Retrieval set!

Here we go… tomorrow is retrieval day!

But first, let me tell you about my weekend….

Saturday – Got up at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. to be out of the house by 6:30 to be at the clinic close to 7:00 in the snow … only to realize when I got there at 7:25 that the weekend hours don’t start ‘til 8:00. Blah.

Being unfamiliar with the process when the doc wants to do the u/s, but knowing that the u/s sign-in chart is what the gals on the desk use to pull patient files, I signed up there (noting that the doc was going to do the u/s), then signed the doc’s list, then signed up for bloodwork. So an u/s tech calls my name… and the proceeds to bitch at me because I shouldn’t have signed up on her list because that’s just for the u/s techs. Nice. I go back over to the blood waiting area and my book.

Blood tech comes in early (yay), and calls my name, since I’m first on the list. I go in and tell him that if he can’t find a vein in my arm, he needs to use the smallest syringe he’s got because I have really small veins and the butterfly won’t work (because it hadn’t worked the 3 times prior to Saturday). Does he believe me? No. He INSISTS on using the butterfly. Let’s just say that I still had a lump on the back of my hand 12 hours later and now have a bruise the size of a $2 coin. Joy. And the pain! OMG, I’ve never had that much pain from a blood draw before, and that includes the times they’ve had to dig to find a vein or double-punctured.

Go over to the u/s waiting area and get put in a room for the doc. All good. He seems really happy about the follies he’s seeing, but mentions that he thinks my left ovary was “on strike”. Sure enough, there’s between 7 & 10 follies on the right ovary (I could see the nice cluster), but only 3 small-ish ones on the left. All follies on Saturday measured between 1.3 (left side) – 2.3, with the majority being 2.0 – 2.3 cm. Got my morning shot and my take-home package for my evening shot and was told to be back Sunday morning. I was out of there by 8:10!

Joy… did I mention we were expected to get pounded by yet another winter storm on Saturday? Yup. And it was well under way on my way home (heck, it was well underway on my way TO the clinic, but it took a bit of a break while I was there, which I thought was nice of it *laugh*).

Then home… an hour of snow shoveling at about 11 a.m. during another lull… by the time the storm was over we’d gotten about another 30 cm where we are… plus blow-in. DH shoveled 4 times, plus my 1, just to keep it tamed.

Sunday… back at the clinic. Early again, because I allowed myself more time than needed to get there. Good thing I did, too… while most of the main streets had been plowed at some point, none of them had been salted, so driving was a mix of polished ice and 2 inch snowy-slush. My car went dancing on the way home… it was quite entertaining. But anyway… got to the clinic early, signed the requisite lists (not the u/s list this time so I wouldn’t get yelled at). Started off my day with the blood tech being late. Then I had to tell him off about the fiasco of Saturday. He asked if I wanted to wait for his co-worker, so I said, no… but that if he couldn’t find a vein in my arm that he was going to use the smallest needled syringe he had and that was that. So, of course, he found a vein in my arm *laugh* First time in weeks that’s happened! Doesn’t help the massive bruise on my hand that I can’t hide, but that’s life.

Had my u/s and was told that things were “really cooking”. Apparently most of the follies from Saturday had grown another 3 – 4 mm over 24 hours! So… retrieval was set for Tuesday March 11th. Which makes transfer Friday March 14th!

Got my morning shot… the last stim injection of the cycle! Got my hCG and instructions to trigger… at 12:30 Sunday night (technically this morning)… and to do my final Lupron dose at the same time. Great! Of course, we get up at 5:00 a.m. for work, so I’m functioning (barely) on about 4 hours of sleep today, but I get to be needle free today! Yesterday we started our Doxycycline (1 pill each twice daily for 3 days). I’m still doing the baby-Aspirin and Prednisone (which I finally learned is supposed to help with implantation). I got my Progesterone in Oil (Castor this time, since most people apparently develop a mild allergy to the Sesame after a couple of cycles… which explains a lot about the itching with our FET cycle). Also got all our consent forms to sign. And instructions on when to start the Estrace etc. Retrieval is set for 10:45 tomorrow morning.

I also got Fragmin to inject… but no instructions… so I’ve got a call in to the clinic on that one. It’s an anti-coagulant/anti-thrombosis med… same family as Heparin. So now I’m wondering why. I mean, I know I tested positive for some antibody or other, but when I asked Dr. D about clotting issues a few months ago she said that wasn’t a problem. Being put on this drug would suggest otherwise, I think. Guess we’ll find out.

Not sure when I’ll update again… it might be after the retrieval… it might not be until after the transfer. I expect I’ll be going mental between the 14th and the 28th, though… something about an IVF 2ww just seems so much nuttier.