Hungry

It's weird, but I'm always so so hungry for like a week after retrieval. I'll eat a full meal and then be hungry again in just a few hours.

On the brighter side, I was able to get up today. I still feel beat up, but I can move. It's getting better.

groan

Oh, MAN. Usually I'm up and about by the evening of my retrieval, but not this time. The day began badly. The drive that usually take 45 minutes to the clinic took OVER TWO AND A HALF HOURS. I arrived 40 minutes after my scheduled retrieval time. This was very bad, and they actually started the procedure before I was even asleep. They still managed to get 15 follicles, though, so all turned out ok.

On the drive home I felt surprisingly alert. Still, I went to bed when I got here and went to sleep. When I woke up, DAMN was I sick. Going to the bathroom was excruciating just from the pressure on my ovaries. I was, and still am, nauseas, dizzy, and light headed. I literally almost passed on as I got up for a drink. I've been in bed, sleeping, and groaning for about 40 hours. I don't know what happened down there, but I feel so so bad. :(

Idea for a country song

Sure, country music has traditionally committed itself to topics like divorce, beer, trucks, dead skunks, and runaway dogs/wives, but the overriding theme of misery allows for forays into other topics. I'd like to suggest injection site reaction be added to the list.

(sung to the tune of the chorus of "Know when to hold 'em" by Kenny Rogers)
Injection site is swollen!
Gonadatropin!
Gotta take some eggs away
To make an oven bun!

You never count your zygotes
When they've got you on the table!
There'll be time enough for countin'
When retrieval's done!

Your follicles are SO BIG....

...that they beep when I back up?
...that they have their own zip code?

They definitely are big. There were about 10 of them over 34 today, including 2 or 3 over 40! Because there are not a lot of people in the office today, I got to record my own numbers on the chart while she sonogrammed. There are only 12 spaces to record follicle size. We filled that on the left (and then stopped, beause, really, why bother?) and went over by 3 on the right because there were just so many big ones.

I bet if I'd taken that shot a couple hours earlier on Saturday night, I would have triggered last night instead of today. Oh well. I hope these nice big follicles bring forth lots of ripe good eggs for my recipient. After the 3 D&Cs and other problems I don't know about, she deserves a smooth transfer with beautiful, healthy embryos.

A Haiku to my Eggs

Puffy Ovaries
Full of Giant Follicles
Spring Fertility

Damn you, follicles!

This is my 5th retrieval, and on the last 4 I've always triggered on day 9. So here is day 9 and I only have one follicle with an average diameter of 17, meaning there's most likely one more day to go. This sucks. That means a Wednesday retrieval. I have to work on Wednesday night, no getting out of it. I am pretty sure the LAST thing I'm going to want to do after the retrieval is go to work and be on my feet for 3 hours. But I can't call in sick. It also means more car troubles. Both of our cars are acting up, and I get panicky every time I have to drive. Just the fact that we both need to take our broken cars out tomorrow makes me upset. The thought of my DH driving his very broken car, instead of my less broken car, combined with me driving my less broken car, has me physically upset. I know this is how IVF goes, and in the larger picture this is not a big deal, but I'm at a point outside of the clinic that has me tremendously stressed, and I'd just like things to go smootly with SOMETHING in my life.

With the way things are going, I'm going to end up hyperstimulated and my defense will be messed up.

Grow! Grow!

I'm starting to feel those ovaries down there. It was quite dramatic this morning, as I lay in bed. Now that I'm up and about, I don't feel too much. Sonogram and blood work this morning were good. I've got tomorrow off from the probe, and then daily visits to the clinic.

Oh baby...I'm so....stimulated!

I saw my favorite doctor at the clinic last weekend. He counted about 25 follicles and everything is good. However, he did point out that I had scraped my knees. I was teetering my way to my car on 4 inch heels with 25 student reports in binders a couple weeks ago, and the curb and I got into a fight...the curb won. I fell *hard*. My Kate Spade bag with my poor Apple PowerBook flew out onto the sidewalk, the students' projects scattered, and I made this big loud "Oooof!" noise as the air flew out of me. Some nice guy across the street almost came over to help me until I waived him off. The bag, the computer, and the reports were all fine. I, however, was a bloody mess. I literally had streams of it running down my legs (totally ruining the otherwise good effect of the heels and my dark grey skirt that ended *above* the knee). I've healed a bit, but I still have those bright pink spots on both knees where the scabs have fallen off. That's a long story to get to the point that I was surprised he noticed. I know my knee was right in his face while I was in stirrups, but for some reason I didn't think he'd be looking.

It doesn't matter, though. He calls me brilliant and beautiful and I still love him.

Today I've taken my 3rd day of stims - gonal-f, repronex, more lupron. I'm not feeling anything yet in the ovary area which is nice. My probably retrieval is a week from today, and my dissertation defense is a little more than a week after that. I'm in the midst of the most important event of my life so far (MAYBE edged out by my wedding, but the wedding was a lot easier to pull together), and I'm hoping the donation won't interfere. Puffy ovaries are one thing. I'm definitely rooting against a second bout of OHSS. I'm pretty confident that won't happen, though, since it only happened on my first time (it's more common in the first cycle than in later cycles).

Wednesday is the next sonogram. I'll have all sorts of cool measurements to post then.

Ooh...and we're right at the full-term due date of the recipient of last July's retrieval. Of course, I don't know if she actually had a successful pregnancy, but I'm thinking of her. I hope she is welcoming happy, healthy baby/babies into her life.

We have lupron!

I think we've passed the point of no return for donation cycle #5. Today is day 18 of my birth control and I went in for a sonogram and blood test. Everything is fine, and I have a bag of lupron IN MY HOUSE. I think this means that the recipient really is all clear and we're going to carry through with a retrieval in 20 days.