Yesterday, I arrived at Lenox Hill Hospital at 1:00pm. On the way in, I ran into my NYC RE, Dr. Tomer Singer. He grabbed me, hugged me and again said how sorry he was about my loss. He said he saw me on the schedule, wished me luck with the procedure and told me to be sure to come in weekly for beta monitoring.
While sitting at the hospital, I checked my emails and my RE from CNY Fertility Center and Spa, Dr. Michael Grossman and also my travel nurse, Greta, both emailed me to wish me luck with the procedure and express condolences. My entire medical team has been amazing ! They have been calling and emailing me daily to see how I am doing.
I went to the 10th floor of the hospital, checked in for my 4 pm procedure and shortly the intake nurse took me to the back. She gave me a bag with a gown, robe and slippers, and sat me in a nice reclining chair in the pre-surgical wait area. Dr. Harry Karamitsos, my OB from Manhattan Physician’s Group, came over, had me sign some documents, explained what was going to happen and made sure I was doing okay. He kept saying how sorry he was that the first cycle did not end in a live birth and that he was here for me moving forward. He went over to some office in the hospital to pick up the PGD kit and came back with it and told me to have the nurse leave it in my chart. It was a large, weird shaped vial with pink liquid in it.
Later the nurse came over to ask me interview questions and then had me change into the gown, robe and slippers. She then had me sign my advance directive and then went to get my mother.
As I sat waiting on the Anesthesiologist, my wait turned into several hours. The case before me ran into some kind of complications and her surgery, whatever it was, ended up taking from 3pm to 8:30pm. I did not go into the OR until 9:15pm.
I was given the option of postponing until the next morning, but I opted to wait and get it over with. I did not want to risk my body starting a natural miscarriage ! I was already starting to cramp and was experiencing pink tinges on toilet paper and “she was not doing that !” No having contractions for hours, passing clots, then the fetus, followed by gushing blood, pain, etc… No Thank You !
The Anesthesiologist came out and asked me a ton of questions and my OB introduced us and told me the Dr. D was his father’s anesthesiologist when he had bypass surgery. Dr. D was a pretty cool doctor. He calmed me right down. I was then led to the OR by my two nurses and the older one told me she had just had IVF. We talked about it on the walk to the OR.
Once in the OR, it was COLD ! I met a male surgical assistant, another nurse, the two that walked me down, my Anesthesiologist and Dr. Karamitsos. It was a full on circus of people.
I got on the bed after disrobing and then my IV was started. I did not remember much after the meds went in as I was OUT ! I woke up at 9:55pm and was like wow… that’s it? Done? Dr. Karamitsos and Dr. D were standing over me and asking how I felt. I was like HUNGRY ! Dr. K went out to talk to my mom and I was rolled to recovery. I am not quite sure how and when I ended up on a different bed… Weird! You fall asleep on a bed with a hole under your tush and wake up on a stretcher type bed, LOL.
In recovery, I was wide awake. I was not queasy nor nauseated. I told the nurse all they gave me was Toradol… that was not that bad of a drug… not like propofol or versed… I am awake, alert and ready to go !
After lying still for 40 mins. I was placed in a chair. I was giving apple juice and graham crackers. After demonstrating that I was okay and not nauseated, I was permitted to go to the bathroom and get dressed. I had a little bleeding but nothing too bad. I was irked because I was hoping to NOT have another period for at least 12 months… oh well, at least it was mild spotting.
I was discharged at 11 pm and my mom wanted to catch a cab, but I felt fine and wanted to take the subway to Penn Station to take the train to her house. I decided not to stay in NYC until the next day and just go to Northern VA to her house so I can relax, not have to deal with people and rest.
My mom spoils me and my sister lives about 50 miles from my mom so I can get her husband, who owns a catering company to make me chopped chicken bbq on his 8 ft barrel grill 🙂 I figure I will milk this cow while I can… everything will be back to normal soon enough LOL.
Yesterday, I was bombarded with emails, texts and calls from my production team, friends, social media friends wondering what was going on… It was team too much ! I had to express that I will post exactly what I want exposed about my personal life. When you are in the public eye, people who only know you on social media or thru your work, seem to think they can inbox you or post asking personal questions. I forgot to make the picture I posted visible only to my friends… I got so many questions of concern and downright nosey-ness ! I just ignored the posts and inboxes. I am already filming my whole journey for reality tv, so I refuse to put much else on display. Now I wish I had waited to post that pic so that only my friends/ fam can see it. I took the pic off my profile so that killed all the curiosity…
Anyway, I got to DC this morning, hopped in the car and drove out to my mom’s. She immediately made me go get in the bed and said she does not want to see me for several hours LOL.
I got Chick Fil A for breakfast and thank goodness I baked a few loaves of Buttermilk Banana Nut Bread on Sunday to have something quick to snack on. I am being a good little patient, well today at least, and then I will just patiently wait the 4-6 weeks for my menses to start so that I can go in for baseline and start stimming. I am going to order my meds a med a week until I get them all in so that I am ready for my next IVF. The money I am spending on meds, I intended to spend on this elaborate nursery I designed. I was looking forward to going to North Carolina to High Point and picking out the gray furniture I have been eyeballing on manufacturers websites. Oh well, now if my IVF takes on round two, my baby(ies) will not be born until April or May, so I have time.
I am hopeful that IVF #2 will be a charm ! And I do have frozen AA embryos for FETs plus what ever is frozen from my next fresh cycle, should it not take. I am just going to pray and keep the faith and speak this thing into existence !!
What reality tv show are you on? I know you’ve mentioned filming a few times but not specifically what for? Maybe that was intentional 😉
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It is one that I am developing and producing for a network…
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I hope I don’t have a next time, but if I do, I picking a D&C. Your experience sounds much better, well, if there is a better, than mine…
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