Post 94: Another Day at the Doctor

We had our third monitoring appointment of the week today! Linda drove me to the appointment again, and it was a doozy. When they made my appointment, then squeezed me in between other patients. They had no openings for the day, and I was told ahead of time that there may be a long wait. When I checked in, every seat was full in both of the waiting rooms! They sent me to have blood work first, to kill some time. 

When I finished, it was back to waiting. Finally, it was my turn for ultrasound. Oh today was not pleasant. I usually have an ultrasound tech in the room, and occasionally a med student or other nursing student observing. Today, med student was in charge. Ugh. She was not gentle, wasn’t quite sure what buttons to push, and took about twice as long as normal for the exam. I’m also pretty sure she was checking my throat through my vagina at one point. Ouch. 

Right off the start they told me that I had a ton of mucous, which is what they were looking for! I also had a thing endometrial lining, which is perfect for helping embryos stick. The found 9 measureible follicles on the right side. And then it was time for the left. They’ve struggled with my left ovary with every appointment this cycle. After the med student said she couldn’t find it, I then got to have two sets of hands on one ultrasound probe between my legs, fishing around, hoping for the best. Ouch, I say again. There were comments made about my ovary hiding, twisting, and being behind my uterus. The ultrasound tech eventually pushed on my stomach to get the ovary into view, while the med student maneuvered the wand. It was so painful that they didn’t even worry about measuring. The just took a few quick photos, and called it at day. They measured five more follicles after the photos were taken, so we’re up to 14 measurable now! 

After the exam, I met with Roxanne. I was pleantly surprised to see her. She doesn’t usually work on Friday, and it was a holiday weekend, so I was expecting to see Chelsea or Lauren. I talked with Roxanne about how sick is been, and she told me I could stop the antibiotics, and that she’d call in a prescription for zofran to help. Then we got to the good part. They don’t really know what to do with me right now. My follicles are growing beautifully, but aren’t mature enough for trigger yet. However, my estrogen level is getting high, and they don’t want to have me overstimulate. If they trigger too soon, I won’t have enough mature eggs, but if I hyperstimulate it can cause a different set of problems. She sent me home with another Gonal F pen, since I didn’t have enough for another dose, and said I’d receive a call later in the day with a plan. 

Linda and I killed some time after the appointment, shopping for groceries for Easter. When we hadn’t heard anything, we grabbed a quick lunch at Whole Foods, and headed home. I ate a few bites of chicken and mac n cheese, which was the most I’d eaten in days. 

On the way home, Roxanne called. They’ve decided to has me come back again tomorrow. Ugh. They want to see how much more I progress overnight, to better determine when to trigger. I’m to take the same doses of medicine (100 Gonal F, 75 Menopur, and 1 Ceteotide) tonight, then they’ll update for tomorrow. Depending on my progress, we’ll trigger some time between Saturday and Monday. Please don’t let it be Monday! 

Post 93: Monitoring

We had yet another monitoring appointment today! Labs look good, my estrogen level has gotten a little high at 844, but the follicles are looking beautiful! 

I talked with Roxanne after the ultrasound, and explained what had been going on with my neck. She was concerned about a blood clot, and said to check it regularly, and if I found a lump or knot, to go to urgent care. Well, on our way home from Wake, I found a lump. Crap.

We headed straight to Urgent Care when we got home. They had absolutely no idea what to do with me. The doctors best advice was to, “Say my prayers and hope it doesn’t happen again.” The lump was gone by the time we got to uregent care, so they decided that I’m having a reaction to one of the medications. There’s no way to tell which medication though. He wanted me to stop everything, and just give up IVF. When I told him that wasn’t an option, he prescribed an epipen. 

I followed up with Roxanne after leaving Urgent Care, and she said that they agreed it sounded like an allergic reaction. I was told to keep taking all medicines like normal, but to add Benadryl each night as a precaution. 

I go back on Friday, so hopefully, everything will be good to go. They’re still planning on trigger Friday or Saturday, and retrieval Sunday or Monday. 

(Backup) Post 92: Twitching

Today was a good day. Fairly symptom and bloat free. We did Easter activities in dance class, I went to acupuncture, returned to class, and attended the Talent Show at Richlands Elementary to cheer on one of our dancers. Linda arrived, and Julie was asleep, before I got home. As I sat on the couch, my neck began to twitch. It wasn’t muscular. I could feel my pulse, and there was pain from the top of my shoulder to behind my ear. I decided to lay down, and it continued throughout the evening. My appointment with Wake Forest is only a few hours away, so I’m going to hope for the best, and will talk to our doctor about it in the morning. 

Post 91: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Just when we thought we knew the plan, we were wrong! Dr. Johnston had prepared us to move our timeline up for our retrieval. We were supposed to be back at her office on Wednesday and Friday, but after looking at the ultrasound, she decided Thursday and Saturday would be better, and egg retrieval would be on Monday or Tuesday. We got home from our visit, I explained the new plan to Courtney, called Tom and Linda so they’d be here to travel with me Thursday, rescheduled a court date, and thought we were good to go. 

When I got to the studio, I checked my email. I had a new message from Roxanne. She said that based on the blood results, they want to see me Wednesday. Ugh. I just cancelled those plans! I responded and said we’d be there, and asked if the egg retrieval was still looking to be early next week. Lauren replied and said that based on the number of follicles I have, and my increasing estrogen level, that they don’t expect me to make it to next week. What!?! Yikes! I was not expecting this to move so quickly. I’m just starting to wrap my head around the fact that we’re doing IVF again, and now my timeline has been moved up almost a full week. Eek!

I cancelled Tom and Linda, they’ll be here for Easter, but not any earlier, and talked to Courtney about riding with me to Wake Forest on Wednesday. I can make the trip alone, but almost six hours in a car is a long time for silence. 

My instructions from Roxanne also included new medication dosages. I’m continuing 112 units of Gonal F, 65 units of Menopur, and will also add a vile of Ceteotide beginning tonight. Cetrotide prevents my body from ovulating naturally, which allows the eggs to mature further. I’ll also add the HCG booster to help mature them even further before retrieval. So, here’s to shots, new plans, and an updated timeline! We’ll know by Wednesday when we’ll take the trigger shot, and will schedule the retrieval. Ahhh! Let’s do this! 

Post 90: Monitoring

We had our second monitoring appointment today! Shaun and I left home at 6:45AM, and Julie stayed home with Courtney. I am seriously bloated today, and it’ll only get worse from here.

We had a new ultrasound tech today. She was very quiet. I prefer when we’re with a tech and a student, and I get to hear what they find. Today, I still had 19 follicles. One was a little too large, 8 were right where they wanted, and 10 have the potential to catch up. This is such a huge change from last time. We had so many follicles, but the sizes were all over the place. 

After the ultrasound, we met with Dr. Johnston. She has to be one of the best doctors I’ve ever met. She puts us at ease, and takes the time to answer questions. We are never rushed, and always feel important. She explained that the cycle is going beautifully. That the goal this time was to tweak what they’d done in the past, to produce higher quality embryos. So far, it looks like it’s working. I don’t have nearly as many follicles as the last two cycles, but my levels are a lot better. I overstimulated both times previously. My estradiol level hit 3500 the first cycle, and 1500 the second cycle. Her goal this time was to keep it around 400. I’ll be stimming longer, with lower doses of medication, adding in Cetrotide to prevent ovulation, and adding an HCG booster to mature eggs before taking the trigger shot. If all goes well, we should end up with a good amount of quality embryos! 

We left Dr. Johnston, did our blood work, and headed to get cupcakes from Gigi’s. We’re headed home now, and are waiting for a call with our updated medication doses. We’re back on Thursday for another monitoring appointment, and again on Saturday. They’re expecting to trigger Saturday or Sunday, with retrieval on Monday or Tuesday. It’s getting exciting! 

Post 89: Party Day

Today, we relaxed, and celebrated Ella’s third birthday. Ella is Kelsye and Derek’s oldest daughter, and she and her sister Zoey are the newest members of our family. Their adoption is not yet finalized, but hopefully will be completed soon. We left the house at 7AM, and arrived at Fort Imagination with moments to spare. The party was perfect for the little princess. There was even a special guest appearance from Rapunzel! Julie had a blast, and loved meeting all of Mama and Dada’s friends...and Rapunzel! 

After the party, we headed to Tascha and Jeff’s house, where three of the girls took naps, while the grown ups talked. It was such a nice day. I miss my friends, and I love that we pick right back up where we left off. We’ve all grown and changed over the past ten years, but our friendship has continued. Beteeen Tascha, Kelsye, and myself, we have five girls ages 15-36 months - two natural, two adopted, and one IVF. It’s a beautiful story, and each is special. Mindy was with us today, too! I think our girls were plenty of birth control for her, but I also see her having a houseful of kids when she’s ready. 

We finally got to exchange Christmas and birthday gifts, then we headed to Nanny and Poppy’s house for dinner. We’re heading home now, and should be back in time for medicine. That’s what life revolves around now - shots. I’m so glad we got this little break today. It was much needed, and we’ll see each other again soon! 

Post 88: Day 2

Today, we had our first monitoring appointment. We woke Julie up at 6:45AM, and threw her in the car. I was sick again this morning (thanks estrogen), but was fine by the time we started driving. We got to Wake Forest with minutes to spare. 

The appointment went well, and was over quickly. My ovaries were hiding, according to Pam, our ultrasound tech this cycle. She had a hard time finding my left ovary, and it was probably the most uncomfortable ultrasound I’ve had. My lining looked good, and I’m starting this cycle with 10 follicles in the right ovary and 9 in the left. Only one follicle was measurable, which is a huge improvement over last time. We used to start with multiple large follicles, and they’d mature too quickly. All of the follicles this time are at the same starting point. The one that was measurable was still small - it was just the dominant follicle that I would release naturally. 

After the ultrasound, Pam gave me a wipe to clean myself, and Julie demanded one too. She thought it was the coolest parting gift, and carried around her sanitary wipe all day! We met with Dr. Johnston after the ultrasound, and she said things looked great. That the follicles were exactly where she wanted, and that I should start to feel “bloaty” soon. 

Chelsea met with us next, and went over medication dosing procedures. I’m taking 112 units of Gonal F and 75 units of Menopur beginning tonight, and also start doxycycline and aspirin this evening. I was also told to remove my estrogen patch. After our consultation, we were good to go. We’ll be back at Wake Forest on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week for more monitoring. My medication stays the same until Monday, at which point they’ll reevaluate based on follicle growth. 

After our appointment, we let Julie decided where to have lunch. She chose Chuck E Cheese, with no prompting from us, so we agreed. She had an absolute blast. We were the only ones in the restaurant, and they had just opened. She got over 500 free tickets for being there first. When they turn on each machine, they spit out tickets. She collected all of them before playing games. We played, had some pizza, and headed home. Shaun and I both had to work, but we waiting to head home until nap time so Julie would stay close to her normal schedule. 

Shaun got off work late tonight, and we’ve already messed up our medications. Ugh. I was supposed to receive my injections between 7PM-10PM. Shaun got home exactly at 10PM. I was thinking it would take him five to ten minutes to prep the medicines. I was wrong. At 10:30PM, he was finally ready to shoot me, and I probably would have shot him if it took any longer. They said we have a 30 minute window on the injections, so it looks like 10PM is the time we’ll be injecting each night. I forgot how much the injections burn. I guess we block out a lot of what we went through. Only nine more days of stimulation. I think. Balls. 

Julie woke up right before Shaun got home. She said she had a nightmare, and her belly was hungry. She stayed in our bed while Shaun shot me, then had a yogurt, cheese tortilla, and we put her back in bed. She screamed until almost midnight. So much for getting sleep tonight.