Blood Test & Injection Training

This morning we woke up briiiiight and early to go to a 7am appointment. (Cory actually woke me up from a Portlandia-related dream I was having at 2:30am, by accidentally slamming the garage door; but I got up at 4:45 and we left at 5:30.) Note to self: leave a little earlier next time, we got there with about three minutes to spare because of rush hour traffic.

I have to say, I love the phlebotomist at ORM. She's really sweet, but the best part is that the needle doesn't even sting when it goes in. (I don't really have needle issues, but I can tell when someone knows what they're doing!)

After my 30-second blood draw (and a pink camo bandage), we told the phlebotomist we also had an injection training scheduled, and after several minutes she came back to tell us it wasn't ever scheduled but she would find us someone. It ended up being someone from the third-party reproduction unit, and she was awesome to chat with.

So Cory will be giving me delestrogen and progesterone in ethyl olate. He played with the needle a little bit to get a feel for it again (it's been three years), and the delestrogen is pretty thick and goopy. But the nurse had a good pointer for us and also some good news!

Tip: If you are receiving intramuscular injections, you're supposed to not tense the muscle that the needle is going in. The nurse said she used to just tell people to put their weight on the other leg, but she found that if you actually put your leg up on a chair or a drawer, you can't tense the muscle of that leg, and the needle will go in more easily that way.

Good News: ORM at least is using a new form of progesterone - instead of progesterone in oil, it's now progesterone in ethyl olate. That makes the required needle smaller, and the liquid itself much thinner and easier to inject. And it won't leave sore lumps in your butt! I was happy to hear that after only three years they were able to fix one of the most unpleasant parts of injections!

After we got our training and our handouts, the nurse drew circles on my ham hocks with a Sharpie so Cory knows where to poke. (I'm assuming they'll do that for the progesterone when I go back in two weeks.)

After our appointment, we had some breakfast and stopped by an RV dealership for a moment, so Cory could try out a teardrop trailer. We've been thinking about purchasing one, but Cory is so tall I was worried he wouldn't fit. Turns out he's not 100% comfortable but he says it'll work for a few nights at a time. So now we just need to figure out where to buy, and how much we can afford!

The office just called and let me know the results of the blood test - I'm nice and repressed, so we're a go for this cycle! I have good feelings about this cycle, now that the polyp and extra tissue is gone. (Of course, any time I say that out loud, I think "crap, I've just jinxed myself!")