May 10, 2021
I hit the road for my hour-long drive to the fertility clinic for an IVF check-in, will need to do this every 2-3 days over the next few weeks. The check-in starts with a blood draw to check hormone levels and then an ultrasound to see how things are progressing.
After being on these meds since last Thursday, it appears things are progressing - but very slowly. We had been hopeful for an egg retrieval on Friday of this week, but that will no longer be happening. Which means our option for creating and freezing embryos instead of just eggs is no longer available to us.
The hospital works with a traveling embryologist, and the Friday retrieval would have ensured we had what we needed for the embryologist to make embryos before they leave for their next hospital, but since we won’t be doing an egg retrieval by this Friday - we’ll be freezing eggs instead. There are some complications that come with freezing eggs instead of embryos. Just like with chicken eggs, they are fragile and there can be some damage to the integrity of the eggs in the freezing and thawing process, but we’re still so thankful for this option and hopeful for the chance to grow our family once we’ve put the breast cancer behind us.
I made the drive home and crammed in some work, and then my afternoon was spent at the dentist office. Here’s something you might not have thought about or realized, but you can’t get your regular teeth cleaning while undergoing treatment for cancer - for a number of reasons. So luckily my dentist office was able to squeeze me in for a cleaning before everything gets started with treatment. Checking another item off the list as we slowly but surely march toward chemotherapy’s start date.
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