Follicles

I am quick at picking up information relevant to me (well, I am very inquisitive). And slowly slowly I am learning, gaining more and more knowledge. And today was one of those days in which I got to wear a smile on my face due to a new understanding.
Well, as my title suggests, my new revelation was to do with follicles. I never understood what on earth do the technicians see in the ultrasound. The lining I think I understand, but how can they see any follicles, and count their sizes?? Although each time I'm there I try, I still don't get it. I see her measuring something, and the numbers running up on the screen, but... You see, I was sure, in fact I "knew" that follicles are long tubes hanging down from the wall of the Fallopian tube. I don't know if it's the Hebrew name for the follicles that made me have that vision or what, but that is how I imagined they looked liked, and, well.. of course I never got to see such a thing.
Well today on the way home, frustrated that again I had no idea what I was seeing, it suddenly occurred to me that we do live in a marvelous era where information is a keyboard away. So of course I googled ultrasound images and gained a smile. Hope that when I return on Friday, I'll manage to put what I learnt into practice, and to finally see my follicle!


So this is how they look like:

The first image I saw that made me say Ahhhh. So the follicles are not a long tube, but rather some kind of a round shape.
(image from:http://www.advancedfertility.com/anovulat.htm )


Seeing this (actually there were two pictures adjoined - the other was the same but without the white outline, but this one made more sense to me..) the Ahhhh turned into a "Wow, I get it!"
(image from: http://storm.unimb.si/ultrasound/index.html )


Here my "Wow, I get it" turned into a smile.
Now I can see it :-)
(image from: http://www.ivf-infertility.com/infertility/investigations/female/ovulation.php )