to London, and back

The trip finally happened - it was all a bit of a flurry of events, one after another, a quick succession of outcomes, but isn't life just like that. T was a wonderful host who planned my stay extremely well and all the little nice touches (making sure the hotel is aware I will have a very early check-in; having a driver to greet me at Heathrow; planning to meet me only after I have enough rest to get over jet-lag, etc) made me appreciate her more. We finally met at a bustling restaurant overlooking Covent Garden on Thursday lunch-time. She is a beautiful and terrific woman, and is everything I expected of her through our numerous correspondences over email.

On Friday morning I made my way to Baker Street to meet the counsellor for the mandatory counselling session. It was a great session - words flowed easily and she went through pretty much all the questions I have thought of previously. She is quite the opposite of the stoic doctor who counselled me in HK. There were a few points she brought up which were a surprise to me, e.g. the child born from my donated egg has the right to sue me once he/she turns 18 should I not disclose any pre-existing medical condition that I am aware of. But of course I have my entire family's medical history disclosed so it's more likely a case of knowing a little too much!

I was then off to the clinic (the ARGC), housed in a nondescript building right at the end of the street just like any row of identical houses in London. It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be and in fact I found it quite quiet. T arrived soon after and we had the meeting with one of the head nurses - no doctors as they were too busy - and she talked us through the egg donation procedure together. It seemed that the ARGC needed me to do a lot more than my procedure with Dr C and I found myself wondering if it was all necessary. Of course T and myself just wanted everything done and over with but there is so much to do: first of all I had to undergo the whole series of blood tests, then choose a monitoring cycle to be done in September, followed by the actual cycle in November. We decided that November will be better for the both of us for the actual cycle as it will give us more time to work out several logistical issues.

I was told that I have to go on the nasal spray when I begin ovulating prior to the actual cycle. After about ten days of the spray my period should start and I will then begin the injections. At this stage I will still be in Hong Kong and going in to Dr C for (more) blood tests and monitoring. On day 5 of my injections I will then fly to London for the rest of the treatment, which by then will just mean about a week left to the egg retrieval.

There is a lot to digest and work out, like the timing of my injections while I'm still in HK. With the previous egg donation, I injected at about 8-9pm and this made sense as the last jab will have to be exactly 36 hours before the retrieval (which is usually scheduled for 9am). With the 7-hour time difference between Hong Kong and London, I will have to inject the Gonal F at about 3-4am while I'm in HK! That will be quite a task indeed.

It was a short walk to the other clinic for the blood tests and once that was done, T and I parted ways. We said our goodbyes and I gave her a warm hug - she has been nothing short of gracious and wonderful - and deep down, I am truly delighted to know that my donated eggs will have a mom like her.

*

Now all I have to do is to enjoy my summer (a lot of travelling!) and wait till September when I will begin my monitoring cycle with Dr C. Hopefully the blistering hot humid summer of HK will pass soon. I can't wait for autumn!