Today is CD15 of the priming phase. I have swallowed 203 pills and applied 14 doses of testosterone gel. I’m feeling quite accomplished! I often gag when swallowing pills, so this has been quite a trial already.
Today I went in to the clinic for some blood work: a repeat CBC, chemistry panel and check on total testosterone levels. No results yet.
I start taking progesterone (promethium) tomorrow (CD16), stop the testosterone gel on CD20, start testosterone patches on CD21, and stop all testosterone and progesterone on CD25. Then I wait for my period (CD1) to call in to the office. That should be around July 7th, although it doesn’t matter exactly when it happens, because I will continue taking estrogen until July 9th. The nurse explained that this will “keep my body on CD1” for a few days.
IVF stimulation injections begin on July 11th and continue for somewhere around 10 days, depending on how the follicles are developing. During the stimulation phase, I’ll be going in to the clinic just about every day for ultrasounds and labs to check on the follicle growth and my hormone levels.
So we’re now approximately one month out from egg retrieval. A month is a long time, for sure, but I will be going through a whole lot between now and then, so I doubt it will feel very long at all. I’m bracing myself for a lot of pain and discomfort, but somehow that seems like it will be a welcome relief from all this waiting around.
I am slightly anxious about the egg retrieval itself, but I think the best thing I can do to ensure everything goes smoothly is to keep taking care of myself, getting plenty of sleep, and finding ways to relax and unwind every day.