment. In retrospect, that was kind-of a jerk move, the vague 'GOOD NEWS!!!'--now quick, disappear and don't say anything specific! post(s). But I'm sure you can understand-- good news must be celebrated, and as such we went directly to Ulta. Obviously nobody has time for texting in Ulta. Sorrynotsorry.(Please note: had we received bad news, we also would have sought comfort by going straight to Ulta. Crazy how makeup works both ways. And also by 'we' I obviously mean that Matt indulges me. Pretty sure he doesn't find any particular comfort or joy in going to Ulta. Actually he probably spends the whole time praying for our bank account.)

SO! I had big plans to update the little chart I made last time, but daggumit I can't find the document ANYWHERE! I looked on all our home computers and jump drives...couldn't find it. Figured it was on my work computer. Can't find it. Stupid. So I can re-post the chart from June and then I'll just have to write out the new results in a paragraph. Such a data presentation failure...hopefully you can forgive me.

JUNE CHART:

AUGUST RESULTS:

Total Count: 95 mil
Total Active: 27.5 mil
Penetration Count: (didn't test this since last time was NORMAL!!!)
Survivability: Not sure about the percentage, but the isolatable fraction count was 1.6 mil (!!!!) (from 300k last time?!?!)
Morphology: (either he didn't test this or just didn't tell us results, oops)
Motility: 29%

He also had his bloodwork redone in order to monitor the effects of the drugs he's on. He didn't previously have any noticeable problems/issues with his hormone levels, etc., so they wanted to make sure the drugs weren't causing any or doing anything else weird. But a nice discovery is that his testosterone level (which was previously on the low end of the normal range, but still totally fine) DOUBLED from 464 to 857!! And the new level is still well within the normal range, so it's a good thing...not too high.

In summary: EVERYTHING WENT UP!!!!!

Dr. W's conclusion: Matt's body is responding REALLY well to the current drug cocktail. He was pretty jazzed (and unlike my freakin optimistic RE, Matt's guy usually keeps his emotions on lockdown a little better). Ready for this?

He said Matt's chances of impregnating someone (haha, I don't say me because I'm not really an ideal candidate...someone normal!!) naturally (w/o ART) have gone from the 10th percentile to the 40th percentile!!!

That's a huge increase!!! Woooo!

But even better??

Well, for one, he said that if we stay on the current drug cocktail (which we are), we can expect to see continued improvements for probably the next six months. Which is awesome!! He said our chances of conceiving naturally have increased dramatically. But of course we should do IVF because now there is like a billion percent chance that it will work. (He didn't say that part about a billion percent. It's just the impression that he gives in his tone, which of course I know is not true because DUH.) So we nod and smile because we're still really not interested in pursuing IVF right now.

BUT!

Then he says in this sneaky, offhand way: Well, if you're not yet interested in pursuing IVF...I would say you're on the cusp of being able to go for IUI again.

?!?!?! HOLLA!!!!

Because last month that was all I wanted to hear. And he shot it down completely. And our numbers were SO far from the minimum that they'd want us to have to consider IUI again. But now he's singing a different song!! And yeah...I can look at our numbers. They're still not quiiiiite high enough to be where he said he'd want them. But they're a heck of a lot closer. So that's probably why he said 'on the cusp,' which of course I immediately translated to 'WE'RE DOING IUI TOMORROW.' (But not really.)

I tried to play it cool, like I really could care less if our numbers are creeping up into the almost-normal range. Ya know, like my eggs are getting YOUNGER every day. I was all "well, we're doing some traveling this month and next month, so I really don't think I could squeeze it in...you think we could do it in the fall sometime?" and he was like "yeah, that would give you a little longer to see even better results from the meds...that would be good." Totally cool. I'm sure he had no idea I was excited by this news.

Of course, this means I have to get the idea approved by my RE. Dr. W said he'd chat with Dr. S and let him know that he'd approved the idea. I need to make an appointment with Dr. S because I haven't been monitored or had an ultrasound in a year now, since my surgery, and I have no idea what the State of the Uterus (and tubes, and everything else) is. So it's not like we're totally in the clear, but we're a heck of a lot closer than we were on Tuesday!

I don't know why I'm so excited...I think it's just been three long years since my 3 IUIs in fall 2010...three long years of NO DOCTORS BEING WILLING TO DO THEM AGAIN because we were too broken for even that. And that's really something, when it's basically a low-risk, easy-peasy procedure that they get paid a lot of money for whether it works or not. So it's just nice to finally feel like we have an OPTION (that isn't a $20k IVF).

So there's our "WE GOT GOOD NEWS!!!" update. Big numbers improvement and a halfhearted clearance to pursue IUI...I'll take that over an appointment like June's anytime.

And thank YOU for your prayers, for the sweet texts and emails and comments, and for just generally being awesome and caring. You make infertility a much less lonely journey than it used to be. I'm really grateful.