My period began a week ago Thursday (11.19), so it was officially game on. In terms of cycle days (everything is a cycle), Thursday was cycle day 1. I went to CNY on Friday (day 2) for baseline bloodwork, an internal ultrasound, and I was shown how to do my first injections, to be started on Saturday (cycle day 3). It's a whole lot to take in, and this kind of stuff is not for the faint of heart. I also had more appointments scheduled, since things have to be heavily monitored - I had an appointment this past Wednesday (day 7), Friday (day 9) and tomorrow, Monday (day 12). After my appointment last Friday, I sent the above meme to L. via text. He obviously didn't get the same humour from it as I did while making it:
You have to have some humour about the whole thing. If you can't laugh about it, there's no way to get through it! When I got home after my appointment that day, I went through my big box of meds to fish out the ones I'd be starting:
Yep, that was just one day (night, I should say - injections have to be done between 6pm and 9pm). A quick synopsis of what's going on in that picture - the clear tube with the blue cap (lower left) goes into the Follistim Pen (center). The pen is dialed to the appropriate dose (225 units) and injected into one of the Menopur (pink topped) vials. Then, take the syringe (top), unscrew the needle from it, put the Q cap (lower right) on it, snap it on top of the saline (gray topped) vial. Draw up 1 ml of saline, pull the syringe off of that vial and inject it into the Menopur vial you put the Follistim in. Gently swirl it around, draw it all up into the syringe, and inject it all into the second Menopur vial. Gently swirl again, draw it all up, take off the Q cap and replace the needle. Pick a spot on your stomach, swab it with an alcohol pad, pinch an inch (or 5) of fat in one hand, take the syringe in the other, stab and inject. Easy peasy... (sarcasm font needed here).
When I went for my appointment on Wednesday, they were pleased at the progress my body was making and decided to put me on another injection (in addition to the one I was already doing). So, they added the Cetrotide:
Yes, there are two needles - one for mixing, and one for injecting. Thank goodness, because the mixing needle is a 20 gauge (in terms of injections, that's pretty big).
The injections have actually been going fairly well (as well as injections can go, I suppose). The biggest side effect I've noticed so far is fatigue. Since starting the Cetrotide, I've been having a lot of cramping. I asked about it at my appointment on Friday (as it's also made the internal ultrasounds more uncomfortable) and it's as a result of the stimulation of my ovaries. Because they are trying to get as many viable follicles as possible (follicles = eggs), it's increased the size of my ovaries. Normal ovaries are approximately the size of almonds - mine are now the size of oranges. That explains a lot! Also, my stomach is turning a nice shade of black-and-blue with a variety of little pinholes (which usually go away after a couple days).
I go back for my next appointment tomorrow (Monday) morning. At my appointment on Friday, they found 6-7 good sized follicles, with a few more follicles having the potential to be a good size. I'll find out for sure tomorrow, but as of Friday, they were thinking my egg retrieval will take place on Wednesday. That'll be when they sedate me and go up and retrieve the good looking follicles, with the hope of the follicles having viable eggs. The eggs will be fertilized with Lloyd's sperm, and then placed into my uterus with the hopes of at lease one of them implanting themselves. This is becoming more and more real, and it's both scary and exciting. Also happening at my appointment tomorrow will be the addition of more medications...yay! (again, insert sarcasm font here)
We should know by just before Christmas if this cycle of IVF worked. Here's hoping for a Christmas miracle!
Happy reading!
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