Moods were high and the morning was a relaxed vibe, even tho the Doctor performing our transfer was running 40 mins behind.
I couldn’t hold my bladder while in the waiting room, and had to let little tiny bits of wee out – 4 times!!
Talk about pelvic floor exercises.
Far out ,busting for a wee really messed with my ability to concentrate sit still.
I dashed to the toilet and squatted down on my heal shoving it right up “there”. Wiggling around waiting, busting.
Finally I heard the Nurse and Mr.R coming to get me… I crab walked out the toilet and stripped off my bottoms along the way.
Laying on the bed that was raised to the ceiling, speculum about to go in – I had to grab my bits tight! and make a cup over my fanny. I started to pee on the floor… just a tiny bit, oh dear.
“Go let some more out” said the Doc- “but save me some in there”.
Peeing all the way down the hall , I only had to wipe and clean up by time I got to the toilet.
Bit of relief… & back to the work bench I went.
The embryo thawing process went well.
Embryologist informed me that this is a grade 5AB.
A good embryo, which reached full expansion and has a grade: (A)inner-cell mass.
But what has really stuck with me is when the two embryologist said the embryo is very “Handsome” and they said it twice …”yes a very handsome embryo the other smiled and agreed”. Then both looked at me with the biggest grins.
We had PGT testing done but in Australia Gender selection is prohibited for family balancing and can only be used when there is a medical reason.
So technically they still know the gender of our embryo just legally not allowed to tell us.
But why say “Handsome”? Not cute but Handsome …… Hmmm? was that a hint dropped???
The first catheter failed to pick up the embryo, they tried another one and voila.
The embryo was placed mid way up into the uterus , on the ultrasound screen we saw the shining glow of our embryo.
No glue this time.
Doc counted 10 seconds on the clock.
Mr.R gave Doc the thumbs up , then we waited for the embryologist to confirm that the catheter was clear.
All clear!
Yes, that’s what we like to hear.
I almost jumped off the bed with the speculum still wedged in… absolutely busting at the seams for a wee …wrapped the modesty sheet around me and dashed off for one big long wee.
Aghhhhhh relief. Best feeling.
Returning back to the room , much more calmer I received a lot of compliments about how my lining looked like a “perfect text book uterus”.
I was like… “geez shucks, thanks guys!”.
What a compliment.
Now we wait.
Pregnancy blood test is on 10th May 2021.
In the waiting room A treat after transfer Vermicelli noodles and stir fried beef for dinner Finished with cake to celebrate
Two lots of implants over two months temporarily disabled me.
Days after receiving my first implant I began having uncomfortable symptoms appearing in dribs and drabs.
First night I was covered in a pool of sweat.
Day after the implant I woke with a throbbing headache which would last most of the day, this happened every day for 60 days.
Throughout the days and nights I would get crazy hot flushes …..have to take off all/many clothes to cool down.
Began to feel dizzy sitting or standing still.
At the end of the first week, is when I started having pins and needles from the elbows down to my finger tips. Then my hands were swelling up during my sleep.
Now Ive had a slight similar issue in the past,
10 years ago when I use to ride a moped – when my arms were raised 45 degrees I would get pins and needles in both hands and need to drop them my by my side for a couple minutes, and wait for the blood flow to run back down.ê
This would only happen with prolonged periods of my arms being crooked or raised above my heart line.
Recently in the last 4 years (funny enough since starting IVF) I’ve had this occur sporadically off and on without having my arms raised 45 degrees and just performing normal daily activities. Have discussed this over the years with my GP went for an X-ray that showed up no results….GP put it down to “STRESS”.
So at this point I’m thinking I must be really fucking internally stressed man!
Week 2 after the implant I woke at 2am to an intense pain from both of my shoulders , running down the entire arms and fingers.
Burning, electric zapping and throbbing.
I woke up screaming in pain.
My fingers were so swollen and numb and felt like they were on fire!!!!
WTF!!!!! There was nothing I could do to relive the painful sensation -I stood up and put both hands down by my sides this helped with the numbness but the burning pain wasn’t going away.
Whaling to Mr.R to help me, he rubbed my shoulders which bought a tiny bit of relief and helped keep the numbness at bay.
But soon as I laid down it happened all over again. Poor Mr.R spent rest of the night massaging my shoulders half asleep while I sat up right , with my arms straight as I could get them own my sides.
What a horrible night, next morning was just as bad.
The numbness wasn’t gong away, the burning was unbearable and I couldn’t hold my phone when trying to ring and book an appointment with a GP.
Sleepy Mr.R made a call for me and booked a time, unfortunately there were no appointments available for a whole week!!!
The next 7 days and nights were unbearable. I had begun to loose all the strength in my hands could no longer put my makeup on, tie up my hair, brush my teeth, open a milk bottle or even wipe my own bum.
Waking up all hours of the night feeling like my fingers were going to explode off and the painful burning sensation was torture.
Having to sleep sitting upright more often than not, to the point where I had to purchase a back support for bed at night.
Whenever I would lay down – front, back or sides it would set of a painful electric/ numb buzzing sensation in both arms!
The night before I got to the GP I had dialed the emergency services 000.
But ended up hanging up….you see here in my state where I live, there are serious hospital ramping issues with ambulances in every major hospital.
People who are having cardiac arrest are dying here because there aren’t enough recourses or staff.
Listening to the dial tone and realizing that I’m calling because my arms ‘hurt’ and are ‘numb’ made me feel like an idiot and wasting precious time that someone else may actually be in need of. So I hung up and dealt with it.
Ughhh couldn’t wait to get in a speak with a doctor and get some answers the next morning.
As I sat in the G.P’s office, I was having terrible pains and numbness.
My doctor was baffled as what could be the cause. “So weird” were his exact words.
‘We need to perform an MRI’ he said. “And a full blood count including thyroid activity”.
Left with no answers.. booked the MRI which I had to wait 6 weeks to get into.
In this time I progressively got worse I wasn’t able to do anything with my arms or hands for longer than 15 or so minutes. Had taken time off work to try see if minimal activities would help…but it didn’t.
The worse thing was there was nothing visually wrong that any one can see.
So when my coworker sees me standing in the corner (arms by my side) it looks like I’m slacking off of work …..but I wasn’t, was in agony and couldn’t feel my hands or bend my fingers or raise my arms up with out it being so so painful.
I learned coping mechanisms to get by and try function like a normal person each day and not looking like a complete lazy weirdo.
Help of aids to open bottles , sleeping sitting up right , and lots of help from Mr.R to get dressed brush my teeth and even helped put on my makeup for work. When at work I would find tasks that require only one hand- I would put one arm down use the other till I couldn’t bare it then swap over to the other hand, repeat this process all day long. Sometimes if it was too bad, I would simply go to the toilet and sit there with my hands swinging along my sides – feeling the cool sensation of blood flowing back to the fingers.
But this was only a temporary relief and wouldn’t stop the burning fat swollen fingers that can’t bend or are to weak to pick up a cup of coffee.
It wouldn’t help though the sleepless nights.
I was really helpless and needed some answers.
I made another appointment with my GP and explained how its getting worse. Had not yet been for a MRI at this stage, it was only days away but I was suffering.
Doctor now referred me to have a nerve conduction study performed.
He said upon some investigation he believes all of this may be a serious side effect from the Zoladex which in some instances can cause “Spinal Cord Compression from drug induced flare ups”.
WOW!
He said come back after the MRI and ill be able to get the results back from the blood works and see what it say’s.
So here we are, I’ve had the MRI and its been a couple of weeks since the last zoladex implant has left my system. Slowly things are finally returning back to normal. The burning sensation is no longer unbearable.
Not being woken up as many times though out the night.
Strength is coming back- Slowly but surely.
flushes are non existent and night sweats aren’t as wet as the Antarctic Ocean last few nights.
Still have had to wait for my blood results which are at the end of this week, as my doctor decided to go on annual leave. Nerve test isn’t until June 2021.
Discussed this with the nurses at the fertility clinic this week and they said that the side effects should ware off once stopped. So this is a positive.
Hopefully will have some answers from the MRI as to what the heck happened the during my 60 days of hell.
But with that said – It was all worth it!
Nasty thing!13th March 2021
To be able to have another chance at being a mum is all that really matters.
“No pain no gain” I’ve been told once or twice before.
Can’t wait for the frozen embryo transfer this Thursday I’m so excited!!!!!!
13TH MARCH 2021 – Second Zoladex Implant done and dusted, and pain free with Emla cream. This to desensitise the pituitary gland and stop the natural production of FSH and LH.
GnRH-agonists thereby suppress estrogen synthesis by the ovaries, which stops the menstrual cycle.
Doctor who performed the procedure was so impressed with my “lack of ouch reaction” when he shoved a giant needle in my stomach, he thought it may be a good idea to implement Emla into the usual regime. Heck yes, “its a MUST I said”.
21 Days following the last Zoladex implant, started Synarel twice per day. 7 days of burning nasal spray to quiet down the ovaries and stop them from ovulating – Then Had a blood test to check estradiol & progesterone baseline.
10th APRIL 2021– baseline results were nice and low – looking like no activity happening in the ovaries. Good good!
NO period since February, What we want.
11th APRIL cycle day 2– commenced Progynova tablets, Estradot patches and Doxycycline to prevent any infections. Continue Synarel and of course the usurious bucket of vitamins accompanied along side.
23rd APRIL cycle day 14– Had a transvaginal scan to check the endometrium thickness of my uterus. Which was a lovely 8.5mm – And another baseline blood test.
Later on in the afternoon I received the call to let me know if were ready to go for a FET, and yes we are!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYY , Also yay for “time to stop synarel”.
24th APRIL-Commence luteal support of crinone vaginal gel twice per day until 10 weeks gestation.
26th APRIL– Commence Clexane injections
28th APRIL– Stop Doxycycline
29th APRIL– FROZEN EMBRYO TRANSFER DAY wooo hoo, Yeah~
Frozen Embryo Transfer Number 8
WE HAVE WAITED SO SO LONG!
In a summary *
Such a long time waiting.
8th December 2020 – We fertilized 3 embryos.
Then had them genetically tested, which took 8 weeks as the little ones went all the way to Spain for testing and back again in the middle of a pandemic.
4rd February– Received great results! All tests returned no abnormalities- Very happy.
Had a review appointment with our specialist and she decided that my uterus responded well to the last long down regulation and said she wanted to try what’s called an ULTRA LONG DOWN REG.
Signed a new treatment plan.
12th February– Waited till my next period to book on (day one of period)
13th February-received 1st Zoladex implant in my stomach. WOW freaking ZOLADEX never again! Will speak about this in another blog.
Not fun.
13th March– Second Zoladex implant
2nd April-Began Agonist medication (Synarel)
And thats the LoNg DoWn ReG in a nutshell.
So thrilled we have our frozen embryo transfer this Thursday!
This last week we cracked an entire 6 pack of double yolk eggs!
The Pipeless Lovers Journey through I.V.F 