Close-up of the needle. Yup, those suckers are LONG!
The progesterone shots are really making my butt and thighs sore. I had a few bruises but those are slowly fading. I can really feel it in the muscles on the outer sides of both my legs. They’re very sore and uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s hard to sit on one butt cheek or the other depending upon where my last shot was.
And I’m growing knots inside my skin from the constant injections in the same area. We had a little incident on the 4th day that Nick gave me the shot. We didn’t feel the knot and when he gave me the injection, the needle must have hit it and so it didn’t go in. So he pulled back. This hurt really bad and stung. It almost felt like I had a deep cut. I can’t see it when he’s doing it, so I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t move because it felt like the needle was still in me. I was mad and made the mistake of telling him I didn’t trust him anymore. (As if that would help the situation at all.) We tried to calm down, he did it again and it worked fine.
But not even an hour later, my left leg started feeling numb and itchy. For the next two days, it felt the same way. It felt like the kind of numbness you might have after being outside for a long time on a very cold day, when you come back inside and it feels numb and cool and itchy. I was worried he hit a nerve and something bad was going to happen. I don’t know what, maybe that’d I’d have to have my leg amputated or something. Who knows, but I was paranoid for the worst. I decided I’d just deal with it and hope it went away soon.
It’s been over 7 days now and it still feels sore and achy like a deep bruise. But it doesn’t feel numb anymore. I think I might survive. It feels similar on my right side now, but not nearly as bad. I just hope it all goes away soon.
But, ultimately, I have to remind myself that these progesterone shots were my idea. I chose this!
The “norm” for progesterone after IVF is vaginal suppositories. I had done these with previous treatments at Mayo and I absolutely despised them. For those you have to insert a suppository into your vagina twice a daily, every morning and night following an IUI. They are so gross. Sorry for the visual but they slowly dissolve and leak out. So, imagine something leaking out of your crotch all day long and all night long. It even made it hard to sleep at night. It’s just such an uncomfortable feeling…sort of like you’re peeing your pants 24/7.
They told me that for IVF, you’d have to do these suppositories even more, three times a day. When I asked if there was an alternative and found out I could do shots instead of the suppositories, I was relieved. Thank goodness. I’ll take a little pain over that grossness anytime. Then I found out they were intramuscular shots…butt shots with long needles. It made me think about it more, but ultimately I realized that would be worth it! Bring on the shots!
Jesse did these shots for the first 7days. With Jesse’s guidance, Nick tried his first time giving the shot on January 26th. He did it! We did one more night with Jesse watching. Then on Thursday, the 28th, we were out of town, so we had to do it on our own. I’m still alive so I guess he passed the test. Way to go, Nick!
As the days pass, it’s getting easier. Nick’s quite the good shot giver now! (Nick is an Optometrist…so he goes by either Dr. Vincelli and sometimes Dr. Nick.) But, I should call him Nurse Nick now instead of Doctor Nick!
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