Headache, Job and IVF

I have a headache.  I've had it since yesterday.  Not sure if it's the BCPs, or the stress from the whole applying for a job thing.  I'm leaning more towards the job thing.

I worked on my resume all day yesterday.  It shouldn't have taken that long, but it did.  It's difficult to think that hard when you haven't used your brain like that in a while.  It's probably a good thing, in case I forget totally how to use it.  I managed to send my resume in to the recruiter last night.

I spent all day today working on a document with prescreen questions on it.  Yeah, they won't even look at your resume until you have your prescreen questions answered.  Only then will they look at your resume.  Again, it shouldn't have taken such a long time to answer 15 questions.  Questions like what is your long term career goals, why do you want to work for this company, tell me your experience working in....., etc.  But it did.  I wanted to make sure that I think carefully about the answers I put down.  With it being a Word document, it's going to exist forever, and it may come back to bite me in the ass sometime in the future.  But it's done.  I just sent the final copy of my resume and the prescreen questions to the recruiter just now so she can submit it to the company tomorrow.  I'm just relieved that it's done.  Maybe the headache will go away now.

Last night, I tried to have the "What if this IVF doesn't work" discussion with Babe.  I wanted him to start thinking about what our next steps would be.  But it didn't go so well.  He didn't want to talk about or think about it.  His rationale is, he wants to go into this next IVF assuming it's going to work.  He wants to go in feeling positive about it.  If it doesn't work, then he can be disappointed.  He doesn't want to approach it thinking it's not going to work, and being disappointed with the whole thing for the next couple of months even before the procedure.

I can understand how he feels.  Actually I'm glad he feels that way, it totally makes sense.   We could use all the positivity we can get!

Being me, of course I'm trying to lay out our plans for the next few months, especially with a potential job coming up for me.  Also I wanted to start having the conversation about adoption, specifically embryo adoption.  Not that we are making any decisions yet, of course, but I just wanted to put it out there.  Maybe have him start thinking about it.  But he's not ready to give up yet (Yay!).

One thing that still bothers Babe is the fact that the RE could not get to the eggs in my right ovary at the last retrieval.  He wants to know why.  I've explained it to him before, that because of where the right ovary was located, high and behind the uterus, the RE would have had to go through the uterus to retrieve the eggs, and they did not want to do that.  That would disrupt the uterus and would impact embryo implantation.  Babe is not satisfied with the answer.  He thinks there should be a way to access the eggs.  A laparoscopic surgery, maybe?

Does anyone know if there is another way to access eggs other then via the usual IVF procedure?

I'm going to have to call my RE and find out if there is a way that we can access the eggs in the right ovary during retrieval.

Lu.pron Day 10 Appointment

I had my appointment at the RE's office today.  My little "date" with Mr. Wandy (ultrasound wand) went quite well.  My body seems to be playing nice.  My lining today was nice and thin at 3 mm, which is good.  My ovaries were "quiet", which was also good.  There were 8 follicles on each of my ovaries, which I guess is a decent number.  Somehow, I thought there would be more, since at my last ultrasound on 2/9, I had 17 on the left ovary, and at least 11 on the right.  I suppose we don't want too many, or risk OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) which would be bad.

So everything looks good so far.  My Lu.pron dosage will be reduced to 5 units starting tomorrow, and I will start my stims (stimulation drugs) of Me.nopur and Follis.tim on Friday.  This will be a fun time of side effects, I'm sure.  It will be a fun trying to figure out what is the side effect of which drug!

I found out from the nurse today the with IVF, our usual calculation of menstrual CDs (cycle days) kind of gets tossed out the window.  While on Lu.pron, we use "Lupron Day", as in today is Lu.pron Day 10 for me.  Then when stims start, it will be considered "Stims Day" X.  The age of an IVF baby would be counted from the day of egg retrieval.  Totally different from non-IVF babies.  The nurse also said that when we are released to a regular OB, they send the OB all the information about egg retrieval dates, etc to help figure out accurate due dates.  The nurse also suggested researching an OB now and that I should also consider a midwife or doula,  so I will need to start working on that.

After my meeting with the nurse and ultrasound technician, I was sent off to get my blood drawn.  Of course Helga was there.  She took my vial of blood without much incident, thankfully less painful than the last time.  Still, she could use some work on her bedside manners.  Still rough and just as crabby.

After my appointment, I ran some errands and was really tired by the time I got home.  I took a nap and woke up with the worst headache ever, even though I have been faithfully wearing my Phi.ten necklace!  I know I promised I wasn't going to talked about headaches anymore, but this was bad.  Maybe it was a migraine, I'm not sure.  I took some Tyle.nol and that seemed to help a little.  I thought with being off BCPs my side effects would hopefully subside, but no such luck I guess.

I always thought my body could handle drugs really well with little or no side effects.  Not so sure about that now.  I'm not looking forward to the addition of Meno.pur and Follis.tim to my routine!

IF Buddy

I met up with my friend Ro at our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch today.  We used to work together at my last job, and after I left we met up for lunch to catch up and found out the we have a common bond, issues with TTC.

Ro and her husband had TTC for a few months, but no luck.  She was also experiencing some pain, but her OB was not very helpful nor too concerned.  Then she had found out that she had stage 4 endometriosis.  So she wasn't happy with her OB and wanted to find a different doctor.  I recommended Dr. Nice, the doctor that performed my laparoscopy and last hysteroscopy, to her.  She saw him and was very happy with him.  Dr. Nice performed surgery to remove some large cysts from uterine cavity.

The last time we had lunch, she had just completed her surgery.  She was put on 6 months of BCPs to see if her cysts returned.  After the 6 months, if the cysts didn't return, she could TTC naturally.  Today, I just found out she just had an ultrasound with Dr. Nice recently and her uterus is all clear.  Yay!!  So now she is all clear to TTC naturally.  Ro was told that because of her endometriosis, it could be difficult for her to conceive naturally.  She will try naturally for 6 months, and if nothing happens, she will move on to fertility treatments.

I am praying that Ro will be able to conceive naturally.  No one should have to struggle to have a baby. Though I wish she and I were not in the same boat, I am glad we are able to share this journey together.  It's so nice to be able to talk to someone in real life, face-to-face about TTC and actually being able to relate.

A wonderful thought came to mind today!  Wouldn't it be great if both Ro and I got pregnant right around the same time, her naturally and me via my IVF?  How wonderful that would be?  To be able to experience pregnancy together after struggling with TTC.  We both got really excited about the possibility!  I love my lunch dates with Ro!

On another note, my hot flashes kicked in again tonight as I was making dinner.  What is it about cooking and hot flashes?  Dang!  I should have just let my Babe take me out to dinner tonight!

I am still experiencing some mild headaches today though I'm wearing my Phi.ten necklace.  Just enough for it to be annoying.  Ok, 3 days straight of complaining about headaches and hot flashes is enough.   We'll just assume it's a given that I will have those with loopy Lu.pron.  I'll report on other side effects instead in the future.

Headache, Again & Hot Flashes

OK, so much for no hot flashes.

Not such a good day for side effects today.  Headache again.  And just for good measure, hot flashes kicked in today.  I was making stir fried long beans and omelette for dinner tonight and I was sweating up a storm!  I felt like I was having a fever and was going to be sick!

I actually skipped my Zum.ba class tonight, and you gals know how much I love Zum.ba!

Instead, I stayed home and made some brownies with Valentine sprinkles, a belated Valentine treat for my Babe.  Then we watched The Mentalist and the Olympics women's figure skating finals on TV.  Korea's Kim Yu-Na is amazing and truly deserved the gold medal!

Thanks to one of my commentors (thanks, Audrey!) who reminded me of my Phi.ten necklace, I put that on and that seemed to help.  Phi.ten is a brand of products that promotes health, energy and well-being.  My sister and BIL swears it helps with headaches, migraines, and other aches and pains.  It has helped me with headaches in the past too.  It comes in necklaces, bracelets, tapes, etc.  Lots of professional athletes wear it.  If you are interested, you can check out their products and claims here on the Phi.ten website.  Here's a quote from the official Phi.ten website:

Phi.ten products work with your body’s energy system, helping to regulate and balance the flow of energy throughout your body. Proper energy balance helps to alleviate discomfort, speed recovery, and counteract fatigue. Athletes find that they tire less easily and recover faster from intense physical activity. Further benefits of Phi.ten’s exclusive technology are more relaxed muscles leading to less stress and a greater range of motion that can be of great benefit to an athlete or anyone in any walk of life

I don't know too much about the science of how it works, but it seems to help.  I'll have to remember to wear keep this on now that I am on "loopy Lu.pron".  I have the titanium X30 necklace pictured below.

* Please note, this is not a product review, just a personal view.

Oh, and one more thing, no more BCPs for me!  Last night was my last pill, so anymore side effects, I will officially blame it on loopy Lu.pron, until I start stims of course!