Lupron, Menopur & Follistim.......OH MY!!!

Well, I've been meaning to do an update for several days and I just haven't taken the time to write. Lots has happened since my last update. Here's the latest:
On Friday, April 15, we started Lupron injections. So far so good, it is a breeze to inject, the side effects, however, are the devil!!! I've had the worst mood swings ever!! My co-workers think I'm a crazy person. HA! I started out doing 10 units, now I'm doing 5 units. My last birth control pill was April 17. I started my period on April 20 and had an ultrasound on April 25 to make sure I didn't have any cysts on my ovaries. The ultrasound looked good and my RE told me I could start Menopur that night. Woo-hoo!! Let's get this party started!! I'm doing 150 units of Menopur and Thursday I had my first monitoring appointment. My RE called after she read the ultrasound and said to add 25 more units of Menopur and to pack my bags because Dr Rizk wants us in Mobile for the remainder of the IVF(we live 3 hours away).  So, we left after work yesterday and drove down to Mobile. Our new home for the next 11 days will be our hotel room.  I had another monitoring appointment today and everything is looking just like it should. I also started Follistim today. Instead of trying to draw up 25 units of Menopur in the syringe, I can use the Follistim pen and it will be exactly the right amount of medicine. And let me tell you, the Follistim Pen is SO much easier to use!! I love it! I have another appointment at 8 am tomorrow, hopefully everything is still looking good. We have a lot of free time on our hands since we're not working while we're here, so I will try to do a better job at keeping this blog updated! Have a great night!!

Birth Control is Boring.......

Just as the title says, we have been boring for the past few weeks. But, we are about to be NOT SO BORING!!! Lupron shots start on Friday(4/15)!!! I think I should've started them this past Wednesday(day 21 of  birth control) but my RE was afraid of having "Easter Eggs" hahaha!! They didn't want to risk having a retrieval on Easter, which is fine with me.  Right now our schedule is......U/S on 4/25 to make sure I don't have any cysts so I can start Menopur.......first monitoring appointment on 4/28, go to Mobile on 4/30 for the remainder of the monitoring.......egg retrieval on 5/6 and transfer on 5/9!!!! Of course, this could change depending on when I start my period while doing the Lupron and how my ovaries respond to the meds. Oh yea, I will also start PIO(progesterone in oil) shots! BLAH!!

Good luck to all the other ladies that are currently doing IVF or are in their 2WW!! Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Monday's appointment update

My appointment on Monday went really well! We got to Mobile Sunday night around 10pm and checked in to the hotel. We got up Monday morning, had breakfast and headed to the doctors office. When we got there, they sent me across the street for an ultrasound and everything looked fine. Then we talked to the doctor and he wanted to do a Hysteroscopy because it had been about 6 months since my last one. Boy was that uncomfortable!! OUCH!!  It was going good until they injected the saline in! But, he said my uterus looked good and everything looked normal. After the hysteroscopy, they took some blood from Erick and myself and then they gave us the 30 pages of paperwork to look over and sign. Holy Moly! As of tomorrow, we will OFFICIALLY be in our first IVF cycle! WOO!! I start the birth control pills tomorrow and then I'll do a Lupron shot, then Menopur, retrieval and transfer!! The only thing that could possibly cancel our cycle is if my doctors wife gets any worse. As I mentioned before, she has cancer. She was in Houston, TX a couple of weeks ago but now she's back in Mobile. From what I understand, she's in the end stage of leukemia. It is so sad! He is such a nice guy and was so professional when we talked to him Monday. He was smiling and laughing with the staff, you would never know that his wife is ill. I told my husband that he is truly dedicated to his patients to be at the office when he should be with his wife. I don't think he was there very long that day, his nurse practitioner told us that she hand picked his patients for Monday and we were one of the lucky 5 that she picked! I felt so special!

I will keep this blog updated through our journey but, it will be pretty boring for the next 21 days only having to take a birth control pill everyday. I am excited and nervous for us! I just pray that it will work like we hope it will!! God is good......all the time!!

Mobile bound tomorrow night and a much needed update

I am WAY past due for an update! In my last post, my cycle was a complete disaster. It has finally decided to cooperate, thank goodness!! I started the BCP again and was supposed to have my timeline appointment on February 21, well........the clinic canceled my appointment because my doctor's wife is not in good health and he would be out of town with her. They rescheduled it for the following Monday. They canceled it again! By this point, I'm on day 15 and would need to start my lupron injections on day 22. My RE called me and told me she was sorry but I would need to finish my pack of birth control, have a period and start them again. *sigh* I completely understand that he needs to be with his wife but, I have to say that I was disappointed to have to start the pills all over again. They're not saying exactly what is wrong with her but, he has been in Houston, TX with her so I'm assuming she has cancer. We are finally going for an appointment this Monday, the 14th. I am so excited!!! I finished my pack of birth control yesterday so, I'm anxious to start this cycle. I just really hope we can go through the entire process this time! That will be something we discuss on Monday. I don't want to change doctors but, I don't want to wait another year to do this either. We already have our medicine and it won't last forever. I am curious, though, if we do change doctors will the new doctor want to start all over again and do new tests or anything??  If any of you have had to experience this I would love to hear your opinion!!

Well, that's my update for now. I will be sure to update after our Monday appointment!! Have a great rest of the weekend!!

Lots of updates

It has been way too long since my last post!! I have been keeping up with everyone via my cell phone. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & New Year! Ours was great! We usually go to my grandmother's every year, but this year she came to us.  It was wonderful not to have to go out of town, but I sure did miss my aunt, uncle & cousins!

As far as IVF goes........i did start the birth control, but I had to stop taking it.  My cycle last month was a disaster! After my surgery in October I had a cycle.....well....it decided to last FOREVER!! & by that I mean I started taking Prometrium on day 46 & finally started on day 50!! BLAH! Day 1 fell on saturday(new years day) & I called my RE on Monday & I went for blood work & an u/s on Tuesday.  Everything looked good so I started the BCP Tuesday evening.  I made an appointment to go to Mobile on January 17(Yes! this past Monday) this would be our "Timeline" appointment.  We were so excited to finally be doing this process!!! Well after being on BC for over a week, i was still bleeding!! UGH!  It was terrible! I called my RE & she said this was not good news......i was probably having breakthrough bleeding! She said for me to continue the pills & hopefully it would stop......well....it didn't. I called her back saturday morning(I will tell you why I called her on a saturday in a minute) & she said to stop the pills because they were obviously not doing any good.  I finally stopped bleeding today!! Whew!!

Now......the reason I called my RE on saturday is because.......Friday night i went roller skating.  & for anybody that knows me, they know I LOVE to skate! Well, the night had been going good, i was having a blast!  Then, all of a sudden, it was going not good!! I was skating & went to turn around & fell! & boy did I fall! I hit my head & ended up at the ER with a concussion!! Only me ! GEEZ!! So, that's why i called my RE.......I had to cancel my appointment. She told me to stay off the skates!! HAHA!  It would've been pointless to go anyway because of my cycle being so wacko.

I'm doing ok from my fall......it's just taken me a few days to get back to normal. A concussion is definitely not fun!!! I will be starting the IVF process again very soon! I will try to do better with keeping everyone updated!

I hope you all have a great day!!

RANT!

AHHHHHH!!!!! I just wanna scream!!!! The holidays are stressing me out!!! I love this time of year and the time we get to spend with family but, why can't it just be simple??? Why do people always make Christmas time all about getting a gift?? It drives me crazy!!! I love to buy gifts for everyone but right now times are tough and we are trying to save some money for IVF and we just CAN'T buy every single person a gift!! I don't care if I don't get one single gift; I just want us all to get together and eat and be merry, but it's not always that simple!! Oh well......we'll do what we can and that's going to have to be good enough! IVF is way more important to me than buying a gift that will turn into a dust collector. WHEW! I feel better!! Thanks for listening!! haha!! :)

A Few Updates

I have been such a terrible blogger lately! I haven't had a chance to give any updates. So, here it goes:

*Surgery went good! He removed some mild Endo and my right tube is blocked! He says he doesn't understand why it's blocked, but it is...oh well. My uterus looks good, nothing crazy looking in there!! Woo-Hoo!! He did a D&C as well. He did say that I had some inflammation on the lining of my uterus and gave me some Doxycycline to take.
* I talked to my RE in Mobile and we are shooting for a January "Timeline Appointment" and a February retrieval and transfer!! I can't wait!! I have to admit though, I am S-C-A-R-E-D of PIO's!! I just don't like to depend on somebody else to give me a shot, but I will do whatever it takes!!
* I have half of my medicine. I only had enough money to cover half right now and when I get my reimbursement check from the insurance company I will order the other half. Last time the meds were $2003.00....this time they are $3900.00! Whew! Thank goodness I get reimbursed! I am very fortunate that I have good insurance!!