Monday 26 May 2014

Too close for comfort

What a fucking weekend.

I took all of your wonderful advice and, when I woke up on Friday morning with still no email from the Czech clinic, I wrote them again.  The gist of it was "hey, I haven't heard from you and I'm really worried, what the eff?" but I was of course much more polite in real life.  When I got home from work on Friday afternoon, an email awaited me.  The doctor had been very busy, and they were very apologetic for not getting back to me sooner.

Happily, all went well with the donor's checkup.  Retrieval and transfer are scheduled tentatively around July 2nd to 7th, which fits nicely in our availability window.  Score!


The rest of the email went on to say that the donor's period would be later than mine, so I should take norethisterone to delay my period.  I was instructed to start taking it at least 5 days before my expected period and keep taking it until they told me to stop.

Fine, except for one leeetle problem.  I had no idea what norethisterone was, let alone have any.  I was already on CD21.  Which was still fine, if I was going to have a 28 day cycle this month.  But sadly, my crystal ball is in the shop and therefore I had no way of knowing if I was headed for a 25 day cycle instead.  If I was, I needed this medication STAT.  Oh, and did I mention it was past 5pm on a Friday afternoon?

I made a few desperation calls to my RE and regular GP anyway, but as one would expect they were all closed.  I resolved to get up early, get my ass to a weekend walk-in clinic first thing in the morning, and talk some random doctor into giving me mystery drugs.  Piece of cake, right?


This part of the plan was actually surprisingly easy to execute.  I explained my situation, and the doctor pulled out his prescription pad.  Note to self: next time ask for narcotics too.  However, a red flag went up when he asked me how to spell it so he could go look it up.  My suspicion was confirmed when I left the clinic and walked into the pharmacy down the hall, where I was confronted with a look of confusion by the pharmacist.  My heart sank.  The unexpected snag: no one knew what the fuck this drug was and they sure as hell didn't have it in stock.  They could order it, but it wouldn't arrive before Monday.  CD23.  Tick tock tick tock.

For those of you wondering, norethisterone is a magical drug that is apparently widely used in the UK and Europe to delay your period if you're going on vacation or getting married or have some other event going on that would be marred by the arrival of your boorish Aunt Flo.  Apparently those of us with Canadian uteruses (uteri??) are too damn polite to use this drug to tell AF to go the fuck off back where she came from.  I imagine it sounding something like this:

Canadian uterus:  Hey there Aunt Flo, how ya doin', eh?  Good ta hear from ya.  What's that?  You were thinkin' aboot comin' fer a visit?  Oh yah, sounds great!  Whenaboots?  Oh, next week?  See...yeah...it's just that me 'n' the mister, we were headed to Jamaica donchaknow, had a week's vacation all booked and...oh...ya got the dog sitter booked already?  Yeah...no, I know, they're not easy to come by...but see, we had this holiday planned since December, and we had six months of snow...yeah...yup...uh huh...sure.  See ya Wednesday.

British uterus:  Oy, wot's this now?  You wanted to pop round next week for a spot o' tea?  Hah!  You taking the piss or wot?  Not bloody likely!  Now bugger off, you barmy wanker, or you'll be findin' me foot in your arse!

Yes, Jane, this is what I think you sound like.  ;)

I drove to a few other pharmacies but got the same look at each.  You would have thought that I was asking for powdered unicorn horn or a fucking phoenix feather.  I spent several hours calling around to pretty much every major pharmacy chain in southwestern Ontario to no avail.  I was stuck with Monday.  Tears were shed, teeth were gnashed...you know the drill.  Adding insult to injury was the fact that, if the Czech clinic had gotten back to me in a timely fashion after my donor's appointment, I would have had tons of time last week to get this stuff lined up.  I did my best to let it go, but the anxiety stuck with me all weekend and I was terrified I was going to start spotting or something and the whole damn DE cycle was going to have to be rescheduled.

Of course, I emailed all of this to the Czech clinic, and got a reply this morning saying that they thought starting the pills on Monday would be just fine.  Which is what I've done.

So much stress and worry.  For basically nothing.  I think I'm going crazy.

26 comments:

  1. Man... that would've made me so nervous! But I was laughing so hard reading your dialogues. I would've gone crazy too. This process is never easy. BUT, so thrilled for you that the donor's checkup was fine. It's going to happen soon!

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  2. Now that is frustrating. If I had known, I would have overnighted you a pack (norethisterone = mini pill). I'm on it as it doesn't interfere with breastfeeding.

    Glad to hear the calendar has worked out and will hope that this is te last crazy-inducing incident

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    Replies
    1. I considered going to the ladies of the interwebs for help, but as I've only recently discovered, Canadian residents are prohibited from importing medication even for personal use (which is a topic for another post, as it's causing additional hassles trying to get all the equivalent meds locally). Didn't want to get anyone in trouble. But it warms my heart that you would do it!

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  3. Oh yes, that is exactly what I sound like! Score this as a victory!

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  4. Oh my gosh!! What a weekend! I'm glad all of it ended OK though!!!

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  5. Yikes, how stressful! I am sure you are not going crazy although it probably feels like it sometimes, especially where IVF is concerned. This is the first I've heard of noristherone. Never even crossed my mind that people would want a drug to delay AF due to vacation or something - maybe Canadians are fatalistic as well as polite? If I'd known about such a thing I might have been tempted to take it before my IVF cycle as my travel schedule was potentially conflicted with it.

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    Replies
    1. I've delayed cycles before for vacay and such, but I did it back when I was on the pill and I just skipped the placebo week and went right to a new pack. No idea why women NOT on the pill haven't jumped on this bandwagon though!

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  6. I'm glad that you heard back from the clinic and I'm glad that you got the medicine on Monday. This is so exciting that things are gearing up for your cycle!

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  7. Canadian uteri are so polite! I can't believe they didn't get back to you sooner. What if you hadn't e-mailed them again?! I'm glad things are falling into place!

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  8. I'm so glad everything worked out, but yeah, that would have made me crazy, too! I hope it all goes more smoothly from here on. So exciting!

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  9. Oh, my gosh. What a process. This sounds so stressful but I am glad things worked out in the end. Sometimes it pays to be persistent, right?

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  10. I'm embarrassed to admit that being from Minnesota, I talk pretty much exactly like your Canadian uterus. Glad you got your drugs!

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    1. What's more ironic is the fact that, as someone originally from the east coast, my normal accent (which I've mostly lost by now) sounds a lot more Irish than the traditional Canadian one. But that just would have been confusing for everyone. :)

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  11. Holy cow, I would have lost my mind! I'm so glad it worked out in the end!

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  12. Phew! Awesome news! So glad you heard back from them, and that you found the magic pills.

    Looks like we're going to ER/ET pretty closely this cycle. We're tentatively 7/7 ER and 7/11 (my birthday) ET.

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    1. Love me a cycle buddy! Although they have a tendency to get pregnant and I don't. Let's see if we can't work on that.

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    2. Yep. Same. Last cycle group I was in 8 out of 10 got pregnant and one was just banking for PGD. To quote Betty: "this time will be different!!"

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  13. Ha! I'm sorry, but the more dramatic the story, the more you make me laugh. The comparison between Canadians and Europeans was amazing... I could totally picture these women, and hear their voices. You may need your own comedy show.

    But besides all that... this totally sounds like something that would happen to me. Last minute mad dashes to try to find medication that no one believes exists before the weekend. I was a little worried as your story progressed since Monday was a holiday and all, but then I realized that no, Canada does not celebrate Memorial Day. So just think, could have been worse!

    Glad it all worked out. Also, rest assured that you're not crazy. I'd be freaking out, too.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, we had our Victoria Day long weekend holiday last weekend. Thank goodness for small miracles, right?

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  14. Phew. Sorry for all the stress, but glad it turned out ok. My doctors have googled medication from Europe to find the best equivalent for me here. Not sure if that would have worked though...
    I hope the rest of this DE cycle goes much more smoothly!

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  15. I get it. And totally would be too. Glad it worked out! I can't believe how quickly your donor cycle is going. Yay!

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  16. Oh Aramis, what a frickin nightmare that mud have been for you all weekend. It would have been nice if they had responded a bit sooner. I am so glad everything checked out with the donor though, and it all seems to work within your schedule! How exciting and scar all at the same time!! I am sooooo hopeful for you my friend!

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  17. Why do we not use this drug in north america? Do they just get it over the counter in europe? That would come in really handy sometimes. Glad it worked out. Wouldn't be infertility without a little panic and stress, right? It's coming up quick. July will be here before you know it. I am so excited and hopeful for you!

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