This upcoming week, April 23-29, is National Infertility
Awareness week. I’m pretty aware of infertility every single week, but I must
say that I’m becoming more and more aware and more and more nervous/worried/excited
as we get closer to my retrieval date.
This coming Wednesday, April 26 is my medication class for
IVF retrieval. I should also be getting my medicine protocol calendar early next
week. This means I will be getting all of my medicine soon! I won’t start
taking the medication until Monday, May 8th, but even that is just
around the corner.
This week I started going to acupuncture to try it out.
Other women who have done IVF and been successful swear by it, so at this point
I’m willing to try anything! I went for my first appointment on Tuesday and I
will go back every week (sometimes twice a week) for relaxation and to balance
the body. Closer to transferring the embryos the acupuncture can help thicken
the lining of the uterus to help with implantation.
All of this is making it so much more real. Up to now I’ve
been living life like normal and nothing out of the ordinary. Now things are
starting to change to prep for retrieval. I have my appointments all set for
the next few weeks:
May 3rd at am for my Baseline ultrasound and labs
May 8th I start medication
May 12th at 7:30am I go in for my labs
May 15th at 8am I go in for my CD 9 work up
May 18th-21st will be my retrieval
I’m so excited to get to that point, but I must say I have
been super nervous and worried about it all lately. Quite a few ladies in the
IVF group I am part of that went through retrieval last week did not have
embryos that made it to day 6. After retrieval they monitor they fertilize the
embryos and then watch them for 6 days to make sure that they grow. Some will
arrest (stop growing) between fertilization and day 6. It is possible to
retrieve plenty of embryos and not have any that make it to day 6, which in
that case there would be nothing to transfer.
I ache for the ladies who are going through this and I pray that we have
embryos that make it to day 6.
Because I my concern I went back and asked my doctor about
another sperm selection technique and she recommended us signing up for it. It
is called PICSI: Preselective Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection is a technique
that simulates the natural selection of mature sperm post Nanobead Sperm
Selection for the process of ICSI. In
natural conception, the fertilization of an oocyte only occurs by a sperm that
is capable of binding to hyaloronan present on the surface of the oocyte. This
interaction can only be achieved by a mature sperm. Hyaluronan is a compound found naturally in
the reproductive tract, as well as, other areas of the body and specifically in
connecting cells of an oocyte.The PICSI method includes the addition of small
droplets of hyaluronan to a sample of sperm. The sperm that attaches to the
hyaluronan is then selected for use in ICSI. This is an additional $200 but
hopefully it helps pick sperm that can help the embryo fertilize and grow
strong!
I am also having mini panic attacks about starting the
medication because it means I have to stop another medication. I haven’t told
many people at all but I mentioned in my first post that a few years back when
I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism I started losing my hair. Well the hair
loss never did stop. I have been going to a dermatologist for the past few
years. I have had biopsies of my scalp to find out what is going on and we
found out it has to do with PCOS and my hormones attacking my hair. For that
reason I have been using topical treatments to help fight the hormones and keep
my hair. I will not be able to continue these treatments while I’m taking
fertility medicine. I will stop the treatments as soon as I start the fertility
medication. This means all of the hair that I maintained by using the
treatments has the possibility of falling out. While you may think ‘it’s just
hair’, it means a lot to me and it’s very upsetting to think about losing it
all. And there is zero guarantee it would ever grow back since the hormones
that attack it kill the entire root. I bought a wig a few years back when
things were getting bad originally. I never had to use it, thankfully, because
of the treatments, but at least I still have it if things get bad.
I used to have severe panic attacks when I was originally
losing my hair. I would cry my eyes out and ask Steven if he would still love
me if I was bald. I couldn’t imagine him being attracted to me if I did not
have any hair. I still feel like that some days when I think about it. He is
very supportive about it all and I love him even more for that. I just wish I
did not have this added stress to an already stressful situation.
Keep your fingers crossed for me! I will have my fingers permanently
crossed for the next few months!
No comments:
Post a Comment