End of my tether...

I just had the phone call from Guy's.  They aren't happy doing the egg collection on Friday and as they don't do it at weekends we have to wait until Monday.  My ovaries may explode before then - I feel huge already.

This means I need to go back to work for the next 2 days and book off Monday and Tuesday the following week.  I was hoping to have the weekend to recover as well but it's not to be as it'll be the beginning of the week and I'll be back at work on Wednesday.

The real kicked in this situation is that, for the third time out of 4 appointments in the last fortnight, our usual PGD nurse was not there today.  Another nurse did my scan and told me that if I wasn't listed for egg collection on Friday it would be Saturday (the Assisted Conception Unit in Sheffield works 6 days a week).  As Guy's do not work 6 days a week it will be Monday and we now only have enough medication to keep us going until Saturday.

Saturday night will be the trigger shot so that's the last injection and I have enough Gonal F for tonight, tomorrow and Friday.  I however only have enough Cetrotide for tomorrow and Friday morning and I will need one on Saturday morning.  This means that this afternoon I have to do the 100 mile round trip to Sheffield AGAIN to pick up a prescription due to their oversight.  ALS is currently on the phone to them trying to get them to send the prescription over to Derby so I can pick it up locally but they're not keen...  so much for not putting yourself through any stress.

We will just have to wait and see!



UPDATE 1.9.16

Fortunately a very kind consultant in Derby, whom I work for, sorted out my prescription for me so we did not have to go to Sheffield.  I could have hugged him!

Fingers Crossed!

Looking at my scan this morning I might be ready - I have one follicle that's made its way up to 21mm and a good few others in the late teens.  We just have to wait for Guy's to ring us and confirm.

I'm absolutely shattered today.  I couldn't sleep last night because it was so warm and I kept needing to get up to pee (silly large ovaries taking up my bladder space).  I came home from Sheffield and went straight back to bed for a couple of hours and I'm now trying to drag myself up to make some lunch.

Wish me luck - with the eggs, not lunch!

Still Not Ready!

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty fed up today.

I went for my scan and bloods this morning and our normal nurse wasn't working today so we saw another lady.  She was quite impersonal and didn't speak to me the whole time she had a camera stuck up my lady parts.  Unfortunately my follicles were all around 14-16mm (they need to be 16-20mm) so they're still not quite ready.  It took 2 attempts to get my blood due to the nurse insisting on using butterfly needles, despite me saying a normal needle was more than fine.  We were told that I could not trigger today and would possibly need to go back for another scan tomorrow morning.  They were going to email Guy's Hospital in London and ask whether they wanted another scan doing or if they would just be happy for me to trigger tomorrow night.  So we were sent home with another prescription for a few more days of injections (just in case) and told to ring at 14:30 to find out if I needed a further scan.

ALS rang them and by 15:00 he'd still had no answer.  When he finally got through they said they had not heard back from Guy's so would let us know when they did.  Come 16:00 we'd still heard nothing and I rang them again at this point as I needed to let my manager know if I'd be in late tomorrow.  No answer again.  Finally around 16:20 they rang ALS back to say I'd need another scan tomorrow.

I had planned to have Thursday and Friday off on annual leave for London but as that's now not happening until at least 24 hours later I can still work Thursday.  So I've put tomorrow in to save rushing back from Sheffield AGAIN and Friday for hopefully egg collection to be done.

The IVF process itself is not stressing me out at all.  I know that it's a long process, I know that it's unpredictable and I know that it will all be worth it in the end.  However, trying to fit it around work is horrendous.  I hate letting people down or leaving them short staffed, especially at such short notice and it just feels like I'm messing them around.  Fortunately my manager has been really good about the whole situation, otherwise I really don't think I'd have coped at all - certainly in my last job I wouldn't have been able to go to so many appointments in such a short space of time.

I really can't reiterate enough that if you have the ability to take a week or two off whilst you're coming up to egg collection (and transfer, I imagine) then do so.  The medications make you feel pretty naff and really tired as it is, let alone when you're getting up at 05:30 to do a 100 mile round trip for a scan and blood tests, followed by a full day at work (finishing late because you started late) and then getting home and ready to do it all again the next day.  I haven't lifted a finger in terms of housework in the last fortnight.  I'm pretty much coming home from work, having dinner and a bath and going straight to bed.  Due to my EDS, I imagine I'm being hit harder with fatigue than a healthy person would but it's been pretty debilitating.

Anyway, I don't want to moan too much but I also want people to understand the reality of it.  The injections themselves are insignificant compared to the enormity of the whole process and honestly they've been no trouble at all in the grand scheme of things.  We have had some friends visit from New Zealand this evening, whilst visiting their family in the UK so that was lovely - they appreciated our situation and were happy to just come over and chill rather than going out (I even greeted them in my PJs).

Hopefully I'll have better news tomorrow - or at least I won't be so tired as I can go back to bed when we get home from Sheffield!

Busy busy busy!

I have no idea where the last 2 days have gone!  Not much to tell on the IVF front, still feeling bloated and painy but not too bad.  Managed to do my Cetrotide all by myself a couple of times too which I'm pretty proud of.

I did have a panic earlier thinking I might have OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) which can be caused by the injections.  I was having a lot of pain in my ovaries, feeling really nauseous, hot and sweaty, faint and just generally not well but I'd not eaten much or had much water all day and I felt a lot better after some food and fresh air.

The reason for having not eaten much is that we've been at a powerlifting competition all day.  I couldn't compete due to the treatment at the moment but ALS was competing along with 4 other friends of ours and I was supporting - I made brownies, filmed all their lifts and screamed my lungs out at them.  It was lovely playing mother for the day and I'm so proud of them all.

Fortunately I'll get to compete alongside them all at the World Championships in October once this treatment cycle is done and before we do our FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer).  It'll be my last competition for a year or two so I want to go out on a high - can't wait to get back to training.

Now I need a lie down...

Not quite ready...

It seemed to take forever but Friday finally arrived!

We were up at 05:30 so we had time to get ready, administer the Cetrotide at 06:00 and leave the house for Sheffield by 06:15.  It was a really miserable morning weather wise but I was feeling positive because it's payday today AND a refund I was waiting for from eBay finally made its way to me this morning.

We were first seen in the clinic at 08:00 and our usual nurse was back today.  She asked how I'd been doing and invited ALS into the scan room with me (the nurse that called me in last week hadn't mentioned whether he could be there or not so he waited outside).  She checked both my ovaries and the follicles were growing nicely.  When she showed me the screen, even though I'm no expert, I could clearly see the difference from the baseline scan done last week - there were lots of round black patches inside the ovary, which are the follicles.  On the baseline scan the follicles are so small they're hard to spot without being pointed out to you but today everything was really clear and definitely a lot larger.  On a side note, the scan was considerably more uncomfortable than previous because everything is so bloated and achy anyway.  I nearly hit the roof when she put pressure on my left ovary but it was over pretty quickly. 

After a good look, the nurse measured the follicles and unfortunately we're not ready for collection yet as they still have some growing to do.  I thought I'd be disappointed with this scenario but honestly I'm not at all.  I'm just really happy that they're growing well and it's perfectly normal for the cycle to take longer than a week to get them to full size (16-20mm).  

So what now?  Well, we go back to the injections for the next few days and go back to Sheffield for a scan on Tuesday morning, at which time they estimate I'll be ready to go.  We got a nice surprise when we went to pick up some more medication from the pharmacy as we didn't have to pay for it - you only pay for the initial treatment in the cycle and the top ups are included.  We both walked out of the clinic smiling and by the time I got to work around 10:00 the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day - a bit of a change from the miserable start.

All in all I'm feeling pretty good today.  If we'd been ready to retrieve today we would have ended up doing the trigger shot over the weekend and having egg collection in London early next week.  That would then mean I'd have to go to work for the rest of the week.  If I'm ready on Tuesday (which I'm keeping everything crossed for) it will mean doing the trigger shot Tuesday night, heading to London Wednesday night ready for egg collection Thursday morning and then coming home on Friday.  That way I'll end up with the weekend to recover a bit more before I go back to work, which would be preferable to going back 48 hours post surgery. 

Side effects wise I'm getting really bloated (my weight has been steady but between yesterday morning and this morning I've gained 1.5kg) and living in dresses because trousers or any sort of tight waistband is just too uncomfortable.  I've had a lot more pain today, spreading all around my back and down my legs, but I'm hoping that is just because my ovaries were prodded and poked this morning and it will ease off tomorrow.  The nurse did say the pain I've been having until now is perfectly normal because, in a natural menstrual cycle, you grow 1 follicle and I'm currently growing around 14-15 so naturally it's going to be uncomfortable.

The Cetrotide is still causing local irritation for a couple of hours after the injection but it's really not too bad.  I'm going to try and do this one myself tomorrow morning - I've not plucked up the courage yet as the needle is quite a bit longer than the Gonal F but I've been fine with them for the last couple of days so I'm hoping I'll be able to just get it done in the morning.

I'd love to hear any of your stories and experiences with IVF - whether you've used the same process and medications as us or something completely different.  Also, feel free to comment with any questions and I'll try to answer them as honestly as I can.  I've found it quite hard to get information during the process (especially with regard to the PGD side of things) so I'm putting this blog out there to help others in my situation and want to be as forthcoming as possible.

Work, work, work, work, work!

I hate that damn Rihanna song but it seemed to fit with the theme of today's post so I used it for my title!

Today is day 7 of the stimulation cycle (day 7 of Gonal F injections, day 2 of Cetrotide injections) and I'm really starting to feel something.  I get twinges in both sides of my groin when I bend up and down now, around where my ovaries are.  Increasingly often when I take a step and put my foot down on the floor I get a twinge and I'm even started to get a dull aching around that area some of the time I'm at rest.  Hopefully this means things are happening and my left ovary is starting to catch up with my right - it's so odd not actually knowing what's going on and just guessing from how I feel.

Work was really challenging today.  The Cetrotide injection seems to make me feel nauseous for a couple of hours and, despite going to bed at 8:30pm last night, I'm getting tireder by the day.  Fortunately my team leader is aware of the situation and has been keeping an eye on me and forbidden me from doing anything that requires too much movement. I'm fortunate enough to work in a hospital (and in the maternity/gynaecology department) so people tend to appreciate what I'm going through quite easily.  Not to mention the process I'm going through helps me understand the terminology and such that comes along with the job - so we've fitted well together.

ALS was at work last night but he's now off for 8 days whilst he helps look after me around "my surgery" (his work are not aware of what's actually happening).  He works on a casual contract so has the option to turn down shifts when something important comes along BUT unfortunately they can't cover shifts at short notice so he's had to keep the whole next week free ready for when we're heading to London.  It's great that he's off because he can drive me to work and keep on top of the housework but it definitely sucks that I'm the one going through the physical side of things and I'm only going to get the 2 days we're in London off work.  I have really little annual leave left to take until April due to our honeymoon earlier in the year and earlier appointments (my previous department wouldn't let me make hours up so I ended up using half a day's leave for every appointment in Sheffield).  Whilst work are being really understanding I really can't afford to take more than those 2 days off so that I have days left to take for egg transfer - fingers crossed we get that far!

I'll just have to deal with it.  My alarm is going off which means it's Gonal F time so, in the words of Tigger, "TTFN"!

Ouchie!

Today marked the start of the Cetrotide injections.  I'd read so many horror stories about these, seen that the needle was twice the length of the Gonal F one and been told they really hurt so I was pretty worked up about them- unnecessarily I might add.

6am rolled around and we headed downstairs, mixed the medication and got ready.  There was a lot less wincing and telling ALS to wait than there was with the first Gonal F and I mostly just let him get on with it.  It really didn't hurt much and I immediately relaxed as soon as it was through the skin.  Unfortunately thanks to the relief everything started to go fuzzy and I spent the rest of the injection saying, "Hurry up, I'm going to faint".  I managed to hold out to the end, lay down on the floor for a few minutes and felt okay, just a bit nauseous.  After the injection the site went red (about the size of my palm around where the needle went in) and incredibly itchy for about 2 hours.  Fortunately it calmed down after that.

14 hours later and it's a little sore and it has bruised but nothing too bad.  I've just done my Gonal F injection in the other side which hurt a little more than normal but I'm putting it down to my stomach being generally sore from all the injections.

Side effect wise I'm pretty much the same although I get a pain in my right ovary area every time I bend or take too big a stride.  On the scan my right ovary was shown to be the dominant one so hopefully this just means it's growing some big, healthy follicles!

I walked home from work and then went out for another walk around the local park later on and it's exhausted me.  It's definitely taking a toll on my body and I would love to be able to take a couple of weeks off work to just let my body do the work and not have to worry about anything else but unfortunately that's not an option.

It feels really odd to know that it's been nearly a week now and I have no idea, other than how my body is feeling, whether the injections are doing anything (or more importantly whether they're doing what they're meant to do).  Roll on Friday morning when we get to find out what's going on down there!