Wednesday, November 30, 2005

ABC's

I stole this from Kitten.

•A is for age: 26
•B is for booze of choice: Asti, Bloody Mary, Chocolate Tini
•C is for career: I work in the Graduate Office of a Top 10 University
•D is for your dad's name: Brad
•E is for essential items to bring to a party: Alcohol & Music
•F is for favorite song at the moment: Don't have a favorite at the moment, but like anything hip-hop/rap
•G is for favorite game: Football
•H is for hometown: C'ville, Indiana
•I is for instruments you play: None
•J is for jam or jelly you like: Strawberry Jam
•K is for kids: 0, but working on 1
•L is for living arrangements: Husband, 3 doggies
•M is for mom's name: Vickie
•N is for name of your crush: Harrison Ford & Vin Diesel
•O is for overnight hospital stays: Pheumonia
•P is for phobias: Snakes and Spiders
•Q is for quotes you like: "That is not in your best interest."
•R is for relationship that lasted the longest: Husband-4 years and counting
•S is for sexual preference: Straight
•T is for time you wake up: Workdays – 6:01 am, Weekends: depends..around 8:00-9:00 a.m.
•U is for underwear: Just as long as they are VS
•V is for vegetable you love: Mashed potatoes
•W is for weekend plans: Cutting down & decorating our christmas tree
•X is for x-rays you've had: Chest, hand (finger), nose, ovaries (that counts right?)
•Y is for yummy food you make: Pumpkin rolls, Chili, & Mashed Potato Dream Casserole
•Z is for zodiac sign: Pisces

RE Update

Of course they were running behind, so we waited for a good 30-40 minutes. While waiting we decided that this board of baby pics must be success rates for Dr. H. So while we waited I counted...There were 58 pics total. Of those 17 were obvious multiples. Oh and the waiting room was also shared with all those pregnant ladies going in to get bloodwork and/or ultrasounds. I told Eric I didn't think that was quite appropriate. Anyway...

Finally we were called in. The nurse (I'm fairly certain she's the doc's wife) went over my history. I told her about the thyroid test and the normal results. She asked me about my prolactin being high and I said I knew nothing about it. Apparently when they did tested my progesterone in 3/04 it was high, but said it was back down to normal in 3/05 when they checked it again. I didn't even know they checked it. Surprise. The weird thing is they are supposed to check it on CD3, so I wonder if that had anything to do with it. Who knows?! She said the doc would be in shortly.

Dr. H came in and made a comment to the effect of us wanting to get pregnant. Yea, do you think we'd be here if we didn't. I just said, "Yea that about sums it up, we want to have a baby." He went over my history a bit. He said he has a solution for us. I asked him if he considered me unexplained. He said yes, but that I was also in the endometriosis category since I did have it even though it was mild. Basically his solution for us is to do Injectibles with an IUI. I would be monitored here in my hometown clinic. They would do all of the bloodwork and ultrasounds. I would do those first thing in the mornings and then his nurse would call me the same afternoon with the results and if I need to adjust the injections. I would travel to his clinic (about 1 hour away) to get "inseminated". He gives this a 20% success rate, which we thought was pretty low, but when you consider straight trying at 2% per cycle and clomid at 4% per cycle, that 20% doesn't sound as bad. Of course our biggest concern is $$$. We have a tentative plan in place, but we won't be able to start our first cycle for about 6 months it looks like. Unless of course we win the lottery (thanks for the idea Jen).

Dr. H said he would only do 2 at most Injectible/IUI cycles. If those didn't work we'd go on to IVF. He didn't see any point in wasting money on them if they didn't work the first 2 times.

So where do we stand right now? Well, we now go into think of anything you can to get money mode and wait til we get it to call them to set up my cycle.

I know I'm forgetting something so feel free to ask me questions either here in the comments or e-mail me. :D

At least there is something on the horizon for us. It's not over yet!

CBC & Thyroid (TSH & T4)

It seems all of my results from my CBC & Thyroid bloodwork came back normal. I won't give you all the CBC b/c its a lot. My thyroid is as follows:

TSH - Results=0.901 - Range=0.350-5.500

T4 - Results=1.21 - Range=0.89-1.76

So now in a couple of hours I'm off to meet with the RE. We'll see how this goes, but I'm not holding out too much hope on it. They called me yesterday to confirm my appointment and then to let me know that insurance had sent them a note saying my consultation would be covered, but nothing further, blah, blah, blah.

Check back this afternoon to hear what I find out...

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Go Colts!!! (11-0)

Yesterday morning Eric's boss called him and said he had tickets for the colt's game last night. Two for his customer and two for us. Luckily I had to get off work early to go to therapy so we were able to leave town to head down (about an hour drive) to Indy for the game. We stopped at a Tailgate party. It was fun, but super crowded and sort of a cluster. We headed (read: walked about 4 city blocks in high heeled boots) on down to the dome to sort of beat the rush and get something to eat. I was starving. Of course we were the first to arrive in the sweet, so we went ahead and helped ourselves to chicken fajitas and popcorn and drinks. That suite is right next to the opposing team's owner's suite, so that made it even more interesting. Especially when the colt's were stomping them. hee hee We did have some Steelers fans in our suite, too and after having some alcohol made it even more interesting. By the time we left my jaw hurt from laughing so hard. It was an absolute blast and I'm so glad we were able to go. Well worth staying up til nearly 2 am on a school night...

Can I go to bed now??

Therapy #9

Fairly boring session this time. We talked about the holidays. I told her about the drama at my aunt's with my mom and youngest sister. She seemed to think I handled it well. And especially when I told her about how I handled the "day after" calling saying sorry, blah, blah, blah. I tried to be patient with my mom, but she thinks she is the only one grieving my brother's death. Hell Thanksgiving wasn't easy for me, but I was thankful I got to spend it with my family. That's what Matt would have wanted. I think mom got my point and she's probably mad at what I said, but I don't even care. She is doing nothing to grieve Matt's death. She's drugged up on prescrips and god knows what else that she is self perscribing. Anyway, she (therapist) said she thought I handled it well and I seemed to be finding my boundaries. She gave me a book to read on different kinds of boundaries that I should be setting. I'm actually anxious to start reading it.

We also talked about some issues that Eric & I have. A lot of them are b/c of the crap we are dealing with in trying to get pregnant. Some stem back to when I was younger. Next time we are going to start working on those and getting to the core of them so I can be the best wife I can be. I'm a bit nervous b/c she said she'd like to pray with me next time. I don't know if she expects to get something out of it or what. I'm open to it, just a little nervous.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Eating, Decorating, and a Little Drama

So we survived Thanksgiving. Wednesday I was allowed to get off work at 3 (2 hours early), however Eric had his guitar lessons, so I kicked back in my office and chatted with my sister for about 45 minutes while I waited on him. I was not about to "work". hee hee For dinner we met up with both of my younger sisters and had mexican. Of course it upset all of our stomachs, but it was still yummy. We came home and my sisters went back to Ash's dorm and we kicked back on the couch.

Thursday, Thanksgiving day, we got up and got ready early while watching the Macy's Parade. My sisters came over and we left around 11:30 to head to C'ville. We dropped my youngest sister off at my mom's, chatted for a few then headed down to my grandparents. I love this family. They are so laid back and normal. There is one aunt... Her family is rather uppity and it drives me crazy! My cousin and aunt walk in like they are going to some fashion show or something. Complete with their prada purses. I just roll my eyes and try not to get too annoyed. Of course I got to play with my niece, too. Lunch was great as always although we tried not to get to stuffed. Eric & I each only had one plate and didn't go back for seconds. We had a little dessert too. We left around 5:30 and headed home. My sister Ashlee was still there finishing up her laundry and we snacked and watch "The Polar Express" or as my sister kept calling it "The Polar Bear Express". It was such a cute movie.

Friday we got up and Eric started working on the outside christmas lights about 8:30 am. It was freezing outside so there was no way I was going to help him. Instead I made some hot chocolate and put together a few of the decorations and watched him from inside. I got ready and did a few things around the house. He finally came in around 1:30 to get ready. We left around 2:30, picked up my sister and headed to C'ville to my aunt's house (mom's side). On our way we stopped by to say Happy Thanksgiving to my brother and found out that his headstone had finally arrived. Apparently they had put it out that morning. That made Thanksgiving a little better. I'm so glad its there now. When we got down to my aunt's house my mom was in a tizzy and all mad b/c my cousin had asked my youngest sister's boyfriend to leave. This was only after finding out that he beat the shit out of her last week. So bad that she had to go to the hospital thinking she had broken ribs or a broken sternum. Thankfully it is only bruising, but she is still with him. He was no welcome so he did leave. However a short time later so did my mom and the abused sister. They said they were going to see Matt's headstone, but we knew they wouldn't be back. It bothered me, but there was nothing I could do. I made a few comments and watched them drive off. We didn't even exchange good-byes. After dinner we had a euchre tournament. It was getting late, so we decided to head home.

Saturday we got up early and headed to town. We got the car washed, had breakfast at i*Hop and headed to Target for more lights. After we got home Eric worked on the lights. I did some laundry and helped him outside some. We left around 3:30 to get our tree. We had got a flyer from the tree farm we've went to the last 2 years, but didn't read it very well. They opened a new location, so we went there first. They only had pine trees and we really wanted a fir. We thought we might find a pine that worked, but most of them weren't tall enough. So we headed over to the old location (it was on the flyer). Unfortunately it was closed. We had no idea what was going on. Once we got home we read the flyer and realized it was only open the first 2 weekends in Dec for past customers only (that includes us). So we aren't getting the tree til this coming Saturday. We grabbed dinner at Moe's, returned a few things to Target, and headed back home. Eric put a few other things out and worked on a section of our icicle lights that was out. The weirdest thing happen while he was doing this. A car pulled up in the road, stopped and took 3 pictures of our house. We have no idea who it was or why they were taking pictures. It was just weird. I guess they liked our lights, at least that is what we think and it makes Eric feel good.

Sunday we got up, grabbed breakfast and headed to the movies to see "Walk the Line". It was a great movie! A definite buy when it comes out on DVD. After that we returned a grapevine snowman whose butt only half lit up and grabbed lunch at Culver's. On our way home we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things then headed home and spent the rest of the day being lazy. Eric practiced playing his guitar, I cut up a salad and made some chicken salad for lunch this week. I napped while he watched football. Finally we watched Cold Case and I went to bed.

This week should be a little less busy. Eric got a call first thing this morning and his company had 2 extra tickets to the Colts/Steelers game tonight, so I'm stoked about that. I have another therapy appointment tonight, so we'll leave right after that and fight the crowd, but it will be worth it! Other than that we hope to get back to the gym this week. I'm even contemplating getting up to go before work just so I know we go. I'll see how this week goes before I decided if I can get up an hour earlier every morning or not.

Hope you all had a happy thanksgiving, too!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

The Bad, The Good & The Ugly (yes, in that order)

The Bad
So yesterday morning I met with an advisor regarding my admission... Come to find out, their website is misleading and they do no offer the degree I want to pursue and my second choice is only offered as a minor. I'm not exactly sure what to do now. I guess I'm going to now. I have to do some more research and some thinking and see what I come up with.

The Good
Also I had a doctor's appt yesterday. This was to meet a new GP in hopes that we like him and he would be our PCP. And he passed with flying colors. I got a physical and while I was talking to him told him I would like to get a CBC for a clean bill of health and also get my thyroid checked b/c 1) hypo runs in my family and 2) it could be a cause of my IF. He wondered why my OB never checked it and I agreed that it seemed stupid. The next words that came out of his mouth were... "And you will get a copy in the mail next week of the results". I was just getting ready to ask about how I found out the results. Wow! I did ask if I could pick them up Monday or Tuesday since I was going to the RE on Wednesday. He said sure. Eric got 2 moles checked out and we scheduled him to get them removed mid-December. We headed down to the lab to get my blood drawn. So after 3 1/2 years up here, we have finally found a PCP that we can call if we get a cold or have minor health issues. Woohoo!

The Ugly
Unfortunately I had a reaction to the bandaid and the bend of my left arm is sore and red. The dot where they took blood is fine, just where the bandaid was. Ugh!

Monday, November 21, 2005

Weekend

Our weekend was good, but quite busy. Friday night we grabbed dinner (mexican) and hit the mall. Eric wanted to get some new jeans and a shirt and I need some new pants. He got his outfit fine, but I left feeling fat and depressed. I'm in between sizes at the moment and I want to be in that smaller size. Well, I'm not yet, so they were too snug to buy and I didn't want to buy the bigger size b/c well, I want to lose more to be in the smaller size. So I didn't buy a single thing.

Saturday we got up early. I was feeling quite lazy and got involved in a movie while Eric cleaned the house. We both showered and got ready after that. Eric's parents came over around noon. We grabbed lunch at Olive*Garden and hit some stores for our usual shopping. After they left that evening we ran to the grocery store and watched TV before going to bed.

Sunday we got up and got ready early. I made a california blend casserole. We loaded the car and headed to C'ville for Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's side family forgetting the pumpkin roll, which we abruptly turned around to get. Unfortunately we also forgot the camera and didn't realize until it was too late. :( Everyone was there besides one cousin and it was nice. I, of course, played with Caidence most of the time. She is so darn cute. I did get a glimpse of sister K's more in-depth parenting and she made it clear to everyone that Caidence was it for her. She would not be having another. This coming from the girl who wanted several kids. I made that actual comment to her and she let me know that she had no idea she would be doing it completely ALONE. L barely plays with Caidence and that is IT. Of course she told me I better get busy, which I just let go in one ear and out the other and changed the subject. Then we left there and headed to the Pacers ballgame.

OMG!!! Our seats were the B-E-S-T!!! We were in the first row directly behind the scorers table. We did get some pics with our camera phone, so I'll try to upload those tonight. During the first few minutes of the game we actually watched the rest of the Colts game on the computer monitors of the scorers. :D The game was good and I was astonished by the height of these dudes. It was a GREAT experience to say the least. The half-time show was actually pretty awesome, too. I can't remember the name of the group, but it reminded me of stomp. These 3 guys played drums on these bucks and metal sink and one guy did some keyboarding. It was awesome! The Pacers won of course and we headed home. I was exhausted (still am today). I slept a bit on the way home, but tried to talk to Eric a little, too b/c I knew he was tired, too. When we got home we came home to a mess. Godiva apparently got extremely bored and decided to destroy her bed in her cage. There were foam pieces everywhere. We cleaned that up and headed to bed.

Even though I'm still exhausted today and despite the sadding clothes shopping Friday, it was nice to have a good weekend. This week is going to be pretty crazy, too, but I will update when I can. Work has picked up, too making it a bit more difficult to update but have no fear. :D Also, stay tuned for up-close pics from the game last night!

Friday, November 18, 2005

Quick update

So I have officially applied to college once again. I won't hear anything for probably a few weeks though. :( I did get an e-mail requesting basically a statement of purpose, which I happily obliged and returned to them. I get the feeling they are unsure of me b/c I do not have a health sciences background. What freshman do you know have that background? I took biology and zoology and chemistry in HS and loved them. It sorta pisses me off that they even gave me this impression. I have a meeting on Tuesday with an actual advisor, so I should know more then. (I hope!) If for some ungodly reason they don't admit me I'll have to come up with another game plan. What, I don't know yet. I have no desire to go to graduate school, especially not for business or management. Aw well. We'll see what happens next week.

Big plans for the weekend, so you won't hear from me again until Monday. I hope to have some pics up though from our weekend. We just found out last night that we are going to an NBA game and have floor seats (right behind the scorers table). Woohoo! I get to see just how tall those dudes are. I can't wait!

It's really cold here and we even had some flurries the other day! I'm not ready for the coldness, but bring on the snow! I know I'm weird. 8-)

As for this cycle.... We have been trying on a consistent basis and will continue for a few more days although I think I've already ovulated. It doesn't hurt though. :D

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Busy

I've been busy the last couple of days. Won't go into details yet (because I don't have any), but am looking into going back to school. Can you say... COMPLETE CAREER CHANGE? I'm super excited about it though. I just notified my boss(es) this morning and am waiting for their response before I head to admissions and do all that stuff. Will post as soon as I have more details. To give you a hint, I would be going into a health science field... :D

Monday, November 14, 2005

Weekend

I took Friday off of work. Well, actually I got 1 bereavement day for my uncle's funeral so I took it without any hesitation. :D We slept in a little then got up and got ready. We headed to the mall to get Eric some shoes as his other ones really don't go with his suit very well. We grabbed lunch and headed home to finish getting ready then headed to C'ville. My uncle's showing was nice and there were a ton of people that came. It was nice seeing some of the extended family we don't see very often, too. Of course I spent about an hour playing with my niece. Would have been longer, but she dropped a bomb and needed get home. Ewww... After the showing our immediate family headed to a local mexican restaurant for dinner then we headed home. I was exhausted and went straight to bed.

Saturday we got up and got ready. We grabbed breakfast on the way down to the funeral. John's funeral was nice. Their church minister spoke and had us all laughing and of course crying, but John would have enjoyed it, too. They even had a lady playing bagpipes, which my aunt and uncle loved at his burial. After the service we had lunch at the church and headed home. I had a headache, so I relaxed on the couch. Later that afternoon Eric decided to work outside on some stuff and I decided it was too nice not to help out. We cleaned out all the leaves (or most) from our landscaping. I trimmed up some of my plants for the winter. Eric winterized the pond and did a few other things. We worked until it was dark. Then we grabbed dinner and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Yesterday we stayed home all day besides a quick run to the grocery store. Eric mowed the yard and put some of our christmas decorations together although we haven't started decorating yet. Eric watched the Colt's game (they won-woohoo!) while I made 2 pumpkin rolls and some potato soup. My sister came over in the afternoon and did her laundry and visited. We made dinner and she left shortly after. I watched TV and cuddled with Godiva, then went to bed sometime after 9.

Today I came in to a tornado that wrecked through my desk. I don't know what they did on Friday, but I made it clear I wasn't happy with my desk being a disaster. I felt like they were looking through stuff trying to find something. Believe me when I say my desk is organized and they wouldn't have a problem finding anything. Unless they were looking for stuff I might be hiding. Ugh-vent! What a way to start a Monday.

O'well. I'm back to my eating good and cooking at home healthy eating and going to the gym. I have gained back more pounds than I care to and have got to get them back off and keep them off. I have nearly 10 pounds to go to get down to where I want to be to be happy. It shouldn't be hard as long as I stop eating some of the crap I've been putting in my mouth. We start back to the gym tonight and I'm ready. I can't gain that winter weight that people do a lot.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Therapy #8

Hard to believe I've been eight times now. I was dreading going yesterday, but actually felt a little better after I left. I told her about my uncle dying and how only 2 months ago I had had the dream that he died. And how it brought up a lot of my feelings about Matt again. She said I was having grief bursts. Apparently they are pretty common. I told her I had been having several dreams recently. So far in the last 2 weeks I've had 2 dreams related to violence and war. They were on the nightmare verge, but not completely a nightmare. Plus I had a dream that my youngest sister totally my mom's car and was in the hospital. I've had freakish dreams for a while now, but not on a regular basis at least. Again she thinks everything that is going on in my life right now is causing these grief bursts and stem back to my brother's death.

We talked a lot about the holidays and how I'm dreading them. One b/c of the death in my family. I have 2 sides with death to deal with instead of just 1. Also I am dreading Thanksgiving w/ my mom's side. I have to try to distance myself from my mom and aunt b/c they drive my crazy and make me very uneasy and on edge. She said to do things like sit in a different room or busy myself w/ cousins or gramps or Eric. I know I can do it, but damn if my aunt's house isn't small and that makes it more difficult. She said I should try not dreading them, but look forward to spending time with those I don't see as often and enjoy being around. That sounds like a good idea.

We only touched on the IF stuff. She agreed that I should fight about the testings b/c they had definitely not ruled everything out.

I go back right after thanksgiving, so it should be interesting to see how the holidays went from her perspective.

Letter

To the Lady with the "I (Heart) My Firefighter" Sticker on her Back Window:

How would the "Your Firefighter" feel watching you throw your burning cigarette butt out the window of your car? Need I say more...

I think you need to re-evaluate your love...

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Update

Just got word that my uncle passed away. Looks like we'll be going to a funeral this weekend... He's in a better place now and not in pain, so in that respect I'm ok with it.

Random Bits

- Went to see my uncle John last night. He's even worse than Sunday, not surpisingly. His mind is still pretty sharp, but damn if his body isn't failing him. He is filling up w/ toxins from not having dialysis. When we got there I asked him how he was doing and he said he was dead. How do you respond to that, when you know he's so close?

- He broke down when we left and it broke my heart.

- We are going back down tonight if he makes it that long. We told him this before he left and he kept shaking his head.

- My sister called at 5:40 AM this morning. (I don't get up til 6:00 am) to tell us she went to the hospital and has pleurisy. Lovely.

- I miss my brother so much.

- I'm still confused and depressed about IF.

- I'm tired.

- Eric is going on a business trip in December, so we'll have to rent a car for me since we only have one car. He said I could take it off, but it would be w/out pay. Ugh! However, I think I might take him up on it if I don't get out of this funk. Maybe make my sis run me around one day and do Christmas shopping. We'll see.

- Eric is sick and keep hacking crap up. It makes me gag, but I know he can't help it.

- Work should be picking up, however the lady who "doesn't acknowledge Halloween" has been quite busy and I haven't offered once to help her out. I'd rather stare into space for 8 hours. :D Of course reality is I surf the web for 7.5 hours. :D

- We have a lot going on in Nov & Dec. More than our usual holiday festivities. I guess it's ok though b/c it will keep us busy.

- I'm SOOOOO ready to start putting Christmas decorations up and cut down our tree. I want to smell that pine scent every morning when I get up and every evening when I get home.

- My dreams are weird again. I've had 2 that were very violent and war-type and 1 where my mom called and said my youngest sister had totalled her (my mom's) car and was in the hospital. I am supposed to be keeping a dream journal, but haven't put these in it yet.

- My newest addiction is myspace.com and friendster.com.

- I gotta get out of this funk. I think its more than the normal holiday funk.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

CD 8

GOODBYE CLOMID! I took my last clomid pill this morning. I'm happy to see those little suckers gone! Now the fun begins, right?

Got a letter late last week from my insurance company basically stating they are allowing me $500 for my initial consultation with the RE. Nothing else will be covered. Period. No testing, no procedures, no bloodwork, nothing, nada, zilch. This depresses me in all honesty. I am going to talk to the RE about it b/c I don't feel like we've ran ALL of the tests and should not be classified as infertile until then. We'll see what Dr. H has to say? I'm not sure where this leaves us either. I mean, if I'm classified as infertile then that's it? I wonder about finding another OBGYN, but I don't know if I can even do that.

I'm just so confused and scared and lost right now.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Weekend

My weekend was only so-so. Friday I got off work early and we headed south to see Uncle John. He was still at home b/c the hospital was apparently full, so they were on a wait list. We visited with them for about an hour. It was so sad to see him like that and I feel so bad for my aunt, who is handling things as best as she can. We left there and went to dinner with my grandparents. We had a nice dinner and visit with them. On our way back home we stopped to see Uncle John one more time, not knowing if this would be the last time we saw him alive or not. Eric & I had a good talk on the way home. If there is one thing this year has taught us it's to enjoy the time we have b/c you never know what tomorrow brings.

Saturday we got up about 5:30 am and I took Eric to the bar for breakfast club. I ran back home and cleaned up then headed down to C'ville. I met my mom and grams and we went around to all of the flower shop open houses. It was a good time, but a little tense, too. My mom is still not doing very good and it's hard for me to be around her sometimes. She's not getting any better. Period. I started getting a headache around noon so we headed to lunch w/ my great gramps. It was nice visiting with him and it was nice of him to get out of the house for a bit. He's 88. Later we were talking and grams told me that great gramps goal was to make it to his 90th birthday. I think he'll make it. After lunch we dropped gramps back off and visited a couple other shops before we departed to head home.

After I got home my head was still killing me, so I spent the entire evening on the couch sleeping and watching TV. Eric woke me up around midnight and we both went to bed.

Sunday we got up and got ready and headed back down to C'ville to see Uncle John again. He got admitted to the hospital Saturday evening, so that's where we went. We ended up spending about 2 1/2 hours with him. It was nice. His mind is so sharp, but his body is just failing him. He's had 2 strokes and his speech isn't very good. He mumbles and it's hard to understand him. Everytime he would talk, my aunt would have to have him repeat is several times. He finally got annoyed with it and in a quite clear voice told her she needed to get her hearing checked or her ears cleaned. He had us rolling at times.

On our way out of the hospital we ran into a girl I went to school with. It was so good seeing her and hopefully we get together sometime soon. Sometimes I'm leery about going back to my stomping grounds for fear of running into old classmates, but I was certainly glad I ran into her.

On our way back home, we took a jaunt to Don Pablo's for dinner and then Target. Let's just say Eric is working hard to outdo our neighbors christmas decorations. I can't wait to start putting stuff up. I think we might start w/ the decorations Thanksgiving day unless something gets scheduled between now and then. Then the Sunday after we will go get our tree. I'm so excited.

After we got home we had a pretty lazy evening watching TV and relaxing.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Some Bad News

Got a call last night that my uncle is not doing very well. He is on dialysis, but only a few months ago found out he has cancer. It is fast growing and I believe is now consuming him. He decided on Wednesday that he was done doing dialysis or anything else. He has basically just given up. The hospice people came yesterday and went through a stack of papers with them. They were supposed to take him to the hospital this morning for his final days and so its not so hard on my aunt but they don't have a bed for him, so now they ar waiting on call to say bring him in. My aunt is holding up ok right now, but I'm sure she's trying to be strong for him. I feel so bad for her. So tonight we are going to town to see him. I'm actually glad that we get to see him at home rather than at the hospital, but it's sad to know that I might not see him after tonight. He is declining VERY fast. He has lived a long and happy life, so that I am thankful for.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Hello Packet, Good-bye Packet

I got the packet from the RE's office yesterday, so I spent last night filling it out. It really wasn't a major deal, just several forms to fill out. They will be going back out in the mail this afternoon.

I had a panic attack on Tuesday b/c after I found their website I read something about a $200 fee for the initial consultation that was due prior to your appointment if you were self-pay or your isurance wouldn't cover. After fretting a few hours I decided to just call the clinic. Basically as long as my OB gave me a referral then my insurance would cover that fee. I realized that they would also cover those tests needed to diagnose IF, too. So, I called Dr. S and they were already working on my referral for my HMO and Dr. S would be writing a letter to Dr. H stating my history. That made me feel a little better and the lady I talked to was quite nice. Of course I also spent Tuesday typing out my history which I imagine is better than Dr. S's. Plus I printed out my charts for the past 2+ years and put in a nice report cover. :D I also scoured some websites on questions to ask and things of that sort. My list is as follows right now:

1 - How often are you in town? (His normal office is an hour away and Dr. S said they are in town 2x a month, which concerns me a bit.

2 - Who does callbacks w/ info and/or results? If I have a question the nurse can't answer how long til I get a callback from the doc? End of day? Next day?

3 - Will I have a consistent nurse/coordinator throughout my process or will it vary depending on procedures?

4 - Opinion on acupuncture?

5 - What do you think our prognosis is?

6 - IUI - Costs, meds

7 - Dr. H's recent stats. I couldn't find this on his website, nor was it in the packet of info I got from them.

8 - Do you think stress plays more of a role on me? History of depression not only w/ me, but in family as well.

For those of you who have been to an RE, do you have any advice, tips, etc.? I don't think IVF will be anywhere in the near future. We don't have a lot of money to spend on treatments at the moment. I do have a positive outlook that this guy will give us a diagnosis. I can accept the fact that X is wrong and they can either fix it or not, but I won't accept "unexplained". I just don't believe it. To me "unexplained" simply is a lazy way to say I don't feel like doing anymore tests. I know we haven't exhausted all of our options and maybe if/when that times comes and we still don't have an answer I will beging to accept "unexplained". Until then I won't hear/speak of it.

Please if anyone has any advice, tips or knows of other questions I should ask, please comment or send me an e-mail!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Good Luck Danialle!

Go over and wish Danialle luck this morning. She is getting half of her thyroid removed due to a tumor growing inside it. She has never had surgery either. I'm sure she'll do fine!

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

CD 1 - The time has come... **updated**

Today of course the witch arrived to greet me this morning. A tad late considering yesterday was Halloween, but I suppose she must have been busy brewing up something and/or flying around on her broomstick scaring little kiddies. So as usual I called Dr. S's office to let them know I need my final round of clomid called in. The nurse said she would call me back to let me know she had called it in, which seemed a little odd considering they've never done this. I just know they call it in and I pick it up the next day.

Anyway, the nurse just called back and said they had called in my clomid, but Dr. S wants to go ahead and refer me on to Dr. H... (Jaw drops to floor here) Dr. S never ceases to surprise me I guess. I just assumed that he'd wait to confirm the 6th cycle of clomid didn't working THEN refer me on. Not refer me on while going through it. AND I assumed that I wouldn't see the RE until after the first of the year, which essentially still could be the case.

So now I sit and wait on the nurse to call me back with my appointment with Dr. H. I never thought we would get this far. Denial... Yea, I admit it. Freaking out... Yea, that too.

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My appointment is scheduled for Nov 30 @ 10:45. Apparently Dr. H is in my city about twice a month. They are sending me a packet of info to fill out and return before my appointment. Plus, I'm supposed to (laughing hysterically) make a copy of my insurance card and send to them with the packet of info.

What is weird about this is Nov 30 is the day I should get my next period. Ironic?

Now on to doing some extensive research on this guy. Hell, I don't even know his first name, let alone anything else about him. Holy shit this is real!