Shots without a Hangover!

April 29th was the BIG day!! Time to start Harvesting :)

On April 29th I started my injections into my tummy (just a couple inches from my belly button). First, I just want to share the medications I used for IVF:

• Bravelle
• Menopur
• Lupron
• HCG
• Progesterone
• Doxycycline
• Valium
• Birth Control

It is kind of a hassle and lots of calling in order to get the medications ordered and through insurance. Since most health insurances do not cover anything with infertility we weren't sure exactly how much of the medications would be covered. So that was kind of nerve racking to not know what kind of bill we would have. In the end after ordering refills, we spent just over $1000 for medications that usually cost between $3000 and $4000. Oh and trying to decide who to order through was another headache. There are so many sources out there, but we just stayed with Caremark through my insurance. They were easy and friendly to deal with.

So we got everything ordered and it was delivered within a day. It arrived in 2 boxes. One of the boxes was 2feet by 3 feet :) Crazy!! The other box had my temperature controlled HCG shot. One shot needed a 1 foot by 1 foot box. Too funny :) So now our spare bedroom looked like a drug room. Needles, Needles, Needles :) I felt official now having a needle disposal container.

On April 29th I gave myself my first injection of Lupron and I continued taking the pill until May 3rd. The morning of the 29th was kind of crazy. Chris and I had some nerves trying to make everything go well and still make it to work on time. So we've had the injection training and thought it was all good. The dogs were kind of anxious too trying to figure out what was going on! The daily routine had been interrupted and it was pretty funny if I was a fly on the wall watching us get the shots taken care of and getting the dogs on their potty walk.

Chris, bless his heart, mixed my drugs and prepared my needles for me every morning! EVERY MORNING!! That was so fantastic. Then, all I had to do was inject myself. The needles for my tummy were about an inch long. So on that first day I got a little squeemish...injected myself and suddenly felt faint. I rushed to the bedroom and made it to the bed before collapsing. Uffduh...I wasn't expecting that. But from there on out, it was a piece of cake.

I started the menopur mixed with bravelle shots 5 days later. So now Chris had to prepare 2 needles every morning. Again bless his heart!! I never once had to mix the drugs, and he was good at it too. So much work! Now taking 2 shots in my tummy :) My tummy did start having some bruising. There were black and blue circles on both sides of my belly button. Not attractive at all, but I know it's for a good cause.

By the middle of May I could start feeling my ovaries getting bigger, but I didn't feel like my mood was getting wacky. Probably because I was way too stressed with school and work to let myself get crazy. Ovaries are usually about the size of almonds, and during harvesting they could grow to be the size of a small apple. So there was some discomfort there. I wasn't able to continue exercising after May 8th. I could still go on walks, but that was about it. It was very important to keep it easy to prevent any damage to my ovaries and tubes. There is a chance that my tubes could twist, and that would require surgery to fix or possibly have permanent damage. So I definitely listened and that meant no more golf or running until at least August :(. I was sad but understood it was for a good cause. I kind of felt like a blob, but as the time went on it became more painful to sometimes sit up or walk.

Since the shots were important to regulate my hormones and follicle production, it was also important to have doctor appointments to monitor the harvesting and blood levels. My next post will describe all the doctor appointments and the time leading up to the retrieval.

Shots and No hangover :)