Fictional Flubs July 19, 2004
I read My Sister’s Keeper a while back, and something struck me as odd in that book. First a little background. The book is about this family who has a daughter who is diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. The parents decide to have another child using IVF with PGD in order to provide a donor match for their daughter. I have no idea if that’s even possible with the current technology of PGD, but I’m not even going to go into that or the ethical implications of that. After their second daughter is born, they transplant the stem cells from her umbilical cord into the sick daughter. After the transplant, the mom is practicing subq injections on an orange, because she will have to give the sick daughter injections at home. Now if she had just gone through IVF to have the second daughter, wouldn’t she be a pro at giving injections? That’s what I found odd. I guess the only explanation would be if her husband had given her all her injections for IVF. Which is what I plan to do, by the way. That is if my hubby doesn’t pass out. He doesn’t have a good track record in that department.
- Posted in : various other ramblings
- Author : amanda
Comments»
I just stumbled across your blog and wanted to comment on the whole injection practice thing. I did one round of in vitro during my infertility struggle. Try and Try as I might - no matter how determined I was to do it - I could not give myself a shot. It’d sit there and focus. I’d line up that needle and I’d jab…but not hard enough to break the skin. I’d just bounce that damn thing off me. ;) That first morning my husband came out and saw me crying with this still filled needle of lupron in my hand. He just took it from me and stuck it in my belly. He still says giving me those shots was the one of the hardest things he’s ever done. . .but the thing is he did it. And it was his way of taking some of the physical discomfort and what not on himself so I wasn’t alone in it.
That said, I did go on to have a son - not through IVF, its a long story, but we have one of those ’surprise’ children you mention in another entry and now await our 2nd. If either of my children ever needed injections I’d get over my needle phobia. There’s just something different about giving a
shot to yourself vs someone else. . .and when its someone you love that needs it, its just something you figure out how to do.
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Hi Sandy. Congratulations on your son and your child to be. I think (hope) that my husband will be able to handle the injections. He’s passed out on more than one occasion when dealing with similar things, so we’ll see. I’m not excited about the thought of doing them myself, but I will if need be. I get nervous just thinking about that prospect, but since IVF is our only shot at having bio children, I’m not going to let sticking myself on a daily basis stand in my way.
We (I) had to do injections last month with our first IUI and figured I would have my husband give them to me. When we “practiced” at the clinic, he completely bent the needle on the syringe and broke it off. The nurse said she’s never in ten years seen anyone do that before. I figured he was just looking for a way out of it. I ended up giving myself the injections and all in all, it wasn’t that bad. It took me a long time to do the first one, but I got the job done. You do what you have to do, especially when it comes to something as significant as trying to make a baby. If I was simply “sick” or something I don’t know if I could have done it. I guess the ends justifies the means.
PS - very happy to find your blog, too - I feel like I can relate well to you, having read your blog, even though our personal experiences with infertility have been very different. I will keep in touch and hope you will too!
Dawn, that’s funny about your husband breaking the needle. I guess you were better off doing the injections on your own.