Fertility Treatments

On Oct. 11th I went to the gynecologist's office to pick up my medications regarding my hormonal treatment for fertility. I was given a Gonal-F pen kit and a broad spectrum antibiotic (Doxycycline). They instructed me how to use the injection pen and that I was to take 150 IU per night and start taking my antibiotics the same day, beginning on Friday October 14th.

Day 1/Oct.14 2016 - Took the antibiotic at noon and around 7p.m. with a small amount of food with no effect. At 6:45 p.m. I received my first hormone injection to the right of my belly button and it was so small I didn't feel it but did bleed afterwards. I had a busy evening and had a headache yesterday that lasted until I fell asleep. According to a nurse at the gyno's office, one of the main side effects of the injections is headaches so if I did get one today I wouldn't have been aware of it because of my already existing headache. I felt good otherwise with no complaints.

Day 2/Oct.15 - Again took the antibiotics at noon and supper with no adverse effects. The injection tonight was administered quickly and I felt a burning sensation under the skin. I sat down to watch a show and when I got up I felt lightheaded and when that passed I felt like my head was swimming and I wouldn't quite say dizzy but my head felt like I had been spun around in an office chair by my overly enthusiastic 10 year old self. There was a minor headache but once again I'm not sure if it was residual from yesterday. At around 12:30 I began to feel flushed and uncomfortable in the abdominal area. I rocked myself back and forth to cope with the pain but after five minutes it wasn't enough and so I went upstairs to make some tea. The second I got moving the pain intensified and I began to hyperventilate, cry and pace quickly around the room. The pacing raised my heart rate rather suddenly to the extent that I felt like fainting. I woke up my mom and she said to invert my body to maybe get things moving around. She gently put pressure just below my belly button and I had an immediate and intense pain response that was a 9/10. It felt like I had been stabbed in the guts with a pair of scissors that were pried open as they went further in. The pain's intensity only lasted about two minutes and once I controlled my breathing I got the pain down to a 6/10. We figure it was a gastrointestinal block and the pressure in my lower abdomen caused the discomfort.

Day 3/Oct.16 - Today was a rough day for me. I hardly slept last night after my episode and the flu that my mom had a few days ago finally caught me. I had a stuffy nose and sore throat that made it difficult to fall asleep last night and only managed to get 3.5 hours of shuteye. For the morning I felt sick but not awful. My uncle and aunt from Winnipeg were passing through and stopped in for a visit which I am thankful I felt well enough to do. Around 5:00 in the evening I began to feel achy in my joints and by 5:45 p.m. I had a fever of 38.1. The rest of the evening was a mix of putting on extra layers only to take them off 10 minutes later. I did however have a proud moment and a highlight to my day. I gave myself the injection tonight! I hesitated twice before finally poking the needle into my belly and once again felt quite a burning sensation as I pushed the Gonal-F in. The fever lasted for hours and so I called the hematologist at the Royal University Hospital. He directed that I take my temp every hour and if it ever got to 38.3 to call him back. In a small twist of cruel fate I had a temperature of 38.2 for the duration of the evening until I went to bed. I am hoping that tonight will be a better night.

Day 4/Oct.17 - I slept 10 hours and woke up feeling aware of my ovaries. Today was a sick day and I had a headache, felt short of breath and still had congested sinuses. The injections are now all being done by myself and I'm surprised I ever worried about them hurting.

Day 5/Oct. 18 - I had an unsettled sleep last night but did manage to get some rest. I woke up in a cold sweat feeling pretty awful but thought my fever was gone. My abdomen was quite bloated and Mom took my temperature to be sure I was okay. Surprisingly it was 38.3 so maybe that explained some things. Anyway, the day must go on and first thing on the agenda was a visit to the cancer center at 8:00 for bloodwork. We mentioned my fever so they did an additional two more pokes for blood cultures, and the nurse asked that I come back later. We then went to the gynecologist's office where they poked me for hormone levels in my blood, did an internal ultrasound to check on my growing ovaries, and sent me off with another Gonal-F pen. After that appointment it was back to the hospital for a chest x-ray and then to the oncology day centre to get a bag of platelets transfused which made the day's total needle poke count six. Not my best count but still not my worst.

Day 6/Oct. 19 - First day without having to take antibiotics. I am feeling better but my ovaries are becoming more sensitive. Life is pretty normal today.

Day 7/Oct.20 - I had bloodwork in the morning with the results of: hemoglobin 97 and platelets 40 because of my transfusion. My brother Jordan, his girlfriend Mataya and his puppy Layla came for the weekend and it really lifted my spirits. Feeling fine, I went to bed later than usual because I was so happy I couldn't sleep.

Day 8/Oct. 21 - I went to Aurora at 9 am and had ultrasound and bloodwork to check on my hormones. I got to see my ovarian follicles on the ultrasound screen which have grown in the last two days. Today I have to start taking a second injection between 10 and 11 am called Cetrotide. It is a little bit of a bigger needle and isn't in pen form so I got my mom to do it since I was worried I might have trouble pushing the needle in straight. I didn't feel too bad afterwards but I was also out visiting a friend I hadn't seen in 6 years so I might not have noticed. There was a bruise at the site of injection by the evening. My Gonal-F injection was easy tonight and it did burn in my stomach even though I administered it slowly. My ovaries are still sensitive and I have begun to feel them when I am walking but not as bad as I expected them to feel after a week. Also, I figured with my hormones undergoing big changes I would be hyper-emotional but so far it's been nothing out of the ordinary.

My ovarian follicles from that day's ultrasound.

Day 9/Oct. 22 -The Cetrotide injection done by my mom this morning was more sore than yesterday's injection but I'm unaware as to why. A day of lethargy and visiting so feeling pretty good overall.

Day 10/Oct. 23 - The Cetrotide was uncomfortable but definitely tolerable. My company left around 2:00 and I slept for four hours after they departed then slept well through the night too. Gonal-F injections have become almost unnoticeable.

Day 11/Oct. 24 - Had to wake up early to get ready and drive to Saskatoon for another gynecologist appointment at Aurora for 9:40. Each time I visit they draw blood to check my hormones and do an internal ultrasound. They said my ovaries have grown and my ovarian follicles were quite visible this time, which would also explain why the ultrasound was rather uncomfortable. They booked my egg retrieval date for Thursday the 27th and I got a little panicked because they now had a date and time for it. Mom wasn't around to do my Cetrotide injection today so my dad had to pinch my belly for me so that I could do the injection and use both my hands. He had to hold it from behind so that he didn't have to watch me do it because even after eleven days of these injections my old man is still squeamish. Some friends got to watch me do my evening injection before we carved pumpkins which was a nice evening for me.

The Cetrotide needle I took in the mornings.

Day 12/Oct. 25 - Another appointment at Aurora for 10:00 am. My ultrasound today made me wince in pain when she pushed against my big ol' ovaries. I picked up my last injection that I will take tonight at 11:30 and it was my HCG shot. This injection wasn't covered so I had to pay $90 for it which is pricey for one needle injection but all things considered it was a small price compared to the amount people pay that aren't covered because of medical reasons. Once when I had gone, a nurse didn't know I was getting this done because of my condition so for a 450 IU Gonal-F pen and two Cetrotide injections she calmly told me, "That will be $600 for today." Anyway, I need to take this HCG shot exactly 35 hours before my egg harvest day and it will be my final injection. Since this one was quite crucial I once again asked my mom to inject it for me, though I mixed the liquid and the powder and drew up the 1.5 cc's to be sure it was done right since she wasn't at the appointment earlier. Everything up until this point has not been nearly as bad as I imagined it to be so I am really hoping the same for my egg collection.

Day 13/Oct. 26 - Today is my day off! No injections, no IVF meds, just a day to relax and take it easy before my procedure tomorrow. When I walked up the stairs this morning I felt super short of breath and took a few minutes to sit and calm down. I began to feel really sick and I thought maybe breakfast will cure it. I opened the fridge to look and felt repulsed at the thought of eating anything. I felt lots of pressure in my intestines that seemed to be pushing on my sore ovaries so I went the washroom to try and fix things. As I was walking down the hallway I felt funny and when I sat on the porcelain throne the blood from my head and arms rushed out making me feel like the walls were closing in on me and I was going to pass out so I ungracefully flopped on the bathroom floor with my pants at my knees trying to get a grip and hold off the nausea and near unconsciousness that had suddenly overcome me. It was not my proudest morning but for about 35 - 40 minutes this morning Leonardo Dicaprio could have been in the bathroom with me and I wouldn't have felt good enough to pull my pants up and get up off the floor. Eventually the feelings passed and my family made our way to Saskatoon again so that I could get some tests done at the hospital. I was booked in for an echocardiogram and a pulmonary function test. The first was an ultrasound that looked at my heart from all different angles for about 35 minutes and the second was to check my lung function and see how well I could breathe/blow air/hold my breath. I believe both were to see how healthy my organs were and how well they worked before my transplant. They said I would come back in the months afterwards and repeat the same tests to see how the transplant affects my heart and lungs. The tests were non-invasive so I didn't mind them at all but it was a long day at the hospital.

What my belly looked like from 12 days of injections. Not nearly as bad as I expected it to look.

Day 14/Oct. 27 - Today is the big day! I didn't get much sleep last night because my thoughts wouldn't stop running wild. I trust my doctors and believe the procedure will go well but there is still that fear of the unknown. This morning at 8:00 I went to the cancer clinic for bloodwork and then straight up to the oncology day centre to get a bag of platelets transfused. It's a good thing I did because we found out later my platelets were only 9. At 8:30 I took 2mg of Ativan and felt the effects quite strongly. I was seeing double, smiling at everyone and giggling at nothing in particular. It basically felt like I was a very happy drunk. At 10:00 Mom and I arrived at Aurora and I was taken to a room to change and then straight to the procedure room. It was dim and smaller than I expected and I had an entourage of people waiting for me. They first did an ultrasound and began to give me the IV fentanyl I had placed all of my hopes in for pain control. They started me off with 75 mcg because I was a smaller patient and they didn't want to overdo it but once they started the actual harvesting I was crying out in excruciating pain for more and so they gave me 25 mcg more and five minutes later another 25 mcg. It was never enough. From the beginning of the procedure where they inserted a needle into and through my vagina and into my ovaries I felt every single needle of the 20 eggs they harvested and it was the worst pain I have ever experienced. My mom has helped deliver babies before and she said I was squeezing her hand like a woman who was in labour. Even writing about it a week later I feel sick to my stomach thinking about it and hands down would say it was the worst day of my life. It only lasted 18 minutes but I think every one of those minutes has traumatized me. Some people reading this will think that I'm being dramatic but with all honesty I am not exaggerating. My gynecologist even said that it was quite unfortunate that I was one of the very few people that felt everything.

After it was over I was taken to the recovery area where I was given IV saline and gravol for the nausea. A nurse came and gave my mom the discharge papers and so we stopped at the front desk, asked if we were clear to leave and was given the nod to go ahead. Mom went to get the vehicle to pick me up when I got a phone call from a different nurse from the office who asked me in a panic where I had gone. She told me I was not clear to go home yet and I had to come back up for some more papers. I made my way back up and was surprised at the small scolding I got but she gave me the forms and then wheeled me back down since I couldn't tolerate any more walking.

For the rest of the day I don't remember much except for being really uncomfortable and sleeping the drugs off.

I hope that I will not turn any woman away from doing fertility treatments and know that this is only my experience and for many women it is a completely different story but I want to keep my testimonial true to my experience. Over the two weeks I did the fertility treatments I was able to handle everything that came my way up until the egg retrieval. I am very glad that this option was given to me for my future and my possible future children but as of now, I doubt I would do it again.

The needle that was used to harvest my eggs.

Smiling before the procedure began - a really happy camper on Ativan.