The Next Go-Round

Round Two- ding! ding!

We’ve started round two of treatments. After I had my blood drawn and science stated the obvious (not pregnant), I started my dose of Provera so I could get my cycle started. The other times I’ve taken it, I’ve always started two days after the last pill. I had it all planned out around my vacation- I went to Disney World!- I would be able to get home, check in with the doctor, and start my official treatments. Well, wouldn’t you know, I started with 3 days of pills left to go. That was on Tuesday. They wanted me to come to the doctor on Friday, but I was Florida-bound at 5:45 am on Thursday morning, so that wasn’t going to happen. I had already filled the Rx of pills to take days 2-6, so I started those on Wednesday. I also had to drive the hour and twenty minutes to the doctor on Wednesday morning before work for my ultrasound.  It made for an interesting week, between work, packing, and driving back and forth- my house to Indy for the appointment, Indy back south for work, work to home, then home back to Indy to stay at my parents’ house, since they’re closer to the airport and the vacation was with my mom.

I guess everything looked like they expected it to look in the ultrasound, because I got the instructions for Bravelle injections and was sent on my way. I hoped I could pick it up at my regular pharmacy before I left town that night, but no such luck. The doc let me know it wasn’t commonly stocked, so it would have to be mail ordered and could be to my house by Friday. That would have been great, but as we know, I wasn’t going to be at my house on Friday. I’d be soaked to the bone in Orlando rainstorms, waiting out the downpour, wearing a stinky poncho, holed up in a Magic Kingdom bathroom adjacent to a gleaming bronze statue of Gaston (with whom the 7 year old family friend we were with has fallen in love after seeing the Beauty and the Beast stage show at Hollywood Studios. She loves his muscles!).  Luckily it was easy enough to set up the delivery to the hotel. I felt so fancy getting a package at the front desk (OK not really- it happens all the time for work), but was immediately daunted upon opening it. It was filled with needles, vials, sterile caps, and syringes. When arranging payment I found out the prescription plan I’m on doesn’t cover the Bravelle, so the $250 price tag was a tough pill to swallow (and boy oh boy am I used to swallowing pills by now- those Metformin ER tabs aren’t Tic-Tacs!), but I got a waiver for the cost of the Ovidrel, so it was free, and they sent it in this delivery as well! Glad I have that for later this week, one less expense, one less trip to the pharmacy. I had packed plastic baggies to transport the half-dose of Bravelle that I’d have after my first injection, to fill with ice, but the Ovidrel came with cold packs, so that was one less worry off my mind, too. Better yet, they were still cold! I could only imagine the hassle of getting it re-ordered if the hotel had had it sitting in a warm room and the medicine was no longer chilled. Yikes.

Finally Sunday evening rolled around and I was ready to take the first shot. I sterilized my makeshift work station at the hotel room desk, washed my hands elbow to fingertip, and set out all of my supplies. I mixed the sodium chloride with the tablet in its vial, and waited for it to dissolve. With much trepidation I screwed on the needle, swiped my stomach with an alcohol swab, and aimed that pointy little sucker an inch and a half to the left of my belly button. Poised for the strike, I took a deep breath. Then I chickened out. When I was almost on the verge of asking my mom to scrub up and do it for me, I just thought “eh, forget it” and stabbed it in. Of course it didn’t hurt (though pushing it through my skin did feel weird), and I felt like such a goober when it was over because it was so easy. I put the other half mL in the fridge and started to worry about how I was going to get this stuff home!

The next morning we woke up, got our luggage together, and began our trek to the airport. We had quite a few stops to make- breakfast at McDonalds (I just had apple slices, it was the only thing I could eat!), a trip to the gas station to fill up the rental car and get some coffee, going back to the souvenir shop we were at on Saturday so my mom could get some stuff she passed on earlier, returning the rental car, all before catching a shuttle to the airport to go through security and board our flight. Since we had missed two shuttles to and from WDW earlier in the trip, that last leg was what was worrying me the most. I’m a natural planner and my tripmates are more go-with-the-flow, so I was definitely the schedule master. While at the gas station my coffee cup overflowed and spilled hot coffee all over my hand just as my companions were complaining about the terrible coffee selection. I just dropped the cup on the counter and stormed out. They cleaned up my mess, brought me out a coffee, then realized that I had stormed to the car in the midst of a complete breakdown. When they saw the tears they were worried I had burned myself more badly than they though, and were quite surprised when my response to their “are you OK” was “Your bad attitudes are stressing me out! Stop acting like you’re a spoiled princess and just accept things the way they are!” I didn’t know where it was coming from as the words exited my mouth, but I didn’t really care, either. The stress and exhaustion that comes along with the end of a vacation on top of my hormones adjusting with the medication just sent me over the edge. They were understanding and we all could laugh about it later in the day, but at the time I was just over it and just wanted to focus on getting to the airport to face my next big concern: getting those meds through security.

My liquid doses of medication were less than 3 oz, so I wasn’t as concerned about that, as I was about all of the syringes and more than 3 oz gel cold packs that were stuffed around those expensive doses. I had all of my paperwork with the medications, I had them packed separately in easy-to-access zip top bags, and let three separate TSA agents know I was traveling with liquid injectable medications and cold packs. They all just said “OK thanks.” They went in their own bin and through the scanner. I was prepared to be pulled aside and the items to be taken out and inspected, but the bin came right out between my carry on bag and the bin with my shoes and jacket. They didn’t even want to make sure those syringes full of liquid were medicine! While I was thankful it was hassle-free, I am surprised they just took my word for it.

The dose of medication I shot into my belly last night was as easy and uneventful as the first, as I imagine those I take tonight, and for the next two nights, will be as well. Then I’ll go to the doctor on Thursday morning to see how my follicles have reacted, fingers crossed for multiple openings on both sides!

 

(stay tuned for a post about low-amylose, PCOS/Metformin friendly eating at Disney World. I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be!)