T-1 Day!

Tomorrow is my last day of waiting! The cycle officially starts on Sunday, so tomorrow will be the last day I can exercise and have any caffeine or alcohol. So, I plan on fitting a lot into one day! First, I think I'll hit the gym, then I'm going shoe-shopping (and get coffee), then to dinner with a friend (and drink wine), and finally some bowling!

Almost ready to start...

Two and a half hour drive in traffic to the doc's today. :( Got 4 vials of blood taken, had an ultrasound, and had cultures done - to check my estrogen level before the cycle starts, make sure my ovaries are quiet and redo all the FDA required tests, since they have to be done within 30 days of egg retrieval. I also had a nice little instruction class on how to mix the Menopur, and how to inject that and the Follistim. The nurse even helped me stick myself with the little needle once, just so I could see what it would feel like, and get over the fear of injecting myself for the first time! When I got home (another 2 hour trip!), the Fed-Ex guy arrived with all the meds! I unpacked everything and made sure everything was there from the packing list, and made sure to put the Lupron trigger shot in the fridge. Now, I just have to wait until next Sunday to start all of this fun!

Cleared to start the cycle!

So, all the lab work checked out, the contracts have been signed, and I finally received the calendar and tentative retrieval date! Next week I go in for more blood work :( and an ultrasound, then finish up my active BCPs, and the following week I'll be starting the medications - Follistim & Menopur. Unfortunately, I have to drive to the clinic to pick up all my meds, and their office is 75 miles away! After that, I'll be monitored by a local clinic, and then I won't have to drive that far again until the last 3 ultrasounds, so that's good. I'm just getting a little freaked out after watching a youtube video of a girl giving herself the injections. I know they're small needles, and subcutaneous injections, but she started to bleed, and it made me feel nauseous to watch it! Hopefully I get over that, otherwise I'm gonna need help with my injections every day...

Side note time... I had a dream the other night about the potential child that the recipient couple could have using my eggs! Very bizarre. It was a little girl in my dream, and she was about 2 years old. The really strange part was that she had brown hair - and I'm blond! Guess maybe the father in my dream has dark hair... Anyway, it was just weird to dream about a child that's "half me" that's not even going to be mine. I've never even had a dream about my own future children. Wonder what it means... Oh well, enough about that! Back to homework now. :)

More Blood Tests and Ultrasounds

So after my last post, I went in for the repeat blood test to check my hormone levels and to have an ultrasound done as well. They only took one vial of blood, so it wasn't too bad.

Since I was out of state for the summer, I had to make an appointment for my full medical screening with the recipient's doctor after I got home. So, a few weeks later, I had to drive 75 miles to get to the docs, and that lovely appointment lasted about an hour. They took about 7 vials of blood - to test for STDs, genetic disorders, fragile-X, blood-glucose, etc. They also did a lovely PAP smear and STD check, then talked to me about the procedure.

About 2 week later, I was finally notified that all of my blood work came back and I was all clear. No STDs, no genetic disorders, and I was good to go! Now, I'm just waiting on the lawyers to finish up the contracts, and then I'll receive the timeline and schedule from the doctor. If all goes well, I'll be starting the medication cycle next week. For most of my monitoring appointments, I'll be seeing a doctor in the next town over, so that won't be too bad. But, for the last 3 ultrasounds to monitor the follicle and egg growth, I'll have to drive to the recipient's doctor, which is 75 miles away in a very busy metropolitan area, where there is always bad traffic. So that won't be fun at all. The agency has offered to put me up in a hotel for those 3 days if the appointments are 3 days in a row, so I won't have to make the 150-mile round trip! So hopefully that works out.

As a side note, all of this thinking about babies and biological clocks has made me start to want children of my own and soon! My DH & I have decided it's not in our best interest to try to have kids for at least another 2 years though, so hopefully I can wait and I'll still be fertile then!

Until next time...

The Waiting Game and More Blood Tests

So it's been awhile since I blogged about this whole experience, but not a whole lot has happened yet. I spoke with a geneticist, a lawyer, and we figured out the timeline for the medications and retrieval - which will be mid-August to mid-September. Unfortunately, my hormone levels were too suppressed from the birth control patch I use, so they switched me to a low-dose pill, and I have to redo all of my blood work :( and get an ultrasound next week after my next period starts. I'm sooo not looking forward to giving more blood, it's just about the worst feeling in the world!

I've been traveling with my DH this summer, and his kids came out to visit for a few weeks, so that was fun. We headed to a family reunion as well, and got to do some sightseeing along the way - some of the big monuments and national parks, so that was really cool. I'll be headed back home in August, and I guess that's when the hormone injections will start. They're hoping to do the retrieval in mid-September, so I'll update more once the meds start!

Blood Test

Today was the dreaded blood test to check my hormone levels... The agency emailed the doctor's address to me yesterday, and told me to call this morning to go in for the test. Unfortunately, the closest doctor on their special list or whatever was an hour away from our house! So when I called the doctor's office this morning, the earliest I said I could get there was 11:30. But, since I had to drive through a major metropolitan area, I hit traffic, and people were driving slow, so of course I got there late! Grrrr. Then, when I finally found the place, I discovered that it wasn't a cute little doctor's office like I had imagined, but a huge medical complex, that required parking in a stupid parking garage! So after I finally got up to the office, I was almost 30 minutes late. Boo. Oh well, at least they still got me in!

The blood-drawing nurse (phlebotomist?) was really nice, and stayed with me when I started to faint from all the blood they took! I think they took 3 vials of blood. Sometimes I start to black out after getting my blood taken, and I thought I was going to be ok this time, but when I thought I was ready to go, I started to feel really dizzy, and everything started getting spotty and black. Then I knew I better put my head between my legs and drink some juice! It took about 15 minutes before I finally felt well enough to stand up and leave. I hope there aren't many more blood draws like this!!

A Couple Wants Me!

So... my match coordinator "N" called to tell me last week that a couple wants me to be their donor! I didn't get the message until late Friday, so I wasn't able to call her back until Monday. She said that the couple was super excited about my profile, and that I was the kind of person that "they would love to have at their dinner table." They were looking for someone local, to keep expenses down, and wanted to get the process started right away. Unfortunately, since I'm out of the state for the summer, I would have to wait until August to start the cycle, unless they wanted me to travel to see thei doctor (which would cost more - and they didn't want to do that.) But, they didn't want to have anyone other than me to be their donor, so they're willing to wait!

So now I have a new cycle coordinator, "K". "K" is supposed to set up an appointment for me up here, for my "3rd day" blood test. Apparently, they can do that at just about any lab, and it tests my hormone levels or something. After that, she'll help me coordinate my cycle with the recipient in August.

Other than that, now it's just a waiting game. I'm just really excited that someone wants me to be their donor!