Husband's Perspective - 06/20/10 – Approaching Planet Ganirelix

The Follistim and Menopur shots are going very smoothly – we are in a good routine with the timetable, and the mixing of the Menopur shots no longer phases me. So today we introduce the Ganirelix shot, which sounds like an alien planet from Star Wars. Luckily this one is a self-contained, pre-mixed syringe, so I just have to pull it from the packaging and administer the shot. The needle looks to be the same size as the Menopur shot, and the amount of looks to be about the same. Wifey decided to have the Menopur on the left side of the abdomen and the Ganirelix on the right side, and the shot went without a hitch. She has been complaining of discomfort with the Menopur shot, so it looks like it is the Menopur itself, rather than the needle, as the Ganirelix seems to be the same size and volume. Our sharps container is now looking pretty full, so Wifey will need to pick up a new one when she gets another round of meds tomorrow. We have 2 Follistim shots left in the last cartridge, one round of Menopur and two Ganirelix. We anticipate retrieval towards the end of the week so will need plenty more shots between now and then.

Husband's Perspective – The First Shot

I think it’s time to open Doctor’s Cabinet of Pharmaceutical Delights! This reminds me of the scene in Trainspotting, when Renton enters a heroin den and is asked by a drug dealer if he would care for an appetizer from the menu. “No thank you”, says Renton, “I think I will just go straight to the intravenous injection of hard drugs, please.”

Today is day one of the 10-15 day medication cycle that will require morning and evening injections.

The morning injections of Follistim are made in the abdomen using a rather ingenious “pen” system, where a cartridge of medication is placed in a pen-like device and used for multiple shots using disposable needles. The pen has a dial that is used to determine how much medication is injected each time. Quite a clever system.

The afternoon injections of Menopur are a little more complex. They involve drawing 1cc of saline into a syringe, then pumping that saline into a vial containing powdered Menopur, mixing and drawing the mixture back into the syringe. Two vials are mixed like this, and then injected into the abdomen.

The first Follistim injection this morning went smoothly. Lots of prep work to get the sharps disposer, swabs, pen, needle, cartridge, Arnica cream (to reduce bruising), cold pack (to numb the site before injection), heat pack (to warm things up after the injection) and cotton wall ball to stem the trickle of blood. Phew! I feel like a lab technician already. All of that build up to a few seconds of injection and we are all done. Lots of fuss, but according to Wifey, not much pain.

Is it time for the USA-England soccer game yet?

Bracing for the 1st round of Meds

Finished the birth control pill three days ago and am now bracing for tomorrow's introduction to the joys of IVF medications *sigh*. Hubbs is like a kid in a candy store with all those packets of meds, needles and other torturous looking devices. Literally, he keeps opening the cupboard where they are stored and eyeing them gleefully. Me being petrified of needles will be closing my eyes and hoping for as little pain as possible. Hubbs will no doubt be wearing a huge smile, perhaps even letting out an evil laugh as he preps and inserts aforesaid torture into various parts of my body. The worst of course, is yet to come in the form of the dreaded PIO (Progesterone in Oil). Oh the horror stories I have read about the pain associated with this procedure. I guess I will find out soon enough if my poor butt will withstand that 1.5" needle filled with nasty viscous goo. But for now, I am going to focus on getting over the morning Follistim shots which look harmless enough, but perhaps I'm deluding myself. Then in the evening, it will be the rather complicated concoction of Menopur; thank god Hubbs is handling the prep, I think I would mess it up or break the needles, accidentally on purpose ;)