The Egg Retrieval
Wednesday, April 8, 2015A back-dated post about my experience on the day I felt like a hen getting my eggs harvested.
19 March 2015 (Thu)
Today was the day! I felt excited. After almost a month of injection and routine rape by the ultrasound probe, today was finally the day we do the egg retrieval..
I was nervous. Would it hurt very much? I would be sedated so hopefully I wouldn't feel a thing.
The friendly nurse got me to put on the operation gear before leading me to the waiting area where 2 other ladies were chatting.
The waiting area was hilarious. It consisted of 5 seats against the wall, overlooking the entire working area of the nurses. Occasionally, one of the nurses would feel a bit self-conscious at being observed by the waiting ladies and would pull a curtain drape as some sort of separator.
The drape was about 1 inch in front of the seats and created the most claustrophobic enclave ever. So one of the waiting ladies would always open it after a few minutes until the next nurse pulls it shut again.
I don't know which smart guy conceived the drape idea, but I was thoroughly amused.
The day before yesterday, the ultrasound scan had turned up the following results:
No. of Follicles and Size (mm) - Right Ovaries
1 = 16.5
2 = 15
3 = 14.5
4 = 14.5
5 = 12.5
6 = 11.5
7 = 11
8 = 10.5
9 = 11
10 = 12
11 = 11
12 = 10.5
No. of Follicles and Size (mm) - Left Ovaries
My lower abdomen had been cramping the past few days and I really hopeful it'd go away after the egg retrieval. (Spoiler alert: It didn't)
And so I waited in anticipation. In between the waiting, they stuck a needle on my left hand for the sedation injection afterwards.
Finally, my turn was called. Now, I was really nervous. The room looked like a mini operating theatre. There were between 6-10 people in the room (too nervous, didn't count accurately). After they laid in me place on the 'bed', they started to chill around the room and chat. One of them explained they were waiting for the doctor.
OK.
A lifetime later, Dr. Jerry Chan finally arrived. Everybody leaped into action; spreading my legs while someone shot the anaesthesia into the IV plug on the back of my hand. The sudden rush of liquid into my minuscule veins was excruciating! It felt like someone dropped a boulder on my hand. I have to admit my hand was the last part of my body I expected to hurt in the whole procedure.
I unhappily whined about the pain and the nurse said something along the lines of ya, ya whatever, just sleep.
 |
| Ouch. |
I was thoroughly sedated. I tried to move but my left hand still hurt and there were electrolytes being pumped into my body through the tube. I sat upright and my head started swimming so I lay back down.
A nurse appeared shortly after and remarked enthusiastically at how much eggs I had. It was a longer than usual procedure and they retrieved 36 eggs, and injected extra sedation to ensure I didn't wake up in the middle of the procedure.
I felt like some kinda chicken.
An hour later, I was awake enough to be discharged. My next appointment was the embryo transfer 2 days later. I was excited again. The only discomfort I felt were light cramps at my lower abdomen. Hubby and I started joking about the 20 day hospitalisation leave.
Friday came. I started to understand why the hospitalisation leave was needed. It. Friggin'. Hurt. The day crawled past and finally, it was Saturday, the day of the Fresh Embryo Transfer.
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