Well, maybe not all the things, but enough things. Dean and I had an appointment this morning to specifically learn how to do my injections. We also picked up my medication – there is a LOT of it. I will post pictures of the medications later this evening. The most useful thing that they provided us with this VERY HANDY chart that you can see below:
What you are seeing here is that I am beginning my ovarian stimulation (stims) on 5/15 – providing that I get my period. If I do not get my period, then I cannot begin the medications. But we are going to think positively and talk as if I will get it when I am supposed to. I am doing two injections daily, one in the morning and one in the evening. In the morning – I take Menopur, to stimulate my follicles and luteinizing hormone (what is created when you’re about to ovulate) activity because these hormones will stimulate my ovaries to make eggs. For this med, I have to mix a liquid to a powder before injecting. I have been warned that this injection burns by both the nurse, as well as by my friends on the infertility sub on Reddit.
The second medication that I will be taking at night is called Gonal-F. I am really thankful I dont have to inject anything at around lunchtime, because that means I dont need to inject at work. This medication is a synthetic version of the naturally-occurring follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), a hormone produced by the pituitary gland that helps egg development in the ovaries. Basically, they want me to make a ton of eggs and have them develop into mature follicles.
The x’s that you see on this chart are appointments that I will have on Tuesday and Thursday of next week. I will have bloodwork done on Tuesday, and then more bloodwork and a monitoring ultrasound on Thursday to see how my follicles are maturing and how I am doing on the medications.
My next appointments will be determined by how I progress with the medication. If all goes according to plan, my trigger shot that prepares the mature follicles to be retrieved will be given at the doctor’s office two days before my egg retrieval which is tentatively scheduled for the 25th or the 26th of May. Our transfer date would then also be tentatively scheduled for the 29th-June 3rd.
Now that everything is finally here, somehow this process feels more real and in a lot of ways less stressful. Am I thrilled about injections? No, not at all. But everything (with a few exceptions) is paid for, and now it feels like we just have these last few things to do. I’m sure I will be stressed about my eggs developing, and then I will stress out about how many will get fertilized, but I am mostly okay with that. At least it’s progress. And even if we go through all this and we are not successful – we know what to expect and we know what the gameplan will be for our next attempts.