You Are Putting What in Where??

May 31, 2015  Dude. I mean really. Seriously. Are you kidding me? Months of injections, pills, ultrasounds, blood draws, an egg retrieval.... all of that was a piece of cake compared to what I experienced last night! Let me back up.

Prior to this experience I was at the graduation party of my favorite guy.  He knows every detail of what's going on (lucky him), so I'm sure he understood my quieter party behavior compared to normal. I got to be sneaky and take my estradiol -- and that time it was with lemonade that did NOT have pumpkin pie vodka in it. I had to keep turning down drink refills and keep my alcohol to a minimum because I knew what was waiting for me at home. What I didn't know what how much and how quickly the side effects would kick in. I can't even imagine what it will feel like tomorrow after having done two injections.

Poor guy  - almost an IVF expert now!

Progesterone.  Dr. Wu told me during our one on one phone appointment that the frozen cycle transfer protocol would be much easier, and the only hard thing would be the progesterone. Again my great doctor did not lie. This syringe comes with a long needle. That is not what I use. I remove the needle .... and put on a longer, thicker one. OMG it's enormous compared to all of the others I've been using. My medicine is "progesterone in oil". It's a thick concoction. I didn't realize that at first and wondered why I had a hard time filling the syringe. I'm taking 2 mL, which is what you can see in that photo below. From the black thick line to the top, that ended up full of the progesterone. Man Friend watched videos of how to administer the drug for his refresher, and we also read over the paper instructions I received from OHSU. All I could do this time was prepare the drug.... and bend over. The rest was in the hands of my adoring husband.

I was really nervous. The prior injections just went into my tummy into the fat. This one was going into my bottom deep into muscle. I grabbed my security blanket, leaned onto my bathroom counter, closed my eyes and just tried to relax. Going in, the needle didn't bother me or hurt at all. But then I could feel it go deeper. It took quite a while compared to when I've administered my other injections. Being a thick solution, it takes longer to actually squeeze out. MF was very gentle though and talked to me the whole time, so it wasn't really that bad at all.  AFTER, when I was walking around I told him I thought there was liquid running down my butt .... there wasn't. We think I was just feeling the progesterone making its way through my muscle. It was kind of creepy.

They advise taking this at night because it makes you drowsy. So it wasn't long before I was in bed and learning that laying on the side of the shot was NOT going to be something I wanted to do. In the morning I was still sore and learned that sitting on the toilet would now require a little adjustment as well. I've been trying to sort of massage and stretch the area to ease the soreness. As of now I have no bruising, so that's good. It's been close to 24 hours since that first shot. In that time I've had major dizziness, nausea and constantly feel I could fall asleep if I closed my eyes for any length of time at all. Sitting through a graduation today on bleachers in extreme heat --- not so easy to do. I almost fell over at one point and wasn't sure I was going to make it without throwing up. So glad I thought ahead and brought ice water!

So that's my life now. Estrace tablets twice a day and this doozy of a shot!

MAY 2015

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

2

Begin Lupron injections

Lupron

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Last birth control pill

Run Track Town 5K

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Ultrasound/blood work

Begin Estrace pills

Lupron

Lupron

Estrace: M

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Rock'n'Roll 10K

Estrace: M

Estrace: M

Estrace: M

Estrace: M

Estrace: M E

Estrace: M E

Estrace: M E

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Lupron

Ultrasound

Progesterone injections

Estrace: M E

Estrace: M N E

Estrace: M N E

Estrace: M N E

Estrace: M N E

Estrace: M E

Estrace: M E

31

Notes:

Progesterone

M: Morning N: Noon E: Evening

Estrace: M E