IVF #2

Rather than make post after post, I thought I’d keep everything about this cycle in one page, then once it’s over I’ll transfer it to one big post not unlike the Stealth FET Cycle post. Just click here for the latest update.

May 10 – Is it just a law of the universe that if you must get up way earlier than normal one morning, you will be unable to fall asleep the night before? Am I the only one who finds herself really disliking the soundly sleeping husband in bed next to her at 2:30am? Nevertheless, I managed to haul myself out of bed, grabbed the jeans and t-shirt I’d taken off and dropped on the floor the night before, pulled my hair into the most half-assed ponytail ever and got to the clinic by 7:10. I had the best blood draw EVER and tried to convince the woman responsible that she needed to be the only one to do them from now on. The sonogram went quickly and everything is “within normal limits.”

So, tonight 300iu follistim. Tomorrow and Tuesday, 225iu. E2 check on Wednesday. First dose of ganirelix on friday.

OWWW! I forgot how much stupid follistim stings! Stupid follistim.

May 11 – 225iu of follistim tonight. Didn’t sting at all. Who knows. Feeling fine so far if you discount the headache I’ve had on and off for a couple of weeks, thanks to the lovely weather.

May 12 – Got my calendar for the cycle today. Thanks to the rather rapid return of cycle day one on the weekend, then a sick day for the study coordinator, there hadn’t been time to get it ready for me earlier. The egg retrieval is tentatively blocked in for the 20th, 21st, or 22cd….That’s right, next week. That seems really quick to me. Of course, it’s been two years since I’ve done any sort of stim cycle. I’ve gone ahead and listed out the whole calendar below because having it in my email, printed out, written on the home calendar AND in my date book isn’t enough for me to feel like I’ll remember when to do what. Tonight is another 225iu of follistim.

* Since I was curious, I went back to April 2007 to see what my first IVF calendar looked like and actually, it only had 10 days of stims as well. It just seemed a lot longer because of the 8 days of lupron suppression at the beginning.

May 13 – E2 was 644. They typically look for it to be around 100. Who responds really well to stims? I do! So, I keep the dose at 225iu of follistim tonight and go back tomorrow for another check. If I were a betting woman, I’d say the ganirelix will begin thursday night instead of friday. I’m already starting to feel the effects…nothing specific, just a sort of heavy, full sensation. Not painful yet, but on just this side of uncomfortable. I’m not ready for the elastic waist pants just yet.

May 14 – Definitely starting to feel it. If I move quickly, hit a bump in the road, anything sudden, my ovaries make their presence known. By the time my second html class on Saturday rolls around, I should be good and uncomfortable. I’m still waiting on this morning’s E2 results. The sonogram showed 11 follicles worth measuring and quite a few more that aren’t there yet. It’s going to be one of those daily monitoring cycles. Tomorrow’s appointment is at 9:00. I’m guessing today’s dose drops to around 125 and there’s a better than even chance that I’ll start the ganirelix tonight instead of tomorrow (the study protocol has the antagon beginning on stim day 6, but they will give it early if necessary). The nurse already started to give me the salt intake speech. I guess if you go from nothing to 11 follicles measuring from 9.3 to 12.6 in four days of stims OHSS starts to move from possibility to given. Better go to costco and get the big gatorade mix. I just wish they had flavors other than lemon-lime. I’ll pop back in later with this morning’s test results.

E2=859. Keeping at the same dose! No antagon yet! That shocks me. Two years ago, we retrieved 18 eggs and I was on 125 units for most of the stim period. I’d better make sure I know where my yoga pants are.

May 15 – So Dr. N cleared the screen before I could see what the final count was this morning, but I think she measured 8 or 9 on the right and at least 6 on the left. I have a hard time keeping up with that. It still boggles my mind that they can tell which of those spots they’ve already measured. One of them is up to 18, the others range from 9 up. Two vials of blood drawn today…one for the E2 and one for the study. The nurse told me to come straight home and go ahead and do my ganirelix shot now. Normally, they want you to do them at night, but she was afraid if I waited that long that one 18 would go ahead and do it’s thing. Not a real problem, since Shannon works from home on Fridays and could give me the shot but tomorrow at this time, I’ll be sitting in a classroom practicing html and will have to give myself the shot in the Continuing Education Center’s bathroom. Ick. Just because I can do it doesn’t mean I want to or that I’m very good at it. I also have to go in for ANOTHER sonogram and E2 at 7:45 tomorrow morning. I’m a lucky, lucky girl. I’m definitely sore and moving slower. My jeans did button this morning but I’m about to go switch to something with an elastic waist. The prediction is retrieval on Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. I’ll update with the E2 when I get it.
E2 is 1341, follistim is dropped to 200 for tonight and tomorrow. I get to skip tomorrow’s sono and blood draw but have to go in Sunday at 8am. I’ve spent today as a couch root vegetable mostly just because I can. I’m tired and sore and I figure I’m allowed to just be on the couch watching my dvr’d Grey’s and Bones episodes.

May 16 – I managed to give myself my shot without too much anxiety this morning. I think I only had to tell myself twice that I had no choice and to just do it already. The ganirelix seems to have more of the itchy/stingy effect than the lupron ever did. With the lupron, it was just a sometimes thing and went away pretty quickly while the ganirelix has left me with the sensation of having been stung by a wasp almost immediately after getting the injection both times and it has taken about 15 minutes or so to go away. At least I shouldn’t have too many more of them ahead of me. I’m still extremely aware of my ovaries, so I guess it’s doing its job and keeping me from ovulating before we’re ready. I walk a little slower and I wince every time the car goes over the smallest bump in the road. I try to avoid having to bend over and I find myself wishing we hadn’t gone with the 18″ high platform bed, because getting in and out of it is a little tricky. I definitely hope the retrieval is on Tuesday. Tomorrow’s appointment is at 8am, so I should know if we’re triggering tomorrow night by lunchtime. Cross ‘em for me!

May 17 – What a morning. I got to my appointment on time, but they were running late and I realized I’d forgotten two things – to eat anything and to bring my ganirelix. When I was still in the waiting room 30 minutes after my appointment was scheduled, I called Shannon who sweetly brought my shot to me. By then, of course, I had already been taken back so he decided to just sit in the parking lot with the shot. An hour after my appointment was supposed to start, I was still hanging out in the exam room waiting for my sonogram, so on my third trip to the bathroom I asked the nurse how much longer she thought it would be, because it was time for my shot. After chatting with her, I headed out to the parking lot to meet Shannon. Second day in a row and I did just fine injecting myself. Much easier to do in a nice exam room instead of a public restroom stall. I still prefer to have him do it though. By the time she finally came in to do my sono, my bladder was so full again I had to make ANOTHER trek to the bathroom. The last FET, we had a hard time getting my bladder full enough. Sigh. I don’t know if this nurse is new or what, but she was very slow and I’m not entirely sure she got the best measurements. My right ovary was really easy to see, in fact it almost made measuring my uterus hard. It didn’t look like she measured all of the really big ones, but I’m just an amateur. I do know there were a hell of a lot of follicles on that side and they looked huge. My left ovary didn’t want to play and was up so high, I had to press down on my belly so she could just see it. She managed to measure a handful of follicles on that side. The largest she measured was 16 and change. No sign of Friday’s 18…either we lost it or it shrank or she missed it. I can’t remember which side it was on, so I don’t know if it was hiding out on difficult Lefty. Anyway, I’m home now and waiting on the E2 results and the decision on trigger or not. I feel sore and battered after all of the Magic Wand digging and poking. Definitely makes me appreciate the skill and speed of the weekday nurses.

E2 is 2814, same dose of follistim tonight. No trigger, dammit. Back again in the morning. Lather, rinse, repeat.

May 18 – The study nurse was as surprised to see me back there this morning as I was. I think there is little doubt that I’ll be triggering tonight though. Lots of high 15s, a couple 18s and a nice spread in between. Three vials of blood drawn today. Just waiting on the official call to confirm my E2. I’m soooo ready. I’m all stocked up on salty foods. I put a quart of gatorade in the fridge right next to a pitcher of water with slices of limes and a note that says, “MINE!” Of course, Shannon doesn’t like lime in his water but I was feeling silly. I have exactly one pair of pants that fit that don’t clearly look like I wear them to the gym. My boobs hurt so bad I dreaded having to wear my seatbelt. And yes, my left ovary is still making a break for cover under my lungs. Fortunately, Study Nurse L is a more gentle hand with the wand and I feel distinctly less bruised and abused today. Now I’m off to slowly waddle my way through a few chores while I’m still mobile because I have the distinct feeling that after that trigger I’m not going to want to do much in the way of folding laundry or tidying up (and yes, Shannon actually does help keep the house clean but he draws the line at putting away my clothes and sometimes his idea of tidy and mine don’t quite mesh. He will, however, be wielding the full-size vacuum tonight. No way I’m gonna lug that around the house.)

E2 is 4802, so tonight we inject 10,000 units of hcg into my hip, go in in the morning to make sure enough of it actually made its way into my system and wednesday we’ll see how many eggs make it into my basket.

May 19 – I passed the hcg check this morning so that’s it until tomorrow. I treated myself to a pair of orangey-yellow knee socks with white daisies on them since the only thing of my own I’m allowed to wear during the procedure is socks. I wish I didn’t have to take off my necklace with the twins’ names or the bracelet Shannon gave me for a wedding anniversary. It would be nice to have them with me in the operating room. I understand the practical reason for it. I’m just one of those people who likes to have her talismans on hand at all times. I don’t handle anesthesia well…I tend to forget how to breathe as I’m coming out of it which is scary for everyone involved even though we expect it and prepare for it. I also don’t do IVs well. I have shitty veins, particularly in the backs of my hands which means that I spend more time than is healthy anticipating the extreme pain that’s going to cause me (usually in both hands because the first few tries never work, necessitating a switch to the other hand). So anxious, hormonal, already terribly uncomfortable, hungry (no food or drink after midnight tonight…I have a long history of waking up at 3am to have a banana and a glass of milk), tired – it all adds up to me sobbing in the prep room pretty much until they actually put me under. It would be nice to have my charms with me.

I’m going to spend today tidying up the house. I splurged on the Method dusting spray because I love the almond oil smell of it. I also splurged on Mrs. Meyer’s Basil scented cleaner because it smells so good I want to wear it like perfume. If nothing else, I’ll distract myself with pseudo-aromatherapy and chores. Our appointment is at 7:15 in the morning. I have no concept of how long it will take since last time they sent me home after three shots of demerol and a healthy dose of tylenol 3. I’ll update as soon as I can.

IVF #2 May 2009 Calendar
May 13 – E2 check E2=644 keep follistim at 225iu

May 14 – Follistim Another E2 check and sono E2=? 11 follicles measured ranging from 9.3-12.6

May 15 – E2, sonogram, follistim and start ganirelix E2=1341, follistim=200iu, ganirelix.  ~14 follicles ranging 9-18

May 16 – Follistim=200iu and ganirelix

May 17 - E2 and sono; possible trigger E2=2814, lots of follicles and one stubborn ovary. No trigger, much to EVERYONE’S shock. Ganirelix and 200 of follistim

May 18 – E2, sono, and study blood. ganirelix . Trigger and start tetracycline and methylprednisolone.

May 19 – hcg level blood, tetracycline and methylprednisolone

May 20 – Retrieval (Goodness, I just read down that far on the instruction sheet. We have to be at the clinic at 7:15 for retrieval!). Tetracycline, methylprednisolone

May 21 – tetracycline and methylprednisolone

May 25 – likely transfer

June 3, 4, 5 – Possible pregnancy test and blood draw required for study