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STAGE 1: Now the waiting game began. I have a notebook with dates of my period from the beginning of 2005. Going by that, my average cycle is 38 days, yes a long cycle! My period last about six days, first two days heavy and the rest barely there but enough to wear at least a panty liner. Looking over the months I deduced that my period was due about December 18th if things went as normal. During this wait we filled the prescriptions that were given to us. We had to get : December 19th my period arrived! I was so relieved because I had convinced myself that it just wasn't going to come that month lol! You just never know with my body plus the stress of willing it to arrive! December 20th I went to the lab, which is down the street from my home. In that little section of my area is a blood lab, a lab for x-rays and sonsograms, a nurses stations and a pharmacy. So we live in a good area. So at 7.30am I was at the lab for my blood work, checking my FNS / Plaquettes / TP & TCA (these are the french terms, I'm sorry I do not know the english translations). After that I went home to prepare for the sonogram that was scheduled for 11am. I was told that from 9.30 -10am I was to drink a litre of water and hold it. Well I did that but boy is my bladder weak! By 10.15 I had to pee bad! By 11am I was in agony, I was sure I was gonna pee myself lol! My husband had met me at the x-ray lab and was quite amused thta I could barely stand still, sitting was definitely not an option. I was in real pain! About 11.30 they called me to the room for my sonogram. I gently laid on the table after taking off my pants and undies. The technician was a nice young man who saw I was obviously in some pain lol. He started the sonogram, took one pic and said "I'm sorry but you are retroverted and I cannot see anything like this. Go the bathroom and empty your bladder and we'll go through the vagina" . I was excited but at the same time angry, I mean I was in pain for two hours and now find out it was for nothing lol! I did remind him that I did have my period so it could be messy, luckily that was no problem. We received the results right away that all was good and took the paperwork home. Later that afternoon, my husband picked up the results of my bloodwork, all was perfect. He then called our doctor to inform her of the results of the sonogram and the blood work. All systems go at that point. We were informed to get our first shot that night of Enantone 3.75 mg. Now we had to find a nurse! Totally forgetting about our friend Linda who does this for a living (shots that is lol) we started going through the phone book, not realizing a nurse's station was across the street . So after an hour of searching we discovered the nurse's station and went there around 7pm for my first shot. This shot was the blockage stage, pre-menopause is how they described it to me. The Enantone caused my period to stop a day or two later. It did return about six days later and I bled about another week. This was old blood that came out, brown and not heavy but a panty liner was definitely needed during that time. This was normal. Side effects of the Enantone did not appear for at least four days. Christmas Eve I was making the bed and I just started crying. No idea why nor did I care, I just wanted to cry lol! My poor husband was like "whats wrong?" and I was like "I don't know, just don't talk to me!" I also had hot and cold flashes a lot during that time. This was also normal.I did n ot have any real mood swings though except for that first bought of crying and a few times I felt like crying. The major side effect that really ticked me off was that i had gained 8lbs, yes 8! in ONE WEEK! Not a pretty day when I weighed myself and discovered this LOL! Our next appointment was January 4th, 2006 to begin Stage 2. The clinic where the treatment was being held was at the Hôpital de La Conception (Conteption Hospital), in the Centre de Procréation Médicalement Assistée (CMPA) division in Marseille, France. This hospital does on average 600 IVF treatments a year with a good success rate. The appointments were first come, first served. We had to be there on any given day between 6.30am - 9am. And whoever was there first was first and so forth. So there was never a set time, you came and you waited your turn. Normally you did not get out till 10.30am -11am. So it is quite a wait. January 4th we arrived at the clinic at 6.30am. We had my blood work done while giving paperwork that we had done at home and then went to the main office to register with the hospital and talk to the anesthesist and get the paperwork for when I would have the eggs collected. After that, we went back to the clinic building and waited our turn to see Dr. C. She did my sonogram, told me everything looked good. One thing they look for is any cysts that may have formed, that is a side effect from the medications that can sometimes occur. She then instructed us that I would start the Gonal-F that night, 225mg with a pen shot. She demonstrated how it was to be done and I was to inject them into the belly. I would take this shot, once a day at the same time every night (I chose 7pm) till our next appointment, which was January 11th. Side effects of the Gonal-f: were not too bad. Fatigue was the worst. It really hit me at about day two of treatment. I took naps during the day and slept like a baby at night. And I was in the middle with food, one minutes I was starving, the next I couldn't look at food. And my weight, well I put on at least another 3 lbs! I was disgusted with myself lol but I kept telling myself "well if it works who cares! if it doesn't I'll just have to work this ass off!". Towards the end of that first week of Gonal-F I noticed that I started to feel really heavy down there, as if everything was going to fall out. So I really wasn't in much of a mood to do anything active anyway, definitely no exercising! January 11th we arrived early at the clinic for our next appointment. Lots of women there already at 6.30, so knew it would be a long morning! Had my blood test done shortly after we arrived. About an hour later we went back for my sonogram to see how I was doing with the Gonal-f.. She noted that I was doing extremely well with the treatment and seemed pleased by the follicles that she saw. But it seemed I was a bit more fertile than she had expected (if they would have asked me first, I would have explained that my grandmother had 13 children, my mother 5 and one of my sisters 4, so fertility is really no problem in our family lol). So we were sent home to await a phone call telling us if we would continue the Gonal-F and at what dosage. The results of the blood work would determine this. Later that afternoon at 12.30 the nurse called me and informed me that I was to lower the dosage of the Gonal-F to 150 mg and continue to take it till Friday, then return to the clinic Saturday morning for bloodwork and another sonogram. We felt pretty good at this point. All signs were positive, my follicles were doing great! But at the same time, my heaviness was getting wrose and I felt like I had a bowling ball showed in me trying to get out! January 14th we returned to the clinic, again lots of women there! Now this was the first Saturday of sales so I wasn't too thrilled to be there lol! I had worked extra hours for two weeks to have money to spend, spend, spend! that day! LOL So had my bloodwork and was given another box of Gonal-F (I had used my last shot the night before) just in case I had to continue it. It takes the pharmacy at least one day to get it, so this way I would have it if needed. Now when we went back for our sonogram, it was not our doctor who did it. Dr. C did not come in that Saturday but the trained staff knew what they were doing so I had trust in them. I was informed at this point, in the middle of the sonogram really, that I had about 27 follicles, double the amount they had hoped I would have. This worried them though, their fear (and ours after we found out) was that the UVF would have to be stopped. They were concerned that the eggs could burst and I could lose one or both of my ovaries because of it. My hormone level had increased to over 4000 and they needed it at 3000. I was so heavy at this point, like two bowling balls were in there. But hearing what they said, I just wanted to cry! They sent us home with strict orders not to take the medication and to return Monday morning. Then after the blood work and a look at my follicles, it would be decided on whether we continue. Now we did not go straight home, heavy or not this was sale day! So we went shopping! Yes I had a few things I "needed" lol and plus it helped get my mind off of it. January 16th were were back at the clinic, same times, same program and all ready to hear the bad news! I really suspected it would be ended and we'd have to start over. I had my mind set to it and was feeling rather calm. Had my blood work done, then had Dr.C do a sonogram. She told me that things were looking great, even without the Gonal-F my follicles continued to grow. But we still had to wait for the results of the blood work before we knew what was next. She did tell me that if we had to stop or if it didn't work, the next time would be better. She felt I had an excellent chance of the IVF working and the next time they would be able to give the right dosage of medication right away without this same risk occurring. Side note, I am an sms operator from home, so I make my own hours and sit at my desk to work. This helped extremely during this time since you never know when you have to see the doctor until each visit. Plus the girls I work for are very supportive and worked with me when I needed them to. lLater that afternoon around 1pm my husband IMed me (instant messages me, we both use AIM just for each other whenhe is at work, so we can talk throughout the day or I can say "hey! get bread on the way home!" lol). So I get this message from him: WE GET THE EGGS OUT WEDNESDAY!!!!!!! LOL Well he certinaly was excited! I cried though. I just sat and cried I was so happy! I was almost positive we would be stopping treatment! One of my managers was online so I had to IM her and tell her and then I cancelled hours for the whole week. Since this was Monday and in two days I'd have the eggs out and then two days later put back in, I needed all the rest I could take. Later that night at 11pm we had our friend Linda (yes we remembered her the second time! lol) give me my shot of Gonado Cho.ENDO ORG 5000 1, it was two ampules in one shot and cold, which made it hurt . So my bum hurt for two days after that lol! January 18th back at the clinic for EC, 7am sharp is when we were told to e there so of course we were there at 6.30am LOL! There were four couples, including us, and it turned out we were couple number 3. We were taken back to our little room where I stripped and put on that paper gown, so alluring and sexy I must say lol. I was excited and a little worried! After about an hour in there, they came to take me over to the operating room so they could get in there and take those eggs! They whisked me off to another building for the procedure, my husband came along and waited in the room that have for husbands. While I was waiting for my turn to get the eggs out I noticed on the board they had that they did 552 ivf egg collections in 2005, that made me feel pretty good. When I finally got into the room, the girls were so nice. Of course I was laid out on the table in a Jesus pose but with bent legs lol. One of the girls, trying to keep me calm asked where in America I was from, when I told her Pennsylvania she said "Oh that is a pretty place! I've never been there, where is it?" LOL well that just made us all laugh and made me feel real good. But minutes later I was out cold and they did their work. I woke up about an hour later I think and the pain was unbearable. I'm talking some serious PAIN! Someone had a hold of my ovaries and they were doing their best to pull them out, at least that is what it felt like! When they saw I was awake, the girls took me baack to my room and my husband was waiting. He told me that they got 18 eggs and he had to give sperm twice since there were so many! I told him I needed drugs and at that point didn't care how many times he had to play with himself lol! They brought me some dolliprane (similar to tylenol I guess) and some spams medicine. That halped but not much. I had lunch also, only at a few bites though, I just wanted to curl in a ball and sleep. so that is what I did. Around 4pm the nurse checked on me and told me I could get ready to leave. We got our prrescription for good pain meds and spasm medicine and went home. See here is the problem though with going home, we live on the fifth floor with no elevator! So walking up those stairs isn't pleasant on a good day, so it was extra hard on that day! but I made it up and onto the canapy. Had my meds, my blanket and the remote control. That night I laid around and didn't do much, too much pain. That night the pain really hit. I woke up several times. Side effects of EC or Egg Collection. For some women they are perfectly fine after, for me since there were so many follicles, it was hell. I was in so much pain the next day it was horrendous! Actually my pain lasted to the following Monday. Six days of pain where it felt like someone squeezing my ovaries. And still felt heavy and all bloated. I did plenty of walking around the flat and drinking water, it was supposed to help but I cannot tell you if it did or not! January 20th at 8am the clinic called and told us to be there around 10am to get the eggs back in. Excitment was all over our house! I could barely move because of the pain from EC but I didn't care! I was getting some babies ine me! We arrive at 10am as told, were directed to the lab that did the fertilization. sat in the waiting room all ready and excited, for longer than I had hoped! Around 10.30am we were called back to talk about the eggs. The woman we talked to was very nice and explained everything, step by step, with photos. Here is the diagnosis of our eggs:
So seven eggs out of the picture!
Since I had no problems making the eggs and freezing is hard on the eggs, throwing those two fragmented eggs didn't upset me. At least I had two to use and that is the limit in France anyway for egg transfer. Back to the clinic, to a private room where ET or Egg Transfer would take place. They did a little test to see how things were in there, took a spasm pill also. Felt a little twinge before they put the eggs in while they were inside poking around. Then they came in and put the two embryos inside of me. I did not get a list of restirctions, I was told just to take it easy, don't lift anything or smoke (which I had stopped at that time). I was sent home with a prescription for progesterone eggs, I would place one vaginally each morning and night till my pregnancy test. Now all that was the easy part! Sound hard or stressful? That isn't anything compared to the next phase, the Two Week Wait or 2WW! Now there is where the real fun begins! Sitting and wondering, did it work? Am I pregnant? Did I just feel something? Find out how my 2WW went! |
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