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Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001 - 6:38 p.m. - Egg Retrieval Update
8:30 AM Due to lack of sleep I’m feeling a little ‘hung over’ now with a headache on one side of my head and I’m thirsty as all get out. Of course, I’m not allowed to eat or drink anything prior to the retrieval due to the anesthesia. Oh, and Michael and I were joking around when we got up this morning about my wearing a chicken suit into the office and clucking like a chicken about to lay an egg!! :o) Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I don’t have a chicken suit, but I am going to take a long an empty egg carton and place it on the counter when I check in and tell them that I’m ready to collect eggs!!! :o) That should get a laugh at least! Well, it’s time for us to go. I know quite a few of you have written me wonderful supportive emails and I wanted to let you know how much it means to me. I so appreciate them. And Ev, I wanted to thank you especially for your letter about your experiences with IVF and egg retrievals. I hope with all my heart that you will be holding a baby of your own soon too! Thank you for being so open and honest with me about your experiences!! 5:30 pm The nurses, Dr and anesthesiologist all laughed pretty hard when I showed up with an egg carton for the egg “collection”! :o) The nurse just laughed, shook her head and said, “You guys are just over the top!” I hope that she meant that in a good way. The surgery went pretty well from my end. First they put in my IV which went pretty well. I didn’t watch while the anesthesiologist was doing it but he seemed to get it in right away. Then he gave me something to ‘relax’ me and I could feel it pretty quick. The only bad part was that I was cold and then Dr. J came in and ‘prepared’ me by putting my legs up in the stirrups and buckling them to the stirrups with straps. I kept jumping while he was doing that because his hands were so cold!! I then showed him the egg carton and did a little clucking for him and he laughed. All this time a lab technician was preparing the incubator for the eggs and taking out all kinds of instruments and tubes for the procedure. There was quite a bit of bustle in that small little room. Then after just a little more prep, they put me to sleep and the next thing I remember is waking up in one of the examining rooms and asking how many eggs they got. I was just barely awake at that point so when they brought Michael in to me, I asked them again if I remembered correctly on the number of eggs, which I did. I asked Michael if he had already “done his part” and he said that he had been asked to “supply his sample” shortly after they took me into the operating room. I asked him how it went and he said that he was worried for a while that he wouldn’t be able to ‘produce’ despite the fact that they now have made the room they use for that purpose a little more ‘friendly’ in that they got a nice new chair and now have a DVD for his “viewing pleasure.” (Before they only had some magazines.) But it is still a “clinical environment” and not really conducive to producing a sample under pressure. Poor guy. But then I’d say his part is still much easier than mine! :o) So after spending a little more time on the gurney in order to wake up a little bit more, I got up and got dressed again. Then they came in with my list of medications and injections for the next half of this process!! Wow! What a list! We now have to start daily Progesterone in oil injections and I start up my twice daily Heparin injections again (oh joy). On top of those I also have to take Estrace twice a day, Doxycycline twice a day, Methylprednisolone four times a day (then go back to my regular Prednisone once I’ve finished that), Metformin twice a day and a baby aspirin once a day. The Progesterone, Estrace, Prednisone and Metformin will need to be continued into the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if I am pregnant. The Heparin will probably need to be continued throughout the pregnancy up to 35 weeks! Then I’ve got Vicoden for the pain as needed. Wohoo! So I continue to be a walking pharmacy! I just hope that it is all worth it in the end and that we end up with a pregnancy!! I won’t care about the shots or the pills as long as we get pregnant!
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