Today was supposed to be simple. I'd wake up earlier than I like, drive the 2-1/2 to 3 hours to Tallahassee (again), have the routine ultrasound done, learn if I'll be triggered tonight or tomorrow night, drive home, go to trivia, sleep. Instead, about 20 minutes into my drive, I had to pull over on the side of the highway because of severe abdominal pain, nausea, the "shakes," and because I broke out in a sweat. A few conversations with my fertility clinic later (bless those nurses), I learned my doctor wanted me to go to the ER in Albany to make sure my ovaries hadn't gotten twisted from being so enlarged.
At that point, I was about 20 minutes away from the hospital (I had started driving again because (a) I was out of meds and the only place to get them was from my doctor's office, (b) the scan had to be done, and (c) I was in pain but not nauseous or shaking anymore), so I just changed my GPS and detoured to the emergency room. After circling around the parking area four times because although employee parking was clearly labeled, parking for people trying to actually get into the ER was not (I finally rolled down my window and asked someone with a hospital badge where I could park), I found a parking space, gave myself my morning Cetrotide injection in the ER parking lot (not weird at all), and walked into the ER to the registration desk.
I've been in a few ERs -- mostly in cities, one in Ireland -- and this one was quiet, relatively empty, and incredibly efficient. The registration process was easy and quick, and I sat down to wait, gingerly holding my lower stomach and trying unsuccessfully to get comfortable. Just as I thought I'd settled in, they called my name to go back to a room. It was less than a 7 minute wait. I was impressed. My doctor had called ahead to tell the ER doctor what he wanted them to do, so I once I was given a room, I had one nurse get me into the gown and bed, another take my blood, and the doctor came in to explain to me what they'd be testing and examining.
In the course of less than two hours, I had four vials of blood drawn (to test for infections), a pelvic exam, various ultrasounds on my uterus and ovaries, and an ultrasound on my gallbladder. Everything came back as it should -- normal -- excepting the multiple follicles growing in my poor, swollen ovaries. The cause of the pain? Unknown, but probably related to the swollen ovaries. By the time I learned I was going to be discharged, my husband had arrived, courtesy of a friend who drove him the 45 minutes to the hospital since I had our only car. My IVF doctor still wanted (and needed) to see me, so my husband then drove us down to Tallahassee.
My IVF doctor had talked to the ER doctor by the time I arrived at the office, so he was up-to-date on everything. After he did his ultrasound on me, he assured me that things were looking good. BUT, I was not quite ready to trigger, and he wanted to see me again tomorrow for another scan. Unfortunately, the Tallahassee office isn't open on Thursdays, so I'd have to go to Jacksonville. And the latest appointment available is 10:45. And we can't leave tonight because frankly, we're exhausted from today's events, which means we'll be leaving before 6:30am tomorrow to get there on time. To add to all of this, in the chance that I'm not triggered tomorrow, I'll need to be seen again the following day. In any case, egg retrieval is now likely to happen on Saturday or Sunday. Given that Jax is 4ish hours from us, there's no point in driving back and forth on a daily basis, so we're taking an unexpected holiday in Jacksonville for a few days. Thankfully, a friend can stay at our house and dog-sit for us while we're away, which relieves tons of stress.
We're eternally grateful for our friends who, on very short notice, have been driving/offered to drive my husband places, have been feeding and checking in on our dog, and have offered stay with our poochie overnight.
Oh, and to add to today's crappiness, the Weather Channel is now saying there's a chance another hurricane will hit the gulf region over the weekend. That is NOT what we need right now. Maybe it'll go away?