Julie's Update

J

julie

New member
Hey everyone, it's been a few days since I posted anything about the IVF. So, as requested-here's an update.

I was feeling really bad last thursday, I guess I got really pale at work, one of the doctors stopped me in the hallway and wanted to walk me to where I was going because he thought I was going to pass out. In the end, they wanted me seen ASAP. My WBC's were 2x the normal amount so the doc was concerned about internal bleeding or infection so they wanted me to go to the ER. But my IVF doctor said elevated WBC's are normal after this type of procedure. I was also having really uncomfortable fullness in my stomach-I had been all week and it wasn't worse on Thursday but just mentioned it since I was being seen.

I never did go to the ER because after talking to the IVF doctor he had told me that ER doctors really don't know how to handle someone who is going through OHSS and they could rupture an ovary/destroy it by poking and prodding around. He told me if I did feel the need to go in there, to PLEASE have them call him before doing ANYTHING. He also said if I wasn't feeling good on friday, to come back and see them. But I didn't go to the IVF office on Fri. morning because I was feeling a lot better, I could even button my pants-but it was tight. Saturday and Sunday I was feeling good too so that was really great.

BUT then this morning I woke up and my stomach was all distended again, it was very very uncomfortable and I was having shortness of breath. So I went into their office and they drained 950 cc's from me. I feel much better!!! but what a painful procedure.

I guess my pregnancy test is on Friday and not Monday, so I'll know a few days earlier than I thought. I was still looking at the old schedule so that's exciting.

Just wanted to keep everyone posted!!!

Julie
 
J

julie

New member
Hey everyone, it's been a few days since I posted anything about the IVF. So, as requested-here's an update.

I was feeling really bad last thursday, I guess I got really pale at work, one of the doctors stopped me in the hallway and wanted to walk me to where I was going because he thought I was going to pass out. In the end, they wanted me seen ASAP. My WBC's were 2x the normal amount so the doc was concerned about internal bleeding or infection so they wanted me to go to the ER. But my IVF doctor said elevated WBC's are normal after this type of procedure. I was also having really uncomfortable fullness in my stomach-I had been all week and it wasn't worse on Thursday but just mentioned it since I was being seen.

I never did go to the ER because after talking to the IVF doctor he had told me that ER doctors really don't know how to handle someone who is going through OHSS and they could rupture an ovary/destroy it by poking and prodding around. He told me if I did feel the need to go in there, to PLEASE have them call him before doing ANYTHING. He also said if I wasn't feeling good on friday, to come back and see them. But I didn't go to the IVF office on Fri. morning because I was feeling a lot better, I could even button my pants-but it was tight. Saturday and Sunday I was feeling good too so that was really great.

BUT then this morning I woke up and my stomach was all distended again, it was very very uncomfortable and I was having shortness of breath. So I went into their office and they drained 950 cc's from me. I feel much better!!! but what a painful procedure.

I guess my pregnancy test is on Friday and not Monday, so I'll know a few days earlier than I thought. I was still looking at the old schedule so that's exciting.

Just wanted to keep everyone posted!!!

Julie
 
J

julie

New member
I've also updated the website with some photos, but my last entry is the 9th of Feb. I hope to have time to update it tomorrow. Here's the direct link for anyone who is interested <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Mark_and_Julies_IVFBegins.html">http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Mark_and_Julies_IVFBegins.html</a>

I added a guest book a few weeks ago, you can sign it or view it from the home page. I'd love to have some more people sign it!!!! You don't have to leave your name or email if you don't want to, but I love feedback about the site (more things to add, things I should take out, something or things I can change....)


Hope everyone is doing well!!!!
 
J

julie

New member
I've also updated the website with some photos, but my last entry is the 9th of Feb. I hope to have time to update it tomorrow. Here's the direct link for anyone who is interested <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Mark_and_Julies_IVFBegins.html">http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Mark_and_Julies_IVFBegins.html</a>

I added a guest book a few weeks ago, you can sign it or view it from the home page. I'd love to have some more people sign it!!!! You don't have to leave your name or email if you don't want to, but I love feedback about the site (more things to add, things I should take out, something or things I can change....)


Hope everyone is doing well!!!!
 
E

eli

New member
Hey Julie, i'm glad your feeling much better. Look after yourself and make sure you get plenty of rest.

I have another qeustion in regards to what you mentioned above.
You said they had to drain 950 cc's, what is that? and how was the presedure pianful ie: what did they do and why?

Sorry, for all the personal questions. You don't have to answer them all, if you don't want to!

Thanking you
Eli<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
 
E

eli

New member
Hey Julie, i'm glad your feeling much better. Look after yourself and make sure you get plenty of rest.

I have another qeustion in regards to what you mentioned above.
You said they had to drain 950 cc's, what is that? and how was the presedure pianful ie: what did they do and why?

Sorry, for all the personal questions. You don't have to answer them all, if you don't want to!

Thanking you
Eli<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
 
E

eli

New member
OH Julie, its me again.
I just saw your pics on your website, they scared the s**t out of me.
Injections- What injections, i didn't know that was part of the procedure i thought it was oral medication you had to take. I hate needles, i don't even know how you put them in yourself, i almost fainted when i saw that.
Now i'm realy scared of going through to have the IVF/PGD done.
My god...... what else do i need to know, maybe the less i know the better.

Doesn't this sound stupid coming from a mum who had a spinal block (huge horse needle in my spine) and a ceasearian. I think i have become more horrified ever since. The recovery was also very painful, i was given Morphene every 4hrs to get rid of the pain (bad bad memories). Besides the birth of my little <img src="i/expressions/angel.gif" border="0"> who was also very unwell at the time.

Anyway, thanks for listening.
Eli<img src="i/expressions/angel.gif" border="0">
 
E

eli

New member
OH Julie, its me again.
I just saw your pics on your website, they scared the s**t out of me.
Injections- What injections, i didn't know that was part of the procedure i thought it was oral medication you had to take. I hate needles, i don't even know how you put them in yourself, i almost fainted when i saw that.
Now i'm realy scared of going through to have the IVF/PGD done.
My god...... what else do i need to know, maybe the less i know the better.

Doesn't this sound stupid coming from a mum who had a spinal block (huge horse needle in my spine) and a ceasearian. I think i have become more horrified ever since. The recovery was also very painful, i was given Morphene every 4hrs to get rid of the pain (bad bad memories). Besides the birth of my little <img src="i/expressions/angel.gif" border="0"> who was also very unwell at the time.

Anyway, thanks for listening.
Eli<img src="i/expressions/angel.gif" border="0">
 
H

Haileysmommy

New member
How exciting that you get to test on Friday instead of next week. I will be thinking iof you in the next few days and hopefully you will feel better soon.
 
H

Haileysmommy

New member
How exciting that you get to test on Friday instead of next week. I will be thinking iof you in the next few days and hopefully you will feel better soon.
 
J

julie

New member
The 950cc's was fluid building up in my abdomen, which is a side effect of the OHSS. But not many women get OHSS, about 2% out of all who use egg stimulating medications. And out of those who do get OHSS, only about 1% of them need their abdomen's drained so I hit the jackpot both times <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">. They do the drainage 99% because it is uncomfortable for the woman. There is that 1% that they are concerned if they don't drain it, it will continue to build up and start occupying spaces out of the abdomen like the lungs-which happens in rare cases where it isn't treated when it needs to be. Because I was having shortness of breath, they were concerned about the volume of fluid and that it was increasing.

The draining actually wasn't painful, it hurt for about 5 seconds when he put an 18g needle into my pelvic cavity to drain the fluid, and then he had to sit there for about 30 minutes while it drained out. They gave me a sedative and it helped a lot. I could have had the anestheologist (sp??) give me conscious sedation but that's just more $$$$$

T
he lupron and egg stimulating medications (I used follistim, but there are a few others) are really small needles. I used insulin needles for the lupron and repronex and the Follistim comes with it's own cartridge and needles, and I think they are like 27 or 29g, which is about as small and short as you can get them. Those didn't hurt at all, although the repronex burned a little. Many women have to have their spouses do the injections-they just can't handle it. I don't mind needles so I did fine.

The one that does hurt is the progesterone in oil. You do that for about 2 weeks. Mark had to do that one for me because it was in my butt and I couldn't reach with the huge stomach I had (ordinairly I think I would have been fine). I was glad when those were over and I switched to suppository progesterone because my butt looked like a pin cushion. At first, turned my nose up at the suppositories-gross. But after my butt hurt so bad I could hardly walk, i decided to switch.

Those progesterone shots are about the worst of this whole thing. I was on consious sedation for the retrieval, and don't remember nor did I feel anything. The transfer was uncomfortable, only because it had to be done on a full full bladder and there was pressure from the ultrasound wand for about 15 minutes on my full bladder. Other than that, it hasn't been bad.


Thanks for the support everyone, I'll keep you posted!!!
 
J

julie

New member
The 950cc's was fluid building up in my abdomen, which is a side effect of the OHSS. But not many women get OHSS, about 2% out of all who use egg stimulating medications. And out of those who do get OHSS, only about 1% of them need their abdomen's drained so I hit the jackpot both times <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">. They do the drainage 99% because it is uncomfortable for the woman. There is that 1% that they are concerned if they don't drain it, it will continue to build up and start occupying spaces out of the abdomen like the lungs-which happens in rare cases where it isn't treated when it needs to be. Because I was having shortness of breath, they were concerned about the volume of fluid and that it was increasing.

The draining actually wasn't painful, it hurt for about 5 seconds when he put an 18g needle into my pelvic cavity to drain the fluid, and then he had to sit there for about 30 minutes while it drained out. They gave me a sedative and it helped a lot. I could have had the anestheologist (sp??) give me conscious sedation but that's just more $$$$$

T
he lupron and egg stimulating medications (I used follistim, but there are a few others) are really small needles. I used insulin needles for the lupron and repronex and the Follistim comes with it's own cartridge and needles, and I think they are like 27 or 29g, which is about as small and short as you can get them. Those didn't hurt at all, although the repronex burned a little. Many women have to have their spouses do the injections-they just can't handle it. I don't mind needles so I did fine.

The one that does hurt is the progesterone in oil. You do that for about 2 weeks. Mark had to do that one for me because it was in my butt and I couldn't reach with the huge stomach I had (ordinairly I think I would have been fine). I was glad when those were over and I switched to suppository progesterone because my butt looked like a pin cushion. At first, turned my nose up at the suppositories-gross. But after my butt hurt so bad I could hardly walk, i decided to switch.

Those progesterone shots are about the worst of this whole thing. I was on consious sedation for the retrieval, and don't remember nor did I feel anything. The transfer was uncomfortable, only because it had to be done on a full full bladder and there was pressure from the ultrasound wand for about 15 minutes on my full bladder. Other than that, it hasn't been bad.


Thanks for the support everyone, I'll keep you posted!!!
 
L

LouLou

New member
Is it possible to get IUI without doing egg stimulation? My thought is can't they see that there is an egg released at a certain time of month and then inject sperm. Why don't people use this route or do they? too much money with not enough success?
 
L

LouLou

New member
Is it possible to get IUI without doing egg stimulation? My thought is can't they see that there is an egg released at a certain time of month and then inject sperm. Why don't people use this route or do they? too much money with not enough success?
 
J

julie

New member
IUI doesn't work if you have a male infertility factor. Basically the sperm they retrieve from the testicles in a situation like this, aren't even strong enough to swim to 1 egg in a petri dish. That's why they do the ICSI, it's like assisted fertilization where they put the sperm directly into the egg.

We could have done IUI with donor sperm, but neither of us wanted to do that. Yes, it is signifigantly cheaper!! But not the right option for us <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

As far as the meds and stuff on IUI, I have to be honest and say I really have no idea. I never researched it because I was told from the beginning that it wouldn't work for a situation like ours.
 
J

julie

New member
IUI doesn't work if you have a male infertility factor. Basically the sperm they retrieve from the testicles in a situation like this, aren't even strong enough to swim to 1 egg in a petri dish. That's why they do the ICSI, it's like assisted fertilization where they put the sperm directly into the egg.

We could have done IUI with donor sperm, but neither of us wanted to do that. Yes, it is signifigantly cheaper!! But not the right option for us <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

As far as the meds and stuff on IUI, I have to be honest and say I really have no idea. I never researched it because I was told from the beginning that it wouldn't work for a situation like ours.
 
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