Where the symptoms from the first dose dissipated after about 21 hours, the worst symptoms from the second dose have remained. I still have chest pain beneath my breast bone that extends into my very sore upper back and sharp pain when I take a deep breath. Most of the time it's bearable during the day but at night it gets downright awful, like call an ambulance awful. I have occasional pain in my knees and some cramps but they pale in comparison to the chest pain. Acupuncture didn't help so I decided it was time to consult another doctor.
My first thoughts were the usual suspects - pancreatitis, gallstones, appendicitis, an ulcer? I knew it wasn't cardiac or lung pain but wasn't sure aside from that. After yet another god awful night of misery where I woke up at 4am in pain, I had E drop me off at Urgent Care on his way to work. I was expecting something like the emergency room but it's actually just like a regular, same day appointment now. I checked in, was called in by the nurse and saw the doctor maybe 5-10 minutes later.
Despite my best efforts to keep things straight, we did run into some of the internal medicine doctor vs reproductive endocrinologist issues. IM doctors are just not familiar with IVF and we went round and round in circles as I tried to explain the history and risks. He listened to my lungs (clear), prodded my belly (a little tender) and sent me down to the lab to have blood drawn. Thirty minutes after that we had the results showing that my pancreas, liver and kidneys were functioning perfectly. Strangely, my white blood cell count came back higher than it should be and higher than we'd expect given that I have no fever or signs of infection otherwise. We do not want elevated WBCs going into a transfer.
Ultimately, with no explanation for the high white count or sign of issues with my organs, the doctor decided that the Lupron has ripped up my stomach and given me reflux. He chalked the white count up to the steroids I had taken with both cycles, dismissed infection and prescribed me prescription strength Pepcid.
I'm really hoping that this does the trick because I'm so tired of being in pain. I'm also pretty sure that we're going to have to cancel this transfer, I just don't think we can risk one of our precious embryos when my white count is off the chart. We're already out 1000 in pre-cycle testing we can't get back but I just can't imagine risking our baby because I'm impatient.
Despite my best efforts to keep things straight, we did run into some of the internal medicine doctor vs reproductive endocrinologist issues. IM doctors are just not familiar with IVF and we went round and round in circles as I tried to explain the history and risks. He listened to my lungs (clear), prodded my belly (a little tender) and sent me down to the lab to have blood drawn. Thirty minutes after that we had the results showing that my pancreas, liver and kidneys were functioning perfectly. Strangely, my white blood cell count came back higher than it should be and higher than we'd expect given that I have no fever or signs of infection otherwise. We do not want elevated WBCs going into a transfer.
Ultimately, with no explanation for the high white count or sign of issues with my organs, the doctor decided that the Lupron has ripped up my stomach and given me reflux. He chalked the white count up to the steroids I had taken with both cycles, dismissed infection and prescribed me prescription strength Pepcid.
I'm really hoping that this does the trick because I'm so tired of being in pain. I'm also pretty sure that we're going to have to cancel this transfer, I just don't think we can risk one of our precious embryos when my white count is off the chart. We're already out 1000 in pre-cycle testing we can't get back but I just can't imagine risking our baby because I'm impatient.
