So I have taken 6 doses av 300 IU Fostimon, 2 Ferymadel as I told you in part 1.

The follow-ups

I was both nervous and excited for my the control appointment on 30/04/2024. This time, I had to come to the reproduction department at the hospital, not the clinic like the initial control. The atmosphere here was much different, the waiting room was full of women (obviously to be here to do the IVF). It didn’t take me anytime to realise that I was kind of different from anyone here: Most of them came with a partner, while I was on my own. I suddenly felt a little bit down, the feeling of loneliness and sorry for myself. I held myself with some positive thoughts so that I didn’t burst into tear there, that would be very embarrassing 🙈

To be fair, more and more women take decision to freeze their eggs now, so coming alone without a partner should not be very uncommon. And in my case, this whole cancer thing came to fast. I believe when deciding on IVF, most women/couples spend a good amount of time to discuss and plan it. I didn’t have time to think, I didn’t have time to ask anyone for opinion, I didn’t have time to plan, I just had to decide immediately and do it.

There was a lot of delay that day. My appointment was at 13:00 but I was called in around 14:30. I didn’t prepare for that delay so waiting there was quite boring for me. I had more time to observe people in the waiting room. Maybe just my bias view, but I saw all women were so nervous and kind of sad while those men who followed them were kind of nonchalant somehow 🥹

The doctor cut my thoughts by calling me in. This is not the doctor I met in my first appointment. She rushed a little (of course, it was a huge delay today) and did the ultrasound on me (there was no comfort for me today 🥹). The doctor said my eggs were still very small, she wondered why I hadn’t started on Letrozol yet. I never heard of this before, she explained it was some pills that might help stimulating egg growth, but the result was not quite confirmed by research.

I was so disappointed as I had hope that my eggs grew well. So, 6 doses were not enough. I got 3 more doses of Fostimon. This time the dose was increased to 450 IU. There is one thing about Fostimon: Actually there is no dose on 450 IU, this means I had to take 300 IU + 150 IU. I was so anxious about this as I also had to take Ferymadel, which means 3 injections every night 😭 Luckily, a friend who did the IVF before told me that I could mix both 300 IU and 150 IU bottles in the same liquid and had them as one shot. This rescued me! This instruction is actually on the website, I should search for it 🤓

Actually when I heard that my body didn’t response so well, I have thought about giving up IVF. But I have taken 6 doses, I couldn’t waste that commitment. I was more anxious this time, after injecting the first 450 IU dose, I paid more attention to my body but didn’t feel any changes, my belly didn’t become bigger, and my general condition was still the same (not tired or emotional).

I had new control on Friday 03/05/2024. Once again, eggs were not big enough. I was disappointed but not as last time, just because this time I didn’t have high hope. I had to take 3 more doses of 450 IU Fostimon. Luckily they set up my appointment for egg collecting already on 08/05/2024. Seriously I didn’t feel much change in my body, so I really hoped there were enough big eggs to collect 😞

On 04/05/2024 and 05/05/2024, I have to take the Fostimon and Fyremadel injections as instructed. On 06/05/0224 I have to take 2 injections (Gonapeptyl) for ovulation. These injections look like Fyremadel but a little bigger. I was a little scared but this is the first step before egg collecting so I just did it.

07/05/2024 was a nice day because there was no injection. Look back at all the hormone I injected into my body, it was quite a lot:

And here:

Egg collecting

My appointment for egg collecting was on Wednesday 08/05/2024 at 08:30, but I was asked to meet up at 08:00, and I had to take all the painkillers latest at 07:50 (They gave me all the painkillers when I was there for my last control. There were different types of them).

On that day, I waked up around 06:00. Normally that was early for me, but I was so nervous so I didn’t manage to sleep more. I took a shower and ate a light breakfast which I prepared from the previous evening (oatmeal, chia seeds, blueberry, and mango). Then I took bus to the hospital and arrived at 07:50. I took the painkillers when I arrived the waiting room. There were already some couples there, but the registration hadn’t been open yet. I got registered around 08:10 and was called in nearly immediately.

A nurse took me to the resting room where I got a bed where I could relax a little and get changed. It was a nice bed near window separated from other beds with curtain. I put the surgery cap on and was taken to the “operation room”.

There were many in the operation room waiting for me. I had never seen any of them before except the nurse who gave me the painkillers in my last control. I don’t know their functions neither but I supposed they were there for a good reason 😂

The doctor told me to relax but it was not easy to follow 😂 The atmosphere in the room was quite weird. Although I was quite “relaxed” by the painkillers, I was totally conscious. The room was dark, everyone was quiet and tense. The doctor began the procedure by giving me local anesthesia. It was uncomfortable when she put the long stick inside me, but not when they injected anesthesia. The rest of the procedure went OK. It was painful when they moved the stick inside, the same kind of pain when you have your periods, just a little worse. It was actually more painful when they took the eggs. I tried to relax as much as I could so that they could finish the job as quick as possible 🥹

I lost the sense of time but I guess the whole procedure took 15 – 20 minutes. Now I know why there were so many people in the room. They had different tasks, some of them were bioengineer, who checked the eggs and froze the good ones right away. I was so dizzy when standing up from the “operation chair”. The nurse helped me to come back to the resting room where a nurse already waited for me there. She asked me if I wanted anything or needed any help. I said I just wanted to sleep 😴 🛌

I slept well (at least I thought so) with the pain in my lower belly. The pain was not unbearable but quite uncomfortable. I didn’t know how long I had slept before others came into the room. There were three women who also just finished the procedure I guess. They were with their partners so they were quite loud and woke me up. I went to the toilette to pee, it went well but I bled a little (which is totally normal). In this procedure, you can’t go home before you have managed to pee normally, so it was a good sign that I could go home.

When coming back to my bed, the nurse asked me if I wanted to eat or drink something. I would rather go home, so I asked her to give me the Zoladex injection. This is the injection to “turn off” the hormone in my body so that my ovary could be protected during the time I have chemo.

I was still dizzy (they said it was one of the painkillers that hit me hard 😂) but I decided to go home. On my way out of hospital, I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up the antibiotics Doxylin which I had to take for 5 days (to prevent infection). Actually it was recommended to have someone with you, and to drive you home after the procedure. But what happened to me was not something I could plan well in advance, and I don’t want to bother anyone. I just took the normal public transport home. I managed it well, but go straight to the bed when I got home (around 11:30).

I slept well even with the pain in my belly and the dizziness left from painkillers. Around 13:00, the nurse from the reproduction department rang to inform me how many eggs they took out and how many they froze. The number was actually a disappointment for me (after all those hormone injections). But I tried to think positive: The most important for me now is becoming cancer-free. Who knows what future brings anyways? I should be happy that now one step is done. I can throw all the hormone boxes to close one chapter in this long journey.

I felt much better in the afternoon, managed to cook, ate well, and tidy up. They asked me to look for the sign of serious side effects. Luckily, the day after I felt even better, although I still bled a little down there and had a little “period pain” in my belly. I was not dizzy anymore but quite tired. I was scheduled for the first infusion of chemo after 5 days, so I just tried the best I could to relax and recover from this procedure.

Was I ready for chemo? Well, I didn’t feel so but at the same time I just wanted to start the treatment as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor and I won’t give any medical advice. All I share on this blog is simply my personal experiences based on the treatment plan which was made specifically for me. However, if there is any topic you want me to share more about, please comment below 👇