Strangest places I've done my shots

Maybe I'll start a list of strange places I've given myself shots.  This morning was in my former neighbor's garage.  Here's how it went:

We moved from our old neighborhood about three weeks ago.  We had tons of yard sale junk and didn't want to move it with us, nor did we want to put it in our storage unit.  Solution:  the house next door to ours was in foreclosure and no one had been in the house for months.  There was a nice big garage just waiting for our junk. Our treasures have been living in this garage for almost a month. This morning, we were finally able to drag our lazy booties out of bed and head over to the old 'hood for the yard sale.

8:00 a.m., "tresspassing" in the foreclosure home's garage/driveway, just enough time for two quick injections in garage and off we go! Our customers seemed happy and the nosy neighbors didn't seem too angry with our shananigans.  Three hours, two injections and $135 dollars later, we're back home in time for the Auburn/LSU game.  Now THAT'S what I call a productive Saturday.

Hellllloooo Normal!

Praise God I'm feeling pretty normal again today!  Maybe I had some intense PMS or maybe it really was the Lupron, but today I'm feeling less homicidal and more Lindsey-like (i.e. sweet and wonderful).  I told Joe about my violent thoughts and apologized for being a maniacal, moody bitch the past few days.  I asked if he had noticed and his response...."no comment."  Okay, I guess I deserved that. Especially since my biggest outburst was due to Joe putting garlic salt on my scrambled eggs.  Who does that???!!!

Things are going along just as planned and minus the "difficult" weekend, I'm still feeling quite good.  I start my stimulation drugs on Friday.  These will make my ovaries work quadruple time and produce up to 25 eggs!  That amazes me, considering you only produce one egg each month under normal conditions.  This is the most time consuming part of the process because I have to have an ultrasound and bloodwork almost every day for the next two weeks.  Thank goodness my job has so much flexibility and I basically make my own schedule.

One quick funny (or sad) story for ya.  I had a little work emergency this morning and had to rush to a restaurant to help with a problem they were having.  But I hadn't taken my shot yet!  I can't just pull it out of the fridge and take it....remember the cold stinging part I mentioned earlier?  So I got my syringe ready and let it warm up on the passenger seat of my car.  The whole drive over to the restaurant I kept thinking I would get pulled over and the cop would question why I had a loaded syringe in my seat.  I was visualizing myself crying and explaining, "It's just Lupron, officer.  You know, the drug that prevents my pituitary gland from secreting LH?  If I produce LH then I ovulate and that ruins my entire $15,000 in vitro fertilization cycle Sir. It's for my INFERTILITY Mr. Officer.  Please don't take me to jail over my infertility."

Lucky for me, I didn't get pulled over.  But I did hike up my dress and inject myself in the stomach at a RED LIGHT on my way to fix my merchant's credit card machine.  I guess I can add that little tale to my list of funny/embarrassing/ridiculous IVF stories.

Good while it lasted

The symptom free days of Lupron are over.  Most hours of the day I feel like I want to poke somebody's eyeballs out.  I have never been so irritable in my life!  The Lupron puts your body in a menopause-like state, so I have a newfound respect for ladies who suffer through this for years.  I am either dripping with sweat or freezing cold at night.  I just want to crawl back into bed and watch TV. 

The Spanish Inquisition

Apparently the word's out at my RE's office.  I'm a question asker.  I'm an Internet researcher.  GASP!

Joe and I had our embryology class today to learn all about the intricacies of IVF from the self proclaimed "spermologist" (the Ph.D. Lab Director and woman in charge of my eggs and Joe's swimmers.)  She said she had been warned about me.  MOI??!!  What did I do???!!!  I pride myself in being a well informed, educated patient. This is the most important thing I've EVER done and by God I'm going to research the hell out of it!  I swear I'm not one of those obnoxious patients who questions everything the Dr. does.  I don't brag about my knowledge or suggest the experts may be wrong.  I simply want to know more.  I want details explained.  I want to know why you're doing this and why not that.  If you're looking at an ultrasound screen, I want to know what you see.  If you're measuring the length of my tootie, I want to know how long it is.  If you say we are great candidates for IVF, I want a list of traits.  Is that wrong?

When Suzanne (the spermologist) first shared my office reputation, I was instantly offended.  I felt like everyone had been talking behind my back and I was some kind of freak show.  I was THAT girl.  The more time that passed, I realized SHE was just THAT kind of girl.  Pretty funny actually, kinda curt, VERY smart, but not meaning any harm.  I stayed after class to reiterate the importance I place on knowledge and Suzanne comforted me.  She promised no one had said my inquisitiveness was a bad thing.  They simply said I ask a lot of questions.  And I do. 

Of all the items on my worry list, I'm going to make that number nine thousand,nine hundred and ninety nine.

Boring post

I'm getting to be quite the expert at giving myself shots.  I have my little routine down pat.  Draw up medication in syringe, lay on counter to warm up, eat bowl of cereal, go back and inject medication.  This morning I even gave myself the shot while on the telephone with my sweet friend Rita.  We were laughing and I had to tell her to stop making me giggle because I was trying to give myself a shot.  That made us laugh even more!

Day 4 of Lupron injections and the side effects I've experienced are pretty mild.  I've had a few light headaches, a little sleepiness (or maybe I'm just lazy) and a few night sweats.  The injection site also itches a little bit after the shot.  Otherwise, all is well in the IVF world.

Sorry for the boring update, I just had to write something so ya'll don't worry about me.  Life is good!

Lots of adipose!

I'm a day late posting about my first injection, but it went perfectly!  I took the Lupron out of the refrigerator, drew up my 15 units in the syringe and let it sit on the counter top to come to room temperature.  I've heard it can sting if it's still cold.  I then sit back and wait.  I'm waiting for my dear friend Suzanne to come over and help me.  I'm not sure what kind of help I'll need, because honestly, I wasn't that nervous. 

Until the doorbell rings.  I look down and my hand is shaking a little bit, but in my mind, I'm feeling pretty brave.  I ask my nurse friend her professional opinion on what spot hurts the least.  I can either inject myself in the thigh, the back of my arm, or in my belly.  I pull up my shirt and Suzanne says, "Oh, you have lots of adipose in your stomach, so you should do it there."  My response: "Adipose?  Do you mean FAT?  Are you calling me FAT??!!"  ;-)  I've never before been so glad to have a fat belly.  Does that mean I should bring on the Cheetos for the next few weeks?

I pinch a chunk of my adipose, jab the needle in quickly and pull it out even quicker.  It didn't hurt a BIT!  The adipose pinching hurt more than anything!  I DID IT!  My first injection ever and it was easy! 

A short while later I was feeling a little dizzy and pretty sleepy, so I laid down and took a two hour nap.  Hopefully it wasn't the medicine causing this because I've got to take this for 3 more weeks and can't afford a two hour nap every day!  That was the only side effect I've felt so far.  I hope this continues!

I'm off to take Lupron injection number two.  It's been warming on my kitchen countertop as I write this post.  See ya'll again tomorrow!

My drugs

Just in case you were DYING to see my drugs and the size of the needles I'll be using, here's a photo for your gawking/gasping/shocking entertainment.  I also learned yesterday that I'll be giving myself up to FOUR injections per day over the next several weeks.  Oh happy day.