Tomorrow is the day!

Yesterday the procedure started late because the anaesthesian was caught up with an emergency surgery somewhere. So instead of 12noon, I had my procedure at about 1.20pm. The nurse let me in the surgical room at about 12.15pm, and ya I was alone most of the time in the surgical room. So I checked out my surrounding, I saw my heart beating at a pace of 82, 80, 89....

When the anaethesian came, he tried to find my vein and he failed miserably blaming my small blood vessel!! Hmp!!! I was poke 3 times before he could get it right! Unbelivable! Each poke is more painful than the previous one! Anyway, after he got it in and injected me with the meds, I did the count myself to see how long it will take for me to go under. 10... 9... 8... 7............... "Su Ying, your surgery is over d"

When I open my eyes, I was in the recovery area already. I was up and walking in 10mintues back to the bed! Yaye! This time I felt fine, no vomiting, no dizziness. All is good. Nurse said that I must pee before they let me go. Hmmm... But I didn't drink anything since 11pm the night before! Anyway I tried to pee, probably managed to squeeze my bladder dry with the few droplets of pee.



Prior to discharging, the nurse gave me medication. And I had to consume it at a specific time, 11pm, 11am & 11pm. The meeds given was Cyglogel and one must insert it via the VGG! OMG!!!! I can take needle anytime but VGG is something else. This is like wearing tampons I think. Sigh... For this I'll leave it for hubby to do the job.

As soon as I got home, went to bed and rest again. Gonna sleep so much these couple of days! Yaye!

Pick up day

Today is the day where all the eggs will be harvested!!! Last night I had my "poo-poo" pills that gave me an epic diarrhea at 5am! Everything came out including air. Hahaha!!

Am now waiting in the holding room~

Mother of All Jab!!!

Last night at 11pm sharp, I had my last jab (hopefully it stays that way)! But it wasn't an easy jab because it was a huge a** jab with the sharpest needle you've ever seen! I was too freaked out by the needle that I didn't even get the name of it to update here!!

Nonetheless, I toughen myself and jab on the left where I think so far it's the easiest spot to go it.

And because I was preoccupied by the huge a** needle, I forgot to "warm up" my solution. Normally what I would do is, I'll always warm up the solution by rolling it with my 2 palms. Since I forgot to do it, cold = pain............

Maybe I was on adrenalin high, I couldn't really feel any pain when I poke the needle in or when I inject the solution. Hahahaha. I was all too happy that it was my last needle! After the jab, I was so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I curled up in bed and fell asleep almost instantly!

It's happening soon!

News flash: Pick up date is 29th September. 2 more days to go!

During the scan, I can see the follicles much bigger in size compare to last Friday and I am really pleased to see them grow! :) All in all, I have about 6-7 follicles growing in various sizes. Some people has like 10-14 follicles!!! I hope mine is "quality counts." The larger ones are 21-22mm, and smallest is only 8mm. Dr F said he will harvest everything on Wed and then only can tell how many can be fertilised and grow into healthy embryo.

So for now, at 3.40pm I'll have my Buserelin. Then tonight at 11pm, my LAST JAB!!!!! WOOHOO!!!! No more jab tomorrow! YAYE!!!

Then on Wednesday morning, we need to be at the clinic at 10am, and the procedure will be at 12noon. So, for now... I can only pray that everything goes on smoothly as planned. May YOUR will be done.

Understanding my jab meds

As mentioned in earlier posting, I have 3 types of jab meds daily. In the morning, I have Suprefact Buserelin, Gonal-f and Menopur. Then in the afternoon, I have my Buserelin again.

My dosage for Suprefact Buserelin is 0.02ml each time. The active ingredient of Buserelin, which is a type of medicine known as a gonadorelin (LHRH) analogue. It reacts to the pituitary gland in the brain - where it stores various hormones, including the LH (Luteinising Hormone - surges when the follicles mature and subsequently contributes to the release of the egg from the ovary) & FSH. In this case, the LHRH is used to control the release of both LH & FSH hormones.

My dosage of Gonal-f starts at 300IU/0.5ml for the first 4 days, and now increased to 375IU, which is 0.625ml for the next 3 days. The Gonal-f contains pure FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone - used in the development of follicles).

And lastly the Menopur. This is slightly complicated... I need to inject 2 bottles of Menopur everyday. Each contains 75IU of FSH and 75IU of LH, and since it comes in powder form, it requires insulin to dilute. I normally inject 0.30ml into each Menopur container, and I'll get about 0.55ml of liquified Menopur.

The amount or dosage of hormone injection varies from person to person. My first cycle was underestimated, and the dosage was already different. So, this is NOT a guide to anyone as a dosage intake but rather the understanding of what I am injecting myself with.

Hubby's First Jab

Today is happy day... it's Hubby's birthday. It's also sis & bro-in-law's wedding anniversary. Then it's also Mid Autumn Festival! What an occasion.

So today, I let hubby try out something new - by giving me my afternoon jab! Well, I let him try it because it's the smallest needles among the 3 that I have to jab daily. I didn't look so that I won't scream at him to stop or go slow. I let him do it "freestyle." Well, it turns out to be much better than I expected. I didn't feel any prick when the needle was poked! Not bad for a first-timer huh :) I'm glad hubby gave it a go! I lurve u darling!

Understanding the hormones in me

I have been giving myself with 3 jabs a day, and these jabs are basically hormones: Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH). Both FSH & LH increase the number of growing follicles and subsequently stimulating their development.

With FSH, it increases the production of oestrogen and under the influence of hormone the largest follicle continues to grow and develop. And when the oestrogen increases, it triggers a surge of LH, which results in final maturation and the release of the egg from the ovary.

I hope I got the understanding right... during my next visit, I shall verify my writing with Dr F :)

Another painful outing...

Today is routine check up after administering N number of jabs. During the scan, Dr F found 3 tiny follicles growing on the right, and nothing on the left yet. And the best news is, the cyst is gone! Yaye!!

So I am now on new dosage of same meds for jab: 2x a day for Buserelin (0.02), Gonal-F (375IU) & Menopur (150IU). This new dosage is for the next 2 days and I will return for another scan on Friday to see if more follicles are growing. And with the slow growing rate, Dr F said the pick up date might be slightly delayed- which is fine, as long as the follicles are growing at the good rate and healthy.

And today is blood test day~ Arh... How dreadful each time I was told that there will be a blood test. This is a test call E2 - which I have no idea what is it.. HAHA... Anyway, nurse tried to draw blood from my left wrist but the needle just couldn't penetrate the vein. Sigh~ It was still bearable. Then the nurse and I decided that I should just myself to the Gribbles lab opposite. So far their success rate has been perfect - Ace at first serve. But this time... the technician couldn't find the vein at all!!! So she had to draw from my right hand, right above my index finger. NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO~~~~ What happen to perfect score!!!! Sigh~ She did warn me it's gonna be painful... She gave me 2 seconds to breath in, and POKE and OOOOOUUUUUCCCCHHHHH!!! As she pulled the plunger, the blood slowly filled up the container. But after like 2 seconds, the flow stopped! OH NO!!! She had to "move" the needle (SUPER OUCH!) so the blood can continue to flow. Sigh~~ PAIN~~~ and she pulled out the needle, another BIG OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank goodness I am not afraid of needle, otherwise I would have screamed so loud that the whole plaza can hear me!!

Dating my Gonal-F

Gonal-F is very expensive and I have to use one whole pen each time. During my IUI, I only need to administer 75IU, but now I have to use up the whole pen of 300IU! And so far, I have used more than 10! Yes, IVF is expensive.

Since it is expensive, I was told by Dr F that there are always "leftover" in the Gonal-F pen. I never realise it until then. So, whenever I finished one pen, I had to keep the pen and bring whatever I have with me to the clinic during my next visit. So the nurse can extract and collect the leftovers from the pen, and put it into a syringe. The other time, the nurse extracted 3 leftover pens which equivalent to ONE new Gonal-F!

I have 8 with me now, and will be going to see the doctor in a short while!

Oh and also, I keep track on the date I've used them. I wouldn't want to use back a pen that is dated like a year ago! So I always stick a sticker to the plunger and "date" my Gonal-F.

Keeping up with the jabs

I have been very discipline with all my jab time, morning at 8.40am, afternoon at 3.40pm. Well, the morning jabs are ok since that's about the time I get up in the morning. But afternoon... I thought very hard as to what is the best time to have my jab. I could have done it in the evening say 8pm, but the movie-bug reminded me that if I do 8pm means I don't get to go for movie for a long-long time.... Then if I do it at night say 11pm means it's more than 12 hours. So... why 3.40pm? On my first day, I decided, ok 6 hours after morning jab which is 2.30pm.... but I reached home an hour late, so from then on 3.40pm everyday.

I also have a journal of my jabs, and it looks like this:
16/9 8.40am - Buserelin (R)
16/9 3.40pm - Buserelin (L)

17/9 8.40am - Buserelin (R), Gonal-F (L), Menopur (R)
17/9 3.40pm - Buserelin (L)

18/9 8.40am - Buserelin (R), Gonal-F (R), Menopur (L)
18/9 3.40pm - Buserelin (L)

You see.. since I have to jab so many jabs left right left right... so to even them out, I've got to remember which goes where on what date!

All my jabs...

I store all my medicine to jabs in a mid-size Tupperware to be kept in the fridge - making sure it's fresh! HAHA! The main reason I kept it in the Tupperware is to make sure all my meds are in one place and easy storage purpose.

The pen-like thingie, is my Gonal-F. The one (not visible) in the box is my busereline. And the vials are my Menopur.

Every morning, I'll take my meds out from the fridge, let it "thaw" a bit. Dr F said sometimes I feel the pain when I inject is because the "cold solution" being injected. The censor below the skin can only feel pain, and not cold. So anything else is PAIN. Pretty interesting fact!

This is how many jabs I had to administer myself:










This is the mess after:

Here we go again...

This is Round 2. Round 1 had to be "abandon" after discovery (well, or the lack of it) of only 2 follicles. I was on Microgynon for 18 days and on day 22 (16 Sept), I started Burseline jab again. This time one for the morning, one for the afternoon.

Then today onwards until next Tue, besides having the 2 Buserelin, I have my Gonal-F & Menopur. So, all in all is 4 needles in a day.

How do I feel? Hmmm... I am still not afraid of the needles (yet)! I will normally take a few deep breath before the jab to calm myself, say a short prayer "God, grant me the strength." And easy breezy~ I don't know if it's side-effect of the jab, but I am feeling tired for most part of the day. Probably because I had to conjure all the energy that is left in me to go through the jab, I don't know... Anyway, I feel fine and I WILL PREVAIL!!!!