Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots

You get brownie points if you get the reference of the title for today's entry. Hint: think Lil' Jon.

Today we went back to Dr. D's office to get the results of yesterday's blood work (all which was normal), be trained on how to give our injections, and have a baseline ultrasound done.  Our nurse was wonderful and really took a lot of time with us, not only explaining how to give the injections, but teaching us how the medicine actually works.

She told us that all women have a hormone called follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) that tells their ovaries to produce follicles. Women who go through menopause have much higher FSH levels than younger women.  This is because their body is not producing any more follicles, so their brain goes into overdrive and tells their body to make more FSH in an attempt to keep producing more follicles. My medicine, Bravelle is derived from the urine of menopausal women because they have such high FSH levels in their bodies.  Crazy, huh!?  It comes in a powder form that we mix with water before injection. I'll start my shots tomorrow and will take them once a day for about 10 days.  I go back for more blood work and an ultra sound on Monday (and tentatively Wednesday and Friday) of next week to monitor my hormone levels and follicle development.  They will adjust my medicine accordingly.

The injectable medications have similar side effects to Clomid and Femara--nausea, headaches, dizziness, irritability, hot flashes and possibly (less than 1%) Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome. This usually happens after ovulation, when follicles that did not release an egg fill will fluid. Having one or two of these cysts is no big deal, but if you have lots it can be very painful and can even require hospitalization.  The bottom line is that cysts are common, but too many can be harmful. My ultra sound today actually showed that I had a cyst on my right ovary.  The nurse was not too concerned, and said that we should still start our shots tomorrow.  It was probably left over from our last cycle on Femara and will go away on its own.

Our medicine is coming in the mail through a pharmacy that works closely with fertility clinics and ships overnight. We spoke with a representative from the pharmacy on the phone today and they informed us that our insurance would cover $1,006.16 of our medication! We were only responsible for $95. This was great news!

It seems a little sad and strange to be starting our shots tomorrow, on Thanksgiving day.  At our last OB appointment when I was pregnant in April, we found out that our due date was Thanksgiving day.  It's hard to think that here we are, eight months later, still not pregnant. But we do know that we are very blessed to have the love and support of so many people, and we are definitely very grateful for that!