Today was the last test for me - the mock embryo transplant. Basically seeing size and shape of everything before the actual operation to ensure that implantation will work. Good news - no issues seen!
Everything will start two weeks from today! The only things to do before then is talk to the pharmacy about my prescriptions because I will need to have them on hand before my ovulation evaluation. Basically because if everything is as they want it to be at that appointment, they will call me in the afternoon to start the injections that evening. It's getting real now! I'm both excited and nervous. Worrying that it might not work despite the fact that they said all the tests indicate that it should work. Nervous about how I'm going to react to the hormones - both emotionally and physically. What if the hormones don't react well with me and we have to delay until they get a new hormone cocktail figured out? What if they cause me to be a royal pain in the butt to everyone around me? That sort of thing.
So, two weeks and then the evaluation, signing our life away in contracts, paying the $22,000 for just treatments (not medication, anesthesia, copays, etc.), and getting a quick injection tutorial from Debbie to ensure we know what we're doing those two days before our injection class.
I'm really going to enjoy the relaxation in Puerto Rico next week before this all starts...
Friday, May 18, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Dennis' Surgery
Dennis had his needle aspiration surgery today. Lucky him, he's done with everything now! We had an early surgery time of 8:45 and we had to be there at 7:15, so we couldn't even sleep in on our day "off." We ended up sitting in the waiting room until a little after 8:30, so I'm not really sure why we had to be there so early. After he finally was taken back to pre-op we were able to meet the anesthesiologist and I got to meet his urologist for this procedure Dr. Shin. Dr. Shin was so great. Really easy to talk to and he explained everything in easy to understand terms. He even came in joking and asked if Dennis slept okay last night. When I mentioned that I thought so since he didn't wake me up talking in his sleep like he does sometimes, Dr. Shin's response was "Good, well I slept well too so no worries!"
Dennis had the best case scenario. If they didn't get everything on the first aspiration, they would try again on the other side, and if it still wasn't enough viable semen, then they would do a more intense surgery while they had him under. I maybe read four pages in my book in the 15 minutes he was in surgery before they came to get me to tell me he was already awake and talking. Best case scenario - the embryologist was able to confirm enough viable, mobile swimmers on the first aspiration and he was done. It was another half an hour or so before he was off of anesthesia long enough to be able to pick up his prescriptions (pain and antibiotic) and leave. Lunch was at Chic-fil-a before heading home to ice himself down for the day. He was feeling well enough to go out for drinks tonight with friends. Part one of the process complete!!!!
The next steps are a mock embryo transfer on May 18 for me and then bloodwork on June 1 to see if I'm ready to start on the hormones. June's the big month!!!
For your amusement - here's a great photo of my wonderful husband trying to make his pink gown look manly! :)
Dennis had the best case scenario. If they didn't get everything on the first aspiration, they would try again on the other side, and if it still wasn't enough viable semen, then they would do a more intense surgery while they had him under. I maybe read four pages in my book in the 15 minutes he was in surgery before they came to get me to tell me he was already awake and talking. Best case scenario - the embryologist was able to confirm enough viable, mobile swimmers on the first aspiration and he was done. It was another half an hour or so before he was off of anesthesia long enough to be able to pick up his prescriptions (pain and antibiotic) and leave. Lunch was at Chic-fil-a before heading home to ice himself down for the day. He was feeling well enough to go out for drinks tonight with friends. Part one of the process complete!!!!
The next steps are a mock embryo transfer on May 18 for me and then bloodwork on June 1 to see if I'm ready to start on the hormones. June's the big month!!!
For your amusement - here's a great photo of my wonderful husband trying to make his pink gown look manly! :)
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Medication Information Overload
We met with Dr. Saffan again on Thursday, April 19th before we left for our 10 day vacation. Lots more information to process, although this time it's all about timing and procedures. We have been approved to be part of the Shared Risk program which gives us 6 IVF cycles to work with. The first one being in June! It's crazy to me in some ways to think that after all the discussion concerning the process that in 2 months there's a potential that I will be pregnant! Prior to that, there is a LOT of stuff that happens.
Okay, the rest of this is really detailed and maybe TMI, but I want a record of everything for later.
Dennis is having his appointment with Dr. Shin on May 11. Lucky him, that's it and his part in the process is done. Sigh... guys always have it so easy.
For me, it starts with a mock embryo transfer - hopefully at the end of this month before we leave for Puerto Rico, but the real fun is all in June.
June 1 will be my first appointment. Just a quick one to check if I have ovulated yet. Given my diagnosis of early ovulation, Dr. Saffan is almost positive that I will have ovulated and I can start my first round of drugs. That Sunday (June 2), after a quick trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday, we're going to go to an injection class to learn how to take all these drugs. The interesting thing is that I will have to start taking my first drug, Lupron, on Friday night (assuming the test shows ovulation happened) so our nurse Debbie is going to show me at some point beforehand.
Lupron (leuprolide) overstimulates the body's own production of certain hormones, which causes that production to shut down temporarily - basically slow down things in my body. Because of my early ovulation, they can't just use birth control pills like they normally would. I'll be on the Lupron for 9 days and then have an evaluation appointment and if they see the results they need, then I'll start taking the gonadotropins.
Gonadotropins used in IVF include: Luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which are necessary for egg production (ovulation). So, I'll be getting human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) or recombinant human FSH (rFSH) injections for an average of 12 days with FREQUENT (every other day or daily) doctors' appointments until my hormone levels reach a certain point and then I'll take the stimulation injection.
Once the follicles are at the level they want them to be, Dennis will have to give me a human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) trigger shot. HCG triggers the release of mature eggs from the follicles. This is the painful shot that I associated with ALL hormone drugs since it's the one in the hip that they will show on TV. Thankfully, all the drugs until this point are by subcutaneous injection similar to an insulin shot. I get allergy shots weekly, so that's no issue for me. What a relief to hear that only the one time per cycle HCG shot is the painful one! I'm guessing with all the hormonal grief that I might give Dennis until this point, he might secretly enjoy having to give me the shot! : )
The day after the HCG shot, Dr. Saffan will do the egg retrieval. Given my age, they should get about 10-12 mature eggs. Outpatient procedure and back to work for me the next day. On their end, they fertilize the eggs that day and spend the next few days monitoring the embryos and calling me with regular updates.
3-5 days after the retrieval, when they feel the embryo is mature enough, they will actually do the embryo implantation. 48 hours of bed rest for me afterwards. Given my young age and good health, they are only going to implant one embryo to avoid the chance of multiples. I'll have a 60-64% chance of getting pregnant with only one embryo. If it doesn't work with the first cycle, then they will consider implanting two embryos.
After that it's wait for two weeks and then find out if it worked or not!
Given all that - kind of envious of Dennis' quick turn-around procedure!!! But, it will all be worth it in the end.
Okay, the rest of this is really detailed and maybe TMI, but I want a record of everything for later.
Dennis is having his appointment with Dr. Shin on May 11. Lucky him, that's it and his part in the process is done. Sigh... guys always have it so easy.
For me, it starts with a mock embryo transfer - hopefully at the end of this month before we leave for Puerto Rico, but the real fun is all in June.
June 1 will be my first appointment. Just a quick one to check if I have ovulated yet. Given my diagnosis of early ovulation, Dr. Saffan is almost positive that I will have ovulated and I can start my first round of drugs. That Sunday (June 2), after a quick trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday, we're going to go to an injection class to learn how to take all these drugs. The interesting thing is that I will have to start taking my first drug, Lupron, on Friday night (assuming the test shows ovulation happened) so our nurse Debbie is going to show me at some point beforehand.
Lupron (leuprolide) overstimulates the body's own production of certain hormones, which causes that production to shut down temporarily - basically slow down things in my body. Because of my early ovulation, they can't just use birth control pills like they normally would. I'll be on the Lupron for 9 days and then have an evaluation appointment and if they see the results they need, then I'll start taking the gonadotropins.
Gonadotropins used in IVF include: Luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which are necessary for egg production (ovulation). So, I'll be getting human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) or recombinant human FSH (rFSH) injections for an average of 12 days with FREQUENT (every other day or daily) doctors' appointments until my hormone levels reach a certain point and then I'll take the stimulation injection.
Once the follicles are at the level they want them to be, Dennis will have to give me a human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) trigger shot. HCG triggers the release of mature eggs from the follicles. This is the painful shot that I associated with ALL hormone drugs since it's the one in the hip that they will show on TV. Thankfully, all the drugs until this point are by subcutaneous injection similar to an insulin shot. I get allergy shots weekly, so that's no issue for me. What a relief to hear that only the one time per cycle HCG shot is the painful one! I'm guessing with all the hormonal grief that I might give Dennis until this point, he might secretly enjoy having to give me the shot! : )
The day after the HCG shot, Dr. Saffan will do the egg retrieval. Given my age, they should get about 10-12 mature eggs. Outpatient procedure and back to work for me the next day. On their end, they fertilize the eggs that day and spend the next few days monitoring the embryos and calling me with regular updates.
3-5 days after the retrieval, when they feel the embryo is mature enough, they will actually do the embryo implantation. 48 hours of bed rest for me afterwards. Given my young age and good health, they are only going to implant one embryo to avoid the chance of multiples. I'll have a 60-64% chance of getting pregnant with only one embryo. If it doesn't work with the first cycle, then they will consider implanting two embryos.
After that it's wait for two weeks and then find out if it worked or not!
Given all that - kind of envious of Dennis' quick turn-around procedure!!! But, it will all be worth it in the end.
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