Waiting

Today, much like the rest of the past 2 weeks, was all about waiting.

We got up and had breakfast before heading out at about 7:15 to head to the clinic. Got there at 8:00. Waited for bloodwork. Waited for them to find a vein. Waited for them to find another vein because the first one collapsed.

Waited to see the doc.

Waited for an u/s. Nothing in the uterus today, apparently. Mass in the tube has not grown... if anything, it shrank slightly. Diameter roughly 1 cm. No fetal pole, no heartbeat. Teeny tiny hope that the toxic drugs might not be necessary... I mean, if it's not growing, the risk of rupture is practically non-existant, right?

Beta results weren't ready yet, so... you guessed it... waited until the beta results came back.

9:30-ish, back in the u/s room with the doc. Beta number rose about 50% from Thursday. Not a good sign. Doc ordered methotrexate. Called over to the local ER to let them know we were coming.

Waited while the doc tried to find something official looking to write a 'nutshell' version of our situation.

Headed over to the ER.

Waited for a triage nurse. Waited while they took temp (36.2... a little low for me, I usually run closer to 36.6... I should probably get my thyroid checked again). Waited while they took my blood pressure (a little high... not really surprising, though... "White Coat Syndrome" plus, you know, having to get toxic drugs).

Waited while they created a file for me.

Waited in the ER in "the red chair" (no kidding... it's a red chair... has a sign on the wall directing people to "the red chair", even). Waited while they took blood. First poke, no go... needle was too big. Second poke, no go... vein collapsed. Third poke (in the hand, near where buddy collapsed the first vein this morning)... BINGO! We have 4 vials! (what they checked, I'm not sure. CBC, I imagine... I was told kidney & liver function).

The joy of being weighed and measured (I felt like a prize catch). Thankfully, they weighed me in kg, so I have no idea what hideous number came back. I'm a big girl... tall, and not likely to blow away in a strong wind. Essential numbers for getting the "right" dose, though.

Went down the hall to change into a hospital gown and... yep... wait. First gown only had one sleeve. Sent D down the hall to ask for another gown. Changed. Waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Eventually the gyne on call showed up. Again, another person who had no clue who we were (I'm so glad the doc called ahead to say we were coming... I just wish I knew who he called, because nobody we encountered knew who we were). She was in the room all of about 90 seconds. Long enough to say "you know why we're giving you this injection, right?" and to answer a quick question about the location of a vending machine or other source of food (it was after noon... breakfast was a long time ago and D's tummy was talking... loudly ;) ). She said she'd double check with my RE about follow-up (whether the clinic would do it, or the hospital) and order the shot from the pharmacy.

D went off to find food. I waited. He eventually came back with 2 chocolate bars. Surprisingly, one of them was an Oh! Henry... I didn't expect to find peanuts for sale in a hospital. Oh well.

We waited. And waited.

Shortly before 1:30 (having gotten to the hospital at 10:00 I suppose that wasn't bad, all things considered), a nurse showed up and poked me in the butt... once on each side. Bringing the total number of punctures for the day to 7 (right arm twice, right hand twice, left hand once, each butt cheek once).

And now we wait again... for the drugs to work their toxic magic and end this roller-coaster ride.

Cautions: no aspirin, no advil, no folic acid or folate. Increase red meat/iron intake. Expect heavy bleeding (come back in if changing pad more than every 30 minutes). Expect pain and cramping. Return to the clinic Thursday for another beta to see if it's dropping. Then likely once a week until 0.


Waiting Sucks.