You're probably wondering why I have crossed out the THREE in the photo. Well read on for this cruel twist of fate.
First things first - NEW DONOR!
It is now December 2021. Just over a year since starting on my journey to become a Single Mother By Choice.
I now have 2 x IUI's and 2 x IVF retrievals under my belt with no success, from the poem in 10 Things I Hate About you movie :
'Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.”
I was also out of my original Donor so now I had to go back to the drawing board and select a brand new donor since my original was 'retired'.
CLICK HERE to read my previous post on selecting Donor Sperm
To be honest, I am not upset about selecting a new donor. After so much failure, I was starting think it was not me but the donor perhaps had some issues with compatibility with me also.
So I actually started doing some research. I came across some interesting facts about blood type, I am 0- and so was my donor. Apparently it is not the best combo, as 0- women in general have a harder time with fertility!
After combing through endless profiles again, I settled on a donor again. This time I sent half a dozen of my top picks to my mum and best friend and did not tell them of my top choice. They both selected the same one as my favourite! That has to mean something right?
Cleared for Retrieval #3!
On December 16th, I went into the clinic for my cycle day 2 baseline ultrasound and bloodwork. We didn't see as many follicles as usual but it was still early days. I think I recall about 5 on the right and 4 on the left. Still decent enough.
I started injections that evening however my dose was MUCH higher than my previous 2 cycles. 300 Menopur and 300 Follistim.
The next day, Friday night, I decided I'd stay at the office for our work Christmas Party. For safety reasons, we were doing it in the office (even hired a bartender to make drinks for everyone) instead of going out to a bar where we could all risk catching covid. Which was now rife in the middle of the Omicron Variant. It was nice to see some familiar faces that hadn't been in the office all year make an appearance, all up about 20 people were there (and it was mandatory to be vaccinated). I didn't stay out too late as I had to get home to inject myself at my 9pm chosen time slot. So I left after just 1.5 hours of the party.
On the Monday, a couple of us were in the office saying how great it was on Friday night. Then we got an email from our head office telling us that someone at the party on Friday has tested positive and are sick with covid. OMG NOOOOOO!
So we had to pack up our desks and go home. We were told not to test until the Wednesday (5 days after exposure). I was doing a couple home rapid tests and everything was negative.
So Wednesday morning, I was already on day 7 of injections. I was feeling totally fine except the normal bloating starting to happen. Rapid test was negative. They did a PCR test also but I was told results would not come back for at least a few days since literally everyone seemed to have covid at that time. I also test my temperature daily during cycles so it was like an extra check up on myself.
Thursday early morning I went for my checkup ultrasound & bloodwork. I had told my doctor in advance that I had been exposed and she said to still come in, everyone is in masks and I can't not be seen since it was day 8 (well day 8 injections would be that night).
The ultrasound did not look great. They could hardly even find 4 follicles (2 on each ovary) which was very unusual. But since the doctor is never there for these morning monitoring appointments, I always have to wait until the afternoon for my doctor to review the results and tell me next steps.
I was home from the morning monitoring appointment by 9am and started work (from home). Again, they test your temperature before even entering the clinic. But by 11am I started to feel really tired and weak. To the point where I could hardly hold a pen. By midday I was FREEZING cold. And believe me when I tell you.... my apartment is heat controlled and it is like summer all year around, it is hot, and I run hot naturally. OH NO.
I just had to go lay down, I put on 2 pairs socks, 2 sweaters, a beanie and extra blankets on my bed and passed out hard. I woke up 2 hours later and I was boiling hot, sweating like crazy.
I reached across for my thermometer and BOOM look at that. A temp of 102.2 and I felt ROTTEN. It was insane how quickly I went from good to bad. I took another rapid test... but it was still negative!! WTF?
Not the kind of positive test I want!
That same evening I took another test, still yet to hear back from my PCR results. And there it was, in all its glory. COVID POSITIVE.... At this point, I 'd done 7 days of stim injections.
I called the doctor and told her that I had covid and she said:
"Oh another one... you are my 4th person today that has had to cancel their IVF treatment due to Covid"
Because the body is working so hard to fight the virus it can definitely effect the quality of your eggs so it is not worth continuing. You spend this much money, you want it to be successful!
Literally everyone was getting covid and right before Christmas nonetheless. So my retrieval was cancelled and basically so was Christmas.
So not only was I all bloated and raging with all of the hormones for NO reason, one of the worst things now, is that I am due to have major foot surgery on the 14th January. So this retrieval I was really hoping would be the one and then I could focus on my recovery.
It was also in the same calendar year so all of my deductibles had been met for insurance and I wanted to go into my surgery feeling like I had accomplished what I set out to do in 2021.
But it was not meant to be. Guess I’ll try again.
No one can prepare you for how hard this journey is.