Woah... Time is sure flying on this calendar of mine! My excuse for not posting last week, was because I must have been busy and I'm getting older / forgetful with this last birthday - yup that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Well for a recap, week 4 wasn't much different than the beginning of week 3 as I just continued on my nightly Lupron shots. I will have to admit that the shots are getting easier and easier each and every day.
Thursday, I had my baseline ultrasound and blood work done. I also had to fork over my share of the cost for the procedures at the fertility clinic. Thank goodness for flexible spending accounts! I am pretty pleased that I put enough in the flex for this year to cover the cost of the medications and the fertility clinic cost. I'll hopefully be able to plan for next year with the hospital bills WHEN baby J comes! Anywho, the appointment at the clinic went well. I was a little nervous as I had started a "cycle" as the birth control pills ran out... I wasn't sure if this was a normal thing or if the whole process had somehow gotten messed up and I would have to start over?! Needless to say I was pretty scared to go to the appointment, but my nurse Nicole shrugged it off as it was nothing to worry about. BIG sigh of relief after that...
Onward with the ultrasound! Nicole was looking to see how my ovaries looked and measure the follicles and the lining of the uterus. She basically reiterated the fact that I did have PCOS, because when you look at the pictures that she printed off you can see multiple follicles present in the ovaries - which is nothing new... I've know this since at least December 2011. However, week 5 brings an addition of two more injectable drugs. These two drugs (Repronex and Follistim) are both stimulation drugs. They will stimulate the growth of multiple eggs within the ovaries. Typically you only produce one egg during a cycle, but these two medications will produce multiple eggs to allow for multiple eggs to be taken during the egg retrieval process. This sounds good, but this stimulation can be a problem with a person who has PCOS as you may overstimulate too many follicles. So those with PCOS can get OHSS - gotta love acronyms. Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome. Basically, I want to produce more than one follicle, but do not want to produce too many. Therefore, the clinic will be monitoring my hormone levels and being very careful about the dosage of the two stimulation medications they prescribe!
Speaking of medications... I picked up the two drugs on Friday. I absolutely love Bauder's Pharmacy. I know that this is probably a requirement that they talk to you about how the injections work, but the pharmacists are so nice and take the time to really make sure you understand the process. They were very busy with people coming in and out getting prescriptions filled. The pharmacist had to walk away from me for about 5 minutes and the pharmacy tech asked if I wanted something to drink for free. Such kind staff. The pharmacist explained that the Repronex is somewhat of a mad scientist drug. The vials contain a power that I will mix with a liquid. For the moment, I will be mixing 2 power vials with 1 cc of liquid every evening in addition to the Lupron. Follistim is in a cartridge pen style form that I will be injecting in the morning. I wish all of the drugs came in this style! All you have to do is dial the pen to the correct dosage and stick yourself and push the pen in until it clicks! So much easier than drawing the medication into a syringe or doing this mixing business! Guess what life isn't easy...yeah yeah, I hear your finger violin a playing... :)
There must be some real winners, impatient, or rude people that come in to get their medications as the pharmacist was amazed at how I was picking up on the information she was telling me. She made mention at one point that I should be teaching this "class." Again, as I said she felt really bad about having to leave me sit there for a few minutes that when I went to leave she asked if she could buy me an ice cream cone. I had to confess that I had already had a shake at lunch time, and that I probably shouldn't indulge in another desert for the day (stupid on my part to have a shake at lunch knowing I was going to Bauder's - which has THE BEST malts I've had in years). She said that I needed to call in ahead of time on my next visit to pick up my trigger shot (right before egg retrieval) and she would make sure that someone would be here to help me right away as well as buy me an ice cream cone. Have I mentioned I love this pharmacy?
I'm going to try this next week to get some pictures of the drugs and syringes for a visual... mostly because I want to be really open about what I'm doing as well as document this journey. Life is a roller coaster at the moment as I said I was slightly depressed, nervous, and anxious for that first Dr. appointment. However, I definitely feel like I'm on cloud 26 now!! I can't wait to start the stimulation drugs! I have appointments on the 2nd, 4th, 7th, and possibly the 8th to track how the stimulation is progressing. From there the 9th, 10th, or 11th could be go time for retrieval! Those dates then bring the 14th, 15th, or 16th for the embryo transfer! These next two weeks are going to fly by and like I said I CANNOT WAIT!!!! After the transfer days will bring a little bit of a down hill slide for the roller coaster wondering if things went well and baby J will be a reality. I am happy to say that I will be going to Canada on the 24th for the annual fishing trip, so that will help take my mind off of the results for a little bit!
I am just so excited I just want to tell the whole wide world - but not right now... I'll just be happy with letting you all know that things are progressing in the right direction!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL
ALJ
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