Getting there

It was still a sleepless night but at least it's getting better. There were moments when I could actually lie down flat and it was such a joy to sleep properly instead of being propped up with 5 pillows. The burning cramps started at 5am and reached a peak at 8:30am till I gulped some Gaviscon. It's Gaviscon to the rescue again!

M feels really bad that I am suffering and has told Dr C to "take good care" of me. Other than giving me a call everyday, I doubt Dr C can do much more. She has already given me the best treatment with Nexium and by offering to treat me when my GP wouldn't, it's more than I can ask for. It now up to me how badly I want myself to recover. Well, just thinking about doing the giant stride into the big blue and saying hello to the barracudas is enough!

Still can't manage to get a clear scan of the ultrasound of the ovaries. I have to work something out with my G10.

Ah, the good news - M was told that out of the 55 eggs retrieved, there are 32 embryos frozen. Out of that, 19 of them are "Day 2" embryos and 13 are "Day 5" embryos which is essentially the blastocyst. It is defined as "an embryo that has developed for five to seven days after fertilization and has developed 2 distinct cell types and a central cavity filled with fluid (blastocoel cavity). The cells in a blastocyst have just started to differentiate. The surface cells that surround the cavity (just under the outer shell) are called the trophectoderm and will later develop into the placenta. The more centrally located group of cells are called the inner cell mass and will become the fetus". (Source: Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago)

In English, it just means that with 13 blastocyst, M has a damn high chance of getting pregnant! There's quite nothing like some good news at the end of the long dark tunnel.

It's going to be a busy day today with a pedicure, sending the beagle off to his holiday resort and going to the dive shop to sort out my Ikelite housing and strobe.

Definitely not the last visit... yet.

So, after my last post I developed the worst heartburn ever. The acid must have killed my esophagus and stomach lining as it just hurt so much whenever I tried to eat. The burning sensation was ceaseless and I couldn't even sleep lying down. I made a mountain of pillows on my bed and slept upright. It was agony.

That was Monday night. On Tuesday morning, I took an Antacid and forced myself to eat a banana but after a few bites, the most severe cramps took hold of my stomach. On a scale of 1 - 10, I'd say it's a 9, with 10 being a stake driven through my heart. It was that bad. I made an attempt to go to work but on my way walking to the office, I almost fainted from the sheer agony of it. Time to go to my GP, I thought. But I didn't get no sympathy from him. He pressed my tummy a couple of times, said I'm so bloated and it must be because of the complications from the egg retrieval, and essentially refused to treat me! He told me to go back to Dr C. I told him it's just heartburn as I had a check-up with Dr C the day before already and I was all clear. But no. This guy obviously was too frightened to do anything so he sent me to a gastroenterology specialist. I trugded to the clinic only to find that the specialist only works Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Bah!! I wanted to give up, right there and then.

But being sensible, like I usually am, I went to Watson's and got a bottle of Gaviscon to help with the heartburn. It obviously was a relief but I could still feel the acid churning away in my stomach, threatening to splash back up the esophagus and ruin all the delicate lining. I gave Dr C a call and she sort of reprimanded me for not going to her in the first instance. I told her I really didn't want to bother her anymore as this is just heartburn! She then said I should go in to see her immediately.

I got to the clinic at 6pm (what an ordeal getting there) and waited for about an hour for my turn. She asked me why the sudden turn of events, since I was quite ok on Monday. Anyway she did another ultrasound of the ovaries (still enlarged), took my blood pressure and listened to my stomach. Like I said, it's just heartburn but probably at the chronic stage where the acid has eroded the lining of the esophagus. She wanted to give me this drug called Nexium but they were out of stock and all the pharmacists in Central were closed. Bugger. My only option was to go to the hospital at Old Peak Road but the thought of going there and then back home was just too much, so I said I will get it first thing in the morning.

Now I wish I had gone as it was another sleepless night - all pain and agony and misery. It didn't help that the beagle was snoring a lot. Sigh. This morning I tried to take a bite off a banana but it felt as if my esophagus was lined with millions of tiny glass shreds, and the cramps started almost immmediately. I almost drank the entire bottle of Gaviscon! The Nexium arrived at 10am (through the very kind act of W) and after I took the purple pill, I tried to sleep (upright) again.

I'm now feeling better but my chest and abdomen are still pretty sore. I still have no idea how I am going to travel on Friday and dive on Sunday in this poor condition.