Exciting times and sad times

So I continued with the injections and coped really well with them. No major side effects at all, just a bit tired. And then I had a scan on the 17th Feb. I had several follicles at that stage but only one was large enough so I continued with the injections over the weekend and had another scan on the 20th. On the 20th, I had 7 good sized follicles and so started 2 lots of antibiotics in preparation for the procedure and was scheduled for the egg retrieval on the 22nd. I was amazed at how fine the egg retrieval was. The staff in the clinic were really lovely and it was as pleasant as it could have been. As soon as I was on the bed they gave be an IV sedative and it felt great :) I wasn't really that aware of what was going on after that. The local anasthetic injection went by unnoticed. The only real discomfort was when they were accessing some of the follicles on my right ovary, which is quite buried. But it was just a bit uncomfortable, not painful. I came around from the sedative reasonably quickly and we met with the embryologist before we went home. She confimred that there were 5 eggs and she asked us whether we wanted to go with standard IVF (putting the sperm in the vicinity of the eggs and leaving them to fertilise) or ICSI (injecting the sperm into the eggs). As we have had four unsuccessful rounds of IUI it made sense to go for ICSI. We want to give this the best chance possible and if there is any chance that our eggs and sperm aren't working together then we don't want to waste this opportunity. And the NHS are happy to cover the extra expenses of the ICSI for this round. We headed home within a couple of hours of the procedure and I was very dozy and sleepy for the rest of the day. The pain killers wore off a bit by the end of the day, leaving me feeling like I'd been kicked in the stomach. But I've woken up this morning with very little pain and just a bit of bloating. The anticipation of the event was definitely worse than the reality. I just got the call from the clinic this morning to say that they managed to inject 4 of the eggs and that 3 of them have fertilised which is a great outcome! Our clinic will only put a maximum of 2 eggs back in and so they will pick the best 2 and they will probably be putting them back in tomorrow. And then we wait... In the meantime, I'm still on a stack of drugs - conitnuing with one of the antibiotics, paracetamol for the remaining post-procedure pain, and a progesterone pessary and an estrogen tablet which will continue until we know the outcome and possibly longer if I am pregnant. Having literally just written this, I popped upstairs to go to the loo and came back downstairs to find that one of my cats has passed away. He was recently diagnosed with heart disease and, although on medication, hasn't been looking very well these last few days. It happened very quickly and so we can only assume that he had a heart attack. It's so upsetting, he was a really lovely, beautiful cat. Truly my buddy. We were expecting him to continue for a while with the medication. I'm glad that we knew about the heart problems, which were discovered as apart of his annual check up, as otherwise it would have been a horrible shock. We'd had such good news this morning and this just emphasises again the fragility of life. No matter what the outcome of this treatment, I am truly thankful for the people (and animals) already in my life.

IVF underway

I'm feeling less of a need to blog which I guess is a good sign. I'm not really thinking about all this as much as I used to. I'm feeling positive about the treatment and happy to be cracking on with it. Life is less hectic and stressful lately than it was been over the last year. All is good. I had a pre-op assessment at the clinic a little while ago. They talked me through what will happen when I go in for the egg retrieval. The nurse was very honest about the fact that the local anisthetic injection in my cervix will hurt - "all the ladies say so". Thanks then! I could have coped with not knowing. It doesn't sound like it's going to be a pleasant experience but hey, I'm sure I can deal! I had a second round of the Norethisterone tablets at the end of January and have now started on the injections. One Buserilin shot and two Gonal-F shots each day, plus two steroid pills each day. So far so good. I'm not bothered about giving myself the shots anymore. And at the moment I'm not feeling any negative effects. I'm really hoping that I don't put on too much weight as I've been working out regularly since Christmas and don't want to see all my hard work disappearing! The shots and steroids continue until the 16th and then I go in for a scan. If I'm ready the egg retrieval will go ahead on the 20th.

Foggy

That's how I'm feeling. Foggy.
I've had two rounds of injections now. Not something I'd choose to do for fun, but it's bearable. My other half is doing his bit by flicking the injection spot before I stab it to try and reduce the pain. I'm currently injecting Buserilin and Puregon. They are making me drowsy and disconnected. I think it's the Buserilin. I'm hoping that I'll adjust to it because I can't quite imagine feeling like this for 9 days! I have work to do and am finding it hard to keep my eyes open and focus. I haven't noticed any other side effects as yet. Watch this space!