In my last post, I discussed in detail my first round of egg freezing, or oocyte cryopreservation. When I wrote that post, I was on the fence about whether or not to do a second round. I ended up meeting with my doctor the next week and decided to go ahead and plan for a second round. I was very at peace with the decision as soon as I walked out of the office, and I'm thankful for that. Per my doctor, an average round produces 10 eggs and that gives you roughly a 40% chance of having one child. I have 16 eggs frozen so we could possibly call that a 60-70% chance at one child. I do not like those odds. I am risk-adverse by profession, and heavily insured (yet have no problem jumping out of planes or climbing tall things...but that is a different story). I feel I will be able to rest much easier knowing I have 25-30 eggs sitting there waiting for me vs the 16. Granted round two is not necessarily guaranteed to go as well as round one, but I will be hoping for the best. The only real emotion I have felt about going into round two is excitement. The huge unknown about the whole process is no longer there. I am doing a different protocol this time around so there is a very slight apprehension about changing things up, but we are doing it differently to hopefully prevent the six days I spent on the couch the last time so that is good news.
Protocols
The first round, I did what is called a Lupron protocol. I started daily Lupron injections 10 days before I began Gonal-F (stimulation hormone injections). I then stayed on the Lupron throughout the 13 days that I was on Gonal-F. I did the Lupron injections in the same 30 minute window each morning, and did the Gonal-F each evening, with a little wider window. I used Ovidrel (HCG hormone) for the ovulation trigger 36 hours before the retrieval surgery. Ovidrel is what made me so sick last time (nice foreshadowing to the amazing morning sickness I will most certainly have when I am pregnant).
This time we are switching things up a bit to avoid the Ovidrel trigger. I am doing what is called an Antagonist protocol. On this protocol, I will use the drug Cetrotide to prevent ovulation. One of the nice things about doing it this way is that I do not start the Cetrotide until several days into the stimulation process - in other words, way less "involved" days and way less days of injections dictating my schedule. This time I will use Lupron as my trigger - yes, the same drug used previously to prevent ovulation. Apparently before it shuts down your hormones, it first creates a huge surge, and that is what will hopefully cause ovulation this time, just prior to retrieval. I do not know yet the exact timing/details for the Lupron trigger but know it is a bit different than the Ovidrel. I think there are two specifically timed injections instead of one, and I will have a blood test some time between triggering and the surgery to ensure the trigger worked as planned. I will most likely still be on Dostinex this time to prevent OHSS. OHSS is far less likely with the Lupron trigger, however in the event the Lupron does not work as planned, I will use Ovidrel instead and can plan to spend another six plus days on the couch. I am, of course, hoping for plan A, however I am okay with plan B if that is what we need to do to ensure the best outcome.
March 27 - Day 4 Check In
I started round two of stimulation last Friday, March 24. I started at a higher dose than last time (300 IU day one, 225 IU days two and three vs 225 IU day one and 150 IU days two and three) and it definitely jump started the process. Per Dr. Vaughn, I got a good report card yesterday :-) He was able to see 16 follicles, all measuring between 4mm and 8mm. On day three of my first round, there were only seven visible and they were all between 3mm and 5mm. Below are my "report cards" from day three of each round. Round one is on the left, two on the right. The 62 and 288 are my blood estrogen levels and the 3-8's are the measurement of each follicle on the right and left ovary. He said there were probably more on the left this time, he just could not see them all.
Protocols
The first round, I did what is called a Lupron protocol. I started daily Lupron injections 10 days before I began Gonal-F (stimulation hormone injections). I then stayed on the Lupron throughout the 13 days that I was on Gonal-F. I did the Lupron injections in the same 30 minute window each morning, and did the Gonal-F each evening, with a little wider window. I used Ovidrel (HCG hormone) for the ovulation trigger 36 hours before the retrieval surgery. Ovidrel is what made me so sick last time (nice foreshadowing to the amazing morning sickness I will most certainly have when I am pregnant).
This time we are switching things up a bit to avoid the Ovidrel trigger. I am doing what is called an Antagonist protocol. On this protocol, I will use the drug Cetrotide to prevent ovulation. One of the nice things about doing it this way is that I do not start the Cetrotide until several days into the stimulation process - in other words, way less "involved" days and way less days of injections dictating my schedule. This time I will use Lupron as my trigger - yes, the same drug used previously to prevent ovulation. Apparently before it shuts down your hormones, it first creates a huge surge, and that is what will hopefully cause ovulation this time, just prior to retrieval. I do not know yet the exact timing/details for the Lupron trigger but know it is a bit different than the Ovidrel. I think there are two specifically timed injections instead of one, and I will have a blood test some time between triggering and the surgery to ensure the trigger worked as planned. I will most likely still be on Dostinex this time to prevent OHSS. OHSS is far less likely with the Lupron trigger, however in the event the Lupron does not work as planned, I will use Ovidrel instead and can plan to spend another six plus days on the couch. I am, of course, hoping for plan A, however I am okay with plan B if that is what we need to do to ensure the best outcome.
March 27 - Day 4 Check In
I started round two of stimulation last Friday, March 24. I started at a higher dose than last time (300 IU day one, 225 IU days two and three vs 225 IU day one and 150 IU days two and three) and it definitely jump started the process. Per Dr. Vaughn, I got a good report card yesterday :-) He was able to see 16 follicles, all measuring between 4mm and 8mm. On day three of my first round, there were only seven visible and they were all between 3mm and 5mm. Below are my "report cards" from day three of each round. Round one is on the left, two on the right. The 62 and 288 are my blood estrogen levels and the 3-8's are the measurement of each follicle on the right and left ovary. He said there were probably more on the left this time, he just could not see them all.
So I am excited to see my body responding well to the drugs - so far, so good. The only potential issue is if I respond well enough, my cycle may be way shorter than last time around and my typically good planning skills may not work so well. Quarter close at work (i.e. the ~five busiest work days of the quarter) begins this Thursday for me and ends next Wednesday. It is possible my surgery may be Wednesday morning (or even earlier), in which case I may be working at 4am beforehand to get done what I need to get done. Oh well, if that is the case I at least know I will get a good nap afterward.
So far I feel pretty normal as well. I had a headache on the Lupron last time but that was supposed to get better when I added in the Gonal-F, and it did. I have a bit of one now and am a bit tired, but I do not know how much of that has to do with hormones and how much has to do with the awesome weekend trip to San Diego I just got back from. I am doing a few acupuncture sessions during and after this cycle to try to reduce some of the stress on my body in hopes of getting back to normal ASAP afterward. This time around I am also going to try to take careful note of my caloric intake and weight throughout. I am extra fluffy right now and hate it, but I do not know how much of it is related to all of this and how much is just my awesome stubborn body. I do not have the intention of "dieting" through this round as avoiding stress is the number one piece of advice given, however I just want to keep a watchful eye everything to see what happens. It will have been over six months of messing with my hormones when this is all said and done so I am hopeful a return to "normal" will help.
My next appointment is Thursday - I will post an update on this post sometime after that.
March 30 - Day 7 Check In
Nothing too exciting to report back with today.
So far I feel pretty normal as well. I had a headache on the Lupron last time but that was supposed to get better when I added in the Gonal-F, and it did. I have a bit of one now and am a bit tired, but I do not know how much of that has to do with hormones and how much has to do with the awesome weekend trip to San Diego I just got back from. I am doing a few acupuncture sessions during and after this cycle to try to reduce some of the stress on my body in hopes of getting back to normal ASAP afterward. This time around I am also going to try to take careful note of my caloric intake and weight throughout. I am extra fluffy right now and hate it, but I do not know how much of it is related to all of this and how much is just my awesome stubborn body. I do not have the intention of "dieting" through this round as avoiding stress is the number one piece of advice given, however I just want to keep a watchful eye everything to see what happens. It will have been over six months of messing with my hormones when this is all said and done so I am hopeful a return to "normal" will help.
My next appointment is Thursday - I will post an update on this post sometime after that.
March 30 - Day 7 Check In
Nothing too exciting to report back with today.
Fifteen follicles showed up today, ranging from 4-12mm. My Gonal-F for the last three days was at 225IU. Tonight I will do 100IU and tomorrow 150IU. I go back Saturday morning for more blood work and another sonogram. I am a little disappointed as there was so much progress from day zero to day three and day six just seems a bit boring, but that is okay. The patience/trust part kicks in now and I just have to go along for the ride. The goal is to get as many follicles to 18-20mm at the same time as possible. As you can already see, they grow at different rates. If they are bigger than that, they may be over-mature and will not produce a quality egg, and same for them being any smaller than 18-20mm - the egg would not be mature enough at the time of harvest to freeze.
I start Cetrotide Saturday morning. It is a fairly involved process of mixing saline and powder, switching needles, etc. The Gonal-F is super easy because it comes in a redi-ject pen that you just dial up to the desired dose and put a new needle on. I have to take the Cetrotide at the same time each morning, never going more than 25 hours between doses (less than 24 hours is okay, but if I do it early one day, I cannot do it any later than 25 hours after the next day).
Above is the load of drugs I received early last week. Kind of looks like Christmas...but not really. I am still feeling pretty okay and think I will remain uncrazy through this round of hormones (thank goodness!). I did feel like a stuffed sausage Tuesday evening when I went to put my workout clothes on. My weight has stayed stable but gees I felt like I was busting at the seams. I want to wear the biggest workout clothes I have, and unfortunately I do not seem to have many that fit that bill. I am also not sleeping well which does suck royally. An impressive storm two nights ago was responsible for that night, but in general I have not slept as consistently over the last two to three months. When I first got home from Finland, I was sleeping like a champ. I think the timing is about right to when all of this started. But that is good news because there is hope I will go back to champion sleeping before too long.
Saturday, April 1 - Day 9 Check In
My next appointment after last Thursday was on Saturday. I was out until one or so Friday night so my 6:40am alarm to get blood work was not well-received. I had my sonogram appointment at 10:45 so got a bit of a nap in between the two. I started the Cetrotide Saturday morning. I do not know if I was just having a bad morning or what, but the 27 gauge needle was having nothing to do with my stomach - it took four times to get it in. Note I'm learning which needles I like and which I do not like - 29/30 are great. 27 is getting a bit rough. Thankfully though I have not had issues since Saturday morning with that one - it was just odd. The Cetrotide does itch and burn for about an hour afterward which is a bit of a nuisance, but not terrible. They had not received my blood work results by the time I had my sonogram, so they said they would call me later Saturday to tell me the amounts of Gonal-F to take that night and Sunday night. They called later on and started by telling me to take 75 units of Menopur and I told the nurse I did not have any and did not have a prescription for it. She said she would need to go talk to Dr. Vaughn and call me back. Thirty minutes later I was just settling in for an awesome nap and she called back and asked if I could come back up to the office to get Menopur because they do want me on it. Thankfully it was Saturday and Mopac traffic was not awful. The office was able to lend me three days' worth and would call in the rx for me on Monday.
My numbers Saturday were not anything special again - not great, not terrible. I think my estrogen level was 14xx but I do not remember for sure.
Right now, we are looking at a Thursday morning retrieval. I go back tomorrow morning for more blood work and a sonogram. Those will tell if we trigger Tuesday night for sure for a Thursday AM retrieval, or if we decide to stimulate one more day. Either day is fine with me, and it is good to be clearing Wednesday since I need to do actual work that day.
I'm still not feeling too much in the way of specific side effects, however I am not sleeping well. The world seems to go pretty wrong pretty fast when I do not get enough sleep so I am currently feeling a bit worthless and sorry for myself. I am having a hard time using my brain at work - just dreaming of my bed. I had acupuncture again today - hopefully that will help with the sleep tonight. I feel random twinges of slight pain here and there in my stomach, but nothing remotely major which is good. I plan to workout through Wednesday unless my bed gets the better of me sometime between now and then. Prayers for sleep and for those immature little follicles to grow would be much appreciated!
Wednesday, April 5 - Day 13 Check In
I had my last sonogram yesterday and the numbers were a bit all over the place again. My estrogen was 1756, so still way lower than the 4900 it climbed to during round one. I asked Dr. Vaughn if that is good or bad and why there is a difference and he said he does not really think anything of it - did say he noticed the difference, but did not seem concerned past that. I asked if that meant my chances of OHSS would be lower and he said they will already be way lower with the Lupron trigger and did not say much more.
The nurse called Tuesday afternoon to give me instructions for my trigger shots and surgery morning. I'm scheduled for surgery at 6:15 Thursday which means I get to be there at 5:15. Whohoo! And whohoo for the poor soul who is also waking up to get me there! I took the first of my two trigger shots at 6:30 last night and then the other at 6:30 this morning. I had to go then do one last round of blood work to ensure the Lupron trigger did work. Apparently it fails in 2% of women. That is a 2% I do not want to be a part of. The good news there was that my lady was able to get blood without much issue this morning. I am lucky because I have had it drawn four times in the last five days and my veins have thankfully stayed calm enough to allow for it all.
I took this picture this morning of what will hopefully be my last self-given injection for a long long time. It was supposed to be celebratory of sorts. Of course what I did not notice is I bent the needle when I recapped the syringe (which you are not supposed to do pretty much for that exact reason) and then proceeded to stab myself in the thumb with it. Thankfully they provided extra syringes/needles for people just like me.
Thursday, April 6 - Retrieval
I got a call Wednesday afternoon letting me know everything looked good with the blood work and to confirm my 5:15am arrival at the surgery center. I worked out Wednesday evening, still not having any real issues. I did alter a few of the exercises that had quite a bit of bending or twisting in them, but otherwise felt fine. After that I headed to bible study (aka "group therapy") and of the six girls there, three were Dr. Vaughn patients. We joked about how after each sonogram he will tell you what your next steps are (ie if you need to meet with your nurse, schedule another appointment, etc). He always starts though with "well, first, get dressed..." We all agreed that was the obvious first step, but assume there is a reason he needs to reiterate that step but as of yet no one has asked for a backstory. Again, I need to reiterate my extreme appreciation for my friends going through their own fertility journeys while I am going through mine. People who are not in the middle of it only want to talk so much about my ovaries...although several friends not in the middle of it did lend amazing open ears, prayers, and cheers for growing eggs throughout this process.
Thursday morning my friend Graham came to get me just after five (after a false start Wednesday morning that ended with a text to me at 4:47am that said "f*** your surgery is Thursday.") I just told him it was good practice for the real day and promised extra walks for his dog. Prep was uneventful other than that the nurse looked like she was considering calling the whole thing off when I told her I had had two sips of water that morning. I walked into the OR right at 6:15 and was back in my room waking up shortly after. I was still more asleep than awake when the embryologist stuck her head in to say they got 20 eggs. I was shocked and hoped they were able to freeze most of them. I was in a good bit of pain but wanted to avoid the puke fest of last time, if at all possible. The recovery nurse became my best friend when she gave me dilaudid through my IV and told me to go back to sleep...and repeated that process two more times. The goal was to avoid taking anything by mouth in hopes I would not get sick (last time it may have been the percocet I took by mouth that caused the unpleasantness that followed). I also took a Zofran to be safe. The dilaudid did its job soon enough and Vickie arrived to take me home. It was not long before she said I looked sooo much better than last time. Apparently I was pretty green then. The embryologist stuck her head back in before we left and reported that they froze 19 eggs. Holy cow! They had 17 mature and 2 less mature. That was amazing. I just had not felt confident in everything after the last few sonograms so this was such a surprise. That leaves me with 32 mature and 3 less mature eggs hanging out in their comfy little freezer waiting for Mr. Right.
Post Op and Recovery Days
I made it home uneventfully this time - no puke! I thought I was going to get sick when I walked in my house, but laid down and that was all I needed to be okay. I slept off and on the rest of the morning and afternoon, never feeling that bad. I would describe myself as wobbly feeling but that is it. A friend came over in the evening to check on me and I felt well enough for us to walk to dinner nearby. I was not exactly presentable, but that is not necessarily anything new. Friday morning I went into work for a few meetings and then back to my couch. That afternoon my niece joined me for some vitamin D recovery at the pool - it was quite nice. I was up five pounds Friday morning which was all fluid in my stomach so I did not feel amazing, but not terrible. Saturday I was still a bit tired and a tiny bit sore but still not sick so that was great. It was the second afternoon last time that I really started to get uncomfortable so I was happy to clear that hurdle. Saturday I was down one pound from the day before, and the rest steadily dropped off over the three to four days after. I did chose to forego my friends' trampoline birthday party Saturday afternoon which was soooo sad since I have not been on a trampoline in years and was looking forward to it. However, I do not think my ovaries were quite ready for that.
By Sunday, I felt about 90% me and if anything was getting a bit antsy from spending too much time with Netflix on the couch and in my bed. I had planned to workout Monday evening and had been wondering a bit during the day how that would go. I was worried if the impact of running and jumping would be a bit uncomfortable. I was a good five minutes into the warm-up before I remembered I had been worried about that, so clearly it was not an issue. This was such a change from last time - four days after last time I was still puking and did not know if there was an end in sight. This time around I was back to normal. The Ovidrel I used to trigger the first time apparently stays in your system up to 10 days while the Lupron trigger I used this time gets out of your system pretty quick. I would say this was definitely the case for me and again I am so thankful for that. My weight was back to what it was before I started by Tuesday morning. I claim victory there on not gaining weight this time - I worked pretty hard to stay even and am glad the hormones did not wreak any further havoc on my waistline. I am still at least six pounds higher than when I got home from Finland and still feel like I am wearing a fat suit and/or look five months pregnant. I am hopeful though that with a return to "normal," I'll be able to start chipping away at that before too long. The only lingering issue I have currently is I am still not sleeping well. This is somewhat tragic, but I am hoping it gets better before too long. I have taken Ambien a few nights but do not want to take that too often. I am happy the hormones have exited my system so quickly this time around but wonder if such big swings in hormone levels do not come with their own set of woes.
There was an instant wave of relief Thursday morning when they told me they froze 19 eggs. That has been followed by several smaller waves of relief as it has taken a bit of time to settle in that this is over and ended with what I would consider a huge win. I chose to look at this as an opportunity to do something I wanted to do instead of something terrible or a negative experience. I am so glad I decided to go with the second round. I feel way more confident and at peace with 35 eggs frozen vs the 16 from the first round alone. I still have no idea what the future will bring but this made it perhaps seem a little less scary. In an ideal world, I will meet Mr. Right and we will have no trouble making our own babies the old-fashioned way. However, having a little insurance in place for plan B (whatever in the world that may be) does not hurt.
Saturday, April 1 - Day 9 Check In
My next appointment after last Thursday was on Saturday. I was out until one or so Friday night so my 6:40am alarm to get blood work was not well-received. I had my sonogram appointment at 10:45 so got a bit of a nap in between the two. I started the Cetrotide Saturday morning. I do not know if I was just having a bad morning or what, but the 27 gauge needle was having nothing to do with my stomach - it took four times to get it in. Note I'm learning which needles I like and which I do not like - 29/30 are great. 27 is getting a bit rough. Thankfully though I have not had issues since Saturday morning with that one - it was just odd. The Cetrotide does itch and burn for about an hour afterward which is a bit of a nuisance, but not terrible. They had not received my blood work results by the time I had my sonogram, so they said they would call me later Saturday to tell me the amounts of Gonal-F to take that night and Sunday night. They called later on and started by telling me to take 75 units of Menopur and I told the nurse I did not have any and did not have a prescription for it. She said she would need to go talk to Dr. Vaughn and call me back. Thirty minutes later I was just settling in for an awesome nap and she called back and asked if I could come back up to the office to get Menopur because they do want me on it. Thankfully it was Saturday and Mopac traffic was not awful. The office was able to lend me three days' worth and would call in the rx for me on Monday.
My numbers Saturday were not anything special again - not great, not terrible. I think my estrogen level was 14xx but I do not remember for sure.
I now take the Menopur in the evening with the Gonal-F. Apparently the Cetrotide, which I take to prevent ovulation, also takes down one of the hormones I need, so Menopur puts it back.
Monday, April 3 - Day 11 Check In
Sunday morning I was almost out the door to church, rushing to beat a huge storm that was coming, and realized I had forgotten to take the Cetrotide. I ran back in and did it, and sure enough the bottom fell out of the sky a block from church. Oooh well. I did get to wear my cute Helly Hanson raincoat so that is a plus :-)
Sunday evening I went to take my Menopur and Gonal-F and after a few minutes I realized one was burning at the injection site. I thought that was a bit weird and then I realized I had taken Cetrotide instead of Menopur. Facepalm, followed by loud groan. I knew this was not nearly as fatal as forgetting to take my trigger, or going over 25 hours in between Cetrotide doses, but still a pain. I called the on-call nurse and she called Dr. Vaughn and they said just to take my next dose at noon on Monday vs in the morning.
Monday's blood work was a bit of a pain (in the arm). The lady had a bit of a rough time getting into my vein and now I cannot straighten my arm. I would not be quite as upset about it but those veins have to be accessed again tomorrow and then possibly again in the days after that. I do not enjoy when someone has to try to get blood out of an already pissed off vein. The sonogram was a bit interesting this time though. Tons of follicles showed up, but there are a lot of small ones that may not mature to retrieval. That is a very sad thought. My estrogen level is 1235 which seems super low. At this point last time (three days prior to retrieval), my level was over 4000. Dr. Google seems to say over 1000 is just fine but I wonder how much my Cetrotide mishap has to do with this. I'm all the way back up to 375IU of Gonal-F tonight, so they are getting one last huge push.
Above, the numbers on the left are from this round, and the one on the right is from the first round. Assuming I have my retrieval on Thursday, these are both from my appointment three days out. They look quite a bit different. I wonder how much is due to different rx protocol this time around and how much is just normal, unexplainable, fluctuation. As a reminder, 18 follicles is the most they ever saw on the sonogram during my first round, and 18 eggs were retrieved. Fifteen "good" and one "questionable" were able to be frozen. Dr Vaughn said the ones that are currently 12 or lower may not make it to maturity by retrieval this time around. It is looking like I could have anywhere from 8 to 25 eggs retrieved based on this, with those that are bigger right now having a much better chance of maturing and being successfully frozen.
I'm still not feeling too much in the way of specific side effects, however I am not sleeping well. The world seems to go pretty wrong pretty fast when I do not get enough sleep so I am currently feeling a bit worthless and sorry for myself. I am having a hard time using my brain at work - just dreaming of my bed. I had acupuncture again today - hopefully that will help with the sleep tonight. I feel random twinges of slight pain here and there in my stomach, but nothing remotely major which is good. I plan to workout through Wednesday unless my bed gets the better of me sometime between now and then. Prayers for sleep and for those immature little follicles to grow would be much appreciated!
Wednesday, April 5 - Day 13 Check In
I had my last sonogram yesterday and the numbers were a bit all over the place again. My estrogen was 1756, so still way lower than the 4900 it climbed to during round one. I asked Dr. Vaughn if that is good or bad and why there is a difference and he said he does not really think anything of it - did say he noticed the difference, but did not seem concerned past that. I asked if that meant my chances of OHSS would be lower and he said they will already be way lower with the Lupron trigger and did not say much more.
Above are Tuesday's numbers. The ones above the line are looking good and the 14's are questionable. I do not love the look of that but there is not much I can really do about it at this point. Of course I wonder if this protocol was the right way to go and will probably always wonder if the outcome is not as good as around one. The realty is though there may never be answers and I could have done the exact same protocol and still had a vastly different outcome. Such is the way this stuff goes.
The nurse called Tuesday afternoon to give me instructions for my trigger shots and surgery morning. I'm scheduled for surgery at 6:15 Thursday which means I get to be there at 5:15. Whohoo! And whohoo for the poor soul who is also waking up to get me there! I took the first of my two trigger shots at 6:30 last night and then the other at 6:30 this morning. I had to go then do one last round of blood work to ensure the Lupron trigger did work. Apparently it fails in 2% of women. That is a 2% I do not want to be a part of. The good news there was that my lady was able to get blood without much issue this morning. I am lucky because I have had it drawn four times in the last five days and my veins have thankfully stayed calm enough to allow for it all.
I took this picture this morning of what will hopefully be my last self-given injection for a long long time. It was supposed to be celebratory of sorts. Of course what I did not notice is I bent the needle when I recapped the syringe (which you are not supposed to do pretty much for that exact reason) and then proceeded to stab myself in the thumb with it. Thankfully they provided extra syringes/needles for people just like me.
In my first cycle, I was taking ten units of Lupron daily for the first ten days and then went down to five units for the next fourteen. These two trigger shots called for 80 units of Lupron each. Safe to say they were a bit irritating (my stomach pictured below about 15 minutes after the injection). The Cetrotide looked similar each morning, but I only had to take it for three mornings (plus my mishap evening).
So now I wait. First, for the phone call that my blood work shows that the trigger did work. And then second, for the report from the embryologist after my retrieval tomorrow morning. I am fairly nervous about it all but am also so exhausted I do not have much energy to really worry about it. I did a decent job of avoid true stress again this time around but not sleeping just creates a whole world of stress on its own which is not cool.
Thursday, April 6 - Retrieval
I got a call Wednesday afternoon letting me know everything looked good with the blood work and to confirm my 5:15am arrival at the surgery center. I worked out Wednesday evening, still not having any real issues. I did alter a few of the exercises that had quite a bit of bending or twisting in them, but otherwise felt fine. After that I headed to bible study (aka "group therapy") and of the six girls there, three were Dr. Vaughn patients. We joked about how after each sonogram he will tell you what your next steps are (ie if you need to meet with your nurse, schedule another appointment, etc). He always starts though with "well, first, get dressed..." We all agreed that was the obvious first step, but assume there is a reason he needs to reiterate that step but as of yet no one has asked for a backstory. Again, I need to reiterate my extreme appreciation for my friends going through their own fertility journeys while I am going through mine. People who are not in the middle of it only want to talk so much about my ovaries...although several friends not in the middle of it did lend amazing open ears, prayers, and cheers for growing eggs throughout this process.
Thursday morning my friend Graham came to get me just after five (after a false start Wednesday morning that ended with a text to me at 4:47am that said "f*** your surgery is Thursday.") I just told him it was good practice for the real day and promised extra walks for his dog. Prep was uneventful other than that the nurse looked like she was considering calling the whole thing off when I told her I had had two sips of water that morning. I walked into the OR right at 6:15 and was back in my room waking up shortly after. I was still more asleep than awake when the embryologist stuck her head in to say they got 20 eggs. I was shocked and hoped they were able to freeze most of them. I was in a good bit of pain but wanted to avoid the puke fest of last time, if at all possible. The recovery nurse became my best friend when she gave me dilaudid through my IV and told me to go back to sleep...and repeated that process two more times. The goal was to avoid taking anything by mouth in hopes I would not get sick (last time it may have been the percocet I took by mouth that caused the unpleasantness that followed). I also took a Zofran to be safe. The dilaudid did its job soon enough and Vickie arrived to take me home. It was not long before she said I looked sooo much better than last time. Apparently I was pretty green then. The embryologist stuck her head back in before we left and reported that they froze 19 eggs. Holy cow! They had 17 mature and 2 less mature. That was amazing. I just had not felt confident in everything after the last few sonograms so this was such a surprise. That leaves me with 32 mature and 3 less mature eggs hanging out in their comfy little freezer waiting for Mr. Right.
Post Op and Recovery Days
I made it home uneventfully this time - no puke! I thought I was going to get sick when I walked in my house, but laid down and that was all I needed to be okay. I slept off and on the rest of the morning and afternoon, never feeling that bad. I would describe myself as wobbly feeling but that is it. A friend came over in the evening to check on me and I felt well enough for us to walk to dinner nearby. I was not exactly presentable, but that is not necessarily anything new. Friday morning I went into work for a few meetings and then back to my couch. That afternoon my niece joined me for some vitamin D recovery at the pool - it was quite nice. I was up five pounds Friday morning which was all fluid in my stomach so I did not feel amazing, but not terrible. Saturday I was still a bit tired and a tiny bit sore but still not sick so that was great. It was the second afternoon last time that I really started to get uncomfortable so I was happy to clear that hurdle. Saturday I was down one pound from the day before, and the rest steadily dropped off over the three to four days after. I did chose to forego my friends' trampoline birthday party Saturday afternoon which was soooo sad since I have not been on a trampoline in years and was looking forward to it. However, I do not think my ovaries were quite ready for that.
By Sunday, I felt about 90% me and if anything was getting a bit antsy from spending too much time with Netflix on the couch and in my bed. I had planned to workout Monday evening and had been wondering a bit during the day how that would go. I was worried if the impact of running and jumping would be a bit uncomfortable. I was a good five minutes into the warm-up before I remembered I had been worried about that, so clearly it was not an issue. This was such a change from last time - four days after last time I was still puking and did not know if there was an end in sight. This time around I was back to normal. The Ovidrel I used to trigger the first time apparently stays in your system up to 10 days while the Lupron trigger I used this time gets out of your system pretty quick. I would say this was definitely the case for me and again I am so thankful for that. My weight was back to what it was before I started by Tuesday morning. I claim victory there on not gaining weight this time - I worked pretty hard to stay even and am glad the hormones did not wreak any further havoc on my waistline. I am still at least six pounds higher than when I got home from Finland and still feel like I am wearing a fat suit and/or look five months pregnant. I am hopeful though that with a return to "normal," I'll be able to start chipping away at that before too long. The only lingering issue I have currently is I am still not sleeping well. This is somewhat tragic, but I am hoping it gets better before too long. I have taken Ambien a few nights but do not want to take that too often. I am happy the hormones have exited my system so quickly this time around but wonder if such big swings in hormone levels do not come with their own set of woes.
There was an instant wave of relief Thursday morning when they told me they froze 19 eggs. That has been followed by several smaller waves of relief as it has taken a bit of time to settle in that this is over and ended with what I would consider a huge win. I chose to look at this as an opportunity to do something I wanted to do instead of something terrible or a negative experience. I am so glad I decided to go with the second round. I feel way more confident and at peace with 35 eggs frozen vs the 16 from the first round alone. I still have no idea what the future will bring but this made it perhaps seem a little less scary. In an ideal world, I will meet Mr. Right and we will have no trouble making our own babies the old-fashioned way. However, having a little insurance in place for plan B (whatever in the world that may be) does not hurt.
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