Saturday, March 5, 2011

Baseline Appt.

Yesterday morning was a chaotic baseline appointment.  They were running behind at 8:15 a.m. and those people were in some type of panic mode!  They moved me from room to room with barely enough time to drop my drawers, much less ask any questions.  I did drum up enough courage to ask the -in a rush- u/s lady if she saw any cysts while she was completing the down there photo shoot and she did not.  Yeah!  Then I moved across the hall to have an endometrial biopsy too... something about ruling out inflammation.  My RE's understudy is all business, all the time.  [Short story-  I've only seen him crack a smile one time when he was doing an u/s and pointed something out to another intern (always on display, sigh) in the room about my fun--s and I said "excuse me, did you say fungus... like bacteria?"  You could see he was trying to stifle a laugh (gee thanks) and informed me that the top of the uterus is called the fundus.  Embarrassing moment.  I was thinking I would have to add "moldy" to my list of fertility problems.]  Back to the biopsy- Instead of "good morning" he says "this is going to cause some pain, did you take anything?"  Ugh.  Not as bad as the tubes test but it would be next on the infertility treatments pain-o-meter.
 
Nurse LLD called me a couple of hours later and said that while the u/s and labwork were okay, Dr. S. does not want me to start stims until she has the results from the biopsy.  The good news is that everything looks calm but the bad news is we're in a "wait to start stims" phase.  Patience is a virtue, blah, blah!

I must say thank God for Nurse LLD.  I showed her the syringes/needles that I have and told her I didn't think I had enough and she went around the corner and came back with some extras to help me out.   Then I showed her the vials of solution that came with Bravelle. They are tiny glass bottles with no rubber stopper.  Nurse LLD said "I haven't seen these in a long time.  They used to come with a file.  Hold on."  Around the corner she goes, and back she comes with some vials that I do know how to use until I can figure out these little things.  Love her and you all would too!

By the way, do any of you have vials of solution that looks like this?  What is the best way to open them?  I don't see a file and Nurse LLD said to wrap it in a dishcloth and push backwards?  I'm sure there's something out there on the Internet.  I'm confused about exactly how to get this mixed with the powder.  
Wish everyone a great weekend!  It's a rainy, cold Saturday here so that says "blog reading morning" and lazy day to me.  Hope to catch up with many of you soon! 

4 bytes:

hopeisafourletterword said...

I have used those vials at work, they are easy to open once you get the hang of it, I usually wrap an alcohol swab around the top and push. Once you pop the top off, you can just stick your needle in and draw out the fluid. However, at the hospital, we have to use filter needles with those in case tiny shards of glass get inside the vial when you are opening it. Did they give you any? I would definitely find out about that before you use them. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Kerrik said...

Haven't see those vials before. It looks pretty interesting though.

I'm glad your baseline was relatively uneventful, and I'm sorry about the painful biopsy. Wishing you all the best.

foxy said...

Hi Miss Mac,
I came over from Hopeisafourletterword since you and she are cycle sisters. I too am doing IVF this month, and it looks like I'll be just a few days behind you. I have my baseline us and start stims on Tuesday.

What a crazy unpredictable journey this has been, and finally I feel like we are finally 'doing' something.

Good luck these next few weeks - I'll be following your story :)

xoxo - Foxy

~ebc~ said...

they are super easy to pop the top off--using a piece of gauze or alcohol swab just do the action of trying to bend the very tip back--it should pop off between the colored lines and the skinny neck, but you should use a filtering needle like "hopeis" said (it will be big) to draw it up and then inject it into the powered vial to mix it and then switch to the injecting needle. if the clinic doesn't have any, they can call it into a nearby pharmacy probably. hope that helps.