Last week, I shared about my FET schedule which was really a one-sheet of color-coded madness. When I saw all the meds I’d be on and there would be multiple types of estrogen, I was a little worried it might make me moody or hormonal.
So far, I don’t think that’s been the case, but there are still more hormones to go, so we’ll see. I’ve had a couple of minor headaches, but it hasn’t been too bad.
The lupron injections also haven’t been all that bad, but since they’re subcutaneous (in the stomach), I wasn’t anticipating they would be. The biggest challenge was finding a time every night when I could take them.
Those shots actually started before the crazy-colored schedule began, and I was advised to take them at the same time every night for the best efficacy. Given that we play softball two nights a week, and the games vary from 6:15-9:15 p.m. (meaning I leave the house anywhere from 5:30-8:30 p.m. and get home anywhere from 7:45-11 p.m.), it was a bit of a challenge.
I finally settled on 10 p.m. (fortunately, there were no 9:15 games during this time), and have mostly been able to keep with that every night. There was one exception for a girls night where I went to a Lynrd Skynrd concert with friends (amazing!), but I don’t think one late shot will do in the whole cycle.
Everything else is also going pretty well, but I did have an interesting experience during a recent ultrasound.
By now, I’ve done so many ultrasounds (thanks to three egg retrievals), that they’re starting to feel old hat. But even before that, they’ve never been anything to write home about. They’re usually over in less than five minutes, and it’s never been uncomfortable. (If you recall, IVF and early-pregnancy ultrasounds are all done transvaginally – not on the stomach.)
But recently, I had a different experience. It started off normal. The tech asked me for my name and birth date, told me to lie back and put my feet in the stirrups, and then, as I usually do, I asked questions/made small talk.
I commented that I knew egg retrieval ultrasounds were to measure follicles, but I was curious what the FET ultrasounds were for, so I asked.
She said it’s to check the lining of my uterus and to make sure my ovaries were “calm.” To which I replied, “What do calm ovaries look like?” Apparently, it just means no cysts or issues.
It also made me wonder what “excited” ovaries might look like, but I refrained from asking more questions.
But back to the interesting part of this ultrasound…
The ultrasound tech put the wand in and took a couple of measurements. And then she got really aggressive with the wand movements.
To give you an idea of what this looked/felt like… imagine I’m a car, the wand is a gear shift, and the ultrasound tech thought she was a driver in the “Fast and Furious” movie franchise. It wasn’t painful, per se, but it was definitely uncomfortable.
There were a few quick intakes of breath and grunts of discomfort on my end, but I don’t think the tech noticed (or cared). If I happen to get her again for another ultrasound, I might mention the previous Fast and Furious experience and recommend “Driving Miss Daisy” as a kinder (and less uncomfortable) alternative.
Fortunately, not all of my ultrasounds have been like that. It does make me wonder if the techs have a “Suggestion Box” though.
IVF That 