Drug Rundown

I spoke to Andrea, my coordinator at the Sher Institute, Wednesday on the telephone for the first time. She is awesome! She is an R.N. and she has read my chart from front to back. I love the fact that one person is very focused on my case. I explained to her that I am obsessed with information gathering and that I am very detail-orientated. She put me at ease when she told me that she has the same affliction. We are a perfect match.

She sent me my first treatment calendar, drug information, some prescriptions and some consents. I received them Friday. I was like a kid in a candy store - I got the information I had been waiting for. I will speak to her tomorrow and she will explain it all in detail. This is my treatment calendar:

I know you can't read all of the fine print on the calendar, so I will explain. Each of the colors is a different drug that I will take on that specific day. For some reason, some of my drugs are not on this calendar. I will speak to Andrea about this on Monday. Here is a rundown of the 12 drugs that I will take for this first treatment cycle:

1. Progesterone: oral medication that I just took x 5 days to induce a period

2. Birth Control Pills: oral medication that I will take for about 2 weeks prior to the hormones. It is used to regulate my cycle.

3. Prenatal Vitamins: oral medication taken daily to help prevent birth defects, especially spina bifada

4. Lupron: subcutaneous injection taken daily x 20 days; It is a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH). It decreases my body's estrogen production, so that follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) can be given to stimulate follicle and egg production in my ovaries.

5. Dexamethasone: oral medication; steroid to decrease the inflammatory response of my body to foreign bodies (embryos)

6. Gonal F: subcutaneous injection; Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) that stimulates my ovaries to produce multiple follicles that will form eggs; I receive this injection once daily for about 7 days.

7. Luveris: subcutaneous injection; leutenizing hormone (LH) that triggers ovulation and prepares the endometrium (lining) of the uterus for implantation of the embryo; I receive this injection only 2 days.

8. Intralipids 20%: IV drug; This is the most exciting of all. I may post an entire blog on this drug. Look for that soon. This is an IV that I will receive once. It is used to suppress my body's Natural Killer (NK) cells. I have had immune tests completed that show I have elevated levels of NK cells that are probably attacking my embryos/placenta. This is why I have had several early pregnancy losses. A lot of fertility specialists don't buy into this theory. The Sher Institute is on the leading edge of research in this area, and I believe this is the right treatment for me.

9. Endometrin: progesterone that I take daily following the embryo transfer until I find out if I am pregnant or not. I am not telling you how this drug is administered. It's not pretty.

10. Ovidrel: subcutaneous injection; Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG); This drug is given only once and it stimulates the release of my eggs from the follicles in my ovaries.

11. Progesterone in Oil: IM injection; This drug helps to prevent pregnancy loss. It is a daily, painful, intramuscular injection. I don't know how long I have to endure these injections, but I think they continue into pregnancy if I do get pregnant. I have read that they are painful, so I am not looking forward to this.

12. Z-Pack: oral antibiotic that I start taking immediately prior to egg retrieval. I'm not sure why I take this.

Summary:

80-90 pills

30 subcutaneous injections

? IM injections (countless)

1-3 IVs

6-10 blood draws

5-12 transvaginal ultrasounds

1 IV sedation

24 hours of bedrest

This all adds up to a baby on the way for us in 2009. We

can't wait!

I spoke to Ashley from Freedom Fertility Pharmacy this morning. She called me at home on a Sunday morning. Interesting. All of my drugs, needles, etc. will come from this pharmacy with the exception of the prenatal vitamins, birth control pills, dexamethasone, Z-Pack, progesterone pills. The total price tag for the drugs from Freedom Fertility Pharmacy is $2,841.04. They will be filing our insurance, and we will pay for anything our insurance doesn't cover. I'm guessing we will be paying somewhere in the ballpark of $2,841.04, because our insurance doesn't cover fertility treatment.

One final note for today. Many of you probably know that Dave has had braces for about 2 years now. I am the horrific sadist that has imposed such a misfortune upon him. Unfortunately for me, he nags me on a regular basis regarding the removal date of these braces. He thinks that I am prolonging the orthodontic treament just to be evil towards him. This, of course, is untrue. Anyway, you should have seen the smile on his face when he saw the fertility treatment calendar and realized that he would be giving me numerous injections. I think he is on the verge of a nice payback. Now, who is evil?

One more final note. I am going with Mom this Friday, the 13th to Ellis Fischel in Columbia for her first oncology appointment. We are looking forward to finding out the next course of action for the treatment of her breast cancer. Thanks for the kind words. I have passed it on to her. It means so much to all of us.