IVF 6: Egg Retrieval

TL;DR version: 28 eggs. Stories in chronological order from Friday to Sunday.

There was a situation on Friday where there was stress for a bit because my follicles were large and there was a chance I'd need to trigger with Lupron, but they needed to see the blood levels before confirming. A Lupron trigger meant not only did I need to run to the pharmacy before they closed on Friday, but I'd also have to arrange for a ride on Shabbat to get bloodwork to see if it absorbed right. I waited on pins and needles all day and emailed my nurse around 1pm. She replied saying there was a machine issue and the bloods needed to be sent to another location (over an hour away) for processing so they won't get info until after 3pm. I got news around 4 pm that trigger will be with HCG so no need to run to the pharmacy and no need to come in on Saturday for bloodwork. Whew.

Trigger went fine on Friday night. The next step was Saturday meds. The antibiotic they usually prescribe is azithromycin which is one dose night before retrieval to help prevent infection. In the past, I've had severe GI issues with it (at first I called it the nervous-shits but then we discovered it was actually from the meds). So this time, I thought I was being clever by asking for a different antibiotic. Enter doxycycline. It's twice a day for five days. Supposedly a more mild medication and less intense on the GI tract. It had been a rough several weeks with the diet and shots - I was already nauseous. But as soon as I took the doxy the nausea reached a whole new level. On Saturday, I took the first dose of doxy in the morning and felt off the entire day. I threw up my coffee. I couldn't even keep water down. My appetite was non-existent but I knew I needed to get something in my system. I tried eating some dry crispix and kept it down for about 20 min but it came back up. Toward evening I tried having an apple and it stayed. I thought maybe the worst had past because I hadn't connected the dots with the doxy. Then I took the evening dose of doxy and it was an immediate reaction. I was again nauseous and so miserable. I thought maybe having some tea and crackers might help. I was willing to try anything and I knew I'd be skipping breakfast the next day. It was Saturday night and I didn't want to take another doxy on an empty stomach in the morning right before retrieval. I called the after-hours line for help. I told the nurse who called back that I have the azithro and that I just can't tolerate the doxy. I didn't want to overmedicate or have a weird combo reaction. She advised taking the azithro and if it comes back up, it comes back. She said they can give me anti-nausea meds in the IV in the morning.

So instead of fighting the nausea, I went to get rid of the night dose of doxy which I knew was going to bother me until it came up, and I didn't want to throw up the azithro. The apple and crackers came back up and, since there was nothing left, I was left dry-heaving on the toilet.  I felt a tiny bit better almost immediately. I was worried about taking the azithro on an empty stomach and I mean completely empty. My husband brought me some dry crispix and I ate a handful. It stayed down for 10 minutes so I took the azithro and hoped for the best.

I woke up several times in the night with my stomach churning in hunger. I was uncomfortable because of the azithro wreaking havoc on my system and I was still nauseous. I got dizzy in the shower and started dry-heaving again. Nothing came out. It took effort to gather myself long enough to take a few deep breaths and pull myself together. By the time I got to the retrieval I was ready for drugs. Pain killers, anti-nausea, whatever they were offering I was accepting. This is from someone who reconsiders Tylenol for a headache. The meds were heavenly. I didn't even care that the IV was bothering me. It was such a relief not to be nauseous.

Retrieval was uneventful and surprisingly smooth. Maybe I'm just used to the drill by now. There was no issue with my weight. I'd lost 6 lbs since baseline. My diet had a lot to do with it but it was also aided along by the nausea. I'm sure I gained some weight from the bloating so it may even be more. I was ready to do the retrieval without anesthesia - there was no way I was canceling the cycle for that but I'm very glad it didn't come down to that! Tomorrow we find out how many eggs were mature and fertilized.

Overall the cycle passed pretty quickly. I hope the wait to results passes quickly too.