All ready to get started!

Excited but terrified! Dr Pundir removed my coil for me when we saw her at Guy's and told me to get in touch when my periods returned to normal. I rang the hospital on Monday morning and Chantal (PGD nurse) called me back yesterday. We are ready to get started as soon as my next period arrives which should be the end of September. I will then start the pill for 21 days and then start the nasal spray and the treatment cycle will be in full swing!
I'm doing my best to prepare myself, taking folic acid, cutting down on alcohol, eating more fruit and veg. I've been reading about relaxation and positive thinking. This is going to be a stressful and exhausting experience so I am going to do the best I can to approach treatment in a calm and relaxed way.
At the moment it looks like the main part of treatment would take place in the middle of November, here's hoping for a wonderful Christmas present!

Appointment went well!

Everyone at the ACU was lovely! The doctor gave us loads of her time and the nurses were friendly and helpful, really put us at ease. We had our blood tests and I had a scan of my ovaries. I have really good ovaries apparently with at least a dozen follicles in each, only concern is that I could become 'over stimulated' so will have to be monitored closely when we start treatment.
The doctor removed my contraceptive coil for me. We now have to wait for my natural cycle to return and then ring the centre for a date to get started, could be as little as two months! I've started taking folic acid as advised by the doctor and decided to cut down on alcohol and caffeine; healthy diet starts here! Very excited now but suddenly feel unprepared! Need to start reading about getting ready for pregnancy rather than how long it takes to get appointments! Going to try really hard to keep up gentle exercise and relaxation over the next couple of months but even thinking about it all sets my heart fluttering! Deep breaths!

First ACU appointment

Can see the tower from the top floor windows. Going to leave soon to get the tube and find the right floor. Nervous but excited. Hoping to get an idea of timescale but not really sure what to expect. Will add an update later.

Getting Started

I feel like we have finally reached the starting blocks after a long, slow journey. So far we have overcome many hills and valleys but I know these are nothing compared to the mountains we have yet to climb. I've never been good at diary keeping but I'm hoping writing a blog will help keep me sane as we go through the PGD process.

So far we have met with a genetic counsellor and had blood tests for genetic analysis. This took about six months from sending off our first samples, much slower than I had hoped, but we got the right result, the thumbs up to proceed. We are going down to London for a week on Saturday and will be going to Guy's on Thursday (28th) for our first appointment with the assisted conception unit.

It seems a little strange that everyone now knows about what we are doing after we featured in Adam Wishart's film 'Should I test my genes?'  It seems a logical next step now to write about what we are doing and to share the emotional side along with the practicalities of travelling the length of the country for treatment with such a low success rate. Oh well, it is worth a try!

Getting started with PGD