IVF #2, FET is on its way

I took my first Estrace pill yesterday.

No drama… no side effects so far… everything looks A-OK.

Hubs has been out of town for the last couple of days. Wait a minute… if I remember right, he was out of town even on the day I took my first stim shot for IVF#1. Coincedence?!? Hmmm! Anyways… I hate it when he is out for more than two days in a row. So I am happy that he is coming back tonight.

For the last couple of weeks leading up to this cycle, I was excited abt it. I couldn’t wait for it to start. I was happy that I get a second shot at IVF. But right now, I have NO feelings abt this cycle. Zero. Ziltch. No positive feelings. No negative feelings. Nothing. Just very very numb abt it!! Maybe it hasn’t dawned on me yet. Or maybe I don’t have enough hormones in me to make me all emotional and cranky and agitated and sad and happy YET! Hmmm… I can believe that.

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Meds are here…again

So I picked up my meds from the local pharmacy today. Wow… this FET is going to be easy… a cakewalk (almost!). I knew the amount of meds for a FET was less than for a fresh IVF cycle… but… damn!!

Compare this – the meds for IVF#1- with the pic below. These are ALL the meds that I have to do for this FET. I know… that’s it!! Just the tiny, tiny, Estrace pills and the PIO! I think the mere fact that there is going to be that much less hormones in my body makes me soo excited!!

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I have a plan for IVF#2

Oct 21st – Oct 25th (5 days) : 1 pill a day

Oct 26th – Oct 29th (4 days) : 2 pills a day (morning and evening)

Oct 30th – Nov 5th (7 days) : 3 pills a day (morning, afternoon, and evening)

Nov 5th : Office visit for lining check (u/s, b/w) @ 8:15am

All dates after this are tentative. If my lining looks good, the dates below will hold. Otherwise, they will be pushed as needed

Nov 6th : Start PIO; 2cc shot in the evening (Thats twice the amount as last time! GULP!)

Nov 10th : ET; Strict bed rest

Nov 11th : Strict bed rest

Nov 24th : Beta

And guess what??! It does not affect my vacation dates!!! YAY!! I am ecstatic!

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All is well

If there is one thing that my ute does well, it is to flush itself at the right time! Its almost sickening!

So I was holding my own pretty well all morning but freaked the bejesus out once I started spotting. Urgh! Luckily, that didn’t last for long. The very next minute, I was on the phone with the on-call RE (Thanks for the push… gals). Doc G said that I don’t get to start my Estrace pills until CD3 and therefore can call the clinic tomm morning to get my Rx filled. Whew! I asked her abt my vacation and whether it would interfere with the protocol. She didn’t think it would… but I would know for sure when I talk to my IVF coordinator tomm. Keeping my fingers crossed!! So usually they would like to keep me on estrace for abt 2 wks and apparently, they have the flexibility to extend it for a couple more days if need be. Thank the heavens!

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Bliss no more

OK… I have somehow managed to jinx my blissed-out state!

I have started cramping today! And if I know anything about my body, it is that AF will show up either tomm or the day after! THIS IS NOT GOOD! Yes… I have been waiting for AF to come so I can start my Estrace-only FET cycle. But, I have been hoping that it doesn’t show up until Tuesday or Wednesday! OK… so its only a couple of days early… what’s the biggie?? Listen to this…

1. The family vacation that I was talking abt is planned for all next week. Which means, if tomm is CD1, I will be out of state CD8 – CD15. Usually, I tend to ovulate on CD14. And, If I ovulate on my own, my RE has said that he will cancel my FET!!! AHHH! Someone kill me right now!
2. I don’t have my meds (Estrace) for this cycle yet. And I have no idea when to start taking them — CD1 or CD3?!! I don’t have a schedule. Has anyone been through an “Estrace-only” cycle? When did you start your meds? If I have to take it on CD1, which might be tomm (which is a  sunday when my clinic is closed), I might have to end up calling the on-call doc. I hate calling them on the weekends! Ugh! My IVF coordinator is usually very good about keeping me updated with my schedule and drugs. Hmm… I don’t what happened!

A premonition… I had this urge to call my IVF coordinator on Friday. I just wanted to talk to her and find out when I should get my Rx filled. I had this feeling that I should just know. But… I CHOSE TO IGNORE IT!!! AHH!! Damn my peaceful state of mind!

I think I am back to my stressed-out, freaked-out, worried…..umm….. “normal” state of mind! *sigh*

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Distractions are welcome

Work

As is, I am not a workaholic. But, I am a perfectionist (trust me… it is a disease) and that is enough to stress me out big time at work. I have to get it right. When I started IVF, I was told that ute’s don’t like stress. And since then, I have been taking it a little easy at work (read slacking off). My priorities changed. Since we all know what happened to my IVF, it was now time to catch up and actually get ahead (in anticipation of more slacking off to come because of the upcoming FET).

But, you know, the weird thing was that I was more stressed out when I was going through IVF than when I was working. When I am actually busy at work, nothing fazes me. Its a different world. I escape from reality, from IF, from google, from… from life for a good 8-9 hours of the day. It was a distraction that I started to enjoy. And that’s where I have been concentrating my energy on for the past couple of weeks.

Guitar Hero

Yes… that’s right.. Guitar Hero. Wait wait… don’t judge me yet. This is how I play it… Red, Blue, Red, Red, Red-Blue, Yellllooowww. Red. Green. Red. Welll… you get the idea. I have no clue what they are singing. I have never heard any of the songs before. And I hate rock! I just press the colors that the TV asks me to press. And voila… we have a song! I love it!! :) BTW, for those who care, this is the Aerosmith version and most of the songs are from the 70’s! But they do have a catchy tune.  DH rented this game abt a week ago and since then, my routine after dinner has been to turn on my PS3 and spend a good hour or so going Red, Red, Blue, Yellow, Yellow, Green. I am convinced that my hands will develop arthritis if I stick to this for another week. It is sooo much fun!

Family visit

Ah…. yes… family (aka Mom Dad and Sis)… Love them… who doesn’t!?! Its been more than a year since I have seen them. So I am uber uber excited that I will be spending Oct 25th to Nov 2nd in NJ w/ them. Can’t wait!!

Thanks to all these things… I have not thought abt my FET cycle at all! Ah… such bliss that comes from not having/wanting to monitor every twinge and watch every sneeze!

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628.9

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but I am one of those very very very very lucky IF patients. Because… (oh you are going to hate me for this…) my insurance covers IF treatments. But, wait wait… don’t hate me that much! My insurance has a lifetime maximum amount of IF coverage after which we are on our own. And guess what, we have almost reached the limit. I think there is enough to cover one-third of the upcoming FET… after which our savings account starts to take a hit. And my darling husband has invested 90% of the money on the stock market! I know… Yikes! With the economy going the way it is, I am freaking out like you won’t believe it!

*****

As I was going through my billing statements from the IVF lab and clinic, I realized that all of the procedures that were billed to my insurance had a diagnosis code of “628.9”. Hmm… Being the knowledge junkie that I am, I googled it to come up with this.

2009 ICD-9-CM Diagnosis 628.9

Infertility female of unspecified origin

1. Diminished or absent ability of a female to achieve conception.
2. 628.9 is a specific code that can be used to specify a diagnosis

More info here and here.

We are termed as “unexplained”. So…why “infertility female”?? How can they assume its me who has the problem?? Bloody buggers! They should have a code that says “infertile couple”. This sucks. I have been pissed off since I saw this. UGH…We live in such a male chauvinistic society!!

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