As a way to psych myself up for my first day of my second round of IVF stims, I remember the immortal words of Rob Schneider in the many Adam Sandler movies, “You can do it!” Whatever the outcome may be, I’m choosing to be optimistic. This time around I don’t feel as stressed out or worried about the whole process. I’m not worried about the shots. Jam them in me! I’m not worried about the details of the trip down. I know where I’m going. I feel like I can relax more this time and have more space in my brain for other things.

 

I wouldn’t say I am entirely free of stress. I owe a decent amount of money to my credit cards and my Mom that I borrowed. I’ve been thinking of all the different ways I could make some extra money to pay off my IVF debt. I applied for a different position at work that would increase my pay but I haven’t heard back. I am planning on getting a second job after I come back from my egg retrieval. The logistics of applying to a job before I go down and then having to explain I’m out of state and not entirely sure when I’ll be back is a conversation I wanted to avoid. So I figured it was just easier to apply as soon as I get back.

 

I will say that doing on-call work and having the flexibility to choose my schedule has been amazing for me during this process. It was a good decision to switch to on-call for the time being. I don’t know how other women do it if they’ve had issues like me where it was delayed by several weeks. My first round was delayed two weeks due to a cyst and I was gone for three weeks from work. A flexible work schedule, or at least a large bank of accrued time off, is incredibly important to do IVF.

 

Although my second round is delayed, happily it’s not delayed by much, just two days. I’ll take a two day delay over what I dealt with last time where I had to wait weeks. They drew my blood and determined my cyst is non-functioning, which is a good thing. That means that my cyst is not producing estrogen and therefore I am good to go with my egg retrieval. The last cyst hung around for two weeks producing just enough estrogen to delay my retrieval by two weeks. Luckily this time my cyst is just hanging out, doing nothing. My cyst is like the houseguest who overstays their welcome. It eats all your potato chips while sitting in your favorite spot on the couch. What are you even doing here?! Time to get up out of here.

 

Today was my first day to take Leuprolide. I’m off to a good start, I bent the needle. I had the needle in the vial, lifted the needle and vial to draw up, and the needle bent. It’s a super thin needle and I was amazed at how easily it bent. I’m just glad it didn’t do that inside my stomach. Talk about freaky deaky! So be careful when you lift up the Leuprolide needle and vial, because this is the time when it can easily bend. I just tossed the needle and grabbed another one from the massive arsenal of needles they sent me. I may need to contact the pharmacy for an extra needle. I’m betting I don’t need to order another one because based on experience from last time they sent me extra needles and syringes I have no use for. But it’s always good to check.

 

 

Apparently there are some women who sell their extra medication online. I know certain Facebook Groups ban the practice of selling extra IVF meds online. I think the thing that makes the whole thing a bit dubious is the fact that you have no idea how long the person has had the medicine just hanging around their house. Some of the medicine is not as effective beyond a certain timeframe. So them just telling you, “Oh yeah it’s still good” seems kind of suspect. I suppose buying and selling IVF meds online can be considered the “Black Market” of the IVF industry. I’m picturing a future where there are dealers on the street. A woman in a long trench coat filled with boxes IVF meds, attempting to be inconspicuous whispers, “Leuprolide? Menopur? HCG? What do you need?” The dealers online are quite tenacious. I don’t even ask for medicine online at all, but I get messages sent to me trying to get me to buy. Speaking as someone who has a little bit of medicine extra, I am saving it for my next round as a backup if I run short. Personally, I think it’s morally better to give away extra IVF medicine as opposed to trying to sell it. From what I understand there are some clinics who will take back extra medicine to give to those in need. So if you feel like you want to pay it forward, talk with your clinic about your options for your extra medicine.

 

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