CD3 Bloodwork Results

So I don't really have very many details because we have a follow-up phone "regroup" appointment tomorrow with Dr. Surrey, however I just spoke to Dawn, who gave me my results.
FSH: 6.3
E2 (estradiol): 72.9
LH: 5.3

So my fellow infertiles understand these numbers, but family and friends are probably saying, "Gee Tiff, great, but what does all of this mean?"

FSH is basically your Follicle Stimulating Hormone. It should be under 10 to be considered good and it basically measures your ovarian reserve. Women are born with all the eggs they're ever going to have. Think of the FSH as a gas pedal. The harder you push on the gas pedal, the faster the car goes. The higher your FSH level means it's needing more and more "gas" to create follicles and "recruit" your eggs from your reserve. So, you want your FSH to be lower. The closer you get to menopause, more and more "gas" is needed to create follicles and the harder your body has to work, which causes your FSH to get higher and higher. Hope that makes sense to you. So my FSH at 6.3 is really good.

E2 (estradiol): They like to see it between 25-75 on day 3 of your cycle. Mine was a little elevated at 72.9. Sometimes a higher E2 level can lower your FSH level....which masks an egg quality problem. Since my FSH level was so good to start with, they're not overly concerned about it at this point. Dr. Surrey will explain more tomorrow. My E2 level has always been high on CD3 though, so it might just be how my body operates.

LH (luteinizing hormone): Your LH level is the hormone that "surges" when your follicle is mature every month, which sends a signal to your brain to "ovulate." They just like it to be less than your FSH......which mine was, so that looks good too.

My IVF nurse, Dawn, is going to give Dr. Surrey all of my results today and he will decide on our protocol based on everything he's been given so far. He will tell me what my protocol will be tomorrow and we'll go from there.

So that's a lot of "fertility jargon" and probably like a foreign language to the non-infertiles....but that's our life right now......E2, FSH and LH have become common language in our home, sad but it's what we've been dealt and we're going with it.

I'll update some more tomorrow night after we talk to Dr. Surrey!