start of my protocol

This is where i’ll update my IVF Protocol, every other day. So if you are interested to read, you can always come back to this page. Cos i don’t think i’ll want to publish so many private entries on the blog. Pretty sure i’ll have lotsa thing to update because this will be such an interesting journey. Lol

Friday, 11 April 2014: 

IVF officially starts today! Our appointment at NUH was scheduled for 8.30 am. Requested Rusly to take leave for this because they’ll be teaching me how to take the self-jabs and all, and just in case i panic and refuse to do the jab myself, at least he’s there to do it for me and at least he knows how to do it lah.

Upon reaching, we did our blood test 1st. Apparently i have to do a blood test each time i’m there so they can monitor my hormone levels. They also did the baseline scan to check if i have cysts etc. Alhamdulillah, they did not find any.
My AF arrived full flow yesterday after taking Nor-E  for 2 weeks.

It was a short consultation with the gynae and then the nurse took over and briefed me on how to administer the jabs myself. It all went so fast that i didn’t even have time to feel scared. Except when the needle is out and i’m about to poke myself, i find it so hard to do that. The act of poking myself with that needle was scary. But once it’s in there, i couldn’t feel anything! It was painless!

Trust me on this because i get really scared by injections. I always look away when they do blood test for me. To me, the blood test is much more painful cos the needle is thicker. The needle for Gonal-F is really fine and short.

My Gonal-F dosage is 150iu. At least for 4 days. Next tuesday, i’ll be going for my next blood test and scan. They will then review how i’m responding to the drugs. They will increase or decrease the dosage depending on the next scan.

The nurse passed me this cooler box with an ice pack for me to store all the drugs in there.

I’m supposed to keep all the drugs in the fridge.
So yes, move away food! I’m having drugs for dinner.

Gonal-F is a pre-filled injection pen. I just have to twist the dial to 150iu and i can jab myself.
Pretty sure there will be other jabs later on.
But for now, i’ll just appreciate the Gonal-F for being painless.

Till the next update!

Tuesday, 15 April 2014: 
It’s Day 5 of my stimulation jabs!
Went for my appointment at NUH today at 8.45am. Managed to reach on time despite the heavy traffic.

The past 4 days went by really fast.

Side effects from Gonal-F;

• Cold sweats. I break out into sweats all the time. Even when getting ready and applying makeup or from doing simple housework stuff.
• Hot Flashes. I feel so heaty all over. I usually sleep with a blanket every night even if it’s not raining but these few days, i couldn’t sleep with the blanket. My body emits heat. Lol
  But i’m still wearing socks most of the time especially during sleep.
• i’m so cranky. I don’t want elaborate more but you know how a hormonal cranky woman is.
• I get tired & sleepy. I feel like i wanna sleep all the time. I use to sleep at 3.00am and wake up by 11.00am. Now, by 12.00 midnight, i’m half asleep.
• I get slight cramps. Not very bad cramps like my AF cramps. But slight twinges. Like something’s poking you from inside

I’m guessing all these side effects are normal and not very bad lah. Still boleh tahan.
I’m also doing all the injections by myself. Just because i think i’ll have more control over it so i can psych myself that it’s not painful.

So anyway, i had another scan and blood test today.
Blood test today was extra painful. I wanted to cry from that. But i think that’s just me being ngada-ngada and hormonal and because rusly wasn’t around and i felt so alone. hahahaha
Ok i’m blaming the hormones for every stupid thing i do.

The vaginal scan was painful today. I always have cramps from Vaginal scans. Sigh.

From the scan, they could detect;
– 8 follicles on the right ovary (Size range from 6 – 8mm)
– 6 follicles on the left ovary (Size range from 7 – 8mm but i had one at 14mm)

I don’t know why there’s one (the 14mm) that’s maturing too fast. At this phase, most of the follicles should be around 7-8mm because the follicles grow approximately 2mm each day.

That is also the reason why the gynae is putting me on Cetrotide at Day 5 instead of Day 6.
Cetrotide is supposed to stop my body from ovulating naturally. So i’m now doing 2 jabs per day instead of 1.
Cetrotide in the morning and Gonal-F in the evening. I’m still waiting for CHR to call me to confirm my new Gonal-F dosage and the next appointment date.

I jabbed myself with Cetrotide earlier today because the nurse wanted to guide me on how to jab this cos unlike Gonal-F, i have to mix the solution myself, make sure there are no air bubbles and all before i poke myself.

Honestly, Cetrotide is much painful than Gonal-F cos the needle is thicker and i had cramps from jabbing this earlier. I have to do this daily till my Egg Retrieval day which hopefully will be next week!

i’m almost halfway through. I know i can do this.

Ok ending abruptly here because i’m sleepy.

Thursday, 17 April 2014