Monday, February 26, 2007

Surpise! More shots...

Hey y'all, since I know you've been up nights, wondering what happened at my last monitoring appointment, I thought I should finally get around to posting something...

But first, I wanted to respond to some of your MUCH appreciated comments. (I'm such a DORK, I get all tingly when I see a new comment has been posted, a la Sally Field's "You like me, you really, really like me...")

Anyway, let's see: Yes, Faith, unfortunately I am on the Metformin. Well, I suppose I shouldn't say unfortunately because I wasn't even having periods on my own before getting on the dang stuff. But my complaint is that after being on it for almost a year, I still get infrequent bouts of Montezuma's revenge in the stomach department (oh who am I kidding, in the BOWEL department). It's so strange because it doesn't seem to correlate to anything in particular in terms of what I've eaten. It's like every once in a while the Met wants to just ever-so-subtlely (not) remind me that it's still in my system, doin' it's thang. It pisses me off though, bc I can never tell when it's going to hit me like a ton of bricks. Or prunes, as it were.

And, yes, Baby Blues, my husband is indeed Filipino, and was indeed wearing a Barong in our wedding ceremony, as were all our groomsmen! And I'm an idiot, bc when I read your post I wondered, "how'd she know what a barong is?"...and then I bothered to pay attention to your blog where I could have clearly seen "Philippines" listed in your location!! DUH. R's family is from Quezon City (mother's side) and Bataan (father's side). R was born in Manila, but came to the US when he was 9 mos old. He still has lots and lots of family who still live in the PI, and of his (enormous) family who live here in the DC area, it seems one or more of them are always traveling back there. R hasn't been back since 2002 when his Lolo passed away. I'd really like for us to visit there together soon, but of course, it's difficult to plan it, what with all the uncertainty of IF, and, well you know...

And finally, Ms. C, as to my meds for this cycle: For exactly 13 days I was on one injection of 75 IU's of Bravelle nightly. Now, I'm on 4 more days of a dose and a half of Bravelle, which I guess would be 112.5 IUs each night.

Which brings me to the very anti-climactic update I owe you on this, the longest IUI cycle on earth: I went in at the freakin' crack of dawn this past Sunday for another monitoring appointment. And by the way, don't you love weekend mornings at the RE's office, when aaaaalll the husbands come out to play? From the looks on their faces, I know most of those men get coaxed there the same way R does, with the promise of weekend breakfast with all the cholesterol and nitrate ridden breakfast meats he can eat, afterwards. Woo hoo! Me? I'll have an egg white omelette and wheat toast, and a side of baconsausagecornedbeefhashandscrapple, please. And coffee with Splenda.

Anyway, so, no big surprise. I still have "lots of eggs", but my ovaries still look "very quiet." Argh. Dr. D commented that us PCOS'ers must "walk the knife edge" when it comes to meds. One false move with just a little too much FSH, and it could be disaster. And really, I think I would just step out into traffic if, after all this, I produced a dozen eggs and then had to just sit by and let them go to waste. For someone who hasn't ovulated in over 2 years, this would just be torture.

So, my updated protocol, as I mentioned above, is to take a dose and a half of the Bravelle for 4 more nights, and then it's back for another wanding session on Thursday morning. Which will be my 18th day of shots, not that I'm counting or anything.

Peace out, homies. Happy end of February, and shit.

- K

4 comments:

Keeping The Faith said...

Oh my gosh- what an ordeal your going through. 18 days... and your ovaries are still quiet. Yuu are on a very low dose so I can see that your RE is being very careful.

I'm also on Metformin and found the first 3 weeks horrible. I was nausea and sick to my stomach every day and had major diarrea...but then after those 3 initial weeks it stopped as soon as it started and I haven't had many problems w/ it anymore. I try to eat protein and a little fat w/ each meal instead of straight carbs and I think that helps me a lot.

Hang in there- your ovaries are bound to respond soon. I'm sure it much better to take it slow than have an over response w/ a zillion eggs, OHSS, and the resulting poorer quality when that happens. You just need a few good ones...hopefully sooner than later :-) in March maybe... :-)

Okay- sending prayers and positive thoughts to those ovaries of yours.

-Faith

Watson said...

"walk the knife edge" -- good God! Is that how your doctor phrased that?

Geez, it's not like we're not under ENOUGH pressure, buddy! Way to be somewhat delicate.

But alas, I guess we don't pay for delicate.

I'm sending you more good vibes that those follies get movin'!

Baby Blues said...

You've got yourself a good man!

I've been a good responder to Clomid on IUI#1&2, it's on IUI#3 that my ovaries just decided not to cooperate! We had to cancel. If my follicles still don't budge on my upcoming cycle, it's time to bring out the big guns, injectibles.

I think I better start Metformin again. I'm such a bad patient for not taking it. I know I should, I just hate the occasional GI upset.

Good luck and I hope those follicles start cooperating!

ms. c said...

Oy! The Metformin! After 4 months I am pretty used to it, but I also find that every once in a while I get a bad "bout". Empathy all around. (And the Met doesn't even help my ovulate! I think I'm stillt aking it becasue should I ever get pregnant I know it's good to continue through the first trimester...)

As indelicately as your Dr phrased it, he is totally right- it is such a fine line with FSH injections and PCO ovaries. You wouldn't want all your hard work to go to waste. Slow and steady in this case is alright. I completely understand your frustration.

Wishing you and your ovaries much luck on the next few days' worth of shots.