Appointments, appointments. appointments!!!

So a lot has happened since my last update, and i'll try to remember all of the details!!

We had our baseline ultrasound appointment last Friday, 8/26. For this appointment, they just wanted to check out my uterus lining and do blood work to see how my levels were all looking. It was a short and sweet appointment, in and out in about 15 minutes. The ultrasound looked good and my lining was thin, which is what they were wanting. The blood work came back on track as well! They were testing my estrogen levels to make sure those were low in order to start my stimulating injections. When I got the phone call about my blood work, the Nurse Practitioner made me way nervous! I never get to talk to the staff when they call with results if it is during the week because I don't have phone service in the school. So during the day, I've just decided to turn my phone on airplane mode so it doesn't run my battery down all day trying to find service. Once I left the school, I listened to the voicemail that Ann Marie (the nurse practitioner) left me. She began saying that my estrogen level was low, and then sort of paused. So I immediately began to worry as I continued listening to the message. If I would have known what they were testing for when they did the blood work, then I probably wouldn't have been so nervous. But I didn't... Honestly I don't know what they are testing for with most of the blood work they take. I have just been going with the flow, figuring they know what they are looking for. Anyway, So Ann Marie proceeded to tell me that my estrogen levels were supposed to be low and that I could continue on with my plan of care as it was.

Baseline ultrasound appointment

Since everything was good and on track, I was able to start my stimulating injections last Sunday. So that put me at injection three shots daily! The stimulating shots are what boost your ovaries to produce multiple follicles, which are the potential babies. So in a much more simple form, I'm injecting ovary steroids to make lots of eggs!! Normally your ovaries are the size of almonds during the ovulation phase of your cycle. With the stimulation injections I am taking, mine can potentially become the size of oranges!! This is due to there being multiple maturing follicles instead of just a couple. Two out of the three that I am injecting are stimulating shots, and the third injection, Lupron, is making it so my body is not able to ovulate by itself. Once my follicles are the correct size, then I will be instructed to take whats called a trigger shot to induce ovulation. This is when we will do the egg retrieval, and hopefully get a lot of healthy, mature potential baby Belnaps! As of right now, I'm scheduled to do the retrieval on Thursday but that's not set in stone.

I do each shot every morning around 6 AM. I have to be as close to the same time everyday with each one. I've said in my previous updates that the Lupron shot stung just a little, but wasn't that bad. Well now that I have to do two on top of that everyday... I've changed my mind! Now two out of the three shots hurt like crazy!!!! The Menopure, which I have heard from other IVF patients, hurts SOOOO bad. Its a powder from the beginning that you mix with solution to dilute it and make into an injectable form. So it is already a thicker liquid going in, which is uncomfortable. And as soon as you think that it is going to only be that bad, it starts to sting like the worst bee sting ever! I'm not even exaggerating... Most mornings I have to stop half way through the shot to breathe because I feel like I might pass out from the stinging pain. I've heard that some people will numb the injection sight with an ice cube before doing this one. And then afterward they put a hand warmer pack on it for the next hour to relieve some of the pain. I haven't tried either of these because I don't feel like I have time to do that every morning, and I have this alter ego I guess that just tells me to not be a wuss and to just do it. This week has really put a toll on my belly though. That's where I do all of my shots. Everyday I alternate from the left side of my belly button to the right. At the beginning of the week I got my first bruise on the right side. It was probably the size of a raisin, not huge, but noticeable. Yesterday I got my second bruise, and it is huge and really hurts! It's like the size of a quarter, and it bruised immediately. And of course, it was from the menopure shot.. I'll take the bruises though. They make me feel like what I am doing really is hard, and that it's okay to be upset about it sometimes!

I'm on the count down now! Last Tuesday was the beginning of my count down. I had been doing my stimulating shots for three days and all of this was finally getting to me. I was telling Tyk how bad the Menopure hurt and how I really hope that this works. I then told him I only had one more week of shots and that I knew I could do it. I began thinking after I said that and then rephrased my statement to him. I said "only 21 more shots to go!" Looking at it like that was kinda sucky, but as the days have gone by its really nice to minus 3 from the list.

I have had 2 blood work appointments in the last week. One was on Tuesday, and the other one was Friday. The Tuesday appointment went well, and everything was on track. The Friday appointment, not so much. I was leaving the school when my phone showed that I had two missed calls form the clinic, and two voicemails. The first voicemail just told me to call the clinic to talk about my dosage according to my blood work results. The second voicemail explained a little bit more. Ashley the clinical nurse, told me that I needed to increase my dose of the stimulating shot by 50 units. From that point, of course I started panicking, assuming that my body is not reacting well to the stimulation. So for the last two days I have kinda been freaking out, and super stress about what is going on inside my body. This is the conclusion I have come to as to why I did this. I have been going through this journey for a long time, and over all this time my body hasn't reacted well to what we have tried. So I'm just assuming the worst, and that my body is doing the same thing that it has always done. Tyk tried to comfort me through this little freak out and told me to have faith and to be more positive. I knew he was right, but I just was so unsure of my body. I just wanted to see what was going on, and I just needed to be patient. On top of all of that, with the doctor increasing my dosage meant I didn't have enough medication to get me through the rest of my plan. This added more stress to the situation! I now had to get a hold of the fertility pharmacy and hopefully get a shipment of medication on the truck before it left. I got a hold of them pretty easy, but then found out that because of labor day and the weekend, the medication wouldn't be here in time for when I needed it. So then I had to get ahold of someone at the clinic to let them know I was going to run out of medication and that I could not order any to get here by the time I needed it. One thing after another....  I just could not get this situation to work out. Here's the problem... Its now Saturday, and the clinic isn't open for regular business, and I don't have the number for the on call nurse. So what did I do? I just kept calling the clinic and eventually someone called me back.  They told me that there is an emergency supply I can purchase at my next appointment, and to not stress about it. Fewww! What a mess....

I had an appointment this morning for an ultrasound and blood work. We had to drive to Pleasant Grove for this appointment because it's a weekend day, which is a little over an hour away. We usually go to the Murray location, about 40 minutes away. Before the nurse came in to do the ultrasound, I told Tyk that I had anxiety. I really just think the worst out of everything! The nurse came in, apologized for keeping us waiting and began to explain what she was looking for in the ultrasound. As she was getting ready to begin, she picked of the ultrasound stick and the gooey stuff they put on it to make the process more comfortable flung off of the stick right on to my leg. I started laughing, and the nurse apologized for the mess. This broke the ice for the rest of the appointment, and I felt a lot more calm. The ultrasound showed that my lining had thickened up like it should have, and that each ovary had some pretty good follicles growing!!! Everything is looking good, the nurse said, which was such a relief! When she left the room, Tyk let out a big sigh! I asked him if he had been nervous and he said yes! He is pretending to not be stressed through this whole process, but I know he is too. Its probably good that he is hiding it. I think I have enough showing on the outside for both of us.  I got my blood drawn today as well. The on call nurse just called and told me that all of my levels look great, and to keep everything as planned.


As for right now, I have another appointment tomorrow in Pleasant Grove again. They will repeat what they did today and make sure everything is still going well. I also have an appointment on Tuesday for the same thing. Now I am to the point in my treatment that I need to be monitored very closely. My follicles are just about ready for retrieval and my levels could change over just a couple of hours. For now, my retrieval is scheduled for Thursday!!! We will have to wait and see how tomorrows appointment goes to see if that is still the plan.

I'll update again with the results of the next couple of days. STAY TUNED!!!!

Thanks for reading,


Shandee

This mornings appointment