Not much to tell you. I've been to the doctor and done the requisite blood work and such. No need for an ultrasound as they don't need a baseline scan for me, just D. V. has been on call all this week, so he'll go in next week to get his blood work and such done.
I'm off for 12 days to sunny Florida with my Mum tomorrow. So unless V. chooses to post anything, I'll chat with you all then.
Ciao
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
A Public Apology
I am driving my dear husband crazy.
V. and I have a ton of stuff going on between both our jobs, school for our 15 yr old, our daily commutes, continuing to unpack from our December move, finances, aging parents, and other general stress. Nothing that is really much different from anyone else. However, with my obsession with the task at hand, I'm making him feel as if he isn't as focused as I am. I would like to say here, for all to witness, that I know he is just as committed to this as I am. He's along for the ride, with all the bumps and hills we encounter. We both have our eyes on the prize.
He takes everything onto his very broad shoulders. Whereas, I am aware of all of it, but have this single minded focus where I so badly want to get on with the IVF and all it entails. There have been so many things to delay us on this road. The one I feel most responsible for is the year we lost because it was recommended we remove the fibroids I had. I do not for a minute regret doing that because if it means our chances of success have increased, even a tiny bit, then it was definitely worth it. Plus (TMI coming), it definitely helped me with my monthly cycles such that they aren't as long or as painful. So for that alone, it was worth doing. But, I can't help but look back on the past year and feel that had it been recommended to us that we deal with them before we even tried IUI, would we still be in the same place today.
I know, I'm crying over spilled milk. But because of it. all I think about, on a daily basis, is where we are, what we need to do, and how are we going to be able to get to the next step. This is not to say V. doesn't. But I'm driving him nuts because I make him feel like I think he doesn't want this as much as I do.
So, hon, I most humbly apologize here, in front of our family, friends and friends in the computer, and promise to do my very level best to try not to be so obsessed with everything. I love you very much and I there's nothing more that I want than to be the mother of your child(ren).
Pam
P.S. - To all loyal readers - anyone want to buy a 1999 T0y0ta C0rol1a with under 90,000km? :)
V. and I have a ton of stuff going on between both our jobs, school for our 15 yr old, our daily commutes, continuing to unpack from our December move, finances, aging parents, and other general stress. Nothing that is really much different from anyone else. However, with my obsession with the task at hand, I'm making him feel as if he isn't as focused as I am. I would like to say here, for all to witness, that I know he is just as committed to this as I am. He's along for the ride, with all the bumps and hills we encounter. We both have our eyes on the prize.
He takes everything onto his very broad shoulders. Whereas, I am aware of all of it, but have this single minded focus where I so badly want to get on with the IVF and all it entails. There have been so many things to delay us on this road. The one I feel most responsible for is the year we lost because it was recommended we remove the fibroids I had. I do not for a minute regret doing that because if it means our chances of success have increased, even a tiny bit, then it was definitely worth it. Plus (TMI coming), it definitely helped me with my monthly cycles such that they aren't as long or as painful. So for that alone, it was worth doing. But, I can't help but look back on the past year and feel that had it been recommended to us that we deal with them before we even tried IUI, would we still be in the same place today.
I know, I'm crying over spilled milk. But because of it. all I think about, on a daily basis, is where we are, what we need to do, and how are we going to be able to get to the next step. This is not to say V. doesn't. But I'm driving him nuts because I make him feel like I think he doesn't want this as much as I do.
So, hon, I most humbly apologize here, in front of our family, friends and friends in the computer, and promise to do my very level best to try not to be so obsessed with everything. I love you very much and I there's nothing more that I want than to be the mother of your child(ren).
Pam
P.S. - To all loyal readers - anyone want to buy a 1999 T0y0ta C0rol1a with under 90,000km? :)
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Post #100
So, I've been blogging our journey since April, 2006 and I've reached my 100th post. I'd hoped that this post would have been earth shattering, or momentous, or inspiring or something, but it's not. :)
As I mentioned in the last post, we've got the green light from the clinic and we're still trying to figure out the money. Meanwhile, we should be receiving today (I hope) the blood work requirements from the clinic so that when CD1 comes, I can call and let them know. But, it seems that AF has gone AWOL. It's now day 30 on what is usually a 28 day cycle. This is what happened last cycle too. But it showed up late on CD30.
So, I called my RE's office on my way in to work. I kinda try to avoid those calls from my desk since I work in a small office area with 11 guys (and I'm the lone female). It's not exactly private. :)
So anyway, I called and spoke with the nurse in the office and thankfully the year away didn't have her forget who we were. :) She was happy to hear from me and asked if I'd been to Montreal yet. I filled her in on the last year, reminded her about the fibroids, the recovery/waiting period, the further delay at our end and told her that we've got the green light from the clinic but that our blood work was out of date. I needed to find out when I should come in since this is now Wednesday and my period hasn't started. So, basically, she said if it starts today or tomorrow, I should go in Friday. If it starts Friday, I'll go in Monday. I don't expect it to start as late as Friday because I've not had a 33 day cycle since my 20s. Based on last month, I'm expecting it to start later today, so that will be good.
Oh, and I don't remember if I mentioned this before. I'm going away for 10 days with my Mom to a spa on March 1. When she asked if I wanted to go with her, the first thought was "I hope this doesn't screw up the start of the procedure". But I don't think it will. I'm hoping that we can get the financing in place by the time I get back so we can start with D.'s March cycle which would be after I return. I'm kind of looking forward to it. This is where we're going. It's entirely vegetarian, and as far as I know there's no caffeine either. I don't mind the vegetarian aspect, it's the lack of caffeine that will get to me, but perhaps this is a good thing at this stage as I will have been off caffeine before the procedure and hopefully able to stay off caffeine. I've lost about 30 pounds in the last year since we first spoke to the clinic and I'm hoping that these 10 days will be the last push to drop about 5 more or so. Either way, I think it will be good. And spending the 10 days with my Mom will be good too.
Anyway, like I said, for a 100th post, it's not very inspiring. :)
As I mentioned in the last post, we've got the green light from the clinic and we're still trying to figure out the money. Meanwhile, we should be receiving today (I hope) the blood work requirements from the clinic so that when CD1 comes, I can call and let them know. But, it seems that AF has gone AWOL. It's now day 30 on what is usually a 28 day cycle. This is what happened last cycle too. But it showed up late on CD30.
So, I called my RE's office on my way in to work. I kinda try to avoid those calls from my desk since I work in a small office area with 11 guys (and I'm the lone female). It's not exactly private. :)
So anyway, I called and spoke with the nurse in the office and thankfully the year away didn't have her forget who we were. :) She was happy to hear from me and asked if I'd been to Montreal yet. I filled her in on the last year, reminded her about the fibroids, the recovery/waiting period, the further delay at our end and told her that we've got the green light from the clinic but that our blood work was out of date. I needed to find out when I should come in since this is now Wednesday and my period hasn't started. So, basically, she said if it starts today or tomorrow, I should go in Friday. If it starts Friday, I'll go in Monday. I don't expect it to start as late as Friday because I've not had a 33 day cycle since my 20s. Based on last month, I'm expecting it to start later today, so that will be good.
Oh, and I don't remember if I mentioned this before. I'm going away for 10 days with my Mom to a spa on March 1. When she asked if I wanted to go with her, the first thought was "I hope this doesn't screw up the start of the procedure". But I don't think it will. I'm hoping that we can get the financing in place by the time I get back so we can start with D.'s March cycle which would be after I return. I'm kind of looking forward to it. This is where we're going. It's entirely vegetarian, and as far as I know there's no caffeine either. I don't mind the vegetarian aspect, it's the lack of caffeine that will get to me, but perhaps this is a good thing at this stage as I will have been off caffeine before the procedure and hopefully able to stay off caffeine. I've lost about 30 pounds in the last year since we first spoke to the clinic and I'm hoping that these 10 days will be the last push to drop about 5 more or so. Either way, I think it will be good. And spending the 10 days with my Mom will be good too.
Anyway, like I said, for a 100th post, it's not very inspiring. :)
Monday, February 19, 2007
And we're off!
D. called this morning. As we've all experienced, the clinic didn't call her back on Friday afternoon as she was told. So she left a voice mail for them. They're closed on the weekends, unless there are retrievals or transfers, so they returned the call this morning.
FSH - 8.6
Estradiol - 122
We're good to go!!! The nurse said nothing else except that we were good and could begin. :)
D. is sending the blood work requisitions for V. and me today by Priority Post, so I should have them in the next 2 days. That works out well for me as my CD3 should be Thursday or Friday this week so V. and I will be able to go to my local RE and get the blood work done and any thing else they've asked for.
Now, all that's keft is for V. and I to figure out how financing all this. (Thank god the meds are covered).
FSH - 8.6
Estradiol - 122
We're good to go!!! The nurse said nothing else except that we were good and could begin. :)
D. is sending the blood work requisitions for V. and me today by Priority Post, so I should have them in the next 2 days. That works out well for me as my CD3 should be Thursday or Friday this week so V. and I will be able to go to my local RE and get the blood work done and any thing else they've asked for.
Now, all that's keft is for V. and I to figure out how financing all this. (Thank god the meds are covered).
Friday, February 16, 2007
Perhaps this is the start of something good?
Well, D. had her appointment with the clinic today to get the CD3 ultrasound done. Because she's already 37 and some personal issues in late 2006, there was some question as to whether she would still be considered a viable donor. I had spoken to the doctor back in October and she assured me that they have the same results with donors who are 37 as those who are 36, but that she'd likely transfer 3 embryos if we got to that point. So it was important for D. to get into the clinic to get retested to see what they said. She'd already spoken this week to the nurse who looks after the egg donation at the clinic, and she was going to have all the documentation prepped for V. and I so we know what bloodwork and tests they need redone. (He mentioned in his last post we were going to need to bring our blood work and such up to date before we began.) So of course, knowing she was going in for her appointment had me on pins and needles waiting to hear from her. :)
So D. called me this morning at 10:23am after she'd left the clinic. One of the doctors had done the ultrasound, rather than a technician, which I think is good because then you're getting a medical opinion of what's being seen rather than being told that the doctor will review the results with you. Anyway, D. said that the results were pretty good. She has 8 antral follicles on one side and 6 on the other. This is good especially at 37. Antral follicles are small follicles , usually about 2-8 mm in diameter. The number of antral follicles correlates well with ovarian response. A normal total antral count is between 15 and 30. If the count is less than 6, the prognosis is poor. This site says that a total count of 14 falls under "Normal (but intermediate) count, the response to drug stimulation is sometimes low, but usually good. Slight increased risk for IVF cycle cancellation. Pregnancy rates as a group only slightly reduced compared to the "best" group." So I'm optimistic with D.s results for this. The ultrasound back in September/05 showed a total of 15 antral follicles so there really hasn't been a huge change. However, the doctor said that there was one follicle was larger than the others and because of this they really wanted her to get the CD3 bloodwork done today. Normally she'd have gone to the CLSC which is the free clinic run and maintained by the provincial government, but because they were anxious to get it done, she had the blood work done at the clinic. If she'd called to say what should she do, V. and I would have told her to do exactly what she did which was get it done there. We don't mind spending the money for the tests she needs (the ultrasound costs there too), if it means getting a quick, accurate result. They had told her that the FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and the estradiol level would tell them if she was still going to be able to be our donor.
With the FSH levels each clinic is different as to what they consider normal and such, but basically if the FSH is under 10 that's considered good whereas over 20 is considered poor. As for the estradiol level, they want to see it under 80. This site has some information on FSH and estradiol.
So, basically, we haven't gotten the go ahead yet. We're waiting for D.'s bloodwork to come back. She's supposed to get a call this afternoon. If it's good news, she'll be overnighting the list of required tests for V. and me so we can get them done next week and she'll be heading off to the local clinic for one more test on Monday.
Here's hoping for a good news call later today. I'll post an update here when we get it.
So D. called me this morning at 10:23am after she'd left the clinic. One of the doctors had done the ultrasound, rather than a technician, which I think is good because then you're getting a medical opinion of what's being seen rather than being told that the doctor will review the results with you. Anyway, D. said that the results were pretty good. She has 8 antral follicles on one side and 6 on the other. This is good especially at 37. Antral follicles are small follicles , usually about 2-8 mm in diameter. The number of antral follicles correlates well with ovarian response. A normal total antral count is between 15 and 30. If the count is less than 6, the prognosis is poor. This site says that a total count of 14 falls under "Normal (but intermediate) count, the response to drug stimulation is sometimes low, but usually good. Slight increased risk for IVF cycle cancellation. Pregnancy rates as a group only slightly reduced compared to the "best" group." So I'm optimistic with D.s results for this. The ultrasound back in September/05 showed a total of 15 antral follicles so there really hasn't been a huge change. However, the doctor said that there was one follicle was larger than the others and because of this they really wanted her to get the CD3 bloodwork done today. Normally she'd have gone to the CLSC which is the free clinic run and maintained by the provincial government, but because they were anxious to get it done, she had the blood work done at the clinic. If she'd called to say what should she do, V. and I would have told her to do exactly what she did which was get it done there. We don't mind spending the money for the tests she needs (the ultrasound costs there too), if it means getting a quick, accurate result. They had told her that the FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and the estradiol level would tell them if she was still going to be able to be our donor.
With the FSH levels each clinic is different as to what they consider normal and such, but basically if the FSH is under 10 that's considered good whereas over 20 is considered poor. As for the estradiol level, they want to see it under 80. This site has some information on FSH and estradiol.
So, basically, we haven't gotten the go ahead yet. We're waiting for D.'s bloodwork to come back. She's supposed to get a call this afternoon. If it's good news, she'll be overnighting the list of required tests for V. and me so we can get them done next week and she'll be heading off to the local clinic for one more test on Monday.
Here's hoping for a good news call later today. I'll post an update here when we get it.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Next phase
Well baby fans, we are tackling things on two fronts now. I've enlisted the help from another of my family members and she is currently trying to work out something that will be beneficial to the both of us. Suffice it to say that she got screwed on something not too long ago so that was why I was hesitant to ask her (even though she would do anything for me). Anyhow, Bones (that's what I call her) struck out on the first attempt because of some stupid (and seemingly shady) processes and requirements, so I am not crying on that one. She is looking into something else and will let me know.
In the meantime, the other side of things have been set in motion. I always call my wife's 1999 Toyota Corolla CE a POS car but the truth is the damn thing is reliable, sits under 100K, is economical, zippy and works without giving us problems. As such, that makes it a valuable commodity. So, I have arranged to take a vehicle off a co-worker whose fiancee is getting a vehicle from work so she is getting his truck. It is a 1995 Nissan Maxima with high mileage, some rust and some work needed. We have a family friend/mechanic who used to work at Nissan and loves them so I will get it fixed up right freeing the POS to be sold for as much as we can squeeze for it. That should get us halfway at this point making it a little easier to move forward.
TMI ALERT!
Speaking of moving forward, it would seem that all three of us (myself, Pam and our donor) are required to retest due to the time that has lapsed. Oh my. How ever will I get MY test completed successfully. I think I will need some help on this challenge. May I phone a friend?
V.
In the meantime, the other side of things have been set in motion. I always call my wife's 1999 Toyota Corolla CE a POS car but the truth is the damn thing is reliable, sits under 100K, is economical, zippy and works without giving us problems. As such, that makes it a valuable commodity. So, I have arranged to take a vehicle off a co-worker whose fiancee is getting a vehicle from work so she is getting his truck. It is a 1995 Nissan Maxima with high mileage, some rust and some work needed. We have a family friend/mechanic who used to work at Nissan and loves them so I will get it fixed up right freeing the POS to be sold for as much as we can squeeze for it. That should get us halfway at this point making it a little easier to move forward.
TMI ALERT!
Speaking of moving forward, it would seem that all three of us (myself, Pam and our donor) are required to retest due to the time that has lapsed. Oh my. How ever will I get MY test completed successfully. I think I will need some help on this challenge. May I phone a friend?
V.
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