I will also post intermittently about Science during this time, and InAdriwriMoWhatsIts Progress, but this post serves as notice that if you visit this site any time between now and Christmas, you may be reading about my vag. The IVF posts will all be titled as such, as fair warning.
What you've missed so far: I had a hysterosalpingogram (= dye + x-ray visualization of my inner bits), and I have to say that I have the prettiest uterus ever.
Figure 1. Dr Jekyll's uterus really is this hot.Ok, that's some other lady's uterus, but the sentiment is correct. Does it or does it not look like a beautifully filled pyramidal neuron? That is, if an apical tuft resembled a speculum. I was delighted, insofar as that was possible from my position. (This doctor's office, excitingly, didn't have stirrups but instead padded bars to drape your legs over. It looked sketchy but was actually way comfortable. Petition, ladies.)
Last week I had a "trial transfer," in which the doctor guides a cannula into the cervix and injects a little saline to mimic the procedure that will occur on the real embryo transfer day. Ahead of time, the nurse asked if it would be ok if a resident, rather than the Fancy IVF Doctor, took a turn. "Sure!" I said, ever eager to encourage medical education.
The resident had some difficulty figuring out a route through my (apparently labyrinthine?) cervix. "Ahah!" she finally exclaimed, after a particularly firm twist of the guide tube. "I'm through. I felt it."
"Me too," I replied. Oh, how we all laughed.
Today was the first hormone injection. I have been taking birth control pills for ten days now to suppress ovulation, and now we add in shots of Lupron, a gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist. This drives crazy activity in the pituitary, followed by a fall-off during which luteinizing hormone production is suppressed, as is ovulation. Don't want those little yolk sacs jumping off yet!
Anyhow, these injections are the easy subcutaneous ones. The nurse instructed us (well, me) to inject in the abdomen, after pinching up a roll of skin. Now, I've given many injections to many animals in my time, but of course I have a particular interest in getting these right. So this morning over breakfast I googled for more instructions.
Dr Jekyll: Hmm, it says on this website that you shouldn't do sub-Q injections in the abdomen if you're really skinny.
Dr Hyde: [breezily] I wouldn't worry about it. You're not that skinny.
[pause]
Dr Jekyll: Dearest, that's the sort of conclusion you're supposed to let me arrive at on my own.
18 comments:
Wow that IS a pretty uterus...I'm sure yours is just as lovely.
Looking forward to the updates and keeping all fingers and toes crossed for you!
Hmm, so glad that you'll be blogging about this. I think it's terrific when scientists (particularly biomedical scientists) blog about their medical procedures.
I'm certainly keeping you in my thoughts, and hoping that you can stick yourself in all the right places. :)
DJMH, I think it is wonderful that you're writing about this and I am sure you have the hottest uterus in the world.
I wish you all the best with this.
Good luck, Dr.J.
Blogging this takes some serious guts. Again, best of luck.
Oh yeah, BTW, send Dr. Hyde over here. He and I are gonna have to have a talk.
;)
Ahh men :) Thank you for being so courageous to blog openly about this. sending lots and lots of positive thoughts to you and dr.hyde
I just wanted to add my well wishes and thanks for blogging about this procedure. It is nice to get a scientists perspective. Good luck with everything.
Indeed, it takes courage to write so openly about it. I wish you luck!
Ya know, something in my gut told me that was not your own uterus before I scrolled down :-)!
I really don't think that I was the first to blog a sensitive medical procedure but given the all-time high traffic response, I know that the selfless job you are doing here to share with others is appreciated by a great many (and already is judging from the comments thus far.).
As I said in my now infamous V-post, men have it so, so much easier than women. PharmSis went through the hyperovulation routine (with Clomid, I believe) but she got pregnant before they moved to IVF. I pray that you both have the success you so richly deserve, although I might have to join Nat in briefly smacking Dr Hyde about the face and neck for his SC comment.
Ex-LabManager here to say Hello! And to lend my recent educational background to say that giving a skinny person a sub cut injection in the belly is perfectly fine. The reason you pinch up is because you are skinny (Take that!, Mr. Hyde!) If you were not skinny, you wouldn't pinch at all, just keep skin taught and inject. Thank heavens I'm learning somehting with my discount Junior College knowledge, after leaving a well paying stable job in a beautiful laboratory. Fewww. I'm so proud of you and can't wait to read up on the process. Bring on the vag pics!
Nat--If you had a poster so he could find you I totally would. Mostly because someone should give him some fair warning about what this whole cycle of craziness might do to me....
LabManager--yay! That is the conclusion we came to, so I'm glad to know it was right. Fortunately Dr Hyde knows that I am not anxious about my weight so it doesn't really cause me trauma when he says things like this. I just like to...remind him.
Thank you everyone for the encouragement. It definitely helps to feel that people are cheering me on.
Good luck DJMH.
Good luck!
I've had one of those. It's a weird feeling. It was an incredibly invasive procedure and left me feeling raw and vulnerable. It's cool that you're blogging about this procedure! I hope things go well for you! Keeping my fingers crossed.
Looking forward to the updates and wishing you all the best!!!
i'm excited for you and keeping my fingers crossed !! sending good karma your way.
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