Could You Do This Blindfolded?

As veterans of infertility treatment, we do so many injections that it becomes second nature. We can practically do them without thinking about them. We joke that we could probably do them blindfolded. Well, last night, I almost got my chance. I was in the middle of giving myself one of my two injections and... someone snuck up behind me and blindfolded me! No, wait, that's not right. Um... Oh right. I was in the middle of giving myself on of my two injections and... the power went out. And flickered back on. And off. And on. And off. And on... and off. And there it stayed. So I'm standing there with a needle hanging out of me wondering what to do, but what are you gonna do, right? So out it came, I found the cap, disposed of the needle appropriately, put everything away in the fridge and said, "Now what?"

Yeah.

So that brings me to last night's injections. Yes, this post is all backward. The fact that I even had injections to TAKE last night is news, isn't it? So I started stims last night. Because I had my Lupron evaluation yesterday morning. I got to Ye Olde Fertility Clinic in the morning and Dracula called me back for bloodwork. He only had to bite me twice to get any blood, poor thing. I think he was mortified that he missed, but that's not shocking. Eventually I got called in to an ultrasound room. No sooner am I in the room and close the door, but I start to unbutton my skirt and in walk M (sonographer extraordinaire) and SuperDoc.

Oh for crying out loud, M, give a girl a minute! M kicked SuperDoc out and turned her back while I bitched at her for rushing me (jokingly of course). "Well, welcome back, huh?" she said, bemusedly. "Yeah, thanks for the warm welcome! I guess you're the welcoming committee!" Anyway, apparently, my ovaries were sufficiently unperky (7 follicles on the right, 8 on the left... far less than usual), and my lining looked good, and my bloodwork must have looked just fine because I started stims last night - 125 IUs of Follistim and 37.5 IUs of Luveris.

There was a little bit of drama about the Luveris - The Luveris comes in 75 IU unit doses. I'm only taking 37.5 IUs, which is to say ... half a vial each night. So I casually said to my husband the other night, "I wonder if I'm supposed to waste half each night, or if I'm supposed to save the other half and take it the next night." My husband is a pharmacist, so he took a look at the packaging and said, definitively, "You need to waste it each night."

"Really? Are you sure? I'm not sure I'll have enough if I do that..."
"Yes, I'm absolutely positive. If you don't, it could start growing things. There are no preservatives in here. You need to waste it."
"Okay, I guess I'll just refill it if I run out."

So when my nurse called yesterday to tell me to start the Follistim and the Luveris, I confirmed that i was just taking half a vial of Luveris each night. "Yes, so put in 1cc of sterile water and mix the Luveris and then draw out half and put the rest in the fridge for the next night."

"Um, really? Because S said I couldn't do that..."

My nurse said they've been told for years you can do that and said that I'm more than welcome to refill it if that would make him happy or I could check with the pharmacy I filled it at, or whatever worked for us, but that they've never had a problem with it, etc. Oooookay.

Not really keen on getting a skin infection from a random bottle of Luveris, I thought maybe my husband (who works in a hospital and therefore doesn't work with a lot of fertility meds)... ANYWAY, I figured maybe I should call the pharmacist that specializes in this stuff. So I did and I explained that my pharmacist husband was a little jumpy about me reusing the vial, but that my nurse had told me to do so and what did THEY recommend?

"Well, I can't recommend that. You'd run the risk of an infection, and the manufacter doesn't recommend it either. I'm sure your doctor's office has never had a problem with it, which is why they say it's fine, but it's not something I can recommend."

So fine. Then my husband comes back with, "Well, you can put it in the fridge and tomorrow you can just look at it and see if the solution is clear or cloudy. If it's clear, you're good."

"Well, is that a definitive test?"
"No."
"Well, here's the thing, it's a $50 copay to refill it once vs. my personal safety here. $50 isn't cheap. It's an unlikely reaction I could have. $50 isn't cheap, but it's yet another $50 on top of all the other $50 copays we've paid for all the other medications. Sooner or later it adds up to real money. But it's $50 vs. the possibility of an infection..."
"Yeah. Refill the medication."

I mean, I'm not trying to be Ms. DramaRama here, but seriously. How stupid would I feel if I ended up with the creeping crud because of this?

Anywhozit, stims started last night. Still taking Lupron. Headaches still suck mightily. I haven't killed my husband yet, though, which is a positive sign. Back to the clinic on Thursday.