Greetings from Denver

Hello all, I'm sitting here in my room at the Element Hotel writing this...in Denver at last!

First off, I wanted to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for your comments over the past couple of weeks - each and every one means so much to me, and I can't thank you all enough.

Brief recap of my time thus far:
I got to the airport yesterday afternoon, and of course my plane was overbooked.  Had a stressful couple of hours where I had to wait for people to voluntarily reschedule before I got a seat.  Thank goodness I eventually got on, although they put me in a middle seat on the most crowded, uncomfortably packed flight I've been in for a while.  I felt very crumpled and overheated by the time I finally deplaned.

On my way in from the airport I stopped off to get dinner at Rjoja, which is in downtown Denver and just a short detour on the way to Lone Tree.  I recommend it - has a nice atmosphere and an eclectic menu.  I had a very civilized dinner there and got to the hotel about 9pm.

Went to C.CRM this morning for my u/s and bloodwork.  They were extremely busy this morning, and everyone was rushing around like mad - probably trying to get things wrapped up before tomorrow.  They counted only four follicles at this point (two on the left, two on the right), ranging from 6 to 14.  I am disappointed there aren't more, but am trying to stay hopeful.  This is after 5 days of stims, so I have a little time yet to improve the situation.

When I got done, I did a bunch of shopping for supplies - went to Walgreens and bought a huge thing of lotion and some moisturizing shampoo/conditioner.  It is so dry here that my skin and hair feel thirsty all the time.  I also went to Whole Foods and stocked up on snacks and food supplies.  And then (don't laugh at me) I went to IKEA on a whim and bought a cheap ($10) paper lamp because the fluorescent lighting in the room here is depressing.  That's my only complaint about the hotel - otherwise it is clean and comfortable.  Once I get a lightbulb for this thing I'm hoping it'll cheer things up a bit...I'm a big believer in proper lighting!

I got back to the room late afternoon and waited for my phone call from C.CRM.  I wanted to get my full results with E2/LH, so I could compare them with my last couple of cycles.  Unfortunately like a dummy I had switched my ringer off and I missed the call.  That seriously bummed me out - I was not scheduled to go back to C.CRM until Friday so I would have had to wait 2 whole days to get another report.

Luckily I managed to get a hold of someone at the clinic and they were kind enough to read me my results - E2 is 468 (up from 147) and LH is 7.2, up from 4.3.   Of course I don't totally know what this means but I do know that you want your E2 to be rising and that they estimate one egg to equal about 200 of estrogen.  And in comparing these results to my last 2 cycles, it does look like my E2 is higher than either of the last two at this point (5 days of stims).  Not that that's saying much - I barely made any eggs at all in those cycles.

They have started me on Ganerilex as of tonight, and I'll be taking it every day until trigger.  I have been speaking sternly to my ovaries telling them not to ovulate early.

I'll be alone tomorrow on Thanksgiving, but am planning on doing a videochat with H and buying some ready-made turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes from Whole Foods.  I also have a couple of movies, so I should be all set.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with good food and lots of love.  Will update soon!