Ch. 13 - The Medication Worked

Ch. 13 - The Medication Worked

Entry Date: October 21, 2007

I really enjoyed my day off on Thursday, not off from work, but off from doctor's visits. On Friday, I had to go to the lab early in the morning after taking my last (3 of 3) cycle suppression injections. We arrived at Huntington Reproductive Center (HRC) around 7:30 am. They took my blood, and that was that. I was told they would call me later to let me know what the next step. Later in the day the office called and told me that the medication had WORKED!!! My estrogen level was at 20 instead of 120 or higher. The doctor and I were relieved. That meant that I could now, start the follicle stimulating medications. So, Saturday would be my first day of 2 injections. The first is a medication Gonal-F 225 mg and the other is Menopur 1 cc. I also have a take a pill Letrozole 5 mg. This will start the stimulation part of the process. Dr. Evans told me that I would not have to come to the visit scheduled for Saturday, but instead, I would be called on Monday to schedule an ultrasound for Tuesday or Wednesday. I really hope it continues to work. If my body cooperates, I my have my egg retrieval on October 31, 2007, a Halloween conception. I will keep you posted.

And, don't forget about Moe's procedure on Monday. I have to be at the dermatologist's office at 3:00 pm for the procedure. He said that it would take about 2-3 hours in total. Wish me luck once again!!


Monday, October 22, 2007

Today I had my appointment at Dr. Martin Kay's office for Mohs Procedure on my face. The procedure took 2 hours in total due to him taking frozen sections and looking at them in the lab to determine if he had clean margins. He had to do this cycle 2 times before my margins were clear. He then stitched me up with about 5 stitches and I have to return to him in 1 week for removal of the stitches. I am so glad that procedure is over. The incision looks nice too. It is in the crease between my mouth, nose,and cheek. I would take a photo, but would rather you guys have better visual memories of me that with the big gauze on my face!?! Maybe next week I will do a photo shoot to show off my new scars, I now have 3 in only 2 months.

I am continuing my follicle stimulating medication, two shots every morning and two pills. I did not hear from Dr. Evans office today, I am sure she will call me tomorrow to let me know when to come in for the next ultrasound. I will let you guys know as soon and I do. Take care and thank you for sharing in my life through my blog.


Saturday, November 2, 2007

I can't believe it has been so long since I did a blog entry, but life has been really busy!!! On Wednesday, October 24, 2007 I returned to Dr. Evans for blood work and an ultrasound. She said that my folllicles were beginning to grow, but they had a lot more growing to do. For now, I am just to continue the daily injections of Gonal-F and Menopur as well as the Letrozole. The Letrozole is taken in order to keep my estrogen levels low since I am a breast cancer patient and my type of cancer is estrogen receptor positive, meaning that if any cancer remains in my body, stimulating my follicles would in turn increase my estrogen levels which would stimulate cancer growth. I am so thankful to be in the good hands of Dr. Evans, she keeps a close eye on me. It is such a funny struggle every morning to make myself self-inject. My belly is so sore. I really feel sorry for diabetic patients and other patients who have to take injections everyday. It is not fun at all.

On Friday, October 26, 2007, I returned to Dr. Evans at 9:00 am for another ultrasound and blood work. My estrogen level was good, only at 200, but my follicles still need to grow more. The goal is to have the follicle size average at 20 mm. I cannot remember my follicle sizes at the visit, but unfortunately, they have to grow more. It is really a weird sensation. You feel bloated like you do when it is a few days before your period, but you do not have any of the other symptoms such as sore breasts, oily face, etc. Oh well, just another learning experience at add to the collection. At the visit, I was to continue my Gonal-F and Menopur as well as the Letrozole. She told me also to increase my injection dose from I Menopur to 2. So I had to go home from this visit and take an additional dose of Menopur. Another injection, but whose keeping track.

Well Saturday rolls around and I do my normal medication regimen. I think it took my 30 minutes to do it today. For some reason, I just could not force myself to make my self hurt. I delayed as much as possible each time today, but finally got through them all. I then got ready and met up with a friend of mine, Barbara, and her daughter, Addison. We are going to the L.A. Zoo today for their Halloween weekend. We had so much fun, but I was so tired when we finally got home. I was also stressed out too!!! Why you ask?!? Well when they increased my Menopur dose on Friday, I did not notice that I did not have enough of the medication to last me through Sunday when I would see the doctor again. This is major considering you have to take the medication at the same time everyday, my time is 6:00-6:15 am. So I needed more DRUGS!!! I called HRC at 7:00 am so that I could take care of this early before going to the zoo just in case I had to go to who knows were to pick up some medication. Most pharmacies do not carry infertility drugs and I received my drug package through the mail last time. The offfice finally calls me back and tells me that I can pick up 3 vials of the Menopur at Fairoaks Pharmacy in Pasadena later on Saturday. They will have it waiting on me and they stay open until 8:00 pm. I was relieved. I was so nervous because this is like my one and only chance to do this egg preservation procedure, and maybe my only chance ever of having children if the chemotherapy kills my ovaries, so I did want to miss a dose, or take a dose late. So finally, I could breathe. As I said, we went to the zoo and had a great time and left in plenty enough time to get to the pharmacy before they closed. We arrived at the pharmacy at 5:15 pm. It was closed. WHAT?!?! CLOSED!!! The gift shop stayed open until 9:00 pm, but the pharmacy closed at 5:00 pm. I broke down. I told the poor girl at the cashier's desk my whole story, that I was a cancer patient going through egg preservation before chemotherapy and that I needed my medication to that I would be able to have some embryos frozen. She said that the owner of the store is the pharmacist and that she said she would be back in 2 hours to check on the store, but did not know if she would open the pharmacy to give me my medication. Clayton was at work or he could of helped calm me down. He was actually on a shoot in Lagoona Beach, 1 1/2 hours away. My friend Barbara was in the car waiting on me, starving, with a 2 year old crashed in her car seat. And by the way, Barbara is also 9 months pregnant. The last thing I wanted to do was to stress her out. She was nice enough to come and pick me up so that both of us did not have to drive, how could I ask her to wait 2 hours at the pharmacy. AND, her 2 year old is almost potty trained, right before she fell asleep, Addison said that she needed to poo-poo. We told her to hold it just a minute while I went to get my medicine and then she could go to the bathroom at my house, about 10 minutes away. WHAT DRAMA!! I walked out of the pharmacy crying, crying, crying. Not to mention being so stressed out about the medicine, but with my hormones being so whacked out I could not stop crying. I went up to window of my friend's car and told her the story and said that I would wait at the pharmacy for the 2 hours so that I would not miss the pharmacist, and I would take a cab home. I felt that this was too important to take a chance. Barbara demanded that I sit in her car for a minute to get myself together and she would be right back. She marched (waddled) into the pharmacy and came back a few minutes later. She said that the pharmacist was going to come back to the pharmacy in about 5 minutes for me and that we were invited to come into the store to enjoy some ice cream while we waited. WHAT AN ANGEL!!! So we did just that, and I received my medication. We also laughed about the situation all the way home. The power of hormones is amazing (and scary)!!

On Sunday, October 28, 2007, I returned to Dr. Evans office again at 8:45 am. Can you believe that they are open 7 days a week, and their office is always busy. I think that I am their only cancer patient at this time, but the office is always filled with women, men, and couples, all with fertility problems. I cannot believe that each women that is having IVF performed has to go through all of these stimulating medication treatments. It makes you so tired, your bellly becomes sore, and you just get tired of being a patient!!! At the visit today, she does another ultrasound and blood work. Today a wrote done my follicle size numbers and they were 16, 15, 13, 9, 8, 15, 15, 16, 15, 12, and 11 mm. Ahhhh!!! They seems so far away from 20mm. But Dr. Evans did give me encouragement, she said that the follicles typically grow about 2 mm per day. However, mine were growing a little slower because I have to keep my estrogen levels down. She does want me to continue my Gonal-F, Ganirelix, and Menopurs as well as the Letrozole at this point with the addition of one more injection, Ganirelix. I should of asked what this was for, but I did't, oh well!!! She said that we would might be able to trigger ovulation soon, maybe by the middle or end of the week.

On Monday I continued the medication regimen and returned to her office on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 for an ultrasound and blood work. Before going to this appointment, I also went to see another doctor, Dr. Kay Martin for the removal of my stitches. I had actually already removed them, they were getting on my nerves, but I needed him to check the incision to make sure everything was okay. He told me to return to his office in 3 months for a total body skin check. He thinks that more than likely I have a few more areas, but he does not want to put too much on my plate at this point in my life, and I agreed!! After the appointment with Dr. Evans, she said that my follicles need to grow 2 more mm and that she would call me later for my estrogen level result. She did call after 4:00 pm and my estrogen level is less than 1,000 which is good and she was pleased. She also scheduled me to come into her office the next morning at 6:00 am for another ultrasound and blood work. After the ultrasound, she spoke the most beautiful words, "You are ready". What a relief!! I did however, have to go home for one last Ganirelix injection because she said I could not go greater that 24 hours before giving myself the trigger injection without a Ganirelix. I was later scheduled for my egg retrieval on Friday, November 2, 2007 at 5:30 am. I was told that the trigger injection of HCG had to be given exactly 35 hours prior to the retrieval which would be at 6:30 pm on October 31, 2007. We missed the Halloween conception, but at this point who cares!!! I am happy to be "READY". So after work on Halloween, I hurried home to be sure taht I gave the injection on time. I was so nervous that I would forget or somehow mess up. This point in time just seemed to carry so much significance!!! But, guess what... I DID IT.