CD 12. Today I had my one golden egg retrieved and fertilized. While getting ready for the shuttle ride over to the clinic this morning, the weather man explained that we’d be experiencing Santa Ana winds with an excitement similar to a weatherman forecasting tornado weather in the Southeast. He basically described these winds as a blow dryer on high, originating from the the desert blowing towards and over the Southern California mountains bringing a ton of windy, hot, dry air mixed with dust and pollen. I love the winds…but do not like the affect it has on my allergies. I now know why I am having a continuous sinus headache out here. I love the warm breezy air, but it seems many Californians don’t like the winds. Carlos dropped me off at the clinic, and again, I was the only caucasian in the lobby today. Many Chinese women fly from China to come to the Happy Fertility Clinic because regulations are very strict in China regarding IVF and here they have the chance to have twins, etc. I arrived early hoping I would get a dose of valium or pain killers to calm my nerves and I was promptly called back to the staging area. I was put into a tiny room to change, and told to take off clothes, put on paper gown, and cover my head with hair net, put on a pair of slippers, and place my articles in a locker. I was then taken to an area where they have extra comfy cushy leather chairs behind curtains, and told to lay down and relax. It resembled a high end spa…and the only thing missing was an area to get a mani/pedi. I asked about the valium and that is when the drama started. The nurse said “oh no, we don’t give patients any drugs. Dr. Y does not believe in giving drugs, esp. in your case with only one egg”. I panicked. The head nurse told me they did so I was confused. Plus my previous retrievals were all done under versed IV, and so I never felt a thing nor remembered anything. We had a lovely back and forth where I pushed for drugs, and the nurse refused. Finally she arrived with valium, which in the end, had zero effect on me. Good to know. When it was my time, they walked me into the surgical clean room and got me ready. The doctor, a couple nurses, and embryologist were all waiting. Doc W. performed the retrieval and he was great. He explained what he would be doing every step of the way, asking if I’d ever watched a live retrieval and then inserted the needle into the follicle. Amazingly I felt no pain. Thank GOD for those tiny Japanese needles. I watched the entire process on a small monitor next to my head as he aspirated the follicle and it shrunk and disappeared. Then nurse then handed the vial to the embryologist who took the sample and looked at it under a microscope where I could watch the results on a large screen. He then proclaimed “we have an egg!” There it was on the big screen…our golden egg.
I thanked everyone for a job well done. Then got off the table, walked back to the calm, spa-like area and was told to lay back, relax for 20-30 minutes and the nurse covered me with a down comforter. Wow…this is nice. Eventually I got bored as I was not in pain, nor did I have any bleeding, so I got up, got dressed, and went out to the waiting area in hopes I would speak with the doctor. Dr. Y and chatted about this cycle and he talked about what he might tweak next cycle. It all depends on my follicle count and hormone levels, and given my age, I should be happy to have 1-2 eggs. Being greedy and pushing for more fertility meds in hopes of more eggs only gets you in trouble and does not guarantee good quality eggs. We only need one good egg!
Now we wait to see if the egg fertilizes. I’ll receive an email in the next 24 hours with an update from embryologist. In the meantime, I think I’ll drive to the coast for some beach time and try to catch the amazing sunset. What a great way to wrap up this week in SoCal for my first mini-IVF. Today I thank GOD for my good fortune.
Our hunt for one good egg at 45 