Tiny update

I had my Estradiol (E2) blood test today.  Each follicle secretes a certain amount of E2 as they get larger.  The E2 level lets the doctor know if I am under- or over-stimulating.  After 5 days on the stims, they want the numbers to be about 250 to 300.  I am at 334.  So, I'm right on track.  They don't think I'm overstimulating and they think a good amount of follicles are maturing.  No changes to my medications.  I go in on Monday for the start of my daily ultrasounds to watch the growth of the follies.  Things are looking good!!

On a side-note, today is my last day that I can have intercourse or do any exercise because my ovaries are getting full and heavy. Since it is in writing, Keith thinks it is doctor's orders.  Ha! 

My friend Becki, and her boyfriend Dennis, are in town this weekend.  I don't know what fun we have planned yet.  However, they watch Diners, Dives & Drive-Ins as well as Man Versus Food quite regularly, and I know places in Boise have been featured on those shows before, so maybe we'll gorge ourselves on some great food! 

Just because

Keith is at some sort of business meeting something-or-another tonight.  That means I get to watch Glee!!!  I always record it and then watch it when he isn't around.  Best. Show. Ever.  He actually will watch it, too, but then he always asks "who's that?" and "Isn't she with so-and-so?" and I have to sigh heavily while I pause it to explain it all to him.  So, this works out perfectly.  It also means that I'm on my own for dinner.  Spiral Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, here I come!

I saw Scott, Acupuncturist Extrodanaire again today.  He is now focusing on making my uterus a welcome environment for an embaby.  He put one needle in the top of my head, so that everything focuses "up".  He also used this infared light on my belly, which made me feel so warm all the way through.  I don't think I've been that relaxed ever.  I swear, he is magic. 

Anyhow, that about sums up my day.  Now I'm off to watch Glee, cook some Chili for tomorrow's work party, and veg with Cleo.  Night!

Breakfast of Champions

Here's a picture of my morning ritual for the next 2 weeks. 

The large vial with the small (orange) syringe is the Lupron.  The vial with the green top is the solution that mixes the other 3 vials, which are powder.  Those are the Follicle Stimulating Hormones (FSH).  The little cap is what actually helps mix them all.  The small peach pill is my aspirin. This helps keep me from clotting, but also causes bruising from the shots about every 4th shot.  The white pill is the Metformin and the MASSIVE purple pill is my pre-natal.  We had to look twice at the bottle to make sure it wasn't a suppository!! 
Keith is having fun being the chemist.  With my supervision, he mixed all three FSH vials into one shot.  It took him a bit to get the hang of it, but he'll have it mastered tomorrow morning.  Since he's still too squeamish to do the shots for me, this is his way to be involved. 

Baseline

I don't think I updated this part...last Monday (10/18) was my last day on the birth control pills.  I guess my body decided to continue to be a team player, because AF came promptly on Wednesday!! This is such good news simply because that means I don't have to take another drug to start it...Now onto the baseline ultrasound and the REAL fun.


To start, it's a Monday Morning.  Those are never fun.  It rained all day yesterday and last night, so the dogs did NOT want to go out for any reason.  Cassi the Siamese couldn't decide if she wanted out or not.  Some glitch in "TV Programming World" had the "reality show" The Hills on instead of the news (shoot me), so I didn't even get a weather update.  But, Boise State is still #3 in the nation, so all is good in the world!

To top it all off, I had it in my head for some reason that my appointment was at 9:00 for some reason.  I was all ready to go and would have gotten there about 10 till 9:00.  Until I got a reminder on my phone that my appointment was at 8:30.  Argh!!  I really should have checked that.  So, at 8:30, I'm rushing out the door, swallowing all my pills, and on the phone with the receptionist telling her I'm a dork, I'm speeding down the street, and I'll be there by 8:45.  Thankfully, they are a understanding office, and I didn't kill anyone on my way in!! 


I finally get there without any speeding tickets or casualties (that I know of).  Keith is already there, just smirking.  We went right in and met Kim, the ultrasound tech.  She was super nice and I love her.  She said we'd be seeing a lot of each other over the next couple of weeks.  She walked us through the whole thing, especially when I told her that I had to update everyone on the blog!  So, my uterus looks perfect.  No adhesions or monsters or anything else bad.  My uterine lining is super thin right now, which is how it should be.  My left ovary had about 25 follicles that she could count.  She was amazed!  The right has about 18!!  This is such a great sign, because each of those could mature into a nice, plump, healthy egg to be retrieved!!  Both ovaries look nice & healthy without any signs of overstimulation. 


Then we met with our coordinator, Janna, again.  She is very excited about the u/s findings.  She showed us how to mix the medications next.  I'll be doing 2 vials of Bravelle and one of Menopur each morning. Each vial is a powder to be mixed.  We'll mix them all into one shot, so I am really only doing 2 shots a day instead of 4.  She mixed them for us, and I did the shot sitting there in her office.  Nothing to it.  Well, Keith was sweating & pale, but nothing to it for me.  And we were done. 


When we checked out, Diane, the lady that checks you out & does the billing, said we were such a pleasure. She knows that this stuff is crazy and hard on people, but we've had such great attitudes and have been so easy to work with.  She said people like us are the kind she always misses because it works the first time around and she never sees us again!!  Woo hoo!! 


Tomorrow I'll post a picture of all the shots & pills.

The emotional rollercoaster

K is out hunting with his brother and nephews this weekend.  He was extremely excited to go out and (hopefully) see Gavin get his first buck.  I always get kinda sad when he leaves, especially since I feel like I really don't have any friends here in Idaho.  I have a few that I get together with on occasion, but for the most part, our lives are all so separate.  I have my single, voraciously independent friends.  They are amazing women.  But, a lot of the time, my married-trying-to-have-babies lifestyle doesn't quite fit in with their social calendars.  I also have our married couple friends.  However, most activities with them are done as "couples" and I'm a broken couple this weekend. 
All of my life-long friends - my "pre-K" friends - live in other states with husbands and kids of their own.  Sometimes I miss Becki & Monica so bad it hurts. There are times when it sucks being an adult. 

Anyhow, today I was doing laundry and catching up on all my shows that I recorded.  At the end of Private Practice, there was a patient who was pregnant and had chronic pain.  Her pain was so bad that her husband couldn't touch her belly to feel the baby kick and that broke his heart.  She had a surgery, the results were perfect (because, of COURSE they were!) and after she was awake, he came in the room to check on her.  She took his hand and put it on her belly and he felt the baby move.  All was perfect in the world. 
I started bawling.  Just uncontrollable crying.  The thoughts of K never being able to feel a baby move in my belly overwhelmed me.  I even tear up as I write this.  So, I just let myself cry for about 20 minutes.  I couldn't seem to stop, no matter how strangely the dogs looked at me.  Cleo kept head-butting me, knowing something was wrong.  Finally, it passed.  I felt stupid. 

I blame it entirely on the medications.  Yes, I'm a fairly emotional person.  I cry like a baby at Extreme Makeover, Home Edition.  I get chills and tears in my eyes when I hear a good, heart-warming song.  But to completely lose control like that?  Thank you Lupron!  One of the biggest side-effects is menopausal-like mood swings.  Get me off this ride!

I have a friend, Courtney, that is going through IVF with Dr. Slater's partner, Dr. Faulk, in November.  She is a week behind me on the whole schedule.  She had to start her Lupron today.  I thought about her all morning, as she is petrified of needles.  She has been positively flipping out about this for weeks now.  I sent her a text message asking how her first shot went.  She informed me that she nearly passed out, felt very nausease and finally had to have her husband give her the shot.  I picture him pinning her down on the bed, ripping the top to the needle off with his teeth, and stabbing it into her belly.  I wish we lived closer just so I could do each shot for her, but she's 3 hours away.  To try and make her feel a bit better, I told her about my blubbering-idiot moment.  She told me to stop being a dummy and turn off the tear-jerkers.  Huh. Logic.

I went to lunch today with one of my feircly independent girlfriends today.  I absolutely adore catching up with Christy.  She brings out the reluctant shopper in me, too.  She helped quickly get rid of any lingering blues and bounce right back into normalcy.  After I got home, I had a delivery at the door:

I bet she didn't expect me to start crying again! 

My life in colors

I realized this morning that I no longer live by a conventional calendar.  I was 2 days late on my nephew's birthday, a day late on my brother's birthday and didn't realize that I had Columbus day off of work.  I used to look at the calendar in the office at home and see when payday was ($), see what days K or I had off work (slash), and know each person's birthday so I could print a card (name of person).  The past month and for the next 6 weeks, that has gone out the window. 

My calendar now looks like this: http://www.my.calendars.net/demaline_ivf/d18/10/2010?authenticate=VFSWHJXKEQOBJUDRBIGHU&display=M&style=B

Color-coded for each drug to take and appointment to keep.  When do I start a drug (green), stop a drug or activity (red), continue on a drug (yellow) or have an appointment (pink).  It's a nifty little tool to have at my disposal, especially since it is online and I can view it from anywhere. 

The one drawback?  There's no room for a LIFE!!  Oh well, sometimes you just gotta sacrifice!

Start the Shots

Yesterday was our first shot class.  We just went over the Lupron instructions, and the nurse made sure I knew the dose to do.  We turned in all our consent forms and made sure they were paid in full.  This is really it!! 

I did my first Lupron shot yesterday.  It is a tiny little insulin needle, so I barely felt a thing.  Afterwards, my stomach itched for about an hour.  I told K it is my “instant itch injection”.  I haven’t felt a ‘side-effect’ as of yet, so fingers crossed it will stay that way.    K is trying to get up his nerve to do the shots for me.  Not that I mind doing them, but he really wants to be as involved as possible.  I told him that we will practice on an orange tonight so he could get the hang of it.  I figure he can’t do too much damage with an insulin needle. 

We also both started the Doxycycline yesterday.  That is just an anti-biotic that we’ll be on for 10 days to make sure that we don’t pass anything back & forth between us.  I started my baby aspirin yesterday as well. 

I go see Scott, the acupuncturist, again today.  I don’t really feel any different from the last visit.  I am getting to sleep without my sleeping pills, which is an improvement, but it is a very light, restless sleep and I wake up quite often, and that’s a new development.  I guess we’ll see what he has to say.  I really like him and am so positive about his help in this whole process.

K is seeing him, too, for the first time today.  He finally relented and decided to see if he can do anything about his back pain.  It will be interesting to see how he does, seeing he has a fear of needles.

Below is a picture of my “breakfast” for the next 10 days.  Lupron, birth control, Metformin, Pre-natal, Doxycycline & baby aspirin.  Yummy!!!

Like an early birthday present

So, we got our box of medications yesterday.  Here's a picture of all of it layed out across our table.  If I was overwhelmed before...

As you can see in the background, Sophie is thrilled over this as well.  Fortunately, for the next two weeks, I just take 17 pills a day.  Most are vitamin supplements or Chinese herbs.  I guess it's better than shots, right?