By the end of the day today, I will have had at least 20-25 needles poked into my skin. Right now, I think I'm at around 22-24. Superman did the Lu.pron shot this morning, and Christine, my acupuncturist did the other 20 or so. I also begin stims (brav.elle) tonight.
Christine had spoke to my Infertility Education and Support group last week and was really informative and knowledgeable about infertility. She didn't blink an eye when I mentioned NKA cells- she knew exactly what I was talking about and asked if I was doing Intralipids- it was so lovely not to have to delve into a long explanation about IV's and IVIg.
Anyway, my appointment was over my lunch break today. After asking a lot of questions ranging from cycles and cramps to appetite and sleep/stress she took my pulse and looked at my tongue. Apparently, my spleen is a little slow (??) so we're going to work on blood flow to my uterus and ovaries to grow good follicles.
She put needles in my wrist, ear, on the top of my head, on my belly (5 there) and up and down my legs/feet/ankles. I laid on the comfy table for about 10 minutes looking like Pinhead and relaxing. When she came back in to check on me she pulled one of the needles out because I mentioned that it was a bit uncomfortable. I guess I had moved my wrist and it was no longer in the proper position between my tendons. My body temp had dropped a bit, so she turned on the heater on the table and put a light blanket over my legs (which still had needles in them!). She left me alone for about 10 more minutes before she came in and hooked all of the needles in my belly up with wires. She said it was a slight electric current designed to increase blood flow to my abdomen (uterus and ovaries). When she turned it on, I just felt a slight twitches in my stomach- no pain at all.
I'm hoping to reduce some stress and anxiety through acupuncture. Superman kind of shakes his head about it, saying he doesn't know if he believes in 'holistic' medicine. At this point, I am willing to do whatever it takes. I don't want to look back after this cycle and say, "if we would have only done this or that, maybe then we would have had a positive". I want to give this cycle 110% of everything I can- without any regrets.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
New Kitchen Accessory!
We have a lovely new addition to our kitchen counter top..please excuse the blurry image, the picture was taken with my cell phone. 
The lu.pron shots are going well, Superman has it down pat and I can say that I really haven't felt them all that much. I'm on 10cc's until Monday, when I'll drop down to 5. I have also started Dex.amethas.one.
Apart from the 'girls' being abnormally large from the BCPs, I really haven't experienced any side effects (knocking very loudly on wood). I have cut out caffeine and am trying to eat healthier. I even passed up a very scrumptious looking brownie this morning that say, 5 weeks ago would have been my breakfast.
I was going over my calendar and I noticed something kind of interesting. I started BCPs on Mother's Day and I'm supposed to finish them on Father's Day. A sign? Perhaps.. only time will tell.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Reallllly Bad Joke...
Lup.ron shots begin tomorrow, and I'm sure I will post about the 'first shot' experience at some point tomorrow- might even have a video for you.. Anyway, someone in my office just sent me the following blond joke (note: I'm not a blonde). Because we are beginning the next chapter of our baby making story, it sorta fits. Anyway, more to come later this week.. and I apologize for the really bad joke..
The other day my neighbor, who is blonde, came running up to me in the driveway jumping for joy! I didn't know why she was jumping so excitedly but I thought, 'what the heck' and I starting jumping up and down along with her.
She said, "I have some really great news!"
I said, "Great. Tell me why you're so happy."
She stopped jumping and breathing heavily from all the jumping up and down, told me that she was pregnant. I knew she'd been trying for a while so I told her, "That's great, I couldn't be happier for you!"
Then she said, "There's more."
I asked, "What do you mean there's more."
She said, "Well, we are not having just one baby. We are going to have TWINS!"
Amazed at how she could know so soon after getting pregnant,I asked her how she knew. She said.... "Well, that was the easy part. I went to Sam's Club and they actually had a home pregnancy kit in a TWIN-pack. Both tests came out positive!"
The other day my neighbor, who is blonde, came running up to me in the driveway jumping for joy! I didn't know why she was jumping so excitedly but I thought, 'what the heck' and I starting jumping up and down along with her.
She said, "I have some really great news!"
I said, "Great. Tell me why you're so happy."
She stopped jumping and breathing heavily from all the jumping up and down, told me that she was pregnant. I knew she'd been trying for a while so I told her, "That's great, I couldn't be happier for you!"
Then she said, "There's more."
I asked, "What do you mean there's more."
She said, "Well, we are not having just one baby. We are going to have TWINS!"
Amazed at how she could know so soon after getting pregnant,I asked her how she knew. She said.... "Well, that was the easy part. I went to Sam's Club and they actually had a home pregnancy kit in a TWIN-pack. Both tests came out positive!"
Friday, May 29, 2009
They're Here....
Superman was kind enough to snap a picture of the meds and sent it my way. I'm itching to get home and make sure ALL of them were delivered. I don't think it looks very big, but he's assured me it's "a pretty big box".
The meds were delivered to his office because I didn't want them sitting on my porch all day. His office is small enough that the meds wouldn't be lost in the mailroom, like they would at my office. Superman told one of the Admins that he was expecting a shipment of CHOCOLATE! Hey, whatever works, right!?
Everyone in his company is getting new cell phones and the shipment of phones arrived at the same time the meds did- and one of his poor co-workers accidentally opened our box. What a shock he probably had- expecting a box of Blackberrys and finding this-
Superman said that the guy brought him the box, apologized and pretty much ran away. Oh well.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Lucky Day
Quick post today.. First, our IVF meds will be delivered tomorrow. I'll take a picture and post sometime over the weekend of our PLETHORA of medication.
The pharmacy called today to confirm delivery (thank you! That definitely helps my neurosis!!). Anyway, they also wanted to let me know the total that will be billed to my credit card. The total he gave me was two cents less than the original total when I placed the order. I told the guy this and he said, "Must be your lucky day!".. Ummm, no. "Lucky" would be if the total suddenly dropped $1000 OR if we won the $220 Million Powerball drawing last night.. but I'll still take the 2 cent discount!!!
The pharmacy called today to confirm delivery (thank you! That definitely helps my neurosis!!). Anyway, they also wanted to let me know the total that will be billed to my credit card. The total he gave me was two cents less than the original total when I placed the order. I told the guy this and he said, "Must be your lucky day!".. Ummm, no. "Lucky" would be if the total suddenly dropped $1000 OR if we won the $220 Million Powerball drawing last night.. but I'll still take the 2 cent discount!!!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
We have a diagnosis
Dr. A called last week to discuss the results of my bloodwork. Pretty much everything came back normal... pretty much. I tested positive for "ICC".. couldn't find a single thing on-line about ICC, found plenty about the International Cricket Club though!!.. and my NKa counts came back super high. From what I could find about NKa, my body identifies an embryo as a foreign object and attacks it before it can even implant. So, I may have been pregnant, several times... but my body rejected it even before I got a positive pregnancy test.
Dr. A is recommending 2 rounds of IVIg, which is terribly terribly expensive and quite possibly our only hope of getting and STAYING pregnant. We found a pharmacy in Chicago where we can get IVIg for the bargain price of only $82/gram. My counts were so high, he is also recommending that I get twice the normal amount of IVIg, so I'll need a total of 80g.. LOVELY.
It took a few days for all of the information to soak in.. and I had a meltdown last Thursday night. Throughout all of this, I have felt immense guilt. Guilt for being the one with 'the problem', Guilt for having to spend so much money on doctor bills, Guilt for being the one keeping Superman from being a Dad. The news that our cheap, low stim IVF cycle was now going to cost us more than a regular IVF cycle put me over the edge. I could not stop crying, no, I could not stop BAWLING. It wasn't a pretty cry either. It was a snotty, hiccuping, blubbering sob fest. I'm one of those criers whose face gets red, eyes swell, throat closes up and head starts throbbing when I have a massive cry session. Superman insisted that I take the following day off from work and use the gift certificate that my MIL gave me as a 'stress reducer' gift a few weeks ago. He even arranged for my little sister to meet me for a pedi after my massage. It was much needed- Thanks Superman and MIL!
Thinking positively, we do have lots in our favor. Our age, Supermans' super spermies, my hormone levels and health.. all signs that we should be successful. We also identified the problem BEFORE we began expensive IVF treatments. Had we have stayed with Dr. J, goodness knows how many thousands of dollars we would have spent without being successful.
Dr. A is recommending 2 rounds of IVIg, which is terribly terribly expensive and quite possibly our only hope of getting and STAYING pregnant. We found a pharmacy in Chicago where we can get IVIg for the bargain price of only $82/gram. My counts were so high, he is also recommending that I get twice the normal amount of IVIg, so I'll need a total of 80g.. LOVELY.
It took a few days for all of the information to soak in.. and I had a meltdown last Thursday night. Throughout all of this, I have felt immense guilt. Guilt for being the one with 'the problem', Guilt for having to spend so much money on doctor bills, Guilt for being the one keeping Superman from being a Dad. The news that our cheap, low stim IVF cycle was now going to cost us more than a regular IVF cycle put me over the edge. I could not stop crying, no, I could not stop BAWLING. It wasn't a pretty cry either. It was a snotty, hiccuping, blubbering sob fest. I'm one of those criers whose face gets red, eyes swell, throat closes up and head starts throbbing when I have a massive cry session. Superman insisted that I take the following day off from work and use the gift certificate that my MIL gave me as a 'stress reducer' gift a few weeks ago. He even arranged for my little sister to meet me for a pedi after my massage. It was much needed- Thanks Superman and MIL!
Thinking positively, we do have lots in our favor. Our age, Supermans' super spermies, my hormone levels and health.. all signs that we should be successful. We also identified the problem BEFORE we began expensive IVF treatments. Had we have stayed with Dr. J, goodness knows how many thousands of dollars we would have spent without being successful.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
We celebrated Mother's Day for Supermans' family yesterday afternoon. I was in charge of dessert- my favorite!, so I got up early to make cake balls for my in-laws. Superman had already gotten up WAY early to go turkey hunting with my SIL's bf.. ANYWAY, cake balls take some time, but are definitely worth the work. I had already baked the cakes Friday night and got up to roll and dip the balls before I headed out to the in-laws. I rolled about 6-7 dozen balls and jumped in the shower when I realized that I needed to run to a Quest center to have day 3 bloodwork drawn. Oh shoot! This was totally going to put a cramp in my schedule for the morning!
I quickly dressed and through on some make up and drove to the closest Quest office- watching the clock the whole time. There wasn't single person in the waiting room when I got there- SCORE! I checked in and was in a room within 5 minutes. Awesome, right on schedule! I gave the nurse my name and waited for her to poke me while she looked my file up on the computer... frowning, she asked me my name, drs name, dob.. oh, they didn't have the request that Dr. A's office was supposed to fax on Thursday. The woman asked if Dr. A's office was open on Saturdays and I said yes, I think they do some procedures on Saturdays.. so she left the room to go call the office, only to return and say that they were closed. (Here comes the part that I'm not so proud of....) I BURST into tears and told the nurse that it's a timed test and I was going to have to wait another MONTH to take it if blood wasn't drawn today. She apologized and said there was nothing to do and that she felt terrible.. I threw on some sunglasses and left.. tears streaming down my face. On my way home, I called my drs office thinking that there HAD to be an off hours exchange and within 5 minutes was connected to my nurse "A". She said that this happens ALL the time with Quest and told me to ask them if they could take a verbal order... UMM, I was in my car, not at the office.. ARGH!!!
So I drove back to the place where I had just made a huge embarrassing scene. Luckily, A knew all of the correct codes for all of the tests I had to have done- at least 7-8 of them, and my blood was drawn. I apologized to everyone for being the high-maintenance customer for the day and left with a band-aid on my arm.
By this time, I needed to be heading to the in-laws, but my cake balls weren't finished. I packed up the dog, the balls and the chocolate bark for the balls, thinking I could finish them at their house. About 2/3's of the way to their house Superman called to say that the festivities wouldn't take place at my MIL's, they had been moved to his grandparents' house, who HATE dogs. I explained to him my frustrating morning, how the balls weren't done, and that the dog was sitting in the seat next to me. Okay, "explained" probably isn't all that correct. I think it was maybe more along the lines of 'Bitched'... a teenie, tiny fight ensued.. maybe a tear or two more was shed... In the end, Superman waited for me at his parents house, helped me with the balls, and a crate was found so the dog wouldn't destroy my in-laws house while we were gone.
I'm not sure I was hormonal or if the tears and frustration were because it was Mothers Day, a not so fun holiday for us infertiles.. Either way, it was a rough day and I'm glad it's over! I'm definitely looking forward to Mother's Day next year and hoping that I'll be the one receiving gifts and love and praise.. not crying and fighting with Superman.
I quickly dressed and through on some make up and drove to the closest Quest office- watching the clock the whole time. There wasn't single person in the waiting room when I got there- SCORE! I checked in and was in a room within 5 minutes. Awesome, right on schedule! I gave the nurse my name and waited for her to poke me while she looked my file up on the computer... frowning, she asked me my name, drs name, dob.. oh, they didn't have the request that Dr. A's office was supposed to fax on Thursday. The woman asked if Dr. A's office was open on Saturdays and I said yes, I think they do some procedures on Saturdays.. so she left the room to go call the office, only to return and say that they were closed. (Here comes the part that I'm not so proud of....) I BURST into tears and told the nurse that it's a timed test and I was going to have to wait another MONTH to take it if blood wasn't drawn today. She apologized and said there was nothing to do and that she felt terrible.. I threw on some sunglasses and left.. tears streaming down my face. On my way home, I called my drs office thinking that there HAD to be an off hours exchange and within 5 minutes was connected to my nurse "A". She said that this happens ALL the time with Quest and told me to ask them if they could take a verbal order... UMM, I was in my car, not at the office.. ARGH!!!
So I drove back to the place where I had just made a huge embarrassing scene. Luckily, A knew all of the correct codes for all of the tests I had to have done- at least 7-8 of them, and my blood was drawn. I apologized to everyone for being the high-maintenance customer for the day and left with a band-aid on my arm.
By this time, I needed to be heading to the in-laws, but my cake balls weren't finished. I packed up the dog, the balls and the chocolate bark for the balls, thinking I could finish them at their house. About 2/3's of the way to their house Superman called to say that the festivities wouldn't take place at my MIL's, they had been moved to his grandparents' house, who HATE dogs. I explained to him my frustrating morning, how the balls weren't done, and that the dog was sitting in the seat next to me. Okay, "explained" probably isn't all that correct. I think it was maybe more along the lines of 'Bitched'... a teenie, tiny fight ensued.. maybe a tear or two more was shed... In the end, Superman waited for me at his parents house, helped me with the balls, and a crate was found so the dog wouldn't destroy my in-laws house while we were gone.
I'm not sure I was hormonal or if the tears and frustration were because it was Mothers Day, a not so fun holiday for us infertiles.. Either way, it was a rough day and I'm glad it's over! I'm definitely looking forward to Mother's Day next year and hoping that I'll be the one receiving gifts and love and praise.. not crying and fighting with Superman.
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