I have been taking daily Lupron injections for 2 weeks and 3 days. The hot flashes, bone and joint pain, and mood swings have been interesting, but I dare say they haven't been as bad as I thought they would be ... maybe because my reproductive hormones were already diminished? The worst side effect has been terrible headaches. :( I had a baseline ultrasound and blood work last Thursday, and Dr. Nash said that everything looked great. On Friday, I added several more medications to my daily regimen ... transdermal estrogen patches, estrogen tablets that are taken vaginally, aspirin (to prevent blood clots from all of the estrogen that I'm taking), folic acid and vitamin B12, and a prenatal vitamin (I have already been taking those daily for the last 2 years). My Lupron dose decreased by half on Friday, when I added all of the other meds. I will continue these meds until March 8, when I will go for another ultrasound and blood work. My daily progesterone-in-oil intramuscular injections (ouch!) will begin on the day of Heather's retrieval.
Speaking of Heather, she had a prolactin blood draw on Thursday. She had a baseline ultrasound and blood work today. She found out today that her prolactin level is NORMAL (yay!!), and everything with the ultrasound and blood work looked great. She will begin her daily injections of Follistim and Menopur tomorrow, and she will go back for another ultrasound on Sunday. Then, she will have daily ultrasounds until her follicles are ready to go. At some point (I'm guessing maybe Sunday?), she will add a daily Ganirelix (a drug that is similar in function to Lupron) injection to her regimen. This drug will keep her from ovulating prematurely. I taught her how to give herself the injections this weekend ... she will do great!! :)
The tenative egg retrieval date range for Heather is March 8-10. Brian will also have to go to the Akron office the same day as the retrieval, to drop off his excellent and high quality swimmers. :) haha! Then, the embryologist at the office will work his magic and hopefully create some beautiful embryos. :) The embryo transfer into me will be 3-5 days after the retrieval. If the embryos are high quality and divide the way they should, the transfer will be 3 days after the retrieval. If the embryos are good quality, but don't divide as quickly as they should, the transfer will be 5 days after the retrieval. Apparently, day 3 embryos tend to have a higher pregnancy rate, but Dr. Nash said that plenty of women still get pregnant with day 5 embryos.
So, that's about it for now. I have been trying not to let myself get too excited, while still trying to stay optimistic. Brian and I talked about baby names the other day, which of course got me excited. But, I'm also very nervous and trying not to get my hopes up too high. It's a balancing act, for sure. I will update again soon!
