PreScreening Completed

Hi Everyone!

I'm sorry it's been since March I've blogged. I'll blame it both on being lazy and busy. Today, well I should say as of Tuesday, our prescreening is completed. The prescreening involved a lot of testing. I will be sure to blog about that later when I have the information in front of me. For us, it's been about 10 months of various of tests. Which is great - I'm not trying to complain at all!! It's good to know anything and everything about our bodies so that we healthy are prepared for IVF. IVF is like an investment, so we are on board in every aspect. Heck, IVF costs as much as a car. CRAZY!!

Well, our final stage of prescreening involved a sonohysterogram and consent signing. Let me chat about the consent signing just a bit because I'll explain everything more in detail when I describe the prescreening process. Consent signing is what it sounds like, a lot of signing. I felt like we were buying a house, Initial here/sign here/date here, etc... Well it also asked some deep questions. For example, we had answer questions based on certain possible situations. What if I died, or if Chris died, or if we both died, or I could no longer carry a child, or we got divorced. We needed answer questions regarding our cryopreserved embros for each of these situations and more. It was a little uncomfortable because it's never pleasant to have to think about. But it was for a good cause and we made it through just fine.

The other tough part about consent signing, I wanted to just briefly chat about, was the medical aspect. How many embryos and what are the possible complications with IVF...Wow,these were big questions!!! I'm going to leave part of that question private for now, but you know me, I'll eventually chat about it all. :) But Complications??? What??? But it's all good, again very rare something goes wrong. I tend to try to ooze positivity, so bare with me.

Now onto the sonohysterogram (SHG). Only two words: OUCH!! GROSS!! This is like a very messy and painful pap smear. I've been used to the speculum by now with all the prescreening, so I though no big deal this time. Oh my goodness. It wasn't like gut wrenching pain, but it wasn't pleasant. Sorry to be graphic, but I'll try to add some humor. After the doctor inserted the speculum he mentioned by the way it's larger than normal speculums. In my mind I was saying, "Yep, I can tell"....Another Funny note. The nurse who was assisting mentioned I looked tan while my legs were spread ealge. That was funny!! Basically checking out my vajayjay, but I knew what she meant. It just came at a funny time.

The purpose of the SHG is to discover any abnormalities in the uterus that may affect IVF. For IVF we want the lady region perfect :) First, the uterus and vagina are cleaned with betadine, and then the speculum is inserted. Next, a catheter is inserted to measure your uterus and to fill the uterus with saline. After the uterus is full, the speculum is removed and the ultrasound probe is inserted. The doctor can then look for polyps and what not. In the meantime, saline and betadine are dripping all out of me. GROSS!! Right?? Just thought I would share. It makes me chuckle. I got busy on Tuesday at the clinic!!

What happened next? Well, the doctor saw that my ovaries were great, but found a polyp on my uterine lining. We needed this removed ASAP! We were told we'd have a days notice of an opening based on the anesthetist's availability. We were able to get in today, Friday. That was awesome! So I got to the clinic at 7:30, and I was done by 10:30 this morning. I've never had anesthesia, so I was kinda nervous about that. But I knew it would be fine. The anesthetist was so awesome! He was laughing along with all our jokes, and just really could tell he wanted me to be as comfortable as possible. AWESOME!! As a side: I totally love the entire clinic. Very friendly and always answering our questions with so much information.

So I got into the procedure room all IV'd up, and ready for some drugs. Let me tell you about this chair I had to be in. Ladies, you'll understand or appreciate this, but this chair was 100% better than those tables with stirrups. It was comfortably reclined like a lazy boy and had these thigh rests. They were kinda wobbly, but cooshy!! And they strapped my legs in. Even better, now I can just relax. The drugs were administered and the oxygen put in my nose, and I don't remember a thing after that. This was the best nap ever!!

After I woke up, I guess I managed to get myself to my room and on the bed. It's nuts I don't remember. Chris and the nurses/doctors were sweethearts because I just kept repeating the same jokes and phrases. I was like 10 second guy on 50 first dates!! Here are some of my lines of the day:

• I hope I wasn't drooling. Was I drooling? I think I was drooling. (I proceeded to feel my mouth looking all drugged up).
• Chris, look limp wrist. (My oxygen meter on my finger was going off so I thought if I flexed my wrist it would turn the alarm off. I thought it was funny at least.)
• I love it here. It's like Cheers because everybody knows my name and it's so friendly!
• Oh man, that chair was so comfy. (The nurse thought I was nuts. She said that was a first anyone said that. I was shocked. It was so much better than stirrups and a platform)

So that's what I remember. I've been sleeping most of the day, but I feel great and I don't have any pain. It was a very simple and probably routine procedure and I survived with flying colors.

Now we are ready for the big show! Woo Woo!!

Love you all and have a great weekend!