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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Latest update

This past Tuesday V and I headed off to the referral I had with a doctor of internal medicine, we'll call her Dr. C. My OB/Gyn thought it wouldn't hurt to get the referral just to see if she had any other ideas about what we could to do better our chances on our last cycle we'll have in the new year.

She was very nice. Said that being heterozygous MTHFR isn't enough, and somewhat weak but definitely agreed that the 5mg of folic acid was a very good idea. She also mentioned the baby aspirin and fragmin during the cycle, which I indicated we had done in the past.

She did say that losing weight wasn't the big thing, but getting regular exercise. Yes, it doesn't hurt to drop the weight but she said she wanted me to get regular daily in the form of walking or something similar, just for 20 minutes a day. I did intend to put that back into my routine once Christmas was past as we have a treadmill in our room and I used to get up before work and do 30-45 minutes daily while watching our local morning show. So I will be doing that for sure. I will be improving my daily diet as well....way too many cookies and such these last month (see previous cookie post).

She also sent me back to the lab for additional blood work to check my thyroid and redo one of the previous tests. So I've had blood taken for T3, T4, Free TSH, Anticariolipins, and the retest on the Lupus anticoagulant screen (no I don't have lupus) because apparently I tested postive at the last blood work and they want to see if it's a transient result.

So, for the next two months I will increase my daily exercise, improve my diet, and begin taking the increased amount of folic acid. I go back to see her February 23rd for a followup.

V and I are hoping to be able to do the last cycle in March or April.

As this is Christmas Eve, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year and may the coming year bring you all joy, love, happiness and laughter.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Cookies

December is the month where I go a little overboard with baking for Christmas. We do a lot of entertaining and I like to have a variety on hand for such occasions. Plus both V and I take cookies to work for colleagues. The first two weekends in December are the two where we host large events...namely our poker potluck event, and our annual open house party. In total, we probably had over 80 people come through, so I like to have lots of food and cookies.

Below is an array of what I did this year. :) Yes, I know.... I need help.




Gingerbread, Molasses cookies, Shortbread, White Chocolate Macaroons, Pointsetta Shortbread (the molasses, shortbread and macaroons were from a cookie exchange).


Cherry Poundcake, S'mores bars, Cherry Almond bars, a sandwich cookie from cookie exchange, Cranberry Oatmeal cookie, Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Pecan Sandies, Chocolate Cherry cookies.


A variety of iced sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies and rolled chocolate cookies.


Gingerbread Sleigh


Santa Cupcake Cake

I had dinner with Gor.don Ram.say

Okay, maybe I didn't have dinner with him but I cooked dinner with him.
Okay, maybe not "with" him, exactly. But he was in my kitchen....uhm, okay on my tv....and I was cooking with him as he cooked. Yeah that was it. But it was still pretty cool.

He was on F.ox last night showing Coo.kalong Live with Gor.don Ram.say. It was pretty cool. He claims that we can all make a three course meal for four in one hour and he was going to prove it. He had several celebrities in the studio to help him out, as well as a number of people in their homes on skype that were going to cook along. As long as you knew about the show in advance you were able to download the ingredient and equipment list in advance and make sure you had everything you needed to make the three dishes.

We love GR from his other shows. And I already knew he spoke quickly, but OMG! I found that initially it was a challenge to keep up with him but we were able to get through the hour with three quite good dishes.

Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp, Chili and Tomatoes
Steak Diane with Sauteed Potatoes and Peas
Quick Tiramisu







Check out what others are showing at Mel's Show & Tell.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Update of sorts

I know, it's been a while since I've been here. Sorry about that. There just hasn't been anything to say, and how many times do you want to see cookies or cakes. Oh, you do? Okay, look for a Christmas cookie post soon.

Anyway, since we last met I had my pelvic and transvag ultrasound as well as the sonohysterogram. Today (Dec 1) was the followup with my OB/Gyn to see what if anything resulted.

Going in I'm not sure I wanted to find out something was wrong or not. And if something showed up in the results would we be able to point a finger at it to say that's why the cycles didn't work?

If you recall (and if you don't go here)she sent me for a laundry list of blood tests. She asked me today of my RE had ever done any of them and I said I really didn't know but I didn't think so.

The ultrasounds and the sono didn't yield anything new. They confirmed that I have two very small fibroids and that I have a "beautiful uterus". The blood work all came back normal except I am heterozygous for MTHFR. This is a pretty good explanation of MTHFR.

Beautiful uterus, good 8-9 cell day-3 embryos, good donor; all things saying conditions are favourable for a successful cycle. RE had me on fragmin (blood thinner) and baby aspirin along with some other meds during the cycle. So my OB has suggested I could benefit from more folic acid, like 5mg. I was only supplementing with the 1mg tablets from the drugstore. So, she has given me a couple of months worth of prenatal vitamins to take. Meanwhile she is referring me to a doctor of internal medicine just to see if she has any additional insight before we do the final cycle. She did think we shouldn't put off doing the last cycle once we were ready to go, probably because of my "advanced maternal age". :) She didn't come out and say that, but I'm sure she thought it. I also need to make a concentrated effort to try and lose some weight before then as well.

Anyway, that's where we are now. I don't have a date for the referral appointment yet. I'll let you know, when I know.

Meanwhile, I'll have some cookie pictures online soon.