Friday, June 18, 2010

Last Scan before Retrieval

One more ride out to Colaba for my last scan- this time I got to meet the other Dr. , his wife. She had been absent up until now. It was nice to meet her- she said that "For my age that my results were brilliant." That made me feel very hopeful about our eventual outcome- but I knew too that there were no guarantees just positive steps forward. Much better than dashed hopes, at least for the time being. I then met with the other male Dr. Malpani and we discussed next steps which - for me were very exciting. The next day at precisely 6:30 a.m. I was to take my trigger shot- the HCG shot that would prepare my eggs to be matured and allowed to be taken. Thirty Six hours later- I was to be put under anesthesia and have my eggs be taken up in a pipette from each side of my ovaries.The process is to extract them by putting a needle through my uterine wall to each of my outside ovaries. There each follicle contains an egg, and it gets sucked up in to a pipette. I have 14 follicles currently, and the numbers will go down from here. I wonder today how many actual eggs will be collected and will survive the following days ahead. Fourteen is a nice starting number. I expect that in the end it will boil down to about 3-5 embryo's that divide and make it to a cellular stage accepted for implantation.
David was to arrive at night within 15 hours of the operation- same day.
I returned to my hotel grabbed another bite to eat and slept for 5 hours this time. Progress.
I watched television all night. News during my stay included, the Bhopal disaster,with Union Carbide, and trying to bring Ceo's to justice, China floods- I hoped my friends traveling to China this month would fare well. And the biggest news was the World Cup events in Africa. I have been able to watch some of the competitions. Also the Gulf Coast Oil spill and all that is going on with it in the U.S.A.
I had the alarm set for 6 a.m. to take my shot. I suddenly realized at some point that it was 6:35 and set to getting things arranged for my last shot for awhile- (Yahoo!)
I didn't know that I was going to get in to some trouble with the needle. I had two viles of liquid and two viles of powder, I popped the glass tops, sucked up both bottles of water, and injected the liquid in to one powder and then the other. When I went to retrieve the solution- it seemed that it was difficult- It had become pressurized and I didn't know how to cope. I tried several solutions, culminating in pulling out the needle through the rubber top slowly as to dispel some little amount of air. Instead I got an explosion of the fluid in the needle- which resulted in a good amount of fluid leaking on to the top of the counter I was working on. I surmised that I may of lost up to 25%. I quickly jabbed the needle back in to the rubber topped vial, and tried to suck it up again- but the plunger had become occupied by some spirit - so it seemed ,with a mind of its own- after 1/2 hour of repeating above and fiddling with various replacements from needles to actual plungers, I despairing just set the whole thing down amongst the chaos that had been created on the top of my working area. I was thoroughly upset and frustrated at my circumstance. I had to get a needle attached on the end of my syringe - that wasn't dulled by the many jabs of the needle going through the rubberized top of the vial. Someohow miraculously when I put the vial down, it eventually, dispelled the air on its own, I believe it found its way out through all the needle holes in the rubberized top of the vial. Very hard to explain unless you had been here- but I felt like my syringe was possessed. Maybe it was for a good reason, I don't know- may be to my benefit I lost 1/4 of this precious fluid- or maybe not. I will not know. I couldn't call the clinic- until 8 a.m. I couldn't talk to the Dr. until 10:40 a.m. He said not to worry. Of course I have to be so careful with all these alcohol wipes and such, and in the end I was using the needle to suck up what was on the glass counter. Of course I didn't get much, but I tried. I even wondered whether I should lick the counter and sop up the lost medication lying there. I wasn't prepared to go that far, unless the Dr. said so. He didn't.
So.....
That brings me to now. David got in about an hour ago. I had just finished a sleep that lasted from 3:30 in the afternoon until 10:30 p.m. David arrived around 1:30 a.m. A sight for sore eyes. And I go for my trip to Colaba with David at 2pm today. I have a big day ahead. Soon the eggs I have grown until now would be outside my body and injected with David's sperm. In a petri dish- they will grow for 3 days (they have a 3 day process here, but 5 day blastocyst transfer is available if the Dr. decides that this would be better) and be put back in to my uterus. From there it would be Gods plan. I am now just passing time. David is sleeping with earplugs. I am passing the night away watching National Geographic adventures, while having my own!
Onward forward march...........

1 comment:

  1. Thinking of you guys. I am glad you learned about the Bhopal disaster - I share that as a form of white collar crime to students. I am sorry about all the needle problems. Dear heavens. Thanks for the update. Praying.....

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