Another day, another needle

WARNING: More IVF updates, talk about being naked, periods, and the travails of having a nervous stomach.

The day started with the all-too-familiar “bottoms off.” I had another appointment with my nemesis the ultrasound machine again this morning.

It’s no secret, I have an extremely nervous stomach. At the first sign of stress, my stomach goes into overdrive, sending my bowels fleeing for the nearest exit at lightning speed. Unfortunately, this makes for some pretty inconvenient situations, like when I’m sitting on the examining table, half nekkid, with a drape that has the texture of a cheap disposable dinner napkin wrapped around my bottom. In general, doctors make me nervous to begin with. Add the naked factor to that and you have a recipe for disaster. Personally, I think it’s bachi for mentioning in a previous entry about becoming desensitized to it all. I had to make a quick decision, get dressed again and apologize profusely to the nurse as I made a beeline for the restroom, or, take a chance and hope that I could settle my stomach using mind over matter. I opted for the latter and hoped for the best. Breathing deeply and playing an eye training game on my Palm Treo helped get my mind off of the situation, although the draft that kept wafting under my drape reminded me that I was still naked, though. Thankfully, my mad relaxation skillz settled my nervous stomach just in the nick of time.

Wasting no time, the doctor greeted me and instructed me to “scoot” as he prepared the ultrasound probe. He was disconcerted that my period hadn’t started, despite vigorous efforts to trigger it (i.e., pumping my body full of hormones). “Maybe you got pregnant without my help,” he said and instructed me to provide a urine sample to perform a pregnancy test. I thought it was impossible for me to get pregnant since he removed both my fallopian tubes in April. Go figure? Well, the pregnancy test was negative, as I suspected.

A sharps collector of my very own

After the ultrasound, I took another blood test. Unfortunately, the phlebotomist who drew my blood today was neither skilled nor gentle. Between the blood tests and the injections, I’m starting to feel like a human pincushion.

Satisfied that they had collected enough of my bodily fluids, they sent me home with a sharps container and instructions to keep applying the Climara estrogen patch every other day until my period decides to show up. Oh, and since my period wasn’t cooperating, I now have to go back on Saturday morning to do yet another ultrasound. I am really hoping that it shows up tomorrow so everything can continue on schedule for the IVF procedure. Besides that, the doctor already told me upfront that I was going to be a challenging case. I’m praying that my body will start cooperating with the treatment so as not to further complicate matters.

To be continued…

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