a record

Just so that I will remember what it was like twenty years down the road, these are the symptoms I have after the egg retrieval.

Nausea - comes in waves. Sometimes it hits me so hard I am left reeling
Pain and discomfort that ranges from lower abdomen to diaphragm
Difficulty breathing - happens only at certain sleeping positions, generally when I lay on the side
Back ache
Stomach acidity - probably the most feared symptom because I am terrified it will develop to severe Esophagitis which is the worst imaginable pain anyone can go through. I can feel the acid rising in my tummy so small frequent meals seem to be the order of the day
Bloating - I must have gained at least 10 pounds by now. Stomach is very big and bloated.
Barfing - probably from the increased levels of acid in stomach

No difficulty in peeing (pee is very clear and frequent, every 2 hours of less), drinking at least one glass of water (330ml) every hour, no other signs of bloating in other parts of body except the abdomen.

I'm not showing all the signs of OHSS and I know general discomfort is expected for someone like me with so many follicles. I can only hope it'll all go away soon.

Probably the last visit to Dr C

I woke up today feeling so much better, as if it's a totally new me. The heartburn was still there, making my every sleeping position hurt save for the only position where I face up. At least the nausea had subsided! I proceeded to have my usual breakfast (banana + oatmeal + flax seed smoothie) and ambled along to Dr C's clinic, with a group of old grannies walking past me at one point. How embarrassing.

Dr C was really glad to see me better and obviously being in good spirits put everyone at ease. She gave me an external ultrasound as it's probably too painful to perform a vaginal ultrasound, remarked on how enlarged my ovaries are still, and that the fluid retention has gone down a great deal. This time I rememebered to ask her for a picture of my ovaries, which I will post tomorrow. Very cool.

She made sure I'm still drinking plenty of water ("1.5l of Pocari Sweat in one evening and my pee is shockingly clear, Dr C!") and advised me not to drink any coffee/tea. Exclamation marks must have popped out of my head because she quickly said it's not good for me and I said I only drink one cup of coffee a day, that's all! So one cup is ok but not more than that. She went into "mother-naggy" mode and said too much caffeine isn't good for you, etc etc, and while it was a little weird to have her "nag" at me, I thought it was quite charming.

Then came the good news. Out of the 55 eggs retrieved, 44 were mature (!!!) and 38 were fertilised. Wow. I almost fell off my chair. That just means M has a very very good chance of getting pregnant! Fantastic. Dr C was positively beaming too, so it was a very happy ending to my egg donation adventure. Of course I have to return six months later for one final blood test to make sure I am not HIV positive before the embroys can be implanted in M, but at this point, it's pretty much the end of the journey.

I told Dr C that I may be donating my eggs again but this time it will be in London. She said it will be a logistical nightmare, as expected, but I'm willing to give it a go if it means so much to someone else.

I may have OHSS

Ah, I think I'm finally getting it. The nausea, severe cramps (think bad period cramps x 1000), backache, heartburn, headache, bloated-ness (I feel like I'm 6 weeks pregnant) just got to me today. I decided that this is it and I want to know WHY I'm feeling this way. Turns out that I am displaying all classic symptoms of OHSS!

It's funny that I thought OHSS only happens when I'm getting the gonadotrophin injections. How silly of me.

I didn't really want to disturb Dr C on a Sunday but I felt it was a situation where I really needed help. I texted her and she called me promptly, saying I have to see her first thing tomorrow and I will have to monitor my pee. "Make sure it's not tea-coloured, ok?" - yes ma'am.

So, how 'bout that. Drama after the surgery. What do I know..

Side-effects of gonadotrophin injections

It will be my fourth jab later this evening but thankfully I have not experienced any serious side effects (so far!) as there is a teeny weeny chance that I may get Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, which is defined as a serious complication marked by chest and abdominal fluid buildup and cystic enlargement of the ovaries that can cause permanent injury and even death. Sounds super scary, innit.
The only drama I'm getting from my body is a slight "fullness" around the abdomen. I like to think that my follicles are like little ant workers working really hard, producing more and more eggs by the hour.

Oh, and an update on the thread I posted on the maternity website: I have since received four more enquiries! These are real women who desperately want donated eggs; yet I cannot help them even if I wanted to because of some law in Hong Kong that prohibits more than three 'live births' from the same donor. I truly feel so sorry for them because their only other option is to wait for their turn on the donor list. One of them is desperate enough to ask if I would like the procedure done in Singapore. I will have to think hard about this one.

I wonder, if I encourage my friends to donate their eggs will they think me mad? It's certainly not the same as donating blood! Then again, it's just giving up a part of yourself, your cells, your genes; only this procedure is more tedious and potentially more dangerous.

We sure need a egg donation centre of sorts in Asia.