After 12 and a half months on the waiting list, the letter finally arrived to tell us that we're at the top of the list to start treatment!!!
Our first appointment is on 26th May for blood tests/swabs, then we go back on 25th June to have the results, do consents and get our treatment dates. All being well we should be starting our first IVF(ICSI) cycle in July, which is a bit longer than we were expecting to wait but given my recent surgery it's not a bad thing to give me time to be back on my feet 100%.
So, now I have a date to work toward to get myself fit again and be ready to give our first go our best shot.
S x
P.S. We also found out on the letter that we actually get three cycles on the NHS rather than the two we thought we'd get - another yey!!!!
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Monday, 9 April 2012
Leg Surgery now done.....
.... and I'm in agony!!
I was admitted last Tuesday, and then spent the whole day waiting until I was finally taken down to surgery at 3pm. Seems that the ortho team like to have their patients scared whitless before they operate though, as I spent another hour and a half sitting in the waiting bit of theatre before I was finally taken through to the theatre for my op to start.
I didn't find out until the next day what had happened (it was exploratory surgery) but the surgeon came to see me and told me that they'd reattached and lengthened the tendon, reattached the muscle in my thigh to the bone (apparently the surgeon could fit his hand between the muscle and the bone) and removed the bursa as it was inflamed. I was a bit shocked I have to say, as I'd started to think the pain was all in my mind as after 15 months of tests nothing had shown up.
I'm now almost two weeks post surgery, and the wound is healing well (aside from the bad infection I managed to have two days after getting home from hospital that is) The pain is starting to get a lot more manageable too, which is great, and I just hope it's almost the end of a very painful few months for me now it's all sorted. I still have another 4 weeks of not being allowed to walk on my leg, then it's back to the surgeon to see how it's healing and to find out if I can start walking on it again or not. I plan on working really hard at getting back to 100%, so hopefully in a couple of months I'll be back to (better than) normal and can start getting on with my life again and looking forward (?) to starting IVF.
S x
I was admitted last Tuesday, and then spent the whole day waiting until I was finally taken down to surgery at 3pm. Seems that the ortho team like to have their patients scared whitless before they operate though, as I spent another hour and a half sitting in the waiting bit of theatre before I was finally taken through to the theatre for my op to start.
I didn't find out until the next day what had happened (it was exploratory surgery) but the surgeon came to see me and told me that they'd reattached and lengthened the tendon, reattached the muscle in my thigh to the bone (apparently the surgeon could fit his hand between the muscle and the bone) and removed the bursa as it was inflamed. I was a bit shocked I have to say, as I'd started to think the pain was all in my mind as after 15 months of tests nothing had shown up.
I'm now almost two weeks post surgery, and the wound is healing well (aside from the bad infection I managed to have two days after getting home from hospital that is) The pain is starting to get a lot more manageable too, which is great, and I just hope it's almost the end of a very painful few months for me now it's all sorted. I still have another 4 weeks of not being allowed to walk on my leg, then it's back to the surgeon to see how it's healing and to find out if I can start walking on it again or not. I plan on working really hard at getting back to 100%, so hopefully in a couple of months I'll be back to (better than) normal and can start getting on with my life again and looking forward (?) to starting IVF.
S x
Sunday, 25 March 2012
A milestone and some other updates
Well, as of 7th March we're officially top of the IVF(ICSI) waiting list - woo hoo!!!! To be honest the actual date doesn't mean much as although that's the date you go on the list from nothing happens then.
After some prompting from my friend Lynn, I caved and called up the clinic (just to check you understand, nothing to do with me being impatient or paranoid that they'd forget me!) and they confirmed that we are top of the list and will be taken off the list at the end of the month when they do the waiting list. The nurse said we will receive our pack mid-April with an initial appointment for more tests (which is always a Saturday apparently for some reason) and another appointment roughly 3 weeks after that for results, consents to be signed and to get a date to start treatment. Fingers crossed it's a bit earlier than July though, goodness knows how I'll manage to wait another 3 months if I have to!!
The other thing going on just now isn't TTC related, although I did think it might impact on the start of our IVF but thankfully looks like it won't. I went for my pre-op for the surgery I've been waiting for on my leg, and was really surprised when they said I was being admitted on Tuesday for it!!! I'm pleased because I've done nothing but worry about it since then, and if it'd been a few weeks off I think I'd have made myself ill waiting. So, I'm being admitted to the hospital I work in tomorrow at 7.30am but hoping that I won't have to stay overnight and will manage to get home again the same day. The surgeon still hasn't fully decided what's actually causing the pain, so a lot depends on what he does and how much pain I'm in. All I do know is that I'll be back on crutches again for at least 6 weeks, but other than that it's just a wait and see thing really. After 15 months of being in pain I'm just glad something is happening and fingers crossed it'll stop after this.
So, a lot going on in the next few weeks to keep me busy and while away some more time waiting for fertility treatment - it's amazing how good you get at that!! lol
S x
After some prompting from my friend Lynn, I caved and called up the clinic (just to check you understand, nothing to do with me being impatient or paranoid that they'd forget me!) and they confirmed that we are top of the list and will be taken off the list at the end of the month when they do the waiting list. The nurse said we will receive our pack mid-April with an initial appointment for more tests (which is always a Saturday apparently for some reason) and another appointment roughly 3 weeks after that for results, consents to be signed and to get a date to start treatment. Fingers crossed it's a bit earlier than July though, goodness knows how I'll manage to wait another 3 months if I have to!!
The other thing going on just now isn't TTC related, although I did think it might impact on the start of our IVF but thankfully looks like it won't. I went for my pre-op for the surgery I've been waiting for on my leg, and was really surprised when they said I was being admitted on Tuesday for it!!! I'm pleased because I've done nothing but worry about it since then, and if it'd been a few weeks off I think I'd have made myself ill waiting. So, I'm being admitted to the hospital I work in tomorrow at 7.30am but hoping that I won't have to stay overnight and will manage to get home again the same day. The surgeon still hasn't fully decided what's actually causing the pain, so a lot depends on what he does and how much pain I'm in. All I do know is that I'll be back on crutches again for at least 6 weeks, but other than that it's just a wait and see thing really. After 15 months of being in pain I'm just glad something is happening and fingers crossed it'll stop after this.
So, a lot going on in the next few weeks to keep me busy and while away some more time waiting for fertility treatment - it's amazing how good you get at that!! lol
S x
Sunday, 19 February 2012
An update (it's been a while)
I've been meaning to update for a while, but to be honest I've not really known how I've been feeling to know what to write.
We'd already decided after the abandoned cycle in January that the next cycle would be our last before we move onto IVF as we felt it hadn't really gone well for us anyway and a break would do us good. So, AF showed up two days after my 30th birthday (I was at least thankful she held off a couple of days), so off we trotted to the fertility clinic again on 31st January. I felt the same as I have done after every other cycle, but for some reason this time I just knew that this cycle was over before it had even started.
I had the usual scan, and there were three follicles on one ovary and two on the other one, so that was a clear cut no to starting the next cycle. I spoke to the nurse and told her that we wouldn't be coming back as we felt that both us and my body needed a break from treatment before we start IVF, as we know that's going to be even tougher than IUI. She said that she didn't blame us and could totally understand why we decided that. She said that she was sorry they hadn't been able to help us, but hopefully IVF was what we needed and let them know how we get on with it. I managed to hold it together until I went to say goodbye to the receptionist (she's been lovely and I didn't want to go without saying goodbye), and when I said we wouldn't be back a big smile lit up her face - until she saw my eyes fill up then realised that it wasn't because we were pregnant but because it hadn't worked for us.
I had a few tears when we got home because even although we knew that was the next step and it was ultimately my decision as hubby was happy to go with what I wanted, it still felt like giving up. I had to go back to work after the appointment though, so as usual it was time to give myself a shake and move on because what else can I do?
So now we're just waiting until we're ready to start IVF, and it's a scary thought that we get to the top of the list IN TWO WEEKS!!!! Ok, so we won't actually start treatment then, but here's an outline of what happens as far as I know;
1) The waiting list is updated at the end of each month so we will receive a letter at the beginning of April.
2) That letter will be to go for further tests - HIV, etc and possibly another SA
3) Four weeks after that (all being well) we'll go and sign our consents and then start treatment!!!
It feels like it's been such a long time coming that it's slightly scary that we're almost ready to start on our last chance to have a baby, but it's also exciting as it's the treatment that will give us the best chance of getting pregnant. I was told by two different fortune tellers that I would have a baby boy when I was 30 years old (ok, one of them told me it would be twins!!) so fingers crossed they were right and by the summer we're finally pregnant with our much longed for baby.
S x
P.S Oh, and I forgot to say that my wonderful husband got me the best pressie for my birthday - two weeks in Mexico in September!! Something wonderful and relaxing to look forward to while we're going through the grueling process of IVF.
We'd already decided after the abandoned cycle in January that the next cycle would be our last before we move onto IVF as we felt it hadn't really gone well for us anyway and a break would do us good. So, AF showed up two days after my 30th birthday (I was at least thankful she held off a couple of days), so off we trotted to the fertility clinic again on 31st January. I felt the same as I have done after every other cycle, but for some reason this time I just knew that this cycle was over before it had even started.
I had the usual scan, and there were three follicles on one ovary and two on the other one, so that was a clear cut no to starting the next cycle. I spoke to the nurse and told her that we wouldn't be coming back as we felt that both us and my body needed a break from treatment before we start IVF, as we know that's going to be even tougher than IUI. She said that she didn't blame us and could totally understand why we decided that. She said that she was sorry they hadn't been able to help us, but hopefully IVF was what we needed and let them know how we get on with it. I managed to hold it together until I went to say goodbye to the receptionist (she's been lovely and I didn't want to go without saying goodbye), and when I said we wouldn't be back a big smile lit up her face - until she saw my eyes fill up then realised that it wasn't because we were pregnant but because it hadn't worked for us.
I had a few tears when we got home because even although we knew that was the next step and it was ultimately my decision as hubby was happy to go with what I wanted, it still felt like giving up. I had to go back to work after the appointment though, so as usual it was time to give myself a shake and move on because what else can I do?
So now we're just waiting until we're ready to start IVF, and it's a scary thought that we get to the top of the list IN TWO WEEKS!!!! Ok, so we won't actually start treatment then, but here's an outline of what happens as far as I know;
1) The waiting list is updated at the end of each month so we will receive a letter at the beginning of April.
2) That letter will be to go for further tests - HIV, etc and possibly another SA
3) Four weeks after that (all being well) we'll go and sign our consents and then start treatment!!!
It feels like it's been such a long time coming that it's slightly scary that we're almost ready to start on our last chance to have a baby, but it's also exciting as it's the treatment that will give us the best chance of getting pregnant. I was told by two different fortune tellers that I would have a baby boy when I was 30 years old (ok, one of them told me it would be twins!!) so fingers crossed they were right and by the summer we're finally pregnant with our much longed for baby.
S x
P.S Oh, and I forgot to say that my wonderful husband got me the best pressie for my birthday - two weeks in Mexico in September!! Something wonderful and relaxing to look forward to while we're going through the grueling process of IVF.
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Another bump in the road - and not the good kind of bump either!
Well, another abandoned cycle due to over responding to the drugs, Can't say I was totally surprised as it seems to be becoming a bit of a habit with us, but it still didn't stop me being upset about it (was horrified when I burst into tears while I was still in with the nurse) This time I had nine follicles ranging from 11mm-15mm, and the nurse expected at least 5 of them to mature and OV, and as we can only proceed with a max of 3 follicles it means another waste of time.
The worst bit was that after the daily injections my tummy had become a bit of a mess and was pretty sore (so much so that the last injection was agony which has never happened before) which made it so much worse when it was all for nothing. Not a lot I can do about it though, although I would have thought that after 1 complete cycle and three abandoned ones they'd have a better idea of what the hell they were doing with the drugs.
Hubby hates that it upsets me so much each time it goes wrong, so he suggested giving up with the IUI now and just holding out for IVF in a few months. I can see where he's coming from, and in a way I'd love to stop now and have a break for a few months, however ask anyone who has been a LTTTCer and they'll tell you that all the upset and disappointment is better than sitting back and doing nothing. After speaking to some other long termers and asking their opinion, speaking to hubby and doing a lot of thinking, I think we've agreed we'll give it one more go then that's the end of our IUI attempts. It'll mean a couple of months off from treatment, which I'm sure I'll find hard, but at least it'll give my body a break from all the drugs for a bit before it's over loaded when we start IVF.
In a way it's probably a good thing it was cancelled this time as it would have meant AF being due on my birthday, whereas OVing on my own means AF should be due the day after instead which I'm happier with (notice that I don't even give consideration that we could have done it on our own - oh to be back to being nieve and thinking you got pregnant just by having sex once!!lol)
So, a couple of weeks of trying to relax and wishing all the follicles away before going back for another scan and hopefully starting the next and last cycle of IUI.
S x
The worst bit was that after the daily injections my tummy had become a bit of a mess and was pretty sore (so much so that the last injection was agony which has never happened before) which made it so much worse when it was all for nothing. Not a lot I can do about it though, although I would have thought that after 1 complete cycle and three abandoned ones they'd have a better idea of what the hell they were doing with the drugs.
Hubby hates that it upsets me so much each time it goes wrong, so he suggested giving up with the IUI now and just holding out for IVF in a few months. I can see where he's coming from, and in a way I'd love to stop now and have a break for a few months, however ask anyone who has been a LTTTCer and they'll tell you that all the upset and disappointment is better than sitting back and doing nothing. After speaking to some other long termers and asking their opinion, speaking to hubby and doing a lot of thinking, I think we've agreed we'll give it one more go then that's the end of our IUI attempts. It'll mean a couple of months off from treatment, which I'm sure I'll find hard, but at least it'll give my body a break from all the drugs for a bit before it's over loaded when we start IVF.
In a way it's probably a good thing it was cancelled this time as it would have meant AF being due on my birthday, whereas OVing on my own means AF should be due the day after instead which I'm happier with (notice that I don't even give consideration that we could have done it on our own - oh to be back to being nieve and thinking you got pregnant just by having sex once!!lol)
So, a couple of weeks of trying to relax and wishing all the follicles away before going back for another scan and hopefully starting the next and last cycle of IUI.
S x
Thursday, 5 January 2012
IUI attempt ........ who knows!!!!
It was a pretty quiet Christmas and New Year for us, which was fine by me to be honest. Hubby and I had his parents on Christmas Day for dinner, then the younger of my boys and I went to my parents on Boxing Day (hubby was ill in bed and the older boy was at his girlfriends) A huge row aside on Christmas night and it was a pretty nice time.
I went to see the surgeon about my leg on the 4th, which sadly didn't go as well as I'd hoped. He's decided that it's not going to get better since the steroid injection didn't work, so he wants to operate. It won't be until around Easter time, so now I'm worrying that it'll clash with our IVF and that's not something I want to have to deal with because how do I decide which one to put off?!?!? Anyway, I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it rather than worrying about it just now.
I also went to the FC for a baseline scan on the same day, and thankfully that went better. There were some small follicles left on each ovary but the nurse said that was ok and we were good to go on our next attempt. I'm onto daily injections this time to try and control my OV a bit more, so although I like doing them because I feel like I'm doing something I'm not looking forward to doing it every single day. This month I have two injections at 150iu and three at 75iu - hormonal anyone?!?!?!?!!? I've already warned the girl I work with so she's well prepared!! lol
I had some amazing news from an on-line friend today. She had IVF a few weeks ago for the second time after she had a MC following her first successful IVF, and today was her 7 week scan. She just posted about it - and they're having TWINS!!!! They had two embies put back, and both have implanted. As you can imagine she's over the moon, and for the first time in a long time I can say I'm truly delighted to say that about someone else's pregnancy!!!
Who knows, maybe one day soon it'll be our turn to share such amazing news with everyone?!??!?!
S x
I went to see the surgeon about my leg on the 4th, which sadly didn't go as well as I'd hoped. He's decided that it's not going to get better since the steroid injection didn't work, so he wants to operate. It won't be until around Easter time, so now I'm worrying that it'll clash with our IVF and that's not something I want to have to deal with because how do I decide which one to put off?!?!? Anyway, I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it rather than worrying about it just now.
I also went to the FC for a baseline scan on the same day, and thankfully that went better. There were some small follicles left on each ovary but the nurse said that was ok and we were good to go on our next attempt. I'm onto daily injections this time to try and control my OV a bit more, so although I like doing them because I feel like I'm doing something I'm not looking forward to doing it every single day. This month I have two injections at 150iu and three at 75iu - hormonal anyone?!?!?!?!!? I've already warned the girl I work with so she's well prepared!! lol
I had some amazing news from an on-line friend today. She had IVF a few weeks ago for the second time after she had a MC following her first successful IVF, and today was her 7 week scan. She just posted about it - and they're having TWINS!!!! They had two embies put back, and both have implanted. As you can imagine she's over the moon, and for the first time in a long time I can say I'm truly delighted to say that about someone else's pregnancy!!!
Who knows, maybe one day soon it'll be our turn to share such amazing news with everyone?!??!?!
S x
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Yet another let down
To be honest I didn't find the increase in drugs too bad, although the 150iu ones did leave bruises and the last 50iu was very painful (which was a shock as I don't normally even feel them!!) I didn't think I'd over stimulated again because I wasn't feeling too bloated or anything which I was pleased about.
Off we trotted to the FC on Friday for a scan to check the size of the follicles. The nurse scanned me then said that I had 2 14mm follicles and 2 11mm follicles, and because they weren't big enough she wasn't willing to book me in for IUI on Monday without another scan. I told her that I always OV around CD12 (which would be Sunday) but she still wouldn't budge on it.
So, Friday night I started getting OV pains. By Saturday night I'd had quite a few pains and had sore (.)(.)'s so I knew I'd OV'd and that it would be yet another wasted cycle. On Monday I went back knowing full well that it would be abandoned, and sure enough one of the 14mm follicles had popped, although the other one was still there and was now 19mm. I did think they would still be able to go ahead with the IUI because I still had a follicle ready and waiting, but apparently not. I also asked if they could give me something next time so that I didn't OV over a weekend (I'd been told there was something you could be given on a forum I use) but surprise surprise our useless clinic don't do that either.
Having spoken to my friend L who goes to the same clinic and is also having IUI, it seems as though our clinic doesn't do a fraction of the things that other clinics do - our only uses one type of stim drug and one type of trigger when others use several, ours do not offer the option to aspirate follicles if you have more than three to save abandoning cycles all the time because of over stimulating, and now to add to that list they won't give you anything to stop OV if it's over a weekend. That's another peeve of mine over our clinic - they're closed weekends and close for almost two weeks over Christmas!!!! Regulating a cycle and having fertility treatment sadly does not work to a time scale, so dictating that you're only allowed to OV Monday to Friday does seem a bit stupid doesn't it?!?!?!
Today also brought bad news for my friend L as AF arrived for her today meaning that her third IUI (she started in May and has only had three successful attempts at IUI) has failed. She was so sure that it had worked this time that's she's heartbroken. She's always been convinced that IUI would work for them, whereas I've never thought it would work for us, so each time it fails she takes it really hard. The good thing is she's been ref'd onto the same IVF clinic as we have so she will be due to start IVF in November next year.
So, at the moment we're in limbo land again and basically just waiting on AF showing up again to go back for a scan to check the remaining follicles are gone before we start on this wonderful cycle again. Apparently next month I'm being put onto daily injections to try and have the follicles ready before I OV naturally again. I'm sure that'll be a delight to stick needles in my tummy every day rather than just every other day!!!
Oh well, hope everyone has a Happy Christmas and a brighter New Year, and that the holidays aren't too hard for my fellow LTTTCers.
S x
Off we trotted to the FC on Friday for a scan to check the size of the follicles. The nurse scanned me then said that I had 2 14mm follicles and 2 11mm follicles, and because they weren't big enough she wasn't willing to book me in for IUI on Monday without another scan. I told her that I always OV around CD12 (which would be Sunday) but she still wouldn't budge on it.
So, Friday night I started getting OV pains. By Saturday night I'd had quite a few pains and had sore (.)(.)'s so I knew I'd OV'd and that it would be yet another wasted cycle. On Monday I went back knowing full well that it would be abandoned, and sure enough one of the 14mm follicles had popped, although the other one was still there and was now 19mm. I did think they would still be able to go ahead with the IUI because I still had a follicle ready and waiting, but apparently not. I also asked if they could give me something next time so that I didn't OV over a weekend (I'd been told there was something you could be given on a forum I use) but surprise surprise our useless clinic don't do that either.
Having spoken to my friend L who goes to the same clinic and is also having IUI, it seems as though our clinic doesn't do a fraction of the things that other clinics do - our only uses one type of stim drug and one type of trigger when others use several, ours do not offer the option to aspirate follicles if you have more than three to save abandoning cycles all the time because of over stimulating, and now to add to that list they won't give you anything to stop OV if it's over a weekend. That's another peeve of mine over our clinic - they're closed weekends and close for almost two weeks over Christmas!!!! Regulating a cycle and having fertility treatment sadly does not work to a time scale, so dictating that you're only allowed to OV Monday to Friday does seem a bit stupid doesn't it?!?!?!
Today also brought bad news for my friend L as AF arrived for her today meaning that her third IUI (she started in May and has only had three successful attempts at IUI) has failed. She was so sure that it had worked this time that's she's heartbroken. She's always been convinced that IUI would work for them, whereas I've never thought it would work for us, so each time it fails she takes it really hard. The good thing is she's been ref'd onto the same IVF clinic as we have so she will be due to start IVF in November next year.
So, at the moment we're in limbo land again and basically just waiting on AF showing up again to go back for a scan to check the remaining follicles are gone before we start on this wonderful cycle again. Apparently next month I'm being put onto daily injections to try and have the follicles ready before I OV naturally again. I'm sure that'll be a delight to stick needles in my tummy every day rather than just every other day!!!
Oh well, hope everyone has a Happy Christmas and a brighter New Year, and that the holidays aren't too hard for my fellow LTTTCers.
S x
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