98 Needles

Some doctors like to make conversation while they are doing things that make you physically uncomfortable. I always thought this was to distract you from the unpleasantness, to relax you. Apparently some doctors are just bored, or particularly curious about their patient's presentation of the human condition. Because on Monday, while I was having a particularly uncomfortable transvaginal ultrasound (physically), my doctor was asking my mother a series of detailed questions about my father's illness, medical care, and death. He asked about our end-of-life decisions, and whether the doctors involved approved of them, and he asked about my mother's concept of life-after-death. All while using that transvaginal ultrasound probe to measure and count the number of mature follicles. As you can imagine, it was all very relaxing, just like the week in the Caribbean I deserve.
Well, at the end of the appointment, my doctor gave the instruction for me to give myself a trigger shot of HCG and scheduled my egg retrieval for 9 a.m. Wednesday. That is tomorrow.

I spent part of today stocking up on ginger ale and crackers. Blessedly, while I did have acupuncture today, I did not have to give myself any shots. Such freedom.

Send fertile thoughts, if you have them to spare.

As of today, the needle count is as follows:
24 Lupron shots
5 blood draws
11 Repronex shots
9 Follistim shots
48 acupuncture needles (in four visits)
1 HCG trigger shot


Total to date: 98 Needles.