I was matched! 3 times to be exact. I had to wait a couple months before I found out, but my first match was actually in my home state, but they could not continue for personal reasons. My 2nd match was going to be in Boston, but the recipient was not clinically ready for me yet -- the recipient women also have to prepare themselves to be ready to receive the eggs immediately. Luckily, my 3rd match also came from Boston, and they were ready for me to start immediately!

So, I hopped on an airplane (after acceptance of another medical profile submission to the recipient's clinic) and flew to Boston for my 1-day trip. Starting at 8am the following day, I had my blood drawn, provided a urine sample, and had a vaginal ultrasound taken to check on my ovaries (felt similar to a pap smear).

Next, I met with a social worker to have a counseling session to make sure I understood the process and risks involved, as well as determine that I was emotionally ready to do this. She asked me a lot of questions about my background, family history, concerns about the process, etc. After that, under guidance of the social worker, I met with the recipient couple .

Then, I met with one of the clinic nurses who gave me an orientation on what drugs I would be taking including the injectable ones. She showed me exactly how I would need to mix the liquids in the right amounts and how it would need to be injected. I saw how small the needle is, so even though I diverted my eyes from my blood draw earlier, I think after the first day or two of initial shock, I'll be able to handle it on my own. I'm going to have to make my husband do it for me my first time. :)

Lastly, I took the 600-question (True/False)MMPI (psychology test) to ensure I didn't have any psychological issues. Oh, was that fun...

I finished everything around 3pm (without a lunch break) and just received a text notice that my flight home that night had been delayed and I could not catch my connecting flight. I had originally planned to relax and eat lunch somewhere in Boston, but instead rushed straight to the airport to make sure I could catch another flight to get me home. They put me on another airline, and because of construction at Logan Airport, I had to run outside to a different terminal to get to security, which was getting busy as it was peak travel hour. Finally, everything got settled, and I did get to relax and eat a good sushi meal inside the terminal, but man -- I was completely wiped out at that point! I sat and contemplated on the whole day and it really brought my feelings to a new level. Especially now, I felt honored to be chosen to help this couple. This is a really big deal.

A young-looking lady sitting next to me chatted with me on the flight and we told each other why we were traveling. She wishes she had known about egg donation sooner because she thought it was a remarkable thing I was doing - she's already a mother of 2 and past the age limit of 32, which I had a hard time believing until she showed me her children who look like they're in middle school.

So, the screening was not as bad as I thought. The nurses were very nice and patient toward all my questions. No part of the screening physically hurt me aside from the pinch of drawing my blood. They explained that the rest of my appointments up to the retrieval would be similar but only take a fraction of the morning. Coming back from the screening made me feel more confident that I had nothing to be afraid of when I start the retrieval process.