Retrieval Day, Take 4

Yesterday was retrieval day, take 4.  It was overall a good day.  We arrived at Tulsa Fertility Center, Todd driving, me in the passenger seat, Mom sitting in the center of the back seat like our child.  We always have fun when the three of us are together.  We did our ritual of holding hands and praying before we entered.  It was a peaceful start to the procedures (especially considering that I had to go into work for an hour that morning so as to not take the entire day unpaid).

Mom looks so beautiful.  Todd and I look so...rugged?!
I would like to point out that make-up is not allowed in the operating room.  :)

Anyway, they didn’t let Mom go back with us this time because there was another woman in the operating room that would be coming out soon.  She was an egg donor.  The woman receiving her generous gift wasn’t even in the center yesterday.  I’m still amazed with the technology of fertility treatments.

We did our usual pre-op meeting with the nurse and anesthesiologist.  To my dismay, our lovable anesthesiologist from the last cycle was not present.  Dr. Chad (the one we had previously) had a special knack for starting IVs where it didn’t feel like much more than a flu shot. 

Next, we both disrobed and prepared for the operating room.

As usual, I was first.  They like to take the woman back first to make sure they will be able to retrieve eggs.  If they do not find any eggs, it’s pointless to make the man go through such an invasive procedure.  As history has always proven, eggs were retrieved.  Of course, according to The Ignorance Plan, I was not concerned with getting the number of eggs retrieved.  You will have to wait too, dear reader.  (If it’s bugging you not knowing, I believe my mom is setting up a support group.  J)

Here is a picture to explain what they do in an egg retrieval.
If you want to know what Todd's procedure looks like, Google it up.  :)

Apparently, I was alert and speaking through my entire procedure.  I don’t remember a lick of it, but that is what the nurses told me.

Lucky for me, Todd was not back in the operating room when I made it to post-op.  Dr. McKinney was with him, and I had the opportunity to hold both of their hands and speak with them.  She was clearly happy with our results, so I was never feeling uneasy or curious about our egg count.

Then, Todd went for his turn.  It was about that time that I convinced them to let my mom come sit with me and help me change clothes.  She rubbed my shoulders while I sipped on Sprite and patiently waited for what felt like an eternity.  Todd and I were both secretly worried about his procedure this time.  When his first urologist, Dr. Miller, had checked his left side (the side they were aspirating from), he did not find viable sperm.  We were so secretly worried about this that we didn’t even tell each other about our fears until after the procedure was complete.

After the eternity passed, he finally came out into the post-op area.  I was so relieved when they told us that everything had gone fine and Dr. Prough did indeed aspirate sperm from that side.  Praise God!

Post-op discussion with Dr. Prough

We spent a while in the post-op area while he was recovering from anesthesia. It is at this time that I would like to say that I recover much faster than he does because I was fully alert in just a matter of minutes. J (Could that be because I don’t remember everything about post-op? Nah.)

"That's a lot of tubes in my arm."

"Did I ever tell you all about the time I ordered Gingerale in Cozumel when I was 14?"
"Yes, honey.  About 7 minutes ago."

Todd is an even bigger sweetheart than normal after anesthesia and kept reaching up to kiss me.  I loved it.  At one point, the nurse told us to get a room.  My friend, Stephanie, later told me that I should have said to her, “Look girl, if it had worked in the room, we wouldn’t be here right now!”  Ha!  Love it.

Anyway, Mom took excellent care of us as always.  She got us home, fed, and on the couches safely.  It was a good day!

Last night, we did my first Progesterone shot.  Ugh.  I forgot to numb the area before the shot time.  Rookie mistake.  I didn’t know that shot could burn so bad.  Ladies, do. not. forget. to. numb. the. area. before. a. Progesterone. shot.  I won’t be making that mistake, again.

Todd will be making the decision if we are having genetic testing performed on Thursday.  No, I will not know any of this information.  Probably the first time I am brought into the loop will be Saturday morning when they tell us how many embryos we will be transferring.  Otherwise, it’s The Ignorance Plan all the way.

Transfer is set for Saturday.  Please, continue to pray or hope or whatever you believe in that we will be transferring on Saturday.  Last cycle, that is the point where everything fell apart.

Cheers to a quick-passing week!

 

Shot Clock:

1.       Tuesday morning, October 28 – 300 units of Follistim

2.       Tuesday evening, October 28 – 300 units of Follistim

3.       Wednesday morning, October 29 – 300 units of Follistim

4.       Wednesday evening, October 29 – 300 units of Follistim

5.       Thursday morning, October 30 – 300 units of Follistim

6.       Thursday evening, October 30 – 300 units of Follistim

7.       Friday morning, October 31 – 300 units of Follistim

8.       Friday evening, October 31 – 300 units of Follistim

9.       Saturday morning, November 1 – 300 units of Follistim

10.   Saturday evening, November 1 – 300 units of Follistim

11.   Sunday morning, November 2 – 300 units of Follistim

12.   Sunday evening, November 2 – 300 units of Follistim

13.   Monday morning, November 3 – 300 units of Follistim

14.   Monday evening, November 3 – 300 units of Follistim

15.   Tuesday morning, November 4 – 300 units of Follistim

16.   Tuesday evening, November 4 – 300 units of Follistim

17.   Wednesday morning, November 5 – 300 units of Follistim

18.   Wednesday morning, November 5 – 250 mcg of Ganirelix – NEW SHOT!!!

19.   Wednesday evening, November 5 – 300 units of Follistim

20.   Thursday morning, November 6 – 300 units of Follistim

21.   Thursday morning, November 6 – 250 mcg of Ganirelix

22.   Thursday evening, November 6 – 300 units of Follistim

23.   Friday morning, November 6 – 300 units of Follistim

24.   Friday morning, November 6 – 250 mcg of Ganirelix

25.   Friday evening, November 6 – 300 units of Follistim

26.   Saturday morning, November 7 – 300 units of Follistim

27.   Saturday morning, November 7 – 250 mcg of Ganirelix

28.   Saturday evening, November 7 – HCG Trigger Shot – Ovidrel

29.   Monday evening, November 10 – Progesterone ½ ml