A whirlwind of a morning...

This morning I had to go to the downtown office for the final screening and baseline ultrasound to finally begin meds for the study.  The research coordinator was kind enough to let me come in at 7:15 and she ran around like a lunatic the whole time trying to rush everything so I could get back to work!

I had to leave the house at 6:45 this morning, but I was very proud of myself that I made it there on time!  You can imagine how pleased C was to be up at 6:30 producing a sample...

When I got there, I had to fill in a bunch of paperwork regarding C's sample, then I started work on the sixty page questionnaire.  I was told to carry the clipboard around with me everywhere I went so that I could work on it every time there was a lull. 

In all, I was at the office from 7:15 until about 8:30.  In that amount of time, I had the following:

1. A full physical, including height, weight, waist and hip measurements, blood pressure screening, a pap smear, cervical examination and a breast exam.
2. The baseline ultrasound, lining check and follicle count.
3. A sebum test that measured the oils on my forehead with a sensor.  (Yeah, I found this confusing, too...)
4. A blood draw that included twelve vials of blood.
5. Tons of paperwork.

Phew.  It was actually quite overwhelming being whisked from one room to another.  I had become so accustomed to the routines in clinical practice that I felt like I was starting all over again. 

My nurse also explained that the study protocol does not use a subcutaneous ovulation trigger like Ovidrel, so I would need to bring either C or someone else to be trained on how to deliver the intramuscular trigger into the buttock.  Oh, dear. 

Since C is working tomorrow and I'm not sure how I feel (or how he feels) about him delivering an IM injection, I opted to bring my cousin in her medical residency with me instead.  She has done several of my trigger shots and she lives right around the corner, so I figured this was better in the long run anyway.

I received the calls this afternoon that all of the hormone levels in the blood sample were normal, despite the tiny cyst on my left ovary.  All of my other levels were normal (lipids, electrolytes, and a whole bunch of other stuff I have never heard of or had tested before), so we are a go for tomorrow morning.  At our next meeting, I will find out which meds have been randomized to me and pick up all of the meds, most likely starting them tomorrow.

Even though I had to cancel some IUIs in the past, this is our seventh medicated cycle.  Let's hope this is lucky number seven!  Here we go!