Suppression Lab Results

I got my lab report back late yesterday afternoon.  I wouldn't have had the results at all if I hadn't of called my local clinic.

Putting the phone on speaker so that my friend, TM, could hear the nurse we got the excuse that the doctor that ordered the labs wasn't on that day so that they wouldn't have gotten notice of the labs at all.   I swear my local, Army, clinic is full of excuses as to why they are lazy.

Every time I have lab work I make a note of which doctor is listed on my lab papers.  I ask each time I have an appointment which doctors are on duty that day.  When I see the doctor in my room I make sure to remind him and the nurse that I need the information from the labs sent over to PNW!  They say they will do that too.  There are no excuse for this level of incompetence!

E2 (estrogen) 10.7  anything under 50 is suppressed

TSH was 3.14 down 0.5 from last month of 3.19

TSH is not down enough.  I am to double my 25 mcg dosage to 50 mcg daily until the Beta.

Reduced Lupron to 5 units daily.

Applied 2 Alora patches today.

Had to email PNW that I will need a new script as I after counting my pills on hand and noting that it is a 90 day script which means the pharmacy will not refill it until near 90 days I won't have enough.

Oh and that donor embryo I'm getting, well the couple that used them or I should say had them made from his sperm and a donor's eggs put back only two embryo and ended up with triplets.  Yes one of the embryos split.  So that is the reason my clinic, PNW, is so confident I have a really good chance at pregnancy this cycle.  I'm putting back one donor embryo and one embryo of my husband's gametes and a donor egg.  Hoping at least one sticks.

Next scan in two weeks.

Working Out Some Calendar Kinks

Just spoke with my nurse at PNW.  The doctor wanted to keep me on 6 weeks of bcp.  Ugh!  NO!

I'm so nauseated, having acid reflux really bad too, that I don't want to eat because of the bcp.  So noted and they'll bump up the FET.

With any luck I'll start the Lupron in about a week or two and have a transfer before Thanksgiving.  As it stands the schedule would have me doing the transfer the first week of December.  So maybe mid November a transfer is possible.

The fax machine at my local RE office is now kaput.  They were hoping that the budget would have passed and they would have purchased a new one.  So now all the formally faxed orders will have to be email to the IVF nurse coordinator at the local office.

One of the reasons PNW wanted to push for a second bcp pack was that they misunderstood our schedule and thought J would be out of town for the month of November.  He'll be here in garrison.  Now that they know that they are more than happy to fix the calendar.

Follow Ups on the Agenda

Yesterday I heard back from PNW.  Dr. H. is putting me on  25 mcg of synthroid. I've been on both synthroid and armour thyroid before, at different times of course.  If the meds are in the system I'll have them by the end of today.  Remember I'm dealing with a clinic outside of the Army and the Army clinic still needs to put their approval on the care plan as they are the ones that will be seeing me the most.  I also have birth control that will be picked up today for the next cycle start which hopefully will be in the next two weeks.

I will have a follow up while on birth control to check to see if the 5 cm ovarian cyst has shrunk.  I need to have it gone before I start the Lupron.  Early this morning I was in such pain that it either is growing or it ruptured.  I was whimpering.  I'm hoping it ruptured.

This morning I had a call back from my PCM about my referral to the ENT clinic.  I'm supposed to be seen every year for my Meniere's Disease and thryoid.  It has been 1.75 years since I was last seen.  I'm overdue.  Referrals are good for only 6 months and I would have had of gotten a new one any way.  The reason for the delay in seeing my ENT is kind of obvious with the baby making being a higher priority on the agenda.  Also I didn't need another thyroid ultrasound for two years from the last appointment which was Jan 2012 unless my thyroid levels starting going wonky of which they have now twice this year.  Hoping the cysts on my thyroid haven't grown.  Tomorrow I'll get to call the ENT and see if my referral went through or not.  The ENT clinic told me to call them back on Wednesday so they could push it through as they know I need to be seen.

The bathroom sink is fixed again.  It took a hacksaw to get the pipe off but the repair guy fixed the problem, I hope.

Last night I consoled a long time friend, over 30 years, who is going through a rough divorce.  This guy doesn't often cry, heck I can't ever remember him crying, but last night he did.  I feel bad for him and I do understand what it is like to have your heart ripped out and stomped on.

J is enjoying his new rank.  He was pinned, by me and the First Sergeant, on Friday last week.  Well boarded is more like it since it was done in his dress uniform and I got to put on his new boards.  He is already back at the books studying for the next promotion board.  You'll just have to trust me that he looked great in his uniform as I don't have his permission to post the photos, as of yet, on here.  But they are on my FB if you want to go see them there.

Biding My Time

While I wait for the next suppression check I'll be working on a large order from my Etsy shop.  I just had a FRG leader put in an order for a particular military key chain pattern that I make.  I'll get started on filling that order this day.

Yesterday I was putting together a puzzle while I waiting for my local RE office call back like they said they would.  Not hard to believe that they never called me back right?  They called this morning, no apology for forgetting me, to schedule my ultrasound for 1030 hrs Thursday. 

My local RE office also screwed up my Lupron order from PNW last time.  They didn't put down that I had one refill on the Lupron left.  I had a copy of the fax of the prescriptions sent to Madigan so I knew they made the error as it listed my refills on there.  I looked at my box of Lupron and it said zero refills.  My RE office admitted they made the mistake and put in a new order for the Lupron of which I got today.

Can you see why I need to distract myself?  If I dwell on the shit going on I'll go nuts!

****TMI***  So don't read if you don't want to be grossed out!

Last night after some extracurricular poking, SEX, I was able to have my "normal" silver dollar sized clots pass.  I should have a slimmer lining come Thursday morning.  Much as I hate sex during my period this is one time I'm happy for its effects on my lining.  You can bet I'll be doing the same tonight so that I don't have to wait too much longer for the Alora patches.  I joked with Nicole at PNW about how I'd get things going and she thought it was a wonderful idea.  She too thinks that I'll be right on track for the lining check come the 30th since my E2 level was where it should be yesterday at only 20.  I am suppressed but the lining was the real issue.

Money, Monitoring, Weight, and Projects

So yes this is going to be yet another boring update post.

First off J and I finally got to work together on the bookcase.  Yesterday he and I sealed the bookcase with polyurethane.  We did three quarters of the bookcase since there is just no way we could do it all without it sticking to something.  This weekend coming up we'll hopefully finish up the first coat.  If need be I'll deal with it only having one coat of sealant.  The headboard still needs to be done and I want that sealed before the move too.  Georgia is very humid and I'd rather the wood not warp.

I've been working on the touch up painting around the house.  I realized that the cherry sauce stain on one wall would take several coats of paint.  Wishing right now I had a really small can of Bin sealer as it would paint over that stain really quickly.

Sunday morning I got on the scale and noticed that I gained back 0.2 pounds.  I didn't drink enough water on Saturday.  Today I got on the scale and found I gained another 0.8 pounds.  Again I didn't drink enough water on Sunday.  Today I'm working on drinking enough water to get rid of the bloat.  Lupron does make me bloat easily.

I have my suppression monitoring appointment tomorrow morning.  I also have my E2 and D3 level draws to look forward to.  I'll post those results.  Still bleeding too.  After a month of spotting this is really getting to be annoying.

I'm getting a refund from PNW.  They knew I'd be doing my monitoring at my local clinic.  I knew they over charged me and forgot to charge me for the initial consult.  I called three times about that error and finally heard back today.  Not bad only took two and a half weeks for them to realize I was serious about the money.  So they'll be crediting me with $500 and charging me with the initial consult.  In the end I was told I'll be getting roughly $200 put back to my credit card.  Fine with me.   I'll apply it to other charges I'll be making over the next few months.  Always little unexpected things like the software to convert the VHS to DVD so that we can lighten our weight for the move.  VHS tapes weigh a lot.

That is it for now.  Boring normal life and I'm happy to say it is drama free!

First Hand Experience

One of my husband's co-workers, the one I made the baby items for, is having issues finding affordable day care for his two boys.  I'm not going to go into detail of what I think this guy should be doing as it isn't me in his shoes.

For now J's co-worker has been allowed to bring his two sons into the work place.  Picture a five year old and a two year old running a muck around highly sensitive items and equipment.  The co-worker is the one that makes the group over staffed and it looks as though the soldier won't be allowed to re-enlist as he doesn't have his TS clearance so it isn't like he is allowed to handle the equipment or do the work.  How this guy thinks he'll get his TS in the time he has left I have no clue.

Well what I'm getting to is that J is now learning how to babysit and work at the same time.  I'm proud of him.  He changed his very first poop diaper yesterday.  Of course it was under direction of the kid's father to make sure J knew what to do.  Of course it wasn't one of those blow out dumps but an easier mess to clean up.

J is getting a taste of what it will be like to be a father.  He now knows a bit what it is going to be like for me to work from home and take care of a kid.  Not easy but it has to get done right?  I say a taste because disposable diapers are being used and J isn't having to watch by himself the kids or do laundry or cook meals for the kids either.  But hey we all had to learn somewhere sometime.

We agreed to use cloth diapers.  I did inform J that most cloth diapers start at the eight pound weight so that when our kid/s is/are born there is the possibility that we might have to use disposable diapers for a bit depending on how small the kid/s is/are.

As you can see I'm very hopeful that this FET will work. 

The symptoms I'm having with the Lupron are really mild this time.  Very few headaches, the oily skin issue has passed, the bloating was just the first day and the cravings are gone too, and the mood swings are but mild this time around.  Today was the last day of the birth control. 

About four more weeks until the transfer. 

Isn't this cool!  A cloth baby wipe warmer.  I so want one of these.

Creepy, Crappy, Cruddy

I'll start with Cruddy and work my way back.

Equity called yesterday and scheduled with us the repair of the floor under the washer and dryer for today.  Last night J moved both machines, which meant draining the washer.

Today I get a call from Equity and they tell us it is basically our fault that they called yesterday and scheduled the repair for today.  They said that we knew a contractor was going to do the job.  Sorry but I wasn't informed that they were contracting out the job.  So I think it is pretty darn cruddy of them to blame me for accepting the work order time and making my husband move the machines only to have to put it back because they have no one to do the repairs now. 

Equity told me that the contractor will be calling me soon to schedule the repair.  How soon is soon?  Well I'll know when they call and not before.

Crappy is how I've been feeling.  Sure I should be happy that I've lost ten pounds since my consult on 6 March.  But I'm just not feeling happy.  I'm tired, moody, craving food I can't possibly eat, having issues with sleep and the spotting hasn't stopped since I started the pill.  I hate to say that I'm actually looking forward to stopping the pill this week and getting a period so that the spotting will go away.

To make me feel more crappy I nicked a vein at 0430 hrs when I gave myself my Lupron shot.  Sucker didn't want to stop bleeding.  I think it was because the needle was bent.  Occasionally I do find a bent needle but as long as it isn't broken I'll still use it.

Now for CREEPY.  I promised I write about what was creepy at the marriage encounter.  So I will.  During the sign of peace, we were instructed to give the sign of peace in a couples hug with another couple, the man near me groped my left breast.  Seriously he didn't need to be having his arm under my arm and his hand on my breast.  Especially when you think about how that man just renewed his vows to his wife.  Takes all kinds! 

I didn't want to ruin the Mass for everyone by hauling off and decking the SOB and I didn't want it to put a damper on the celebration.  However, when J and I got home I did tell him what happened.   He was upset.  I didn't tell him while at the hotel or while he was driving.  Some things call for moments when he isn't carrying a gun and/or driving a vehicle that could be used as a weapon.  My spouse is far from a hothead but he wasn't happy about what that man did.  I physically showed my husband what the Creepy guy did.  J agreed that wasn't called for and it was definitely a grope.  There are days I hate having large breasts.  I attract some really creepy men just because they can't keep their eyes and hands off my mammary glands.

Calendar Has Arrived

I've been in touch with PNW.

1. We got our first choice donor.
2. They freeze only top grade blastocysts.  No I don't know the grading system they use.  Probably AA is my guess
3. We'll get a picture of the  blastocysts when we transfer them.

Right now I'm trying to get a paper notarized so that I can get the blastocysts thawed and transferred.  Since we are signing this document outside of their clinic we have to go to JAG here to get it witnessed.  No big deal unless you are dealing with a spouse with a really busy schedule.

Yay! Back from JAG.  Hard to believe we were able to get it done today.  Fingers crossed the rest of the cycle goes this smoothly.

So here is where J and I stand with the schedule.  I'll have to remember to bring with me to the marriage retreat, which is the 5th-7th of April, a sharps container and a couple of  cold packs for the lupron.  I'll have to draw it up into the syringe before we leave so that I have to bring on the one needle and not worry about not being able to refrigerate the whole bottle.  Maybe I'll bring a small cooler lunch bag to put it all in so that it stays cool longer since I'll be away for a few days.  Hoping that they have a fridge in the room.

Lupron Dreams

I had forgotten, with good reason, what the Lupron does to my body and mind.  Last night I had my reminder.

I woke up in a cold sweat several times last night.  I was having night terrors again.

The first dream was of the never ending work day.  Every time I'd ask for a break in my dream I was told that I had to work longer.  The day never ended and I was working retail.  I never really liked working retail.  It just doesn't fit with my personality.  I'm a loner.  But I'll go into that in a few days with the book review.

I woke up at 0400 hrs to take my blood pressure medicine and get J up to do his morning PT.  He continues to do PT on the weekends and his body really appreciates it.  I appreciate what his body looks like now too.  Maybe I'm a tad bit shallow but seeing the squared off pectorals he has developed and the beginnings of a six pack isn't a bad thing to look at each day.

I'm starting to swell up.  The funny part of the Lupron is that even though I'm still losing weight, I lost another 0.4 lbs overnight, I'm bloating up too.  My pants are snug over the abdomen after just three injections.

I'm getting cranky.  Oh I knew that was going to happen.  It can't be helped.  My spouse knew it was to be expected and he is giving me breathing room.  I'm lucky in that we went through this together last time and he is now more understanding.  I think some of it has to do with the book I read this week and will post my review in a few days.

The second and third dreams I had, through the night, were just as unsettling as the first.  I was trapped in a room with people that just wanted to verbally poke and prod me.  They weren't understanding.  In all three of the dreams people were expecting more from me that I am able to give.

Its just my fears.  I know. 

I'm thinking about getting out in a bit today just to enjoy the snow we have here.

Extra Extra

I found out just exactly what is going to change this time in my protocol.  Well I knew some of it before but not all of it until yesterday.

I will not be doing the PIO injections because J won't be around to give them to me.   I'll be doing the Endometrin suppositories.

I will be doing two shots daily of the micro dose Lupron.

I will be doing 525 of the Gonal-f this time instead of the 450 dose I did last IVF cycle.  This means an extra injection each night.  Since I put J in charge of this particular shot I don't think he is going to like knowing he'll have to give me extra.

So at my peak its going to be 5 injections daily.  Think I might take up a second job as a sieve.  I bet I could process water pretty quickly with all those puncture holes.  Yes, I know that won't happen but I will be all the more bruised this time around.

In other news, though Dr.C. said I won't have a bleed with a lining of only 4.2 mm; guess what he is wrong.  Maybe its just from all the poking around he did yesterday, it was pretty painful, but I'm bleeding like I'm having a period.  Maybe he just shook loose some of the endometriosis.  All I know is that I nearly crushed J's hand yesterday from the pain and the pain is pretty intense today as well.

Bruised In More Ways Than One

I'm bruised.  Not just on my arm but its a starting point. 

Yesterday I had my Estradiol level drawn and the guy wasn't all that gentle.  Not only did he bruise me but he left a spider web of blown veins resulting in pretty purple lines on my arm.  I'm none too happy about it either.

My levels aren't what I was hoping for either.  My ego is now bruised.  I was hoping that even at my advanced age of 42 I would some how beat the odds.  No such luck.  My Day 3 Estradiol level was 82.  Anything above 80 means that my egg store is depleting.  Looks like this might just be my last try for a baby. 

I was hoping for another try next year, head in the clouds, after delivering a healthy baby next summer.  I can dream.  I can stay positive.

This is a 2 x 2 inch round bruise from one Lupron shot on my abdomen.  The other red dots are from other shots for this IVF cycle.

Funny how no one told me to expect bruising from the smallest needle.  Its a bloody insulin needle!  I would have thought that perhaps the needle from the Menopur would bruise me but no, the Lupron shot got me.

Luckily enough neither of the two bruises hurt.  The Menopur does sting when its injected but for me I'm able to tolerate it well enough.  Maybe all my fat helps?

Different subject here.  The cookies I made yesterday are the Oatmeal Scotchies recipe on the back of the Toll House morsels bag just substitute the butterscotch chips for the same amount of milk chocolate chips.  The soldiers at the COF love them or so I was told at lunch time by my husband.

Tonight I'm going to make No Chop Pastistio for dinner.  This means I need to get my duff off my computer chair and get started on making it pronto!  Its a delightful dish but there is a lot of messy prep work for that particular dish.

Three Shot Night

I have to say that my produce bins in my refrigerator are not filled with fruits and vegetables but they are filled with hormones.  One day I'd like to have them filled once again with the appropriate food items.   That's not to say that the foods  on the market these days aren't filled with hormones but usually you'll not find any of those foods in my refrigerator as I've moved to organic over the course of four years.



Never in my life would I have thought I'd be looking forward to getting needles stuck in me.  But tonight I am.


The Lupron injection goes down to just 5 units tonight from the 10 units I was previously injecting.
I'm already a pro at the one shot a night and so is my husband since he's been giving me the majority of the 15 lupron shots to date.  Tonight we add two more shots to the regimen.
J isn't too happy about having to give me the Gonal F shot as he doesn't want to hurt me and is afraid he'll do just that with that particular heavy duty pen like shot.  I think perhaps I should give that shot to myself if he is so hesitant.  However, he is a soldier and will follow orders so perhaps, I have to chuckle here, if I order him to shoot me, with the needle, he will?

The Menopur is a three vial concoction for us.  We mix two of the powder with one of the sterile liquid bottle.  Using a Q cap and mixing with it seems so simple but thankfully we have a number we can call if we have questions before we mix it.

First IVF Scan

Well today was a bit of a busy day.  It was also a day of disappointments.

I'm waiting for a phone call to let me know if I'm allowed to go ahead with my stim shots this coming Monday or if they are going to halt this IVF cycle.

Yesterday was my cardiology appointment.  I'm all in the clear with them.  Even though my EKG showed some abnormal it was within limits.  My labetalol dosage is now doubled to keep my blood pressure under better control.  I'm ready.

But maybe my ovaries aren't so ready.  I had my estradiol blood work done promptly at 0715 hrs.  I was there at the laboratory at 0658 hrs pulling a tab for my number to get called.  I had real hopes, until the scan.

0800 hrs and I'm sitting in the waiting room at the REI office.  My appointment is now but I'm still waiting to get called back.  I'm anxious.  I want to see if the endometriomas are gone.  I'm frustrated because I'm bleeding and I'm not sure that I'm supposed to be.

0820 hrs.  Finally I'm in the exam room.  Of course they stick me in the smallest one this time.  What did I do to deserve the small room?  Only one patient was before me and I know darn well that there are three big rooms with private bathrooms so why do I get the smallest one without a bathroom?

0840 hrs.  I'm cold sitting here on the exam table, wearing a paper sheet covering my lower half and just a thin silk shirt on the upper half.  Where is my doctor?

5 minutes later he finally shows up.  Then the bad news starts.

I'm supposed to have a bleed this week so that is all fine and dandy.  I have four follicles on the right ovary.  I have four follicles on the left ovary.  Well that's a start.  Not bad for a chic my age.  But wait is that a cyst we see?  NOOOOOO!  I tried to tell the doctor its right where the other endometrioma was but he says it looks more fluid filled unlike the one next to it with the shadow in it.

Okay so what now.  I'm told that this cycle might not happen.  I have to wait for the results of the blood test now.

I'm bummed.

In about an hour I'll know if I can go ahead with the stimulation shots or not.  If not where do we go from here?  I've taken 11 Lupron injections.  I want to have an egg retrieval but its not my decision.  If my estradiol level is below 50 then I'm good to go but just how far below 50 is allowable?  If I'm at 49 will they still allow it?

Yes, now I sit here and wait for the phone to ring.  Now I wonder if I'll get to graduate to the next shots.  Pitiful.

 *****NEWS FLASH****

Just got word from the REI clinic and its good.  My estradiol level was only 32!  I can start the stim shots on Monday as previous planned.  Woo hoo! 

Odd how excited a person can get about getting shots. I'm sure most IF peeps can understand the excitement.

Its A Hodge Podge Day

Its one of those days again.  J had a long weekend.  He had told me earlier in the week that it was a three day weekend but he forgot to mention that it was indeed a four day weekend until late Friday night.  He said he thought I knew.  If I knew then I would have made plans for a four day weekend.

Oh and for him its a three day work week this week since he has Friday off too.  How am I supposed to get stuff done around here with him under my feet?  Its not like he is a child whom I can send to their room to go clean it, he is a grown man that makes a mess!

So today is my Monday Tuesday again.  Today I'm doing laundry, stripping the bed and putting away the Summer coverlet to don the Winter comforter once again.  The photo of the blanket above is my representation of hodge podge.  Oh and I've yet to find a buyer for the blanket.  I sent a former FRG member the link to my blog on the blanket and asked for her assistance in finding me a buyer for it but as of yet no luck.  Remember the money will go to a charity for the soldiers.

Tonight is the 10th Lupron shot.  I'm no longer on the birth control and soon I'll start the stim shots. Over the next two days I have no less than five doctor appointments.  Thursday morning is my suppression scan to see what is what inside of me.

The anesthesiologist from SRM called me while I was out on Saturday and booked a phone appointment with me for yesterday at 1100 hrs.  He wanted to know my medical history to make sure I got the right stuff to knock me out.  I didn't know  I was going to be given anything stronger than the vicodin  of which I was instructed to take with me to the procedure.  I'm so happy to hear that I'll not be really awake for the egg retrieval.  The thought of that big needle poking about inside of me was rather daunting and I was afraid of crying out in pain when they said it wouldn't really hurt me.  Well it would have been nice of them to have told me that I'll be under heavy sedation.

My phone is driving me nuts this morning.  In the last hour I've had no less than four phone calls.  One of which my husband tells me he locked his gear away at work but forgot the key.  How typical.  Now he has to cut the lock.  Oh but before he tells me he is going to cut the lock he tells me exactly what the key ring looks like that holds that particular key.  So I'm looking for the key ring.  I don't see it.  He says to me that he had already decided to cut it.  So really why was he having me look for it when I have no transportation to get him that key anyway?  I guess he thinks that I have nothing better to do with my morning than to help him look for his lost possessions.  Oh I'm fuming over that one.  I may have forgiven him for saying that he thinks I do nothing around the house but I won't forget it.  I told him, "I don't call you at your work place over something so trivial as a lock so why are you calling me at my place of work over a trivial matter?".  He realized he was being petty, silly, and rather stupid.  Now if he had called me to tell me he loves me it would have been a different matter all together.

Yes the Lupron is making me cranky.  Seriously though today I was chasing a dancing washing machine in the laundry room, I moved a heavy chest, vacuumed, I'm on the second of three loads of laundry and I'm doing the bills.  But I have plenty of time on my hands, according to my spouse, to look for a now defunct key.  Right!

Wednesday Woes

Well its Wednesday and I've got news to share.  I thought about making a post about my weight but decided that its well, not worthy of an entire blog post.  I did lose some weight this week.  I had gained quite a bit last week from all the eating out my spouse and I had done.  For the month I've lost a grand total of 2.8 pounds.  Its not much and its still far from what I wanted but its still in the right direction.

My hope of the Lupron injections calming down my endometriosis pain and bleeding came to a hault last night.  The pain started up before the shot and never went away after the shot.  No, the pain got worse and the bleeding started again.  Thankfully it has once again subsided.  I've kicked J to the living room on most nights now because I've become such a restless sleeper with the nightmares.  The pain also causes the restless sleep.  I'd love to have him sleep next to me but right now its just too difficult for even me to get to sleep.

I gave myself the injection last night.  I had it all prepped for J with the areas swabbed that needed to be swabbed.  He almost dropped the uncapped needle.  I then took it away from him and said I'll give myself the shot.  His hands were a bit shaky.  Maybe its because he had gotten his flu mist, anthrax vaccine and another shot yesterday.

Yes, I said Anthrax.  Its all part of him getting ready to deploy.  I'm still hopeful that someone will let him stay behind but I have my doubts.  Today he is drawing his gear for the deployment.

Because he is going to be getting equipped we canceled our marriage counseling session that was scheduled for today.  Counseling helps with the infertility issues we are facing.  As I see more doctors, and J falls asleep during the appointments, he feels like he isn't getting enough attention.  Its true, the focus has switched to my health and finding ways to improve it before we get pregnant.  I'd rather not have this particular attention.  I'm starting to feel rather used.  I feel emotions that I'm having troubles keeping to myself, thank you hormones.

Yesterday I had an appointment with my PCM, Dr. G., to renew two scripts.   Dr. G. listened to my heart and lungs and noted my murmur was audible.  Yes, I know I have a murmur.  I know it could cause more issues in pregnancy and I'll deal with that when it happens.   I did walk part of the  way to my appointment and J picked me up and drove me the rest of the way.  He was doing his pre-deployment stuff at something called SRP and with one vehicle I've learned that I can't depend upon him to be there to give me a lift.  Even though I'm not supposed to be walking far because of my back and ankle problems I find it one of the best modes of transportation.  So I walked the 2 miles back home, in pain, but I did it no less.  He had to get back to SRP and couldn't be there to chauffeur me around.

Now I'm off to go bake cookies for the soldiers at the COF.  Every other week I bake one particular type of cookie that is highly requested and this is the week that it gets baked. So today its Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies!

Day 3 Of Lupron Injections

Sunday night was the first night of the injections.  I managed to give myself the first injection in this IVF cycle.  It wasn't too difficult and my hands only shook a little as I was trying to draw the Lupron out of the vial.  Last night it was J's turn to give me the injection.  He was still nervous but no where as nervous as he was on Sunday night watching me stick my abdomen with the needle.  He was cringing on Sunday night. 

I offered to give him a shot but he refused.  I'm a bit evil at times considering I wanted to use the biggest needle we have on hand which would be the 18 gauge!  Oh, but the REI nurse said I could give him his antibiotic in an injection.  However, she was laughing so I think she didn't take me seriously.  Darn!

Around the 10th I'll be decreasing my current Lupron dosage to 5 units and start taking the next two medicines concurrently.  Three shots in one night sounds daunting especially since they won't all be the small insulin needles.  The Gonal-F is a big honking pen that looks like its going to hurt even if the needle is relatively small.  The Menopur has a Q-cap on it and a 25 gauge needle versus the 29 gauge needle of the insulin.  Still it beats the heck out of the progesterone which starts at an 18 gauge to draw then a 22 gauge to inject.

Now for the side effects I've been experiencing with the Lupron.  I've been flushing in the face shortly after the medicine is injected.  Forget restful sleep.  I've been getting increased nightmares the past two nights along with night sweats.  The headache is still there.  I've had increased urination at night which is causing my potassium levels to drop even more.  I have hypokalemia to start with so when I pee even more than usual I'm losing more of the potassium which will in turn cause my muscles to cramp up.  I had one hell of a charlie horse in my back last night.  Maybe I should increase my potato chip intake since potatoes are high in potassium, yes higher than bananas.

One good thing to note, no weight gain from the Lupron as of yet.  I say yet because I just started it this week and I've been told by family that has taken it that weight gain goes along with Lupron like steroids and weight gain are a pair.