June 24, 2013

Today is Monday, and according to the tentative calendar I received at RCC, the target date for my egg retrieval. Since I’m typing right now and not lying in bed with a heating pad on my sore lady parts – it’s safe to assume that did not happen today. 

However, tonight is the big night – the Trigger night!  That means, on Wednesday (only 2 days behind schedule) I will go in to the office for my egg retrieval! I am SO excited! This morning during my ultra sound the doctor said that my ovaries had gotten huge and there were TONS of follicles with 5 that were over the 18 mark. In addition to that, I have a double four leaf clover on my left ovary. The doctor I saw said he is convinced it means double good luck! I told him I would go with that as well!

It’s amazing how good I am at looking at the ultra sound picture, and picking out my uterus and ovaries. Man, those follicles sure got huge really quickly! There were bunches of them too – I’m hoping for a dozen again, but we will see! 

Until then, I’m trying to relax and stay positive! 

June 21, 2013

Okay, we are a little bit behind – but not by much. Today my follicles got much bigger – I have 3 of them at 15, so I started the antagonist immediately! They ordered two and a half more days worth of meds for me – so I will at least have drugs through Sunday night. I go back on Sunday morning. I’m thinking I will probably trigger on Sunday night or Monday at the latest – which would put me a day or two after the initial scheduled retrieval, but what do you do.

I’m not feeling super hormonal – well, that’s not entirely true. I am a little hormonal, in fact, I’m pretty darn exhausted and kind of weepy. I started to cry a little yesterday while at work because my head hurt so bad.  I left work and got a Mt. Dew (since I can’t take any drugs) and then went home and relaxed in my cool dark basement. It was really nice, and my headache kind of went away while I slept.  I think maybe I’m a bit dehydrated because today I’ve got a headache too.  Bleh.  

I’m sad that I’m missing Spencer’s Ironman this Sunday, but Travis and I knew that when we started IVF again we wouldn’t be able to leave town, so we are stuck here regardless. If it results in a niece or nephew, I think Spencer will be just fine with it!

June 19, 2013

Today was my third ultra sound… my follicles are getting bigger, although the left side is much slower than the right. The biggest follicles are at about 12, and they will start the antagonist drug when the biggest one surpasses 14, so they asked me to come back on Friday!  Yay!  It looks like we might be right on schedule!

June 17, 2013

Today I had my second ultra sound appointment. Wahoo! The doctor told me that the cyst on my ovary was producing some hormones, but that they had determined as long as the hormone level was under 50, they would proceed with the IVF cycle – my hormone level happened to be 49.9  Wow right?! You can’t get any closer than that!  I’m so glad I didn’t have to wait though.

My body seems to be trucking along just fine. Nothing exciting yet although there are about 19 follicles on my right ovary and about 8 or 9 on the other, so that’s good. They aren’t big yet, so we just keep going along with the plan.  5 vials in the am, and 5 in the pm.

AM meds...  5 vials of Bravelle, Saline, plus 1 syringe of Ganirellix

PM Meds... 5 vials of Bravelle, low dose HCG, plus Lovenox (blood thinner) and a million pills!

IVF Attempt #2 - June 13, 2013

Here we are almost 9 months from the day we started our first cycle – and I am on day 2 of my cycle and we are starting again almost the same way we started last time. This morning I went in for blood work and my first ultrasound, and they found that one of the follicles on my ovaries is large.  Which means it might be producing hormones.  They will test it, and if the hormone levels are below a 50, then we can proceed.  My nurse said that since the same thing happened last time, it’s likely my hormone levels are just fine.  But we will see. She said she would call me by 4 pm today.  

I got my box-o-drugs yesterday and another box today with the shortest shelf-life drug (14 days). Hopefully, we won’t need it that long. The nurse gave me the special needles I use, and a calendar for what my cycle should look like. It’s much shorter than last time, but probably because we actually know where to start in terms of hormones. 

I’m really excited to be doing this again – excited at the prospect of what could potentially happen. But, I’m also terrified because of the results from last time.  Luckily, I’m working with my therapist still and she is wonderfully helpful. We are working on being positive and optimistic while preparing for a less than ideal result.  Keep your fingers crossed!!!!

BCBA!

It's official! I passed that crazy test and am officially a Board Certified Behavior Analyst!

What does this mean? It's means I know what I'm talking about when I talk about behavior and its function, among other things.  It also means I get some more letters after my name which is always nice!  It also means I am qualified to take on more difficult cases. It means I no longer require supervision. Oh, and a nice pay increase!

It also means a lot more job opportunities if I decide to look for something else. Right now I'm not looking, but who knows what will happen in the future!

For now though, it's a huge accomplishment just to pass it on my first try (the average has been about a 47% pass rate). I don't think I'll go back to school for a while unless I decide to make a career change. So I'll keep working and focus on getting my "L" and do some research.  

Testing... Testing...

It's April... Almost the end of April... Time is seriously flying!

Since my last post, I have been extremely busy studying for the BCBA board exam. As we speak, I have just completed a 2-day guided review of the task list to help prepare. Travis has been supportive of course, making sure I study each evening for at least an hour - usually two, and on the weekends, for several hours. It's not fun, but what do you do.

I'm taking the exam on May 31st at 8 am.  The test is only available three times per year (January, May, and December), is open for the full month, and the results come out 45 days after the tests closes.  Yes, I am taking it the very last day possible. I figure, why not give myself some extra time to prepare, after all, the test is supposed to be one of the most difficult, with an average pass rate of about 50% in the past year and a half.  Obviously, I plan on being one of the ones that passes. Hence the reason I am studying as hard as possible!

Once the test is over, I plan to read a book for fun... scrapbook... paint the inside of my house... try a little kickboxing... buy a new purse... and of course, try the dreaded IVF process again. That's the plan anyway. We will see what happens. I wanted to try again away, but figured with the stress of the exam, adding extra hormones and extra stress probably wasn't the best idea.  Plus, I'm also looking into the possibility of doing Acupuncture while doing IVF.  There is research that says it improves your chances, and some that says it doesn't - but there is no research saying it worsens your chances so I figure... why not? 

Until then... I'll keep studying EO's, SD's, DRA's, and a bazillion other acronyms that will never escape these lips in a "normal" conversation. :)  Wish me luck!