Catch up!

I started my Buserelin (Suprecur) injections on Thursday night last week after a bit of concern that I may not be able to.  I ended up having to see my GP on Wednesday for a UTI that wouldn't go away and was put on Trimethoprim antibiotics.  I spent all of Thursday desperately trying to get hold of someone at the clinic to make sure I could still start the injections and there wouldn't be any adverse drug reactions.  Finally, one of the nurses got back to me and told me that it was absolutely fine as the drugs wouldn't react together and I didn't need to worry about it affecting the transfer because for the next 2 weeks they're only suppressing my ovaries and I have a good 4 weeks (minimum) until transfer.

The antibiotics themselves have been worse than any of the IVF meds I've had so far.  I always get horrible nausea with antibiotics and this has been no exception.  I've really been having to force myself to eat, but I've still managed to get to the gym and they've cleared up the UTI so I can't complain.

As I said above, the first injection was on Thursday night.  We had some experience as this was the same medication we used for trigger so we knew what we were doing in terms of dosage etc.  I've found that my stomach has bruised more with these injections - when I was doing the Gonal F and Cetrotide I only had one bruise the whole time, despite easy bruising being one of the problems I experience due to my EDS.  They're quite uncomfortable as well and take a bit of force to go in.  I can only put this down to the needle getting somewhat blunted pushing it through the rubber into the bottle to draw up the liquid.  A lot of people have suggested switching needle but we don't have enough to use 2 a day.  Either way it's really not that bad.  It's more painful when the liquid is injected in (speed doesn't seem to make a difference here) but again it's more of an annoyance than anything and is over quickly.

After the injection I have had a localised reaction every time.  It gets really red in a large patch around the injection site and itches like hell.  Where I injected 2 days ago has randomly started itching and going red tonight which is odd so I'm avoiding that area.

All in all, they're more of a pain than the Gonal F or Cetrotide BUT still far from unbearable and only once a day.

Happy injecting!

FET is a go!

We had our appointment in Sheffield on Thursday to discuss our FET.  I've been back on my birth control pills since a few days after egg collection so we are ready to go just before my next period.  The day before I take my last pill I will start Suprecur (Buserelin) injections daily to suppress my ovaries.  This will be for 2 weeks then I'll have a scan on 11th November.  Hopefully everything will look good and I'll then start on oestrogen tablets, whilst continuing the injections, for 2 weeks then another scan.  All being well at this point they'll schedule the transfer, I'll stop the injections, continue the oestrogen and add in vaginal progesterone pessaries.  It's not a quick process but if everything goes to plan we will be transferring in the last week of November - so really it's not that far away!

I find it so odd that the medication we're using to suppress my ovaries is the same medication I had for my trigger injection, same dose and everything - the wonders of modern medicine!

So I now have a kitchen full of sharps bins, needles, syringes, tablets and pessaries and a fridge full of medication for the injections.  It's starting to feel very real but I'm trying not to get too excited.

I'll keep you posted once I actually start the medication, which will be next Friday (27/10/16).

We are the Champions!

It's been a little while since I've posted but that's because nothing is happening in terms of IVF at the moment and we've been incredibly busy so here's a little update:

This week has been the WPU World Powerlifting Championships - we've been travelling back and forth to Coventry every day along with a few friends and it's been an awesome week.  On Tuesday I came second in the u60kg female category and came away with a lovely silver medal.  Then on Wednesday it got even better and ALS walked away at the u110kg male WORLD CHAMPION!  Very, very proud of him as it's been a busy year, he's had a lot of injuries and training wasn't going too well so he went into the competition expecting very little.

Yesterday and today have been a bit more chilled as we've only been spectating but to be honest, I get so into it that I spend most of my time bouncing around and screaming at people to cheer them on, which is pretty tiring in itself.  Not to mention the 4 hour round trip every day!

As you can imagine, my EDS and recent bout of sciatica haven't taken too kindly to the massive amount of driving, the rather heavy lifting and being on my feet a lot so I'm ready to eat plenty, sleep plenty and just generally recover before heading back to work on Monday.

Mentally I'm in a very, very good place though - ready to take some time away from competing to focus on (hopefully) growing a human!!

PGD vs Genocide?

I don't even have words to explain how angry and upset I am right now.  There was a programme aired last night about Down's Syndrome and the genetic testing available in an attempt to eradicate it.  I didn't watch it so I have no idea what it covered or how sensitively it was (or wasn't) dealt with.  I do know it has caused a relatively large amount of uproar with people commenting on how those with Down's syndrome have many excellent qualities and bring a lot of joy to a lot of people.  This is not my issue - I don't take issue with the programme or people's opinions of it.

However, one of my friends (she has a variant of spina bifida) made a comment on Facebook that she was hurt by some of the ideals in the programme as she's disabled and feels that just because she's different, that's not always a bad thing.  I quite agree with this and she's a damn inspirational lady although I'm guessing given the choice she wouldn't be disabled.  She didn't like the idea that someone could have made the choice not to have her just because she was disabled and again, I get that as it's a very personal issue.

I weighed in on the subject saying that it's a case by case basis, explaining that we will use PGD to have children but that this to protect our children from a terminal condition.  She was understanding about that and we had a nice chat about disability.  Then another woman decided to weigh in (the mother of one of my friends) with this comment:

"THIS IS WHAT HITLER WAS DOING BY GASSING ANYBODY THAT WAS DEEMED TO BE DIFFERENT OR NOT PERFECT."

I have not responded to this comment, nor will I, but there are a few things that I need to get off my chest:

1.  We are NOT doing PGD because we want our child to be perfect.  We want to protect it from a singular, terminal disease that it is at specific risk of.

2.  I would never terminate a child because it had a condition like Downs Syndrome or anything that could leave it living a relatively normal life.  Hell, I don't think I could terminate a child full stop.

3.  I was not suggesting that we cull people with disabilities, just that trying to prevent them in the first place (for the sake of the children and future generations).

4.  I don't agree with gender selection (unless it's related to a condition specific to one gender).

4.  How insensitive do you have to be to describe someone who you don't really know, but who is going so far out of their way to give their child the best possible start in life, as Hitler.

Initially I laughed at the comment, then I got angry and then I sobbed.  I really thought that this was the one decision I'd made in life that was nothing but good (aside from maybe on a religious basis) and that people would be proud of me rather than judging me.  Instead, today I was compared to one of the worst human beings to have ever existed.

Yay me.

PMT

I've always suffered a little with PMT about a week before my period.  My mum would always joke that she could set her calendar by me because 7 days before my period, like clockwork, I'd get snappy and cranky.  I apologised for being cranky, we laughed and repeated it again 4 weeks later.  I've been on the same pills since I was about 13 (for heavy, painful, irregular periods) and they've kept the worst of my problems at bay aside from this minor PMT.

However, over the last year or so my PMT has been out of control.  I've had depression pretty badly in the past (to the point where I lost interest in everything, shut out my friends and family, didn't want to leave the house etc.) and my current PMT is just that.  Obviously I'm fortunate in the fact that it only lasts a few days so by the time I'm starting to get really low it miraculously goes away but it still really sucks at the time.  I can only assume that this is down to my hormones being really messed up from having been on and off my pills this year for fertility tests and then for the IVF, which is hormonal mayhem in itself!

Anyone have any tips for dealing with this?  I usually just go for comfort food, lots of cuddles with the cats, trying to keep my misery away from ALS as much as possible (he really doesn't deserve my self pitying) and distraction but any suggestions would be much appreciated!


QUICK UPDATE:
On the IVF front we have an appointment with our nurse to set things up for the FET on 20th October so I'll provide an update after that!