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Tuesday, March 27, 2007

She's still an Angel!

The woman is a Godsend, I kid you not. Anees, the phlebotomist that I encountered before was at the medical centre yesterday and she welcomed me with open arms for my CD23 bloodwork.

In preparation for today's sticks, I had had 3.5 litres of water, worn sleevless top with a cardigan (to give her easy access to either arm), and kept my arms warm all day to bring the veins to the surface. Let me tell ya, never in my LIFE have I ever gone to pee that much during a workday! Dear heavens!

Anyway, Anees took us in and had me jump up on the table. I'd taken my Loraze.pam of course (an hour before) and I was firmly plugged into the soothing sounds of my walkman, keeping me in a semi-lucid state. She palpitated and found the sweet spot; I just sat there tapping my foot, squeezing a foamy thing and breathing VERY deeply. I lay down, and she swabbed twice... and STICK! She got it on the first try! Yahoo! All in all, she took seven vials for testing.

Today's round of tests include:
- Glucose
- Hemoglobin
- White Blood Cell count
- FSH
- LH
- TSH
- Prolactin
- Estradiol
- Progesterone
- DHEAS
- T3
- T4
- Free Testosterone
- Feratin
- Folate
- Vit B12
- Insulin

I ought to get the results in a week or so. Hmm, that reminds me to get my results from my CD3 work awhile ago too. And lo and behold, it's time to have my annual Pap done too. Joy... Another peek at my hooha. Hopefully I can get the surgeon who did my lap last year. He was very good.

Today is CD24. I usually go for about 27 days or so, but I seemed to have ovulated late this time on CD17; maybe my cycle will be a bit longer this time around. We'll see. I've noticed since I'm off the Clo.mid and all the drugs that I DO ovulate on my own (as evidenced by a natural thermal shift) but that I am ovulating later that I would be with the Clo.mid/drug combo. I dread going back to the drugs. I guess because I know I ovulate, I don't want to mess with that, you know? Why push ovulation to CD12 or 13 when I would ovulate normally on CD17? As long as my luteal phase is 10 days plus... what would be the issue? I'm curious now. Anyone know?

P.S. To answer your question, my angelic phlebotomist prefers not to use a butterfly needle because the flow is too slow and would be agonizing for me to endure.

P.P.S. Oh yes, the migraines are linked to estrogen levels ladies; the rapid and wild range of rising and falling estrogen during a monthly cycle can induce both ovulation migraines as well as PMS-type migraines. Welcome to the fun. Meh.

4 comments:

Baby Blues said...

Seven vials! I'd be needing transfusion after! I once fainted after being extracted a vial.
Hoping for good results.

Aurelia said...

The ovulation thing, btw, is not so much about when you ovulate as controlling it and getting as many follies as possible.

That said, ovulating way too early or way too late can cause eggs to fail. Too early means not enough slow and steady estrogen exposure, which is the ideal. Some people theorize that this kind of early ovulation is associated with chromosomal problems, but no proof as of yet. Too late is too much estrogen with too much variation in levels. Which means unstable eggs, liable to falling apart.

12-17 days sounds fine, but further than that may not be ideal, IMHO.

Sorry about the migraines, btw. Ouch!

Sambalina said...

Good Lord that's a lot of blood.

Here's hoping for good results!!

Anonymous said...

I had to have blood drawn today. It took 3 different sticks to get one measly vial. I am glad your blood draw went well!