Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Annoying Reminders

Courtesy of Google Images
One of the things that annoys me the most about IVF is having to set an alarm as a reminder to take all of my various pills/injectables/insertables.  But, alas, I need the alarms in order to take the drugs at the required time... otherwise I get distracted with life, work.

It's not the actual setting of the alarm that annoys me, it's when the alarm goes off.  Like I need multiple reminders a day that I'm infertile and am now working on my THIRD IVF... but that's really what the sound of that alarm represents...  hey you, yeah, the Infertile one... it's time to stop life and set up your sterile area for your injections, pull the vials out of the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature so you can stick yourself (and bruise your belly) because, while there is no guarantee you'll have a baby by doing this day-in and day-out, there IS A GUARANTEE that you WILL NOT HAVE A BABY if you don't!

But the message the alarm sends is not the point of this post... it's just the alarm itself that's caused some annoying and uncomfortable moments.  I've had two recent incidents of bad timing with the alarm.

Acupuncture
The first incident was a few weeks ago... it was the reminder to take my BCP/Letrozol at 6pm daily.  I was at acupuncture...  you see where I'm going with this...  I had just replaced my iPhone a couple of days before (I'm so happy to be back on Verizon!) and I flipped the switch to Silent on my way to acupuncture.  Yet at 6pm.... RING... (old fashioned telephone sound)... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING...  (warning:  with the iPhone 4, the alarm rings audibly even when the phone is set to Silent)   RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING...

You get the idea, right?  Phone alarms don't take a break unless you hit snooze... so it just continues... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING... RING...

Well, while I'm getting used to needles (and I used to be a needle-phobe) I am NOT getting off the table with needles sticking out of my head, abdomen, hands, legs and feet.  Moving around the room to get to my phone and shut the alarm... it's just not an option.  I yell out to my acupuncturist...  'A'...  I keep yelling out her name every few rings... I'm getting louder and louder... but she doesn't hear me.  I'm not kidding when I say 10 minutes passed before she finally came in and fished my phone out of my purse for me.  I didn't realize the walls were soundproof!

Yes, the benefits of that acupuncture session was a #fail.

Monitoring
Oh yes, I'm going there...  Yesterday, I was in for morning monitoring at 7am.  I had my bloodwork done, waited to be called back to an exam room, finally went back, got undressed from the waist down... you know the drill...  I sat back with my feet in the stirrups and my paper sheet covering my lower half and read my Kind.le waiting on the doctor to check my follies and lining.

In comes the doctor (not my doctor).  Over the last 14 months I've seen each doctor in the practice numerous times but they still tend to walk in and introduce themselves, like it's the first time we've met.  I know they see a ton of patients... but really...  you've seen me a dozen times or more over the last year+.  And this doctor starts asking me what I think about stimming so far... like it's my first time at bat.  Again, I don't expect him to know my case history off the top of his head... but at the same time... this is my third time in for IVF (not to mention all of the IUI's)... given the amount of business I've given them... anyway, not the point of this post!

So the Doc is in position and Wandy is doing its thing, the nurse is writing down the sizes of all of my follies and.... TRILL... TRILL... TRILL... TRILL... TRILL... TRILL.... TRILL... TRILL... TRILL... TRILL... TRILL... (I changed my alarm tone after the BCP/acupuncture incident because I couldn't stand to hear the RING... RING... RING... any longer).  Kind of ironic to be in the stirrups for monitoring when my alarm reminder for my morning injections goes off.

Of course, my purse (where my phone is) is across the room next to my pants.  I asked the nurse to grab it and I finally turned it off... all the while, the doctor barely pauses and continues to call out follicle sizes.


The good news is I have so many follies (the news I find disappointing is that they were all only 3 and 4mm in size).  The doctor was encouraging because I didn't have any outliers... they are all consistent in size.


Today I'm thankful for having 11 follies... more than I've ever had during this stage of IVF.  And, while I don't like the alarm itself, I am thankful to be in the age of technology that makes it so easy to set multiple alarms (labeled) and carry it with you... as much as I can't stand that damn alarm.

And now I need to pick another new alarm sound... any recommendations?  I find them all annoying.

9 comments:

  1. Oh man, I can so envision your bad ring experiences. So sorry, but this did make me chuckle a little as that same kind of stuff always happens to me.

    As for ring suggestions, I love the crickets... but I have to admit that one day soon after I got my phone I was walking down the street and started thinking to myself, "wow, this is a weird time of day for crickets". It has happened more than once. Yep, I have totally missed calls because I sometimes think it was *real* crickets chirping. Me = doof brain.

    SUPER CONGRATS on the 11 follies!!! WOW. There has GOT to be a keeper in there.

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  2. Ha- I've had that experience too. My favorite was when my clinic called me during meetings when I thought I had my ringer off "no- I don't need to answer, it- really" as I look anxiously at the phone, wondering what bad news they are leaving on my voice mail at that moment.

    Really hoping 3rd time is the charm for you!

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  3. Any un-welcomed sound even if it's birds singing is annoying. I am so happy for your 11 follies!! YAY!!

    Also, Dr. Doom, who I had been seeing for months, who did 3 of my IUIs with donor sperm, my HSG, numerous ultrasounds, my polyp removal and informed me of my infertility. Dr. Doom who knew I was single (or so I thought). One time recommended that I go home and have sex. I told him that I was single BUT I'll go home and have sex anyway!

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  4. I hate all alarms and all alarm sounds so I can't help you there. Yay you for 11 follies!

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  5. 11 Follies! Wow! No suggestions on the alarm thing. I know that if I ever get to FET, the schedule thing will cause me oodles of problems because I am SO bad at keeping to schedules.

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  6. Sounds like you are stimming wonderfully with 11 follicles! I wish I had better ideas regarding alarm sounds!

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  7. Yay - 11 follies! This cycle is already starting off differently than your other 2 cycles. This is very positive!!

    As far as ringtones go, I use Marimba. Maybe the Harp would be more peaceful??

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  8. After 8 IVFs I barely needed to look at my protocol or the clock. LOL.

    Sorry, bad joke. Good luck with the follicles. Nice that they are all about the same.

    Hang in there, this part sucks.

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