I went for my consult with the Hematologist this morning as recommend by my RE. This was part of my "homework" from the IVF Orientation appointment. As he was wrapping up with us and handing us off to the RN, he said "Hey who's going to be handling the Lovenox issue" and I said "well no one is handling it right now, would that be an OB/GYN"? He suggested I go see the hematology specialist.
I was the youngest patient by far in a very crowded waiting room. The doctor old. I was joking to my H that "this guy is so old he invented hematology." He was very rushed. The office is also an oncology hematology practice so there were a couple of cancer patients waiting for blood work and chemo treatments and then the rest were geriatrics talking about their cardiologists and previous strokes. There were signs all over the place that nicely asked everyone to be patient. Due the nature of oncology hematology, emergencies arise and basically if you were having an emergency or crisis you'd want your doctor right away. Fair enough.
Everyone in the waiting room was very friendly and I quickly figured out that they all see each other frequently for appointments and weekly "timed blood draws".
When I met with the doctor he had a 2nd year resident with him. I cannot escape students anywhere! This doctor is a renowned clotting disorders specialist and I guess he travels around the country speaking on clotting disorders. Kind of cool to have access to him in my "own backyard". We reviewed my history- that I've never had a confirmed pregnancy, that I've known about my Factor V Leiden for 8 years and take my baby aspirin daily. He asked a little bit about any other clotting disorder testing that I've had and I couldnt' recall anything else.
Doctor got quiet and was alternating between blinking a lot and staring at me. I could see the wheels in his mind were turning but he wasn't really saying much. If I hadn't been so versed in doctors appointments and advocating for myself by asking TONS of questions, that appointment wouldn't have gone very well. The doctor does all his talking in his mind until I started asking questions!
Basically what he's suspecting, because he's seen it in similar types of patients like me, that I might have other disorders that won't allow me to get pregnant. He says "What would you think if I told you that you might have a shot at conceiving a baby naturally by taking Lovenox daily?" I said "Then I would take Lovenox (duh)!". He gets up and leaves the room leaving me with the socially awkward Resident.
He comes back w/ a syringe of Lovenox and tells me to come over to him. He says "you're going to take this Lovenox right now and then we're going to do a full panel of blood work." He tells me to pull up my shirt a bit to expose my scar bellied gut. Hope you boys liked the view!!!
He cleaned the area, told me to "pinch an inch" (in my mind I was all "I got more than an inch, dude)". He pushed the needle into the belly and then made me inject the meds. I'm such a puss that I went so slow and he was basically like "just push it all in already". It didn't hurt until after it was over, just a little sting- a little stronger than an IUI drug to the thigh.
I was the youngest patient by far in a very crowded waiting room. The doctor old. I was joking to my H that "this guy is so old he invented hematology." He was very rushed. The office is also an oncology hematology practice so there were a couple of cancer patients waiting for blood work and chemo treatments and then the rest were geriatrics talking about their cardiologists and previous strokes. There were signs all over the place that nicely asked everyone to be patient. Due the nature of oncology hematology, emergencies arise and basically if you were having an emergency or crisis you'd want your doctor right away. Fair enough.
Everyone in the waiting room was very friendly and I quickly figured out that they all see each other frequently for appointments and weekly "timed blood draws".
When I met with the doctor he had a 2nd year resident with him. I cannot escape students anywhere! This doctor is a renowned clotting disorders specialist and I guess he travels around the country speaking on clotting disorders. Kind of cool to have access to him in my "own backyard". We reviewed my history- that I've never had a confirmed pregnancy, that I've known about my Factor V Leiden for 8 years and take my baby aspirin daily. He asked a little bit about any other clotting disorder testing that I've had and I couldnt' recall anything else.
Doctor got quiet and was alternating between blinking a lot and staring at me. I could see the wheels in his mind were turning but he wasn't really saying much. If I hadn't been so versed in doctors appointments and advocating for myself by asking TONS of questions, that appointment wouldn't have gone very well. The doctor does all his talking in his mind until I started asking questions!
Basically what he's suspecting, because he's seen it in similar types of patients like me, that I might have other disorders that won't allow me to get pregnant. He says "What would you think if I told you that you might have a shot at conceiving a baby naturally by taking Lovenox daily?" I said "Then I would take Lovenox (duh)!". He gets up and leaves the room leaving me with the socially awkward Resident.
He comes back w/ a syringe of Lovenox and tells me to come over to him. He says "you're going to take this Lovenox right now and then we're going to do a full panel of blood work." He tells me to pull up my shirt a bit to expose my scar bellied gut. Hope you boys liked the view!!!
He cleaned the area, told me to "pinch an inch" (in my mind I was all "I got more than an inch, dude)". He pushed the needle into the belly and then made me inject the meds. I'm such a puss that I went so slow and he was basically like "just push it all in already". It didn't hurt until after it was over, just a little sting- a little stronger than an IUI drug to the thigh.
Then it was down the hall to the blood draw area. It just so happened the draw blood in the chemo area. I had to sit in one of those comfy chairs where folks settle in for chemo. I got a little panicky and then teary eyed as I reflected on how fortunate I am and was 4 years ago when I had ovarian cancer. It was caught early and I didn't need chemo or radiation. It took 20 minutes for the M.A. to come draw my blood because they were so busy and a lot of the staff had the day off.
He put me on daily injections of Lovenox starting immediately. They have to be administered at the same time every day. I go back on September 7th for the results from the 22 vials of blood. I will need to have one of those timed blood draws weekly until the doctor feels my dose is regulated.
My arm hurts now and I've got quite the bruise from giving so much blood and from ripping off the tape. I also had a nice 20 minutes of hives after taking of the tape- but that went away. I guess I'm just too delicate.
He put me on daily injections of Lovenox starting immediately. They have to be administered at the same time every day. I go back on September 7th for the results from the 22 vials of blood. I will need to have one of those timed blood draws weekly until the doctor feels my dose is regulated.
My arm hurts now and I've got quite the bruise from giving so much blood and from ripping off the tape. I also had a nice 20 minutes of hives after taking of the tape- but that went away. I guess I'm just too delicate.
So because this doctor isn't a fertility specialist, I'm taking his "you might have a shot at conceiving naturally" theory with a heaping spoon of salt-not just a grain of salt. His advice today was to "keep injecting myself with Lovenox and grab a bottle of wine and have a hot date with my husband".
This is extremely confusing and disorienting because I've already got my plan of IVF in October and the fertility drugs need to be ordered in early September (and paid for at the time of shipment) so to hear that we might not have to do that is leaving H and uncertain especially because of the cost and all the mental preparations we've already done.
We will see what happens next. Wish me luck tomorrow morning stabbing myself in the stomach.
Stab on sister...
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