Simple, huh? There is a lot to learn and remember when you're starting an IVF cycle. Like when to start your meds, when to show up at the clinic for monitoring, when to stop certain meds and start others, when to overlap two or three meds, and most importantly, how to feign sanity.The month of September, 2007 was a complete blur. I was grateful for my handy dandy IVF calendar.
First I was put on 28 days of Birth Control pills (BCP) so my cycle could be more accurately timed. While on BCP, I had to start on Lupron, which is designed to suppress the system so I wouldn't ovulate unless I was given a particular injection. After I finished the BCP, I was to lower my Lupron dosage and begin on my stims, Follistim & Menopur.
I had already had experience with the Follistim pen, which was very user-friendly. It was the Lupron and Menopur that terrified me. These involved regular needles and syringes and vials of medication that needed to be drawn and measured. I was pretty nervous about this. And the Menopur consisted of a liquid and powder that needed to be mixed. I felt like I was part of my own labaratory experiment.
And then there is the HcG trigger shot. Instead of being given in the belly fat subcutaneously, this was to be given right in the arse, through the muscle on the upper half of the butt cheek. The needle is 1 & 1/2 inches long. Because it needed to be given in the rear, my brave husband had to administer the shot. He was a little too eager, if you ask me. We had to wake up at 2am to get the shot, since I had a 1:30pm appointment for my egg retrieval a day later.
It's amazing how doing IVF changed me. Who would have thought that I would have had the courage to inject myself multiple times a day? I was brave to go through this. But most of all, I was grateful that I could. I know so many women who for various reasons, cannot do IVF, even though it is their only hope to conceive.
No comments:
Post a Comment