I finally made up my mind for the date!

Hello everyone,

On October 15th, Jay and I went to the Royal Victoria Hospital to create our processing schedule for InVitro fertilization. Our appointment was at 9:30 am and we seen at 9.40 am. Wow! It shows that some department at the hospital works better than others.

We were greeted by Judy. It's with her that we must set our schedule for the injections and treatment.  

Poor Judy! She's really patient .... I changed my mind three times!

Let me explain ....

The treatment protocol is starting on the first day of my cycle. So we (Jay and I) have decided to start in December. Judy has verified all the dates, she is making sure that there was room available for us, she then entered all the necessary information on a calendar ... Echo, Injections, Echo, egg retrieval, Transfer embryos, etc.

After having a glance at the calendar, I realized that the egg retrieval was December 25 and the transfer of embryos was on January 1st 2011. Hmmmm! The timing is not too good!

I thought a little..........(but when I look back, I really have not thought long enough .... poor Judy!)... and I change my mind. Finally, we will do it in November. 

We will start the treatment in November, decided.........................RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Judy tells us that there is no problem, she will prepare a new calendar, she tells us that this is not really not a big deal, etc. ... She finished the calendar, leave the office to go make some photocopies.  When she was gone, I looked at Jay and I told him: ''Do not you think that November is too fast? If I change job now, it's really not cool for my new employer?? It doesn't look professional.  It would be better a little later, don't you think?? 

Gosh!! Jody will not be happy! I can not do that! I can't really change my mind again.....Can I??? 

Jay told me that I should follow my guts feeling and if I think that January is better, well I should tell Judy now and make the change....and that's what i did. 

As soon as Judy returned to the office, I put on my best angel smile, my little pitiful puppy eyes and said: ''Jody, you'll want to rip my head .....' '

She smiled and said, i will change the calendar one last time, but it's really the last time, otherwise you'll have to make another appointment if you decide to change the date again. 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Jody for your patience, your understanding and your good mood.

So finally, the date is chosen.

Here are some informations on the dates and details about the treatment that we will follow:

Everything begins and is decided around the first day of my period. So suppose I am super regular, January 6 should be Day 1.

Day 2: I have to go to the hospital to have an ultrasound. The purpose of this ultrasound is to check and make sure that I have no cysts or other health problems that could be worsened by taking hormones. If everything is fine, the MD gives me the OK to start subcutaneous injections of Gonal F and Luveris. I have to do these injections for about 10 days.

Day 7: I have to add Cetrotide injections.

Day 9: I gotta go to the hospital for another Echo to see changes and evolution of the follicles. Whit this echo, it is likely that the MD adjusts the doses of my injections.

Day 11: Another ultrasound

Day 12 or Day 13: the removal of the follicles. :-) & :-(

Then, the transfer of the embryos is between 3 to 5 days later.

If all goes well, then we speak of normal pregnancy at 4 weeks, otherwise, we start with another transfer of embryo a few weeks later.

Here are some informations about the medications that I will be taking:

GONAL-f is a replica of the gonatrope (stimulate the growth of eggs) hormone FSH.  The injection is subcutaneous (just under the skin) which is easier to do and less painful than intramuscular injections (into the muscle)

LUVERIS is a gonatrope hormone highly purified of LH. LUVERIS and Gonal-f provide the necessary quantities of LH and FSH to the ovaries, allowing the follicles to grow. Luveris can not be taken orally because it would be digested in the stomach and therefore it must be injected. With its very high purity, LUVERIS can be administered by subcutaneous injection.

CETROTIDE blocks the effect of a natural hormone called GnRH. GnRH controls the secretion of the hormone LH. LH is the hormone that triggers ovulation (release of an egg). Cetrotide allows release under supervision so that it occurs at an optimal time.

What are the possible side effects after taking these drugs?

Breast tenderness, Fatigue (sleepiness), Bloating, Weight gain, Nausea, Diarrhea, Headaches, Stomach pain, Ovarian cysts and in the worst cases Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).

OHSS is a rare condition that occurs when too many follicles (part of the ovary that becomes an egg) grow and cause abdominal discomfort or pain, nausea, diarrhea, and sometimes difficulty breathing. In extreme cases, we must have recourse to hospitalization. We must also stop treatment for some time.

I hope you find this information interesting.

I don't think I'll have more information to add until january 6th. 

But rest assured that I'll use this blog as a diary from the start of treatment. 

Until then ..... I take folic acid!

;-)

Feel free to leave comments.

Talk to you soon

Isabelle

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