Human Menopausal Gonadotropins

Decapeptyl Injection- Day 32
Menogon Injection x 4 amps - Day 3

Maybe I am about to learn a hard lesson "You can't always get what you want" (thanks Rolling Stones).

I think maybe, just maybe my body is not quite exactly where it should be, something is wrong as I am not responding to the medication as I should be. The first two IVF's 'it' did all the right things, all according to 'plan', except the outcome ofcourse, hence IVF no.3. I went for my scan two days ago at my wonderful Professor man, and there was nothing, nada, zilch, no follicles whatsoever, this is after a 6-day-300 IUI dose of Gonal-F (a whopper dose). I actually had this funny feeling the whole 6 days of injections that there was no pressure building up. The daily growth of the follicles causes quite a lot of pressure and can get quite uncomfortable, I didn't feel anything all week. Interesting note, Gonal-F is a synthetic FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone), you also get a non-synthetic one which is made from the urine of post-menopausal women. Prof-man said that he thinks it is possible that the some of the medication I took was old, I am not convinced. He also said there is absolutely no connection with me not responding to the Decapeptyl injections, and the Gonal-F, apparently they are not connected. Anyway so we had to decide, either to increase the Gonal-F to 900 IUI's from 600 IUI's or, to switch to something called Menogon. We went with the Menogon. Menogon has FSH and LH (Lutenizing Hormone), and the hope is that I respond accordingly. The dosage is hectic and I am beginning to feel like a bit of a druggie. Just the preparation takes forever, firstly I am on 4 amps, which means mixing each amp, the liquid with the powder, then pulling all of it into a syringe, changing needles (long to short), and doing my stab-motion. The first night which was on Monday night after I got back from the gynae, I had an audience, my mother-in-law (she had been baby sitting), I just wanted to show-off my self-injecting, but I was not prepared for the pain. It is a killer-stinger injection, plus until last night, over 24 hours later, the injection site was all red and raised, like a bad bee-sting, and really sore. I 'googled' of course, and apparently it is oh so normal. I just have to alternate sides, so my fat roll under my belly-button is really looking worse for wear, 32 days of multiple injections, it looks like a war-zone. I wonder what stick-thin people do, I am fortunate as I am blessed with curves, so there is no lack of fat-rolls ever.

I 'googled' 'Menogon', and this was one of the results:

Human menopausal gonadotropins are a natural medication used to help induce ovulation in women with certain fertility issues. Human menopausal gonadotropins contain both LH (luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), hormones needed to help trigger ovulation. Human menopausal gonadotropins are found in the urine of postmenopausal women. They are removed from this urine, sterilized, and then used in fertility treatment.

So there you have it, I am injecting myself now with the wee of non-egg-making women. Great! Again, if it helps me to have more children, I would do anything.

Not sure if I mentioned it but the weekly art sessions, have evolved now into a proper class. We have an art teacher and all! So today was 'art day', I was with my one friend from Canada (who also lives on the Moshav), after our class - which produced a big, bright, pink and purple creation - we went to a Mall in Givatayim. Nice and big, and loads of shop selections. She questioned me over lunch, starting with: "You have two children, a boy and a girl, why do you feel this need to want more?" This question always makes me nervous, like I have to 'explain' myself again. Also, just by asking this question, I know the person does not share my "Walton-family" dream, and that's ok, I don't expect everyone to want what I want. I think this type of question makes me so uncomfortable because I probrably subconciously question myself and my motives as well, why do I want more children so badly?

Right now I have a beautiful bushy-haired peice of sunshine sleeping next to me, and another joy playing with his friend in the lounge. it is pouring with noisy, angry rain outside, winter has arrived in this sandy land. Yesterday the little radius of my life got a bit bigger, I got a wonderful surprise phone-call from a South African friend who had just arrived in Israel and was hoping we could get together, she is here for a week. I was so flattered that she wanted to spend her precious time here with me! I literally hopped in my car and punched in her address in my GPS and sped off to Tel Aviv to get her. My confidence is normally lacking when it comes to "venturing out into the unknown", but the prospect of seeing a friend from South Africa and speaking English, all my fears were tossed aside. We had the most stunning day, pouring rain one second and funny and sunny the next. I had thought we would probrably end up being near where she is staying and shmooze around there, turns out 'where she is staying' is a bit off the beaten track, so I brought her back here to the Moshav. I was able to tell her and show her some of the history of this special Moshav, and we went for lunch at a 'workers' restaurant in the nearby town of Yehud, where Uri's parents live. Delicious 'pargiyot belaffa', the best! I told her, that I felt like a little girl who has a friend to play for the first time, I just wanted to show her everything and tell her everything about my new life, I took her back to Tel Aviv at 7pm. It was a wonderful, wonderful day.

So I am off to dinner this evening with my arty friend and her husband, Uri has not met her husband yet, but they have loads in common, and I am sure we will have a great time. We are going to a 'meat' restaurant, we haven't had the greatest 'meat' experiences here, so hold thumbs.