I Survived the Scratch

Today was my scratch appt.  The scratch is the most painful appointment amongst all these other crappy appointments.  The good news is that it doesn't last very long.  The whole procedure takes about 2 min.  The pain is so sharp that it instantly brought tears to my eyes.  I am now about an hour post scratch and all I have is some mild cramping so as I write this, I have a heating pad on.

Ryan was traveling for work and I'm too wimpy to go to that appt alone so my Mom went with me.  This is us waiting in the lobby before the procedure.  Clearly it is before the procedure because I am still smiling.

  Here is a link to an article that talks in a little more detail about the procedure endometrial scratching.  Some clinics call the procedure a traumatic scratch.  My clinic called it a disturbance scratch.  The first step is just a lot of sterilization, jar on the left is iodine.  Then the catheter, and then finally the scratch.

Because I have had this procedure done before, I knew what was coming.  I am glad I can count on my Mom and that she came along.  I am even more happy that the scratch is now behind me.

Thanks for reading,
HEATHER

The Calendar & The Protocols

We received our calendar and all of our protocols and everything else that comes along with an FET.  Its exciting and nerve wracking, high anxiety, tons of fear and lots of hope and literally about every other emotion that goes along with it.  We have consulted with our naturopathic doctors, our reproductive endocrinologist, our acupuncturist, our friends in our support group, our friends in our online support group and of course the internet.  We decided on a protocol that we both feel comfortable with. We are literally doing everything we possibly can to help our embryos implant.

Our protocol includes; bcps, lupron, vivelle patches, prednisone, dexamethasone, lovenox, endometrin and antibiotics.  For treatments and procedures we are doing the scratch (Ryan is out of town but luckily my Mom is available and she will go with me), intralipids and acupuncture.  I have 4 blood tests along the way to make sure that all my hormone levels are where they should be and the last one is specifically to test my thyroid.  At the transfer, along with the embryos we will inject hcg in the catheter.  If I stay on track and all the blood tests and ultrasounds look good then our FET is tentatively scheduled for Sept 30th.  And then all that's left to do is hope and pray that this works.

Here is my latest calendar (written out on my Chargers calendar).  It is so much easier to have it all written out.  With so many drugs it makes it much easier to keep track.  Its also a great visual to know where the end goal is.  Once I start the injections, I start crossing the days off and counting down how many needles I have left.  It's little things like that that help me get through the craziness of fertility drugs.  31 injections until our FET.  Our last IVF cycle we did over 80 shots so just writing 31 makes me feel so much better.

August

September

Thanks for reading,

HEATHER