Money and Meds

Previously, on Operation Parent...

A bag of sharps and a bright yellow bin; instructions for how to inject; a prescription as long as your arm; and a wait – a wait for a period.

And now… the conclusion!

A new cycle began, I called the clinic and they gave me the go ahead to begin taking my first lot of medication on 31st July. This was it - it was actually starting!

But first - money.

Money

Being self-funded for this cycle, we’ve been eager to not have to spend out more money than is necessary, so knew that it was important to shop around for the medication. Now I know that everyone’s prescription will be slightly different, depending on which medications each clinic chooses to give, but I wanted to share what we found.

From research that I’d done online before choosing whether or not to self-fund, we were expecting the medication to cost us around £1500, so this is what we budgeted. We also had read (in a number of places) that going to Asda was the cheapest option, because they don’t charge VAT.

After taking the prescription to the pharmacy at the hospital where the clinic is based, Boots, Superdrug and Asda, this is the comparison list that we were left with:

• Hospital Pharmacy – £502.77
• Boots – £934.25
• Asda – £787.13
• Superdrug – £1,180.71

No competition, really!

                       

I was so shocked at the low price, that the lovely woman in the pharmacy at the hospital went through the prescription giving me the cost item by item, to put my mind at rest that the price was accurate!

Medication

Let’s talk about drugs!

Specifically, Buserelin, Menopur, Bemfola, Ovitrelle and Progesterone!

I don’t know what I was expecting, but for some reason I was surprised when the pharmacist handed me a big plastic bag full of medication. 5 different types of medication, each enough to last for weeks on end, and some with multiple parts that need to be mixed? Of course it was going to be a big bag!

With hindsight, not sure why I was surprised.

For those of you who don’t know, IVF is split into 3 main parts. The first is down-regulation, when the medication is used to suppress your natural cycle so that egg production and release can be controlled. The second is stimulation, when your body needs to prepare multiple eggs ready to be collected. The third is the transfer and (hopeful) implantation, when an embryo is placed into the womb and – fingers crossed – implants securely to begin growing as a baby.

• Buserelin is the medication that I’m using in the down-regulation phase.
• Menopur and Bemfola are the stimulation medications that I will be taking.
• Ovitrelle is also a stimulation medication but is only one dose and is used as a ‘trigger’ shot, to give the eggs that final push before they’re collected in the clinic.
• Progesterone is something that normally, women’s bodies produce naturally as part of the cycle, in preparation for possible pregnancy, but as the Buserelin has been suppressing that cycle, it’s necessary to take this during that implantation phase.

Hope I haven’t bored you all to tears with this! Here’s the fun bit – me actually taking the medication! Turns out, I am totally nutty.

“This is news?!” I hear you cry.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate that.

Anyway. A little piece of advice for anyone starting IVF – booking a camping holiday for the time that you will need to take your first shot of medication? Not the best idea.

On Monday 31^st July, in a tent on a hillside in the North of Wales, I had to do my first injection.

Honestly, it wasn’t actually that bad, but the emotional side was overwhelming. I had just taken the first real step in the IVF cycle, dealing with needles, sharps bins, and not spilling the medication all over the floor. In a tent. Not having my own home and a stable table definitely didn’t help the nerves.

Thinking back on it, it sounds silly, but at the time it felt like a massive deal that I wasn’t at home.

Then came the itching. Oh wow, the itching!

So far, every time I’ve done an injection, the area has become red, raised and itchy for about half an hour. I honestly don’t know if this is how all injections are or if it is a result of the Buserelin itself, but either way, it resulted in some pretty intense Googling on that first night in the tent to see if this is normal or if my husband needed to find an A&E for me!

Turns out, pretty common. So no worries!

For the first few days, I didn’t feel any real side effects but then came the emotions and weepiness.

A list of some of the things I have cried about so far during IVF:

• I forgot to bring the dog’s lead on a day out.
• I couldn’t get the air bubble to the top of the syringe.
• What if the IVF doesn’t work?
• What if the IVF does work?
• The fact that the IVF is making me weepy.
• The state of the world in general.
• The thought of separating two stuffed toys that always sit together in my husband’s car (he offered me one to go in my car).

This is by no means an exhaustive list! At times, I’ve found myself crying for no reason other than just needing to cry. Hormones are awesome.

Anyway, as of Monday 14^th August, I had been on the down-regulation medication for 2 weeks, and it was time for my baseline scan. This is when the nurse would check if the medication had sufficiently suppressed my cycle and whether I was ready or not to start taking the stimulation medication too.

Answer was YES!

Now it’s 3 injections per day (Buserelin, Bemfola and Menopur), and I have a selection of scans booked in for next week, to see how well my body is reacting. If my ovaries are producing eggs well enough, I could have my eggs collected, fertilised and an embryo transferred within the next 2 weeks.

2 weeks!

This is all seeming very real and very quick!

Will keep this blog updated with more regularity now that I’m back from holiday and in the swing of the cycle a little more.

Ciao for now.