Today is the 18th day of my stim cycle, and the first day on estradiol valerate and neupogen. I have done all three injections and taken all meds and supplements except my 9pm dose of LDN. The Lovenox and neupogen, I inject in the morning and do the Lupron at 6pm. Everything went smooth. I only inject the estradiol valerate every three days.
I hope I have made the right decision to do the injectible estrogen instead of the vaginal estrace.
I hope everyone has an amazing New Year !!
I have made it through a whole week of stims. So far, outside of a waves of a little queasiness, I have had little side effects form the meds. I have noticed that the inflammation with my achiles tendonitis, is subsiding as well as the pain. The LDN coupled with the Naproxen seem to be the magic pills so to speak. I am still staying off my feet as much as possible. I walk around the condo and also went out to dinner, but I am not walking or running 6-7 miles a day.
This morning, I created another recipe that I started on for the Orange Cranberry Brioche. This dough is soooo pliable and silky. If it tastes as good as this perfect textured dough looks, then I have created the perfect brioche on the second attempt ! The first was delicious, but I wanted more of a rise to the bread. This second recipe did give me a nice rise. I punched it down, kneaded it, and put it back in a proofing bowl and will refrigerate is overnight. I will take it out in the morning, knead it, roll it into a rectangle, add the cranberries in the center and then roll the dough into a log and cut them and put into the mini loaf pans to rise for three hours before baking. This second dough has 2.5 sticks of butter in it and six eggs. I can not wait until the loaves are baked so that I can see if I have a winner.
I am also going to make Bourbon Vanilla Sourdough Waffles tomorrow as well so that I can get rid of some of the sourdough starter I have been growing.
I am looking forward to my baseline on Wednesday morning so that I can start the estrogen injections ! I am ready to get this show moving and get these twins in the womb ! 🙂
Tonight was my second Lupron injection. In two hours, I have to take my first LDN – low dose Naltrexone. I went to pick up the compounded script today, got home and noticed that the pharmacy only gave me 63 pills instead of 100 that my doctor wrote the script for. I called them and was told the pharmacist gave me the exact number based on the instructions. I had to break it down to her… First of all, nobody pays you to think ! My doctor wrote the script for 100 pills because that is the number he wants me to have. Although I am titrating up from 1.5 mg over the next three weeks, my increase will be based on my toleration of the drug. He may, based on my blood work, increase the med again. Because I will be in Upstate NY on the 4th week, I need the rest of my pills to ensure I have enough to last me until I get back, unless of course, the pharmacy is going to overnight the pills I need to me in NY or bring them to me…. this med has to be compounded especially for me, which means it takes three-four days to make JUST FOR ME. I do not have time to play with so make the rest of my damned pills like my prescription was written for and I will pick them up by Monday before I leave for Christmas !
The LAST thing I need is aggravation… I am already feeling the effects of being on hormones.
Today, I went out on the beach and ran 2 miles then walked one. My achiles tendonitis QUICKLY reminded me who is boss ! My ankle and foot are still swollen from this morning so I will be staying off of it and continuing my meds. I will probably end up having my doctor inject my heel with steroids because I am over this pain and hobbling around like I am 90 years old.
I am trying to get some holiday baking done. So far, I have only managed to bake two Bourbon Sweet Potato Pies, two Rum cakes, and a pan of Cranberry Orange Scones. Tomorrow, I will bake two Five Flavor Pound Cakes and that will be it until the weekend. I will work on Christmas cookies this weekend, but need to give my feet a break for a couple of days before I am back at square one and level 10 pain.
Okay, my nerves are SHOT ! I am sitting here putting all my meds together that I have to start on Monday ! The only med I am awaiting is the compounded Naltrexone, which will be ready for pick up on Tuesday afternoon. Long story short, my clinic called the script into Apothecary by Design, and as usual, they are not licensed to ship meds to my State ! UGH. They are expensive anyway. I called Target where I normally pick up my other meds and asked for a referral to a reputable compounding pharmacy which was local and they gave me the name of one. I called to verify that they could compound 1.5 mg Naltrexone and it was half the price of what Apothecary charges ! I contacted the nurse and let her know about the situation and gave her the info on the local pharmacy and she called the script in.
Monday night, I start injecting Lupron. I do not look forward to the headaches, mood swings and sore joints and bones, but I ready to be pregnant already, so I will do what I must. In addition to the injections, I am already taking various supplements and meds. My protocol is: Prenatal Plus, (3) Tums twice a day, baby asprin, Optimized Folate, EPA/DHA (to reduce NKAs) , Biotin, and Synthroid. I am also taking Naproxen for my achiles tendonitis. Tuesday night, I start taking the low dose Naltrexone 1.5mg the first week, 3.0mg on week two and the third week, if I can tolerate it, increase to 4.5 mg.
After baseline, I start taking Estrace three times a day for 12-14 days. The other meds in my protocol are progesterone, HCG wash, Lovenox, Endometrin, Doxycycline, Cleocin vaginal suppositories, and Neupogen. I am not sure when they will have me take those yet.
It is ridiculous the amount of meds we must take to attempt to get pregnant and crack heads get breathed on and they pop out babies ! I am so overwhelmed by all the meds every single cycle upon looking at them. I also become riddled with worry about the outcome of the cycle, but it will be what it will be. I have to have the sperm vial shipped to the clinic, but will do so on January 2nd and have them send it out for Tuesday delivery. The eggs will be thawed and fertilized on Friday, so that will be plenty of time. I will leave for Syracuse on Friday as well, as I have to go the HCG wash on Saturday (tentatively). I am hoping that all stays on point with this timeline so that I can do my transfer and get to Washington DC area for the arrival of my niece’s baby. I also have to start packing so that the rest of my belongings can be taken to storage for the movers to pick up everything from one place and take everything to California. I have so much stuff that it requires a 53 foot tractor trailer to take the items. I really should have gotten rid of more furniture, especially since I am changing the color scheme to gray, white and tangerine. I will just sell what I do not wish to keep once I get everything out there. Most of my boxes contain kitchen gadgets, stemware, kitchen stuff… etc. I entertain a lot so I of COURSE need all that stuff right? lol
In other news: My mother is recuperating well from her surgery. She is finally coming to the conclusion that she has to slow her buns down ! She thought she would just jump up and start doing things as before, and her pain level is teaching her otherwise. She is hardheaded LOL.
This weekend, I am decorating the condo for Christmas. I spent yesterday putting the tree up. I think it needs more lights so I will string another 4 or 5 strands on it today and then hang the ornaments and stick the plums and other decor on it. My mom is working on the buffet decor and the table. This year, I decided to do all silver decorations. It is looking pretty good. I will just be glad when I am done ! I miss my decorator!! My niece has a friend who LOVES to decorate. He did the entire house for me last year. I am tempted to put him on a plane and let him do it, but I am almost done and I am not that deep in the pockets for such lol.
I will post pictures when I am done with the decorating. Have a great weekend !!
Plan B Chronicles 