Day "Step" Two

So, today was less busy. I went to work. Kristina went to an interview for work. But we had no direct medical appointments or duties today. Tomorrow? Well, it gets busy. But before we get into that, I thought I would take advantage of this lull to give a little further explanation of the process, i.e., what all those acronyms I used yesterday really mean.

The whole procedure is called “IVF – MESA – ICSI.” Now, that is actually three different things.

The first, IVF, is in-vitro fertilization. It is probably the most well known of the acronyms. This is simply (ha, simply) the process of fertilization by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish. But this is for the guys in the lab coats to do. Supplying those parts is ours.

Retrieving the egg from Kristina is assumed in the “simply” process of the IVF abbreviation. There is a long series of chemistry she must receive through both pill and injection form. The hormones essentially act like super-birth-control, putting her reproductive system “to sleep” until ovulation – at which time she will generate multiple eggs, probably five or six. Somewhere around Day 45, the doctor harvests her gamete colony.

The MESA is how I supply my part. The letters stand for microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration. This is a medical phrase for “nut-cutting” – a phrase I’ve been incorporating more and more into my daily conversation. For those who haven’t figured it out, the scavenging must be made directly from the epididymis, which is a bundled up duct at the base of the testicle.

Ok, I don’t know about the readers – but I need some comic relief…or some smelly salts. I would tell a testicle joke, but I’m afraid people would think I was nuts.

Moving on – the last part, ICSI (pronounced ick-see) is intracytoplasmic sperm injection. What this describes is what is done with the cocktail after the guys with the lab coats mix it together. In our case, the doctor will take two (only two) of the fertilized embryos and implant them inside of Kristina.

Well – that’s pretty much it. Simple, right? Oh, tomorrow? Yes, we start the chemicals – both of us actually. Then comes the “mapping” – but more on that later. I might let her give that description; I’m squirming enough now.