2nd stim scan confusion! Help!

[Koala365]

I had my second scan today which is day 8 of stims (although I will only do the 8th set of injections tonight so 7 doses so far) and I was feeling quite positive to see that most of the follicles had grown and two more tiny ones had even shown up but then I had an email from the consultant after I sent her the report and now I am feeling confused and worried again! My scan today showed 1 x13, 2 x 11s, 1 x 10, 2 x 9s, 2 x 6s and 2x5s. I was told by the sonographer that they dont count as recruited until they hit 10. I also appreciate that the 6s and 5s are very small and may not make it to be large enough to collect eggs from. However based on the scan this morning, I was feeling pretty positive especially as there is no huge difference in sizes between the follicles and it all seems better than my last IVF attempt which got cancelled as I only had 2 follicles looking like they were big enough to collect from and blood tests were only indicating 1 egg on that cycle. So by comparison today was looking better even if you only count the 13, 11s and 10. However I then got an email from the consultant saying "It looks as though one follicle has been recruited" and they will wait to see what the blood tests show and scan me again on Friday and assuming that one follicle continues to grow, proceed to egg collection. I am now very confused and pretty down as if there is likely to only be one follicel at egg collection, this cycle really isnt going as well as I thought or had hoped. I really dont understand why the 11s and 10 wouldnt count. It's not as if I have one really big one such as an 18 and the rest are 11 or smaller and they are talking about triggering today. Anyone else had a similar experience or understand what is going on here? I've sent an email to the consultant questionning this but not had a response.

[Mlove12]

Hi Koala

I cant offer much advice if im honest but let you know that after reading your post- I am also confused!

From my own experience (I wrote on your last post too) I had some which were quite slow growers, but I did have a more ‘dominant’ follicle which was 17 by second scan, others varied between 5 and 11 after that. My clinic said they collect all eggs regardless of how big they are, but they like to collect when the eggs are ideally 17mm+, so my last scan was on a Friday (third scan) and collection was on a Monday and by the Friday I had 4 follicles over 17, so by the time monday was to come and also have trigger the night before collection, they felt happy with that and also gave other eggs a chance to catchup without the bigger ones getting ‘too big’ (biggest was 20mm by the friday).

I would question your clinic on the reasoning behind doing trigger to early? Why not continue meds until a couple are atleast 17+ so you know you have a good chance still, and some which are only between 11-16 may turn out to be absolutely fine to use! What do they mean by recruited ? Definitely question it lovely. Hope your ok x

[Koala365 in reply to Mlove12]

Thanks very much for your reply. I have now received a reply from the consultant and an update on the blood tests. The consultant apparently misread the report and agrees that the 2 x 11s count in addition to the 1 x 13. The consultant then said that anything 10 or under at this stage doesnt look promising. However I do know people who have had 9s and 10s continue and get big enougg to collect from and given that my lead follicle is only 13 at this stage, I would think they are not that far off so if they do keep growing consistently, they would be in with a chance. Just praying they do, but if they dont, this is still appears to be a better cycle for me than the one we cancelled in July. Blood tests look good apparntly too so I have another scan on Monday and hopefully they will keep monitoring me until egg collection which is likely to be on Friday!

[Purple276]

Hi Koala,

It does sound a little confusing. I agree that as yours are similar sizes thats positive and some could grow more than others over the next few days but at least there's not going to be a difficult decision about losing one good one that is ahead of the others.

You'll get a better idea at the next scan plus the trigger gives them a boost. Unfortunately lots of uncertainty so do what you can to keep in that positive headspace.

Wish you all the luck and hope EC goes well next week x