I started my regular period on March 5th (full flow). Day 3 of the menstrual cycle is considered Day 1 of medication to stimulate egg production. I went in on Thursday, March 7th to have a transvaginal ultrasound and got blood drawn for estradiol testing. The estradiol results came back 19.96- within normal limits to start! So that day was our first injection of 300 units of Follistim- DAILY and Menopur is 75 units DAILY – at a consistent time every night. We ended up doing the first one at 8:30pm because we were having an "environmental / sustainability" committee meeting for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and that's when we got home.
Thursday was a bit stressful because I waited too long to start working on a poster. I spent the afternoon finishing it up and got it submitted to the printer by 5pm. We went to FedEx down on Ventura Blvd to pick it up in the morning and then made it to school by our usual time. We had all our bags packed on Thursday evening, which is great because then we could get on the road by noon on Friday.
Luckily, we had reserved a wonderful hotel in Fresno for the weekend. I attended the CSU Symposium and presented a poster on what I have changed in my teaching as a result of participating in 170 hours of professional development. There was a kitchenette with a great long marble surface that was exactly like our kitchen at home. It made me feel very comfortable doing injections there each night. There was also a sofa with a chaise that was a great place to rest while the medication sank in.
We went in for another ultrasound and blood draw on Monday, March 11th (Day 5). The estradiol level was 219.2 and Dr. Kolb saw 8 follicles on the right and 6 on the left. I didn't want to get my hopes up too much, but this was great news. To be sure, I was tired. Each night, I would go to sleep right after my injections (8:30pm) and I had no trouble sleeping through the night. We were waking up very early (around 5am) to be at the doctor's office by 6:45am for 7am appointments. HRC was fantastic at getting us in and out of there since I was working 5 days a week at that time.
I noticed my mood improved dramatically. I was very easygoing, much more than usual. It was like being on an antidepressant and antianxiety medication. I was extremely cool-headed, thoughtful, supportive and nice. Very unlike me. I also had dramatically different cravings for protein. I didn't want ANY carbs or dairy. I wanted no fruit. I craved leafy green vegetables and eggs. I will post another blog about my diet.
On Wednesday, March 13th (Day 7) at 9pm we added a third injection to the regimen. Ganirelix comes in a prefilled syringe, 250 mg in 0.5mL, which made it easy. Follistim comes in an ampule that you put into a "pen." Menopur is a powder that you reconstitute in saline solution and then inject it with a syringe. Mike was an absolute champ at administering these injections. We developed a routine where I would set everything out on a clean surface, I would sterilize my skin, and he would do all the mixing and injecting. We made a great team, but I think we were both getting tired of it by day 10.
Saturday, March 16th (Day 10), we had another ultrasound and blood draw. I never got the results of this one, possibly because it wasn't so important or maybe they didn't want to scare me with the number. It was a good time to ask questions and we found out that although after egg retreival, we would get a break from injections, the pregnancy would be carefully orchestrated with a new regimen of injections. Knowledge is power and I'm glad Mike spoke up and asked about that. We did our last injections of Follistim, Menopur and Ganirelix on that evening.
We were given the "trigger shot" medication (Lupron 4mg + hCG 2500 units) premixed in an ampule which we were told to store in the fridge and administer in the usual way at 8:30pm on Sunday, March 17th (Day 11) which I felt was lucky since it was St. Patrick's Day. We were instructed to do only that injection and not the others, so it was nice to do just one shot instead of 3. At this point my mood started changing away from being that easygoing, wonderful person that I got to experience for 10 days of bliss.
On Monday, March 18th, Mike had the awesome idea to go wildflower viewing since we're in the midst of a superbloom, but the flowers were in Lake Elsinore. Unfortunately, that is a 2 hour drive (about 100 miles away) and I just wasn't feeling up to it. We ended up at the Japanese Garden in Van Nuys, that is a 15 minute drive (about 7 miles away). It was a fantastic way to unwind and do some walking meditation. We were both feeling a little anxious about our respective procedures of egg retrieval and sperm production, so doing something outside of the house but nearby the house was a great way to spend the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment