First Egg Freezing Cycle: Recovery

My mom drove me home from the egg retrieval and I had lunch, including one of those whey protein shakes the clinic had recommended (see previous post.) I was feeling pretty tired; it had been a short night because I had needed to get up so early for the procedure. It’s possible that I was also feeling lingering effects of the anaesthesia. I took Tylenol to ward off pain (as suggested on the instruction sheet from the clinic) and went to take a nap. I was expecting to wake up in an hour or two, but I slept for four hours! I completely missed a football game I’d planned to watch. The clinic phoned while I was asleep; I awoke to a voicemail stating that they had been able to freeze 11 eggs. Out of the 13 that had been removed, one was immature and one was “not a good egg.” I later learned, when reviewing my medical records, that the “not a good egg” had been damaged. I was a bit upset that the count was now down to 11. But what could I do? At that point I knew it would be a good idea to do another egg freezing cycle if I could swing it financially, and that is what I am working on now.

I learned from the instruction sheet that I should avoid sex and exercise until my next period. Sex would be no problem what with the lack of boyfriend and all, but I was disappointed that the torsion risk still existed even after the egg retrieval. Apparently everything pretty much goes back to normal when you get your period but until then, the ovaries may still be enlarged.

I was not seriously worried about OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) despite the warnings from the clinic, because I knew that I hadn’t had all that many eggs removed. The more eggs removed, the higher the risk. Still, I was on the lookout for symptoms, which include fever above 100 degrees, moderate to heavy vaginal bleeding, severe cramping, rapid weight gain, pain not relieved with Tylenol, and difficulty with urination according to the post-procedure instructions sheet. I have read on other egg freezing blogs and discussion boards that your stomach gets really bloated and big, almost like you’re several months pregnant, and painful. Luckily nothing like that happened to me. I continued with the OHSS diet recommended by the clinic, drinking Gatorade and Pedialyte instead of plain water and having multiple whey protein shakes per day. I don’t know if the diet really did anything as I suspect I wouldn’t have gotten OHSS anyway.

I was supposed to take Doxycycline twice the day after the retrieval, but I forgot. I took it the following day instead. Oops! Luckily I did not come down with any infections.

I pretty much felt back to normal the day after the egg retrieval. I was still guzzling Gatorade and whey protein shakes, and avoiding brisk walking, but other than that things were normal.

There was no follow-up appointment or phone call from the doctor. I thought that was a little strange. I would have liked a  follow-on to discuss how the retrieval went, whether she would recommend doing another cycle,  what changes she might make in another cycle to get better results, etc. As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t see her at all during the egg retrieval procedure. For all I know the fellow could have done the retrieval. I certainly hope it was the regular, fully trained doctor with years of expertise who did it!