As of tonight I have now done seven days of injections. I use a 27 gauge needle which is tiny. Barely feel it going in. The steps however, are numerous.
Step number one: Grab rice bag from freezer.
Step number two: Wash hands.
Step number three: Apply ice bag to spot that you will inject the cetratide into. Tonight I remembered to do my stomach and so I tied my robe around the rice bag! Brilliant :)
Step number four: Assemble supplies. For tonight, this meant two pens of Gonal F, two injector needles for the Gonal F, the vial of powdered Luveris, the sterile water vial for the Luveris, a 22 gauge needle for mixing, a standard syringe, a 27 gauge needle for injecting, four alcohol swabs, a sterile syringe of water for the Cetratide, the Cetratide powder vial, a 20 gauge needle for mixing, and a (slightly longer) 27 gauge needle for the Cetratide injection. Whew!
Step number four A: Clean the Gonal F pen cap and the Luveris vials with alcohol swab.
Step number five: Dial the dose of the Gonal F (225 units). Put on the injector cap (remove the three protective layers!).Inject this into the Luveris powder vial. Check the dial to see if it has hit zero. If not, you need another pen. Tonight I did, so I had to get out a new pen and dial 50, then repeat the steps.
Step number six: Gently mix this by rolling the vial until all the powder is dissolved.
Step number seven: Attach the 22 gauge needle to the syringe.
Step number eight: Draw up 1ml of sterile water from the sterile water vial. Sometimes you may have to stop and release some air from the vial or else you may accidentally send the water all back into the vial and have to start all over again.
Step number nine: Inject this into the Luveris/Gonal F solution vial.
Step number ten: Gently swirl to ensure the meds are mixed together properly.
Step number eleven: Once they have been mixed properly, draw the meds up into the syringe with your 22 gauge needle. Follow same steps with air as above!.
Step number twelve: Cap the 22 gauge needle, remove from syringe and place in sharps container.
Step number thirteen: Attach the 27 gauge needle to the syringe.
Step number fourteen: Clean selected area (thigh or abdomen) with alcohol swab. Let dry briefly.
Step number fifteen: Uncap the 27 gauge needle, push out air (may have to tap syringe to get air bubbles up.
Step number sixteen: Quickly insert needle into selected area, which is being pinched with other hand. Insert ALL the way. Push injection in. To avoid leakage (which I had the first couple of days), I slowly count to ten, then release and apply a bit of pressure with a clean alcohol swab.
With the Luveris/Gonal F now done, I turn to the Cetratide. Cetratide is a medication that prevents ovulation, while the Luveris and Gonal F stimulate the ovaries to mature more eggs than the normal of one.
Step number seventeen: Clean off the Cetratide powder vial with alcohol swab.
Step number eighteen: Put 20 gauge needle onto Cetratide syringe (which is prefilled with sterile water) and inject into the Cetratide vial.
Step number nineteen: Gently mix together, making sure no powder remains.
Step number twenty: Draw up solution into syringe. As before, you may need to stop and get rid of air.
Step number twenty one: Remove the 20 gauge needle, cap, and place in sharps container.
Step number twenty-two: Attach the 27 gauge needle.
Step number twenty-three: Remove ice and clean the area (abdomen) with alcohol swab. Let dry briefly.
Step number twenty-four: Uncap the 27 gauge needle, push air out.
Step number twenty-five: Quickly insert needle into selected area, which is being pinched with the other hand. Insert all the way (this needle is slightly longer). Push injection in. This injection doesn't hurt persay, but it sort of stings/itches afterwards, along with swelling slightly. Therefore, I put the ice back on.
Step number twenty-six: Survey mess of both hazardous and non-hazardous material. Be amazed at how much garbage and recycling two injections makes...
Tomorrow morning I go back into the clinic for more ultrasound and bloodwork. Hope to see more follicles! Monday we saw seven, which seemed a bit disappointing to me, although the Dr wasn't disappointed. I hope I get one of the other two doctors as I wasn't super comfortable with Dr. L on monday.
Oh well. Seven days of injections down, which means I am at least half-way through.
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