How did I end up here? Part 2

So I arrive at the office for the transfer (or not really because I knew it would be cancelled. We get there and I am curled up in the seat in the waiting room in an extreme amount of pain. I am trying not to say a word for fear I might yack all over the place. The nurse asks if I am okay. All I can do is shake my head no. I go to the bathroom to put on the gown. At this point I was so weak I could hardly walk and I actually stumbled on the way in. When I came out my doctor was standing there and he said that he did not like the way I looked and they were going to get me in a bed and try to give me some fluids. They had an extremely difficult time getting an IV. I think something happens to your veins when you are dehydrated. Luckily they had numbed it first so I didn't feel the dozen or so times they attempted to get it in. When I finally looked over at my hand there was a decent amount of blood all over the place. Kinda scary... For the next hour I just sat there in a daze, holding a barf bowl and trying not to move and make the pain any worse. The dr. decided that the fluids were not making me any better and I he called the hospital to have me admitted. Luckily it was just across the street so I did not have to endure too long of a car ride.

When I got there I had to be given another IV. This too took several attempts and they do not use the numbing shot first. I REALLY wanted pain medicine through the IV but of course that had to wait until they could ask me a million intake questions and process everything through the insurance, etc., etc. Finally I got something for the pain and the nausea. At this point I was at least in a tolerable amount of pain and discomfort. They brought in a food tray. The smell made me feel sick so they took it away. The nurse also said I should try to drink as much gatorade as possible. I told her I could not possibly drink any more gatorade. I actually never want to have it again in my life...They pretty much left me alone about the gatorade after that.

My stomach was getting humongous. I would say I looked at least 6 months pregant. The pain and pressure was increasing and I could actually feel my ovaries. I later found out during my ultrasound that they were so big they were actually toughing each other. Ovaries Touching = PAIN!!

Somehow I made it through Sunday and Sunday night thanks to a wonderful drug called Percocet. Monday morning I woke up and saw one of the other drs. in the practice. Overnight I had gained 10 pounds and they had decided that they would put in a drain to get the fluid out of my abdomen. I was also beginning to have a difficult time breathing. At 11:00 the nurse told me they would be taking me down to do the ultrasound/put in the drain very soon. This was also about the time I needed more Percocet. I decided to decline the percocet and just take tylenol. The percocet had been making me incredibly tired and I knew that I would need to be awake for the ultrasound so I thought this would be a good idea. It turned out to be probably one of the worst decisions ever made. They did not come for the ultrasound/drain for 4 more hours. During that time my pain became so intense that I was just sitting in my bed sobbing and rocking back and forth. They would not give me any meds for 4 hours because I had taken the tylenol. Looking back I should have had J call my doctor and had him order the pain medice but at the time I was not thinking clearly. Really, the nurse should have offered to do this... She was not my favorite of the bunch.

Some young guy finally came to wheel me down for the ultrsound. At this time I am still on no medicine and in extreme pain. We must have had to go to the farthest point in the hospital to get to radiology. He probably thought I was crazy becauseI winced at every bump. When I got to radiology I was put in a holding room with a bunch of beds separated by curtains.. There was an older couple next to me and the wife was talking on her cell phone very loudly about her husband's liver biopsy. I am sure I must have looked horrible because I think every person who walked by asked if I was okay. To which I replied NO. There wasn't anything they could do to help, so I really don't know why they were asking.

The ultrasound was terrible because it involved pressure on my stomach/ovaries. There were also 2 younger girls in the room (nursing students maybe). They were certainly fascinated by my gigantic ovaries. At least I became a learning experience for someone. The dr. finally came in to put in the drain. I will not go into all the details, but it really, really hurt. The did an injection to numb it first but I could feel the incision and the little catheter moving around inside of me... Ouch!

When I made it back to my room I finally got my much needed Percocets and and I slept for about an hour. Monday was day 2 of 6 days I would spend in the hospital. More to come...

“Tough times are there so you can have a good time later on-- and really appreciate it!”
-Unknown

How did I end up here?

Last Tuesday, Jan. 28th was our egg retrieval. I was so happy that I had made it to this day and I could not wait to here all about embryos. We arrived at the office at 6:10. My aspiration was scheduled for 7:30. I was hooked up to an IV and met with the anesthesiologist and my doctor. I remember going into the procedure room and laying down in a very warm comfortable bed. They told me that they would give me some medicine to help me go to sleep. I could feel the burning of the pain medicine going through my IV. The next think I remember is waking up back in the same bed that I started out in. Jeremy was not back yet, but the nurse was there. I think I asked him at least 10 times how many eggs they retrieved (29!!!) I was still pretty out of it from the medication so I remembered that I had asked him but I just couldn't remember the answer. I was in a lot of pain and they gave me more medicine for it. Then I started to feel very nauseous so they gave me something for that. J came back and said his part went well except for the fact that the office had a broken VCR that day ... poor J !!
It wasn't too long before the embryologist came to let us know that his sample was good and we could go home as soon as I could get up and go to the bathroom. We were home around 11:45.
The following 2 days I felt very sick..almost flu like. I could not eat and it was extremely painful to move. I called the doctor and ended up going in on Thursday. They noticed some fluid beginning to collect on an ultrasound, but gave me instructions to eat salty food and drink a lot. On the way home we stopped and got a Target popcorn (very salty!) and a gatorade. Well, not to get into too much detail but that did not stay down for very long. The next few days until Sunday were really a blur. I was happy to hear that we had 19 embryos that were doing great. I, however, was not doing so great. I was unable to eat anything and I could only stomach very small amounts of liquid (about an ounce an hour). Every day was a battle to get through, but I wanted so badly to get to Sunday. Each night J would drag me out of bed to give me my progesterone shot and I would be so lightheaded I could barely stand up long enough for him to do the injection. We debated going to the hospital nightly and looking back that is definitely what we should have done. I was severely dehydrated and gaining a lot of fluid weight. But I just kept thinking, "maybe I will wake up tomorrow and feel better." I had been waiting so long to get to this IVF and I just couldn't bring myself to make the decision to end it by going to the hospital. Somehow, I made it to Sunday (transfer day)...
To Be Continued...