In Vitro Fertilization Finalization

I finally finished the two week invasion of IVF treatment. Man, giving myself those shots was not easy at first but when you have to do something it becomes normal. I don't know how those that suffer with diabetes handle it. I'm doing this treatment not by choice but by necessity. Because I'll be undergoing a bone-marrow transplant I'll be getting chemotherapy & radiation leading to me not being able to have children. So in order to still have my own children I was given this great opportunity to store my own eggs for the future. I'm so grateful that I will still be able to have children with the man I fall in love with and marry.

I had to give myself two separate shots the first week then it grew to three shots a day for about three days then four shots and finally the day before my egg removal (10in all) I took one end of the cycle shot. The process was weird for me because getting an injection is nothing new to me since I get them all the time dealing with this disease but to have to do it myself was the game changer I had to get used to. I would first wash my hands with anti-bacterial soap and them get the syringes and medications out. Then depending on the dosage I would draw into the needle the amount needed, find a spot in my lower abdomen or upper thigh and inject. I'm not going to lie, injecting myself would sting at times and the syringes would be really full making it longer to inject myself.

I noticed that over time I had begun to get fluid retention, hand & feet swelling (as though I were pregnant). It's a surreal experience that I find had to explain. The main part was finding a donor and thinking through all the characteristics I'm looking for. Height, hair color, ethnicity, etc. All these things you wouldn't normally be thinking off but I find myself having to.

The morning of my egg retrieval was horrible because I was in an enormous amount of pain from my sickle cell anemia and left the emergency room to run about 2hrs away to get the procedure done. After the fact though I couldn't help but think in terms of: my child is on a petri dish waiting for me. Wow. But the injecting myself and going into the doctors office every three days to do an ultra sound and to test my levels to determine the dosage I inject was now all finally over!

Now I can move forward with the transplant without fear and worry that I can't have children. I'm now open to just getting through the transplant and recovering!