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.

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..