Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a serious needle phobia. Crying and getting dizzy when we even talk about a needle touching me kind of phobia. So when Dr. M told us back in June that the IUI would be partnered with injections, I was not thrilled. I did my research though and had a few months to accept the subcutaneous stomach injections that would be coming along. Until Saturday this is...
We were in the exam room having just completed the terrible uterine sounding, when the medical assistant told me that she might as well teach Mr D. how to do my Menopur injections while my pants were done... excuse me? She tells me to roll over onto my tummy.
Butt injections. Intramuscular. 1 1/2" needle. NO THANK YOU! She had Mr D. practice with a saline injection, he did a fabulous job. It hurt like hell. After a blood draw and a meeting in Dr. M's office, we were on our way home, armed with a prescription for a whole lot of needles and even more anxiety.
Sunday morning I cried through the whole process. My poor sweet hubby had to jab a giant needle in my butt while I cried uncontrollably. He is such an amazing man. He comforted me and rubbed my bum until I stopped crying. He told me how brave I was and how much he loved me. And just like that, I became a human pincushion.
We continued with 150 unites of Menopur in the AM and 75 units in the PM along with Lupron injections. The Lupron is a small diabetic needle in my stomach. The needle is tiny and doesn't hurt a bit. I take .20 in the AM and .20 again in the PM.
It's been over a week now. The Menopur injections still hurt a little, but not nearly as much as those darn Lupron injections! We are trying to get creative with where to inject them in my abdominal area, because the space around my belly button hurts SO badly at this point.
Friday evening I had an ultrasound and blood work done (did I forget to mention the blood work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday?) They are monitoring my estradiol levels closely because they help indicate the number and maturity of the follicles. The ultrasound shows lots of follicles that are somewhat large but we are hoping they will get larger. In order to push along the follicles, we started injecting Gonal-F.
Gonal-F comes in a pen pre-loaded with the medication. You set the dial on the pen, confirm the dose and inject it in the tummy. These ones are my favorite so far. They don't hurt a bit, the needle is so tiny that I literally can't feel it go in. Can't they all be this easy?
Yesterday's blood work came back good, so we are off the see Dr. M again today for ultrasound and blood work again. Think big, healthy follicles! Only 3 more injection days before egg retrieval!!!
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