stop & go

it has been a miserable 24 hours. i went to the doctor yesterday morning to see how the ovary-stimulation was going. things were happening -- two follicles developing in each ovary -- but not to the satisfaction of the doctor. we want way more than four follicles to work with. so we stopped the follicle stimulating hormone i've been taking (Gonal), which is the one i used for all of IUI, and she told me i would start a different one (Repronex) beginning last night in order to entice more follicles to develop. but, in the meantime, i also had to start taking the anti-ovulation one again (Ganirelix), to stop the development of the four follicles that are already on their way until some others catch up. got that? stop one injection, start one new one, and restart something i'd previously stopped.

ok, no biggie. i do one injection in the morning (Ganirelix) and one at night (Repronex). Repronex has follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in it like Gonal, but it also has lutenizing hormone (LH). that's another reason why i need to take the Ganirelix, because LH helps to encourage ovulation, which we definitely don't want right now. i'm an expert at doing the Ganirelix now, so i knocked that one out at the doctor's office before hopping on the train to work. had a rather exhausting day and came home to a house full of poop. my dog was apparently having some kind of stomach distress and managed to explode all over the house not once but twice in between the hours of 10 and 6 when he was alone. i spent a good hour cleaning up that mess before rushing off to choir rehearsal. home at 9, scarfed down some dinner, and just had to do my final injection of the day before bed.

so i got everything ready for my first Repronex injection (four vials of powder mixed with one vial of sodium chloride) and planned to do it quickly and get some solid sleep.

OUCH.

in the past only my HCG (trigger) injection has actually felt painful going in. and even that went away not too long after administering it. this one is awful. after recovering from the initial stinging and limping off to bed, i tossed and turned for a good portion of the night without ever actually waking up to figure out why i was so uncomfortable. when my alarm went off this morning and i tried to get out of bed, i couldn't even put weight on the leg where i did the injection last night. man alive. i took pain meds and went back to bed for an hour or so -- not that i slept -- before dragging myself to work.

it's now almost 6pm and my leg still feels like someone punched me as hard as they could. i am dreading doing another injection tonight and making my other leg feel the way this one does. how will i walk around tomorrow? i also seem to have lost my appetite and feel a little bit loopy. at least i get to go to the doctor in the morning to complain. though i doubt they'll have much to say about it. i checked online and it seems that a lot of people who take this medication have had the same issue. so i guess i just have to suck it up and think about the big picture.

tomorrow the hubby leaves for a boys' weekend, so i'll have a few days to myself. it'll be nice to catch up on couch time and to watch whatever i want on TV, while probably nursing my poor, sore legs. i'll have to double-check with the doctor again tomorrow that there's no way we'll need to do the retrieval while he's gone. i'm a little anxious about that. he plays such a tiny role in this whole thing, but it is -- obviously -- quite a significant role. i guess depending on how the follicles are doing tomorrow we'll have a better idea of when the retrieval will actually happen. in the meantime, i'll try to stop whining and tell myself all of this will be worth it someday.