The real side of infertility

Consult with Dr. Kim

Last week I received an email that Dr. Kim wanted to have a phone consult with me regarding my IVIG treatment and the reaction I had. I guess the main problem was the headache I had a week leading into the infusion. She told me to never go into a infusion with a headache, that it will only make things worse. I guess the proteins build up in my vessels and people who suffer from migraines already have bigger vessels which cause water retention of some sort. The proteins will trigger a migraine for those of us already suffering with on going headaches etc. They are going to cut my infusion from 25 grams to 5 grams and lengthen the infusion to five hours and split it up so I have an infusion and the other half of infusion a day later. They will also add saline to help dilute the proteins some, benadryl is suppose to help with the reaction and I am to start my Prednisone two days before the infusion to also help with reaction. My post IVIG blood work came back and my TH/1TH/2 Cytokines are still elevated. I asked if that was common after a treatment. She said yes because they are a smaller cell verses the NK cells and take multiple treatments to get down. She said they are a lot slower verses the NK cells which can go down after one treatment. So I should be able to see a difference in a few treatments.  Today I am 9DPO, if I get pregnant this cycle I will immediately need to have another infusion and also double my steroids and double lovenox. If I am not pregnant this cycle, I will have my next infusion done around CD13 of next one. I was pretty optimistic about this cycle, but at 9DPO and BFN I don't see this one worked. As someone with only a 10-11 luteal phase, it should happen today or tomorrow. I don't feel pregnant though. Either way the good news is I can go forward with another treatment. I won't lie, I am nervous because I don't want to go through that pain again, but I am hoping the changes we are implementing will make a difference. Only time will tell. The most important thing to me right now is we are trying and doing everything possible within our control and we are. 

Blog suggestions

I am looking to follow some new blogs. Preferably infertility related blogs and it doesn't matter to me if they are currently pregnant or still in the trenches. I hope you wonderful ladies can suggest some good reads!

Go..........

I went in this morning and had my RE clinic draw blood for me so I could send to Chicago. Today is one week post IVIG and I am feeling pretty great. The home nurse that does my infusions said once I get past the side effects which usually last a few days, that I would feel really good. She sure wasn't lying. In all honesty I didn't know how much work went into trying to treat immune issues and infertility. I thought I would be doing a few shots of lovenox and taking some steroids, but this has really turned into a full time job. Of course I am not complaining because I know that I need all of this stuff to have a good chance of keeping a pregnancy. I heard back from Dr. Kims office last Friday and she is going to discuss my reaction to the infusion with the infusion clinic. I might not be able to go forward with it since I had such a significant reaction afterwards. If you asked me the days after the infusion if I wanted to do it again I would have told you hell fuck no. Now I am looking back and thinking I want to give it another shot. Hopefully the suggestions that the infusion clinic offered will offset my reaction somewhat.

While I was at my clinic I asked them to do a progesterone draw. Today I am 6DPO. This really confused me. Looking at my chart before crosshairs, I thought I was only a few days PO. That stupid fever I had really messed my chart up this month. So it will be nice to see what the number show and to know that I did in fact ovulate this month. I should also hear back from Dr. Kims office within the next week to know if the infusion lowered my Cytokines. I guess if it did, then that give me a little more hope to know I am going in the right direction with all of this. I am also keeping in the back of my mind that our window is getting so close now. This journey is closer to being over one way or the other each and everyday. 

Oh and big news! One of my great friends and someone who has struggled with infertility for years now is currently pregnant. She has been through so much and I was beyond happy to hear the news for her. Wishing her a beautiful nine months! ( YOu know who you are) :) 

UPDATE: 
  Heard back on my progesterone and my levels were 19.4. Pretty good number for me :) 

Infertile Stash

Is there ever to much? I think not.

Funny Infertility Friday

Feeling Better

I am feeling SO much better, so now back to regular scheduled programing of unicorn farts and rainbows.............

I have sent an email to Dr. Kim and hopefully we can figure something out to help my infusions be a little easier next time.

Part 3 ( IVIG)

Well after I posted yesterday about my knee and headache, things took a turn for the worst and I ended up in the ER. The clinic called and was worried I had developed a blood clot in my knee because of the pain. My headache started getting much worse and by the time we got to the ER I couldn't even keep my eyes open because I was in so much pain. After three hours of sitting out in the hallway waiting on a room my husband went and found the director of ER and told him what was going on. I do love the fact that my husband works with all the directors at the hospital. Thankfully within twenty minutes he came down and made them get me in a room and start an iv with pain meds. I started throwing up pretty bad and the pain meds would only work for about 20 minutes and the migraine was back full force. Thankfully I didn't have a blood clot and they kept me there until 10 last night trying to manage my pain. Finally I told them I just wanted to go home. So he sent me home with pain meds and zofran. Today the infusion clinic called to see what happened. I explained to her about the migraine and said I probably don't want anymore IVIG treatments done. I can't go through this once a month. She is going to call Dr. Kims office and see if they can pre medicate me the next time with iv zofran, pain meds and benedryl to see if that helps the side effects at all. I am feeling much better tonight. I had a very high fever when we got home from the ER last night and it finally broke about six this morning. I am not going to lie, I had a very rough day yesterday. I usually try not to complain, but this absolutely sucked. My next infusion was set for January 31st which is a Friday. I might give it one more shot since it will be followed by the weekend. If I have to go to ER again at least I won't miss three days of work like I did this time. I need some time to think about it. I hate acting like a big ole baby about this and I know I should just suck it up and try again, but I am not looking forward to going through this again or ever for that matter.

Part 2 (IVIG)

I'm back. For the most part the infusion went great. My nurse pulled up around 10 till yesterday morning and unloaded all the materials. We went over risks and general information. Then I had time to ask questions about the treatment. Since I have been diagnosed for a few years now with migraines, I did get a headache after the treatment  yesterday and it is a pretty good one today. I did hydrate, but it was something they warned me would most likely happen. The infusion took 3 hours and 50 minutes. They start off with a very low dose and then every hour it goes up until the final dose. My blood pressure was amazing yesterday 126/72 which is almost unheard of for me and my pulse was even better at 92bpm! I guess having something like this done in the comfort of your own home does truly make a huge difference on anxiety levels. We talked the whole four hours and she was very interested in my case. She said I was the first person that she has ever done IVIG for infertility. So she asked about my story and we talked and talked. It was so nice to have a person to sit there and listen. She will be my home nurse for every infusion from here on out. We did go over how to do the epi-pen. I guess I have a risk every infusion of a reaction because each infusion is made from different donor plasma. I do feel better that I learned how to use the epi-pen, along with Al and Cierra, just in case anything happens.  So all and all the infusion itself was great. I woke up about 1 am this morning with a horrible pain in my knee cap and it continued all night long. When I got out of bed this morning I was in a lot of pain and could barely walk. I did take 4 Tylenol and called the nurse. I guess this is also a side effect of the medication. It can cause joint pain.  Honestly though, if headache and knee pain are the only two side effects of this, then I am sold :) Lucky me, I can sit all day at work and not have to walk on it much. She said it should be better within the next few days. My next infusion is set for January 31st at 1:00p.m.

On ttc front, today is CD 14 and look what I got this morning.

 This is the first time ever I have got a positive with a digital ovulation test. I am feeling pretty awesome this year. I honestly feel in my  heart that this is going to be a good year for us.

Part One (IVIG)

Well I got a phone call from the infusion center this morning letting me know there was some kind of miscommunication. My insurance doesn't cover me going into the center for the infusion, but does cover them coming to my house. I was completely stunned because it is usually the other way around and this could be why the are required to have the epi-pen and benedryl with them. I definitely won't complain though. I would rather have a four hour IV in the comfort of my own home.

I will update later on how things go! My infusion is at 11:00.