Conference Room B?

It was far from how I envisioned my first injection. Being rushed into not one but 2 conference rooms at my hubby’s office to have my first injection. There was no time to panic. Okay yes there is always time to panic when it comes to injections, but I was thoroughly distracted, so maybe that was a good thing.

After dropping off my son at preschool, I received a confusing voicemail from the clinic. By what the nurse said, she expected that I should have already taken 7 days of estrogen, but if I had not, then for me to wait until my next cycle. WHAT?? I was near insane with the thought of having to do this all over again because I missed one day of my estrogen. The bigger issue was that my hubby could not take another 3 weeks off from traveling. And the stress build up of this cycle, would be too much for me to bear to put it off again. (we were at this point in August of 2009). So after a distressed voicemail on my part. With patience at like zero, I called again and insisted I talk to the nurse who left the voicemail. We finally spoke and cleared everything up. My file did not show that I was already on estrogen, and furthermore missing one dose was no biggy. She advised to start my Lupron. I was at the Safeway pharmacy, just waiting for the clinic to call anyway, but again there was some confusion that the Lupron was a mixture that the pharmacy may or may not have. I just wanted to get as much of my prescription done at Safeway, because of the crazy amount of points on my airmiles card I would collect. So she said if they don’t have the Lupron I would have to come back to the clinic to get it filled.

So, long story short, she was right. So with Gonal F epi pens at Safeway and a HEFTY bill ($3,411.60) I did eventually get my 1,190 airmile points. So with freezer packs around my Gonal F epi pens, I then quickly went to my fertility clinic. I then pay another $110 for my Lupron. A bargain really, as it included all my syringes, cotton balls and alcohol pads!! It too had to get into a fridge quickly. So racing over to see my hubby at his office as it was now close to 10am, and these shots have to be 12 hours apart. So I am sitting there with $3,500 dollars worth of drugs in my little Safeway bag sitting next to my hubby as he finishes his conference call. I’m trying hard not to be just a little peeved that this little thing of injecting me was not taking precedent over his call. I’m also trying to keep my emotions in control as I realize he has a job to do. We then get up to the first conference room, only to find it now occupied. So I follow him up to the fourth floor, and we get to another conference room, just as a ton of people are filing out of it. So we lucked out and found ourselves a room WITH NO WINDOWS! Damn near impossible at my hubby’s office. Seems all their conference rooms have that fish bowl affect. Not sure who is watching whom, but there you go.

The room is hot as hell with a table fan sitting on the floor doing little to move the air around the room. It smells slightly like B.O. and a large computer monitor is on the table displaying the Microsoft Windows screen. Not exactly how I imagined my first injection would go. Hubby gets all the gear out, swabs the glass bottle then my tummy. I of course look away. I do feel a pinch and then pressure, and I start telling hubby he is pushing to hard. It was the fluid going in, or so he says. Then hubby does the unthinkable and uses the alcohol swab to wipe up the drop of blood over the injection hole. Now my belling is stinging like a bitch. Worse, I am now having some kind of reaction. I am in pain from the stinging that won’t stop and now my tummy is starting to get red and a prickly kind of rash is spreading fast. Hubby immediately calls the clinic. While on the phone, the stinging finally stops. The nurse tells him not to use the alcohol swab after the injection. If she didn’t, I would have! (In all fairness, we were a little rushed, and he was trying to keep the site sterilized). She could not understand why I was getting a reaction, but would investigate the stopper on the Lupron bottle as I have a latex sensitivity.

We pack up and realize we have not been given the used needle receptacle that the original nurse had shown us last week. So I had to use a zip lock baggy. I barely have time to thank hubby, and I have to race home. Realizing I have to go back to clinic and get the used needle box. My tummy is hurting me, but I quickly drive home, drop off the drugs in the fridge and back to the car to the clinic. Meanwhile, I am rushing because my son comes out of preschool soon. Once I am at the clinic I figure my nurse should at least see the rash. So 10 minutes of waiting and I meet our nurse Maureen. She explains that the Lupron needles should just go in a glass jar with a lid, and we should return it on the day of egg retrieval for proper disposal. (we were never told that) and that the used needle box was for the epi pens. So that cleared up, she looks at my tummy, the rash has faded somewhat but she would still investigate for me.

So all sorted and I am racing to pick up my son. Got to his school in time, even if a little frazzled and sore! A little bugged by how sore I was, and I hope that tonight’s injection will not hurt as much or for as long. I came home and did some serious stress eating. I have had a life long need for all things fatty and salty when stressed. So Pringles and Ruffles were my lunch buddies today. So post IVF start-up stress, conference room needle, and junk food, I am physically exhausted today. I did summon the strength to get my son to the park; it just would not be fair for him to stay home because his mother cannot handle a little curve ball in her IVF program.