Yesterday, I went in for egg retrieval.
There was a complication yesterday. For the ER, they insert a needle through the transvaginal wall and in back of the uterus, up to the ovaries, where they use the needle to pull out each egg. The doctor on duty joked that it was a lot like playing a video game, and that he'd become a 40 year old man who'd gotten pretty good on the XBox because of it.
They found an issue with my left ovary. My left ovary was folded in front of my uterus, so they couldn't reach it by going up the back way. They would normally go up the front in that case, but, in mine, I have more bowel covering over the ovary than usual, so they couldn't reach it. And they certainly can't go through the bowel! So, instead, they had to puncture my uterus and go in that way. The surgeon seemed rather nervous when he told me about it. He said that because of this complication, I'd be in a good bit more pain than usual. I'd already had had the nurse add more pain meds to my IV as well as she'd given me some vicodin, and I was still in pain. I ended up taking another one after lunch and sleeping all afternoon. I also slept 12 hours last night after all this!
I'm just hoping that won't interfere with implantation. I'm sore and stiff today, and changing positions changes pressure. I certainly feel it more on my left side than on my right. I believe he said something about having to twist the needle around to get all of them. He said that if there had been more on my right and only one on my left, they wouldn't have tried. I told him that it was worth the trouble and I was glad he'd done it.
I had 8 follicles, and they retrieved 7 eggs. Not too bad, although 12 - 15 would have been better. I'm crossing my fingers that at least 5 fertilize with ICSI. I'm still waiting on the late morning call even though it's now after noon. NERVES! The odd part is that as I was waking up, I could have sworn a man, I assumed the anesthesiologist, told me they retrieved seven eggs. However, when I asked him and the nurse again, I was told that they had no idea and had to wait on the report from the embryologist. Of course, it was seven. I wonder if someone told me who wasn't supposed to, or if i overheard something, or what. The nurse was quite surprised that I knew it was 7 before they told me.
I wish I could remember it all better. There were some wires crossed, and the receptionist told my nurse that my hubby had been there for five minutes, so the nurse assumed that he was still giving his specimen. It turned out that he had made his appointment on time and had been waiting for five minutes to be brought back to me so he could listen and help in recovery. My nurse walked me out to him in the waiting room, much to each of our confusions. I wasn't going to be given antibiotics because I'm allergic to so many, but, after the puncture, I was sent home with a prescription for Keflex. More pain killers were also ordered. I have a tendency to just take a half a pill at a time and see what happens, so I may be under-medicating myself despite all my talk of being on vicodin. I've also been warned to take Colace at the same time.
We are doing IVF with ICSI and assisted hatching. With ICSI, they inject one of Hubby's sperm into one of my eggs. We then wait and see which ones fertilize, then which ones grow. We'll also do the "assisted hatching" when the time comes, which is when a small laser helps penetrate the shell of the embryo to make sure it can continue to hatch out and develop into a blastocyte, which is more likely to implant.
So, now I'm waiting on a call. I can't imagine what I'll feel if none fertilize. I'm not going to think of that, though. I'm going to remain hopeful that at least 5 fertilize and concentrate on giving my positive thoughts to those little growing beings in a petri dish. You're welcome to send your positive thoughts and prayers their way, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment