Great Day to Start Dex

Today, according to my calendar, is the official start of my cycle with starting Dexamethasone. For some reason, they say to take it at night. HA HA. I took it first thing this morning. And, after hosting a wonderful pool party which basically took all day by the time I got things setup, had the party, and cleaned up, I am still wired.

I got my drugs in the mail yesterday. Apparently, Follistim, unlike Gonal F, needs to be refrigerated. Wish I had know that when I was telling them I didn’t want to do the pen. I still wouldn’t have done the pen, but had them switch it to Gonal F. Good thing they like me at my clinic, because I can be a PITA. They gave me my calendar and I basically tweaked it and told them where it needed to be changed to suit me, including getting them to agree to stims in the morning. This stuff just amps me up with each additional amp I inject added on top of the Dex and I would basically not be getting any sleep. On last cycle which was a 5 amp protocol (start with 5 amps and drop to 3), I basically got an average of 4 hours a night taking Tylenol PM or Benadryl each night. This cycle I am on a 8 amp protocol (start with 8 amps and drop to 5) and taking Dex. Heck, we will see if I get any sleep tonight on just the Dex. The funny thing is that it isn’t as if I am tired because of the lack of sleep.

I played hooky from work yesterday and made a trip over the hill to see my acupuncturist. She did a different treatment on me than we have done before using electrodes ? to try to stimulate blood to my ovaries with the hope of getting some life out of my right ovary. I heart acupuncture. If it wasn’t so far and so costly (or my insurance paid for it), I would go all the time.

I am sure my RE is so ready for me to get and stay pregnant. Poor guy, I sent him another long list of questions about 10 of which were about the consent forms. LOL. I am sure he was thinking, why can’t she be like everyone else and just sign the damn things without reading them. And, I can’t just ask questions, I have to add in editorial comments along the way. For example, one of the things you must sign in advance is what you want to happen to any frozen embryos should you die – discard, donate, use for testing. While my inclination would be to donate, because, really, who would want to get embryos from a 40 year old with a history of m/c. But, I want to have some idea on what kind of testing they would use them for (still better than just destroying them in my mind). Yes, it is an unlikely scenario, but hey, one must sign the form. Another decision is on whether you want the ‘marker test’. Dr. N and I had already discuss…okay, I asked via email and he responded that he would recommend doing it if I had more than 5 embryos to choose from. But the form only gives you a Yes, I want it or No, I don’t. So, I had to tell him that I crossed that out of on the form and made my own answer that said, Yes, I want it IF I eggs fertilized >5; No, I don’t want it IF eggs fertilized < 5. Another thing you have to sign is that you will authorize your RE to do laparoscopic surgery during ER (egg retrieval) instead of needle aspiration, I had to ask in which cases would that happen and that I completely authorize it he thought he could get anything from my right ovary that way. He responded that I was right in the instances it would be used (see I have this terrible habit of not only asking the question, but also telling him what I think the answer is and then asking if I am right) and that in all the ER’s he has done, he has never had to do a lap. I won’t bore you with all the other questions I asked accept to say that he agreed that I could do the Western blot test which is a confirmation test for the HTLV 1/2 reactivity.

The party today was FAB. Great turn out. Lots of people. I think everyone had a great time and stayed late. Fine by me. Not one ounce of tiredness in this body. Can’t say the same for poor Max. He didn’t take an afternoon nap. I didn’t even try because the party was in full swing by then and I knew it would be a battle that I would likely loose anyway. He had a wonderful time, but was more than ready for bed. I actually gave him a bath and put him to bed while a few people were still here and he went down without a peep. One of my friends (THANKS KAIA) stayed and watch over him while I gave Shadow a quick walk. That was a big help as I am so obsessive about making sure my dogs get walked that I would have likely put Max in the stroller and walked Shadow after everyone left. It was very nice not to have to do that. It isn’t only that I think that Shadow needs the exercise, which she does, but also she so looks forward to it. It is the highlight of her day even if she doesn’t have the endurance she did in the past. I hate to not do it after she puts up with a house full of people all day or has been left by herself all evening or even on a normal day where she has to deal with Max “loving” her.

I took Max and Shadow to walk in a park yesterday morning. This park has a fake pond that has lots of ducks and geese and pigeons and squirrels. Both Shadow and Max like it and I have been hitting it about 3 times a month. After the walk, I usually let Max swing or play in the play area while Shadow rests. This play area is right next to a Tennis Court. And, there were two older men playing a heated set. One man kept swearing. After the third time which was quite a creative stream of swear words strung together, I went over and reminded him that the courts were right next to a child’s play area and he was swearing quite a bit. He mutters something like Oh, yeah, okay, okay and to his credit, he didn’t utter another one while we were there. In some ways I feel stupid for being the bad work police and heaven knows I have and do use a swear word on occasion (but I am very conscious not to use them in front of Max), but on the other hand, Max is an impressionable toddler and while I want him to have word recognition and exposed to lots of different words, “bad” words can wait until he is older and understands the meaning. Plus, it is just the principle of the matter.

If you have made it reading this far, bless you. Are you strung out on Dex too? HA HA.

Okay, I think I am going to go take come Tylenol PM and a warm bath and see if I can relax enough to catch a few zzzzzz’s tonight. I loved my 5 day weekend 2 day work week this week (where I actually only worked 1.5 days since I ditched Friday afternoon). Sigh. At least today is only Saturday and I have one more day off, to hang out with Max.