I've recorded another video talking about how our hospital appointment went, but I probably won't get it edited and uploaded until the weekend, so in the meantime I figured I'd do a proper blog post about it.
It was another early start and I was suffering really badly with cramp since it was Day 2 of my period (and I'm being nice here and not going into details on what else was going on there). I felt ready to fall asleep from the moment the alarm went off and spent the journey there fantasizing about when I can have a lie in (answer: not for a while, read on to see why).
The clinic was really busy yesterday. The nurse we saw told us that Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays tend to be their busiest days and boy was that obvious! I think when we arrived there was the tail end of the people waiting on their partners and relatives who were undergoing egg retrieval as well which helped swell the numbers.
The first job when we got called through was the ever-so-exciting internal scan. I've discussed my feelings regarding the dildocam before but for those who have missed them, it's an internal ultrasound. The thing is about eight inches long, bulbous on the business end, and is covered in a large floppy condom and a generous dollop of lube before it's inserted into the obvious bodily cavity. The nurse then proceeds to twirl it around (which is about as enjoyable a process as you can imagine) to get a good look at your uterus and ovaries.
And I should add to this that it was being done on the second day of my period. And I'm generally quite heavy at this time of the month.
The nurses were ever so professional though and it went really smoothly. Considering the fact that within minutes of meeting these women you're being violated with a large medical instrument, it's a very good thing that they're able to be as relaxed about the whole thing as they are.
The verdict on my insides was satisfactory. My womb lining was measuring at 11.7mm which is a little thicker than they would like, but based on when the scan was done and what was going on in my body, there wasn't any concern. To be brutally honest (and really gross), probably could've lost about 11mm of that simply with one sneeze. I'm sure any women reading this know what I mean.
The other thing they wanted to check were my antral follicles. These are the follicles that every woman develops in the run up to ovulation and you can have dozens of them each cycle vying to be the winner who gets to pop out an egg. What normally happens is one (or two) will grow, maturing their egg, the follicle then bursts and lo and behold, you've ovulated. My right side showed six or seven antral follicles and to this the nurse added 'plus' which means that the six or seven are the ones big enough to count but there's still a few more which are hanging around in there.
My left ovary was a little bit shy. I'm sure this was the one which liked to spend its time tucked behind my uterus on previous rounds so there was a lot of (really comfortable) probing to get that one to come into view. No wonder this one was feeling a bit shy. It's a superstar with ten plus antral follicles. Well done, Leftie!
After this it was on to a blood test.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew they would take blood from me. And yet I'd pushed it out of my head until I walked into the room and glanced at the desk with its little blood collection tray out. Then I remembered.
I always forget to ask why they need to take my blood but I'm fairly certain it's to check my estrogen levels. This tells them something important about my cycle and my ovulation and whether or not I'm overstimulating. I don't question it, I just do as I'm told.
And then it was onto the really fun stuff. The piles and piles of boxes of drugs and syringes. I would've been a junkie's dream walking back through Glasgow yesterday one box alone has something like 30 syringes in it!
We had a quick crash course in the Menopur (which the nurse really helpfully premixed for us since before it's mixed it needs to be refrigerated and we were planning on rushing to Dim Sum, not home). I'm on 150 of that morning and evening for the first two days, then on day three I just do it on the morning and in the evening I switch to 25 of Cetrotide.
The Menopur is the one which turns my ovaries into my own personal battery hens, pumping them full of hormones so they churn out dozens of (hopefully, high quality) eggs. The Cetrotide is the one which stops me from popping them all out as they mature.
We also stocked up on the Metformin which I get to carry on with until egg collection happens (woo!) and with that we were pretty much ready to go. Except for the fact that we didn't know exactly when the game was due to kick off. For that we needed the blood test results. They said they would call us and we were free to go.
So we toddled off back into the city centre. We headed to The Works because they had a sale. We headed to WH Smith to buy Mr Click some pencils. We headed to Dim Sum for some really nice lunch.
And then we boarded the train home. Where I had a photo session with the giant bag of drugs we'd been carting round Glasgow:
It was on the train that the call came. Except it was from a mobile number and someone with an accent asked to speak to Dave Collins. As neither Mr Click nor I are called Dave Collins I hung up on them.
About twenty minutes later another call came in. This time from the hospital with the instructions for when to begin. I'd been expecting them to say Friday or maybe Saturday, but they said tomorrow, which is of course now today. We then promptly went into a tunnel and I inadvertently hung up on the very nice nurse who was in the middle of giving me my next appointment details. Oops.
Thankfully she phoned back, went over everything and we're all set.
As of 7am today I've officially started and we go back next Wednesday to see how things are coming along.
