First time IVF - Started Lupron last Thurs - Would Love some Buddies

[knitgirl]

LadySosa-Sorry about the lost post. I was just telling another poster that Ctrl-Z (undo) can be your friend. So whatever you hit or bumped on the computer may be able to be recovered. Hope you're doing ok.

ERose-Interesting...I hope it's not AF.

I called several pharmacies today to find out if my doctor was right about the FET being only "a hundred dollars" and he is right. I found PIO vials for $3.08/vial (a 10cc vial) and this stuff called del-estrogen is $23.08/vial (a 5cc vial). The pharmacy is Accredo. My nurse says that I will only need a couple vials of del-estrogen because the dosage is 0.2cc every third day, and the PIO will be taken every night at 1cc. So...much more reasonable for sure. Freedom pharmacy was charging $40/vial for PIO, and $225/vial for del-estrogen.

Now, I just have to make sure my insurance will let me move forward with FET without having CD3 bloodwork. The nurse feels confident that they will allow it because they are not stimming me, and it's just a frozen cycle. I hope so! I'm read to start doing butt shots full time!

Terri - so great about finding the meds at a lower cost! And a BIG thanks for the info about Ctrl Z!!!

 

[knitgirl]

I'm super crampy today. I started noticing some last night, but today is worse, and it feels like AF is coming any time now. I suppose it could arrive tomorrow or the next day, and I'd just be having an unusually short LP for me. But if that happens, I'm a bit concerned, because I won't have been taking the Lupron long enough to be fully suppressed, I don't think... Who the heck knows. I suppose it could also just be the Lupron making me feel crampy too. I looked at my two other charts when I took it, and I did record some mild cramps around the time of taking it. This time, it just seems SO much like AF cramps. We shall see!

Fingers crossed!!!!

 

[knitgirl]

Great news, Terri. I have to say though that you guys are making me queasy talking about IM injections.

Yes, the IM injections sound awful - makes me want to pass out just thinking about them. Do you have to do them too? I was told I won't have any IM injections.

 

[Babywhisperer]

kfs1-Do you have to do an IM trigger? It seriously wasn't that bad. Remember, I did it while my hubs was at the Ravens game. I think it didn't hurt because I had to do it, and was more nervous than anything. I may change my tune when I have to do them every third day/every day for >8 weeks. hee hee. Oh and knitgirl is right, maybe push the menopur in slowly. It does take a while though but it's better than stinging. I did it slowly.

You were able to inject behind your hip for trigger and PIO? I am afraid to jab myself b/c it will hurt. How was it?

 

[knitgirl]

So, I was totally freaking out last night because I found a Deer Tick in me last night!! My first thought was that it would delay this cycle, but I found out I could take the meds as a preventative and keep going with my cycle. I have been worrying about what I eat, sleep, etc. but did not think to worry about ticks!!! OMG.

I had my Day 7 stim labs and u/s: looks like 17 of the 28 follies are measuring at >10 and my estradiol is 1499. Wow! They told me to go down to 50 of Gonal F and keep the others the same. I should have asked them what Gonal F does v. Menopur since they keep having me go down on the Gonal F. They want me back in tomorrow morning.

 

[terripeachy]

I was sitting on the couch, and just lifted my right leg up a little bit so my leg was relaxed, and then contorted myself. The nurse drew a circle on my butt for me. It was the rude nurse and she said 'Just plunge it in forcefully as if you were puncturing an orange? Do you want some extra needles to practice with?' I was like 'Uh..no. I got it.' HA!!HA!! I also rented the book 'What to Expect Before the First Year' and they had a picture and described how to do it, so that helped too.

 

[Amy1976]

Babywhisperer - It is crazy what your work it trying to do. It can't be legal. It just can't. Can you contact the labor board? (Assuming your state has one, I'm not sure how other states work in that regard).

Terri - So glad your meds will be so much more reasonable this time around. Such a load off.

kfs1 - It must be the meds then that are making us feel this way. I never feel this tired regularly. It will all be worth it in the end though

On a good note, the injection went very smoothly last night. I guess I'm getting the hang of it. The Menopur stings but only a tiny bit, so little in fact that I wouldn't even mention it if others here didn't. I'm wondering if it's because I mix mine with the Bravelle, so it's diluted in a way?

 

[knitgirl]

Amy and kfs - i was really sleepy when i started the stim meds. also, the last couple of nights i have struggled to stay up past 8:30. our bodies are working really hard right now!

 

[beaglemom]

Ok...so long update...here we go...

Still had an upset stomach this morning. But my body hates mornings as it is. So by the time we ate an early dinner I was fine...feeling queasy now, but drinking some Gatorade. Hopefully I will feel better by this weekend...gonna try to keep fluids in me.

I went in to see my dr...she was running about 30 minutes late. I already had a consult earlier in the year, so we basically discussed my decision about PGS & she seems very hopeful for me since I am young & high egg reserve. So it wasn't a long meeting...sat with finance again...same old story...I did have to pay everything today (except meds which are separate). She said I could get a refund if I got the IVF grant. So quick food before my meds class. Came back for my class...we had a long day! My baseline u/s is set for Nov 20. I will stop bcp that day & begin meds on Nov 24. My first monitor visit is Nov 28. Then they will determine the next steps. She said I could be doing retrieval as soon as Dec 2...which seems fast. I am supposed to have a mock transfer in there somewhere, but by the time I made my appointment, I was a little tired so looked at my paperwork & didn't see it on there. So I need to ask about that. They may be combining it with my baseline.

Now for my meds...they don't seem to be monitoring me as much as you guys...but let me know what you think. So my favorite part of this whole thing. I am using follistim again. But she showed us how to mix it with the menopur....so one shot in my abdomen. Then when I have to add in the ganirelix, she says I can add that to everything & make all three in one shot with a needle the same size as my follistim needle. I was so happy about that. The she got to the dreaded progesterone part. She offered the oil syringe, gel suppository (I think like what Jen took), and a pill form that is still a suppository. The il was the cheapest, but I said I wanted the pill. Two good things with the P...1 – they had some donated meds they gave us that last 2 weeks, & 2 she also gave us a coupon. Oh & then my trigger is the ovidrel I already had taken before...only difference was I take 2 viles instead of 1.

So after everything I found 2 things I need to confirm...mock transfer date & whether they do lining scrape. But overall a great day. My dr seems very confident. I asked the finance lady about the guaranty cycles. She explained it but said if my dr really thought I needed it, she would push it...& she didn't even mention it to us.

So we left there & had a few hours to hang out shopping & had a ridiculously expensive dinner...but now comes the time to start pulling back on our spending...I dread my credit card bills! But oh well.

 

[beaglemom]

Totally forgot some things...I was told if I want to drink up until transfer, to feel free as long as not excessive. And starting 15 days before retrieval, no unprotected sex.

And for those whose dr said PGS damaged embryos, they actually don't touch the cells...they take fluid from what would one day be the placenta. My dr says there is a 1% chance of damaging the embryo. I know each dr is entitled to their opinion...but just wanted to share that.

 

[Babywhisperer]

Totally forgot some things...I was told if I want to drink up until transfer, to feel free as long as not excessive. And starting 15 days before retrieval, no unprotected sex.

And for those whose dr said PGS damaged embryos, they actually don't touch the cells...they take fluid from what would one day be the placenta. My dr says there is a 1% chance of damaging the embryo. I know each dr is entitled to their opinion...but just wanted to share that.

Sounds like you are all set and well informed. I am not drinking just because it makes me tired the next day and I want all my energy to go to making follies. I think you will respond very well. It's going to be here before you know it!!

I went to acupuncture tonight as it was necessary. Had a meeting about the work drama and I laid it all on the line. They don't want me to leave and this is how they are trying to make me stay. I explained that trying to scare me will not work. I have a claim if I want to pursue it but I will move forward if they stop messing with me and let me do my job and if I get treated the same as the men. I may be the only woman but I have been there the longest. Bullying me will not work when I have the law on my side and I have been well informed and that gave me the confidence to negotiate. Acupuncture helps the stress and she gave me a very long treatment and I felt like I melted into the table!

Terri that's great you got your meds for less!!!!! Feels awesome to get a deal. Ok so plunge like my butt is an orange. I get anxiety before I inject but it's fast. I doubt dh will be able to do it. Maybe I should watch a video too.

 

[LadySosa]

Testing?? It wont let me post...so weird

 

[LadySosa]

Hey ladies! Weirdest thing...it wouldn't let me post again...now I'm trying Chrome so hopefully this goes thru...

I'm sitting here with a green face and in a witch costume at work...trying to take myself seriously...LOL (Happy Halloween!)

BabyW - sounds like you've got the work situation under control. I agree with everyone else, that surely can't be legal! But glad you've got your DH to help you thru it.

On a side note: I've never had acupuncture before. Does it really do anything?

I got my calendar yesterday!!! So exciting! My "stimming" doesn't start until Jan 9 but its still exciting to see it all laid out. Now I know what to expect. Yay!

Other REALLY good news - I mentioned I work in HR, right? Well, we met with our insurance broker the other day to discuss our upcoming Jan 1 renewal. My boss, bless her heart, decided to ADD infertility treatment coverage to our plan! She is religious, and it really irked her that our plan covered abortion but not the "creation of life" as she stated. I'm not religious, so it didn't really challenge my morals, but hey, it'll save us $10-15k! When she was asking our broker to add it I just kept my mouth shut since it is a complete conflict of interest. Haha. So anyways, now we're just waiting on our broker to send over the cost increase to add this component to our plan, but my boss said she pretty much didn't care how much it would cost. SCORE! So that's a big weight off our shoulders.

Anyways, are you guys doing anything fun for Halloween? Anyone else dressed up in a costume??

 

[kfs1]

Terri/knitgirl - So, I double checked and actually no IM injections for me. *phew* Only because I'm a serious baby with this stuff And THANK you both so much for the tip about injecting menopur slowly. It was SO MUCH BETTER - I can't even tell you.

Beagle - Great update. Thanks for all of the info.

Babywhisperer - Good for you for standing up for yourself! Absolutely unacceptable and seriously, has to be illegal. Ahhh - thank god for acupuncture, huh? I've always wanted to try it...

Ladysosa - Congrats on the fertility coverage! That's so great! And yes, it's so exciting to get your schedule, right? Haha -I'm working from home again so not dressed up but I am dressing up as David Bowie from the movie Labyrinth tomorrow night at a friend's party. Do you all remember that movie?

Hi all of my other lovelies!

Appointment went well this morning. Starting Ganirelix tonight. May or may not have to go back in tomorrow, depending on how my bloods come back. If not, next appointment is on Monday. So far, I have 3 follies on my right and 6-7 on my left. Is that a really small amount??? And from what I could see, they ranged from 10 to 16 in size. I'm hoping one of those suckers will do the trick!

 

[beaglemom]

That is awesome about the insurance! See, totally worth the wait Things work out in there own way.

BabyW - hope you get things right at work...what a bunch of jerks...good for you standing up to them.

I did accupuncture, but it did not have a calming effect for me...basically no effect. So with the extra driving for appts, I just stopped going.

kfs - I think that is a good number.

So side note, anyone who plans to make a really long post...sometimes I just type it in word first...then copy & paste so I don't lose it from some internet glitch.

Work is nuts, hope to catch up better later

 

[terripeachy]

LadySosa-So happy for you and your company regarding insurance. The savings will really be nice. I hope you have a good plan in place starting January 01. We are doing benefits now and I have to guess how much I want to put in my health savings. I wish I could put the max, but a girl's gotta eat! hee hee.

kfs1-That's great that you don't have to do IM shots. Are you doing Endometrin supps after retrieval? I was just thinking about the movie Labyrinth yesterday. That was my "favorite" movie growing up. Now I couldn't even tell you what it was about. hee hee. Oh, to be young again.

No, I'm not dressed up and my husband and I will be hiding in the basement tonight. I asked him if he wants to go eat sushi tomorrow. I guess he forgot that he was supposed to invite me PRIOR to my beta on the 21st, so I need to eat it now while I can. I'm also waiting to hear back from my nurse about whether I need CD3 bloods or not. I hope she's not avoiding me because she has bad news. That will push us back into January for the FET, most likely. Boooooo.

 

[knitgirl]

Hey ladies! Weirdest thing...it wouldn't let me post again...now I'm trying Chrome so hopefully this goes thru...

I'm sitting here with a green face and in a witch costume at work...trying to take myself seriously...LOL (Happy Halloween!)

BabyW - sounds like you've got the work situation under control. I agree with everyone else, that surely can't be legal! But glad you've got your DH to help you thru it.

On a side note: I've never had acupuncture before. Does it really do anything?

I got my calendar yesterday!!! So exciting! My "stimming" doesn't start until Jan 9 but its still exciting to see it all laid out. Now I know what to expect. Yay!

Other REALLY good news - I mentioned I work in HR, right? Well, we met with our insurance broker the other day to discuss our upcoming Jan 1 renewal. My boss, bless her heart, decided to ADD infertility treatment coverage to our plan! She is religious, and it really irked her that our plan covered abortion but not the "creation of life" as she stated. I'm not religious, so it didn't really challenge my morals, but hey, it'll save us $10-15k! When she was asking our broker to add it I just kept my mouth shut since it is a complete conflict of interest. Haha. So anyways, now we're just waiting on our broker to send over the cost increase to add this component to our plan, but my boss said she pretty much didn't care how much it would cost. SCORE! So that's a big weight off our shoulders.

Anyways, are you guys doing anything fun for Halloween? Anyone else dressed up in a costume??

Such great news that you got your schedule AND will have insurance coverage!!! Acupuncture has been really good for me during all of this. But I went to one woman first and didn't like her, so went to another woman who works at a fertility clinic and she is wonderful! It's so relaxing, and from what I understand, can really help with IVF.

 

[Babywhisperer]

Hey ladies! Weirdest thing...it wouldn't let me post again...now I'm trying Chrome so hopefully this goes thru...

I'm sitting here with a green face and in a witch costume at work...trying to take myself seriously...LOL (Happy Halloween!)

BabyW - sounds like you've got the work situation under control. I agree with everyone else, that surely can't be legal! But glad you've got your DH to help you thru it.

On a side note: I've never had acupuncture before. Does it really do anything?

I got my calendar yesterday!!! So exciting! My "stimming" doesn't start until Jan 9 but its still exciting to see it all laid out. Now I know what to expect. Yay!

Other REALLY good news - I mentioned I work in HR, right? Well, we met with our insurance broker the other day to discuss our upcoming Jan 1 renewal. My boss, bless her heart, decided to ADD infertility treatment coverage to our plan! She is religious, and it really irked her that our plan covered abortion but not the "creation of life" as she stated. I'm not religious, so it didn't really challenge my morals, but hey, it'll save us $10-15k! When she was asking our broker to add it I just kept my mouth shut since it is a complete conflict of interest. Haha. So anyways, now we're just waiting on our broker to send over the cost increase to add this component to our plan, but my boss said she pretty much didn't care how much it would cost. SCORE! So that's a big weight off our shoulders.

Anyways, are you guys doing anything fun for Halloween? Anyone else dressed up in a costume??

That's so awesome you'll have coverage. It's like getting a raise. My friend works for a private equity firm and they cover 2 rounds thru Cigna and they pay the 2800.mo premiums for all 90 employees. Amazing.

I love acupuncture. I helped me thru Lyme Disease, it induced labor when I was afraid of going pas my EDD, and I get very very relaxed. It feels like I took a sedative without the grogginess. I really helps with stress and she hooks me up to an electric stim machine to give a deeper treatment. I truly feel it has helped me with so many things in the last 7yrs. It can promote blood flow, open blocked pathways, balance energy...love it. My amh number doubled after 3mos of treatment too.

 

[moni77]

BabyW - glad it seem sto be working out at work. Where do you live again?

Beagle - sounds like a great plan - that is great you can mix all the meds together - finding places for 4 shots a day was really getting tough at the end.

I had the POI for about 6 weeks - they were not too bad for the most part. Hubby did them - he said it was great to wake up to my ass in his face every morning! Basically you get used to them. Terri - glad you got a good deal on the meds!!

Lady - woohoo on the coverage!! That is huge!! Its going to be a great year for you!!

Hi and happy Halloween to everyone else!!

I am taking it easy today - think I am coming down with a cold and trying to beat it before it gets bad - its my lack of sleep for the week. I get to catch up this weekend though!!

I also finally got some maternity pants - much better at the end of the day!!!

 

[Amy1976]

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

LadySosa - That is awesome about your insurance. If your effective date is Jan. 1st will they be able to approve the treatment in time for you to start your stims on Jan. 9th?

Beaglemom - YAY!! Looks like you have everything in order and are ready to start. They will most likely do your mock at the same time as your baseline scan. At least that's when they did mine.

Terri - Have you heard from the nurse yet? I'm gonna be mad if they have bad news for you

Moni - YAY for maternity pants!!!

Well I've been doing acupuncture since it was recommended to do during my IVF cycle. I started 7 weeks ago and will continue until after the transfer. I wish it did relax me but I honestly don't feel any different at all while doing it. BUT I will say that my period since I started has completely changed. I use to spot brown for 3 days before my period and there was always a lot of brown mixed in the entire time. I've had 2 periods since I started the acupuncture and both had no spotting and were completely red and flowed nicely. No brown at all. That hasn't happened in 5 years. So I assume it's doing something with the blood flow or whatever. Anyway that made me decide to see the acupuncture through until the end, since I was tempted to ditch it at first.

So update from my Dr.'s appt this morning. He said I was responding to my meds very well. I have 10 follies on one side (6 which are lead follies) and 12 on the other (10 which are lead follies). So he's hoping that I will have at least 16 eggs that mature. Maybe more if the smaller ones catch up. Let me tell you, I haven't had any ovary pain or even felt uncomfortable yet but after he kept poking his magic wand up there to get pictures of them, they sure felt sore for a while. Ouch. Anyway, I start Ganirelix on Sunday night and go back to the Dr. on Monday.