My Protocol

First of all, RIP cyst. You have hereby been banished from the Queendom... ie: aspirated. Procedure was 100% painless. Felt a little tired after, which is to be expected, but no nausea or anything. I would say the one nice thing about having gone through this is that it's the exact same procedure for retrieval, so I'll know what to expect. Fingers crossed that I get the same anesthesiologist for my retrieval day. He did a good job.

Guess what guys? I HAVE FINALLY STARTED IVF #1! Can you friggin' believe it? I know there's a long, (bumpy) road ahead but I've finally stepped onto that road and started walking. I did my first injections about 1/2 hour after the procedure this morning with nurse N instructing and Hubs observing so that he could remind me later of any details I might have been too fuzzy to absorb.

I have to say, I had zero hesitation. I was so damn happy to finally be getting started I just stuck the needles right in. It didn't hurt at all. One in the abdomen, one in the outer thigh. Short, thin little subcutaneous needles. It was SO not dramatic. (Okay, I WAS still a little bit on drugs, so I'll give you that, but seriously, for those of you who haven't been initiated yet: it is not nearly as big a deal as you might imagine. Unfounded fear is the biggest problem with the injection stuff. And I count myself in that club! Read this post to see my initial reaction to the box of drugs and syringes when I first received them back in March.)

Here is my basic protocol, of course with the understanding that the stim days could be extended or shortened and that med amounts could change (I don't know the precise IUs yet for anything else - will update).

CD1-CD7: Repronex in AM (150 IU FSH/150 IU LH), Follistim in PM (200 IU follitropin beta)
CD5: Repronex, Ganirilix (antagon), Luveris (lutropin alfa), Estrogen patch
CD6: Ganirilix, Luveris
CD7: Ganirilix, Luveris, change Estrogen patch
CD8: Ganirilix, Luveris, hCG Trigger
CD9: change Estrogen patch
CD10: retrieval

And I'm not aware of my exact antral follicle count, but it's something around 7-ish on each ovary. I hope they like to party... (addendum: as Bea said in the comments, "just hard enough.")