Labs & Leap Year!

So I went for my baseline lab work today. Checking for E2 and FSH. RE is considering the u/s I had on Monday sufficient and not having to do another today. WHEW - especially since they just officially changed my dx to infertility and now we pay for everything versus doing it through insurance. When I was checking out, she gave me a 20% discount. I was confused and asked why. She said well since your treatments are no longer covered by your insurance, but you HAVE insurance, we give you a 20% discount for paying in full. SWEET!

I also was supposed to pick up the schedule today i.e CD 5-9 of Clomid....then what? But all TWO of his "staff" called in today so there was a sub-nurse (for lack of a better term) filling in and she said she had no idea where they were stashed and maybe they could fax it to me tomorrow? PPPFFFTTT on that! I want to know what's planned for the next 2 weeks. I could be with child before March is up. How exciting is that???

Plus, I can't receive a fax tomorrow because we are leaving on our "It's-Leap-Year-So-We-Have-An-Extra-Day-So-Why-Not-Take-It-Off-And-Go-Out-Of-Town-Trip!"

Destination: will let you know when we get there!!

We talked about possibly doing the Texas Wine Country Trail. This crosses several wineries across 290 en route to Austin, but husband also said something about maybe driving south - Corpus? Who knows. It will be a blast I'm sure. And with him having just come out of a week long workshop (where he actually had to put on his big boy pants and drive in to the office), working all day long, (no breaks even for lunch) and me starting the Clomid on Saturday....we can use the distraction for sure!

**Update**

While I was waiting on the lab tech to start, I was reading over the paper the receptionist gave me that detailed what tests I was having done. It was testing for E2 (estradiol) and FSH levels. I got curious what this was used for and found this handy article about the Clomid Challenge Test (CCT) and apparently that is what I am having done! To quote from the article:

"The clomiphene citrate challenge test (CCCT) provides an additional assessment of ovarian reserve. It is performed by measuring the day 3 FSH and estradiol levels, the patient takes 100 mg of Clomid on cycle days 5-9, and her FSH is measured again on day 10. The test is abnormal if either the day 3 or day 10 FSH values are elevated or if the day 3 estradiol is greater than 80 pg/ml."

Hopefully I will be able to call and get the results tomorrow. I don't know if I can stand to wait all weekend long! :-)

Wordless Wednesdays

I am starting to follow the Wordless Wednesdays Phenomenon.

This is what happens when you let your friends play with your new camera that has fun photo enhancements.


And this is what you get in the mail from your sister-in-law when she finds out your husband wants to make coasters out of dead frogs...

C'est la vie!!

Yesterday was a GOOD Day!

For 5 reasons...

Reason #1. Grandma got out of the hospital and is back at her Alzheimer's facility. No pneumonia!

Reason #2. I had my follow-up appointment with the RE yesterday. He confirmed (through methods we'll leave to the imagination) that the cyst is gone. YEAH! Also, I am to stop taking BCP immediately. Hopefully, he says, this will also make AF stop the flowin'. Also, husband's swimmer analysis results are in...

Count: 11.6 MILLION Motility: 25% Morphology: 4%

Side note: When I got home, I posted this SA report on the fridge, you know like some of you do with your kids' report cards? I was just so proud of him and his great counts thanks to his Proxeed supplements!! :) :) :)

Doc says the morphology is kind of low, but with the increased count and with the "wash" they do beforehand - his numbers are FABULOUS!!! On Thursday, I am scheduled to go back for some lab work and then on Saturday...We start our first Clomid cycle! This will be taken on Days 5-9 of the cycle. Then we'll go for more labs and confirm if I'm ovulating and then...........**DRUM ROLL PLEASE** We go for our insemenination!! YAHOO!! Also, since my insurance does not have fertility coverage, we had to pay for the Clomid cycle and the insemination-to-be yesterday. I was headed to check out and doc said to ask for Anna when I got there. HUH?

Me: "OK - can I speak to Anna? "

Checkout lady: "Oh have a seat right there maa'm. She'll be right with you."

Anna's office door sign reads "Financial Aid Office" EEKS! Luckily, if we paid for all of it then, we would get a 20% discount, whereas had we opted for the payment plan - no discount. So, we're all paid up!

Reason #3. Our Short Term Incentive Plan (STIP)/Bonus numbers were announced at work. This is the first company I have worked for that have paid bonuses so I am WAY excited no matter what the $$ amount is that is paid out. But let's just say...if we have to go the IVF method, we'll have all the money we need!

Reason #4. Our homemade wine made it to Day 14 and has now been transferred into its new home. She is resting quietly in the wine rack, which will be her home for the next 6 months. Notice the Man Tool of choice for the vigorous stirring required? Yes, that would be RYOBI!
Reason #5. The outdoor kitchen is complete!

Grandma Update #2...

6:00PM Friday - I stopped by the hospital to visit Grandma after work. Uncle T was there too. She was still in a sleep state, kind of slumped over, but would still answer my questions, how are you, are you treating the nurses well, etc. Meanwhile the doc came in. T had a long list of questions to ask him since neither Dad nor Aunt B had seen him lately. Here's a rundown:

1. Combination of Alzheimer's and Arterial Dementia is causing her sleepy state.
2. CT finally read (from Wednesday) looks clear, although not very decisive about the results. As previously stated, she had not inspirated at the right time.
3. Started a small antibiotic to clear up any pneumonia that he couldn't see.
4. Had not heard results of 2nd chest x-ray - me: what chest x-ray? There was never one ordered and Aunt B has been here all day...no x-ray. doc: ok I'll check on that. Nurse actually came in later and said he ordered the x-ray for in the morning.
5. We requested that he put in orders to have someone feed her the pureed food. Apparently had we not have family there, she wouldn't have eaten because "there aren't orders to feed her." BULLSHIT.
6. She does not have Parkinson's as initially thought.
7. Suggested a feeding tube. When did we get to this point? Doc says that he thinks she is not getting enough nutrition into her system - thus the sodium blah blah (can't recall the name at the moment) because she was dehydrated. Said if we continue "pleasure feeding" her, we have to know there is a risk that she could get aspirational pneumonia. HUH? WHAT? He described this as having food go down the wrong pipe - into the lungs - and the food and bacteria from the food can cause pneumonia. Said for the family to discuss the tube over the weekend. Discussed in the room after doc left and Dad and Aunt B showed up - no.
8. Stated we can get his updates on her via the nurses - yeah right.

Then came the 3 letters I hate most in this world : D-N-R Doc said he put in the DNR orders as requested so that there are no drastic measures taken given something should happen. I know it's as she setup in her will years ago when she was able to think and make decisions for herself, but it still breaks my heart to hear the words - and like Grandpa - see the words in action, or rather lack of action.

Grandma Update

1:40PM Friday - A neurologist came to visit grandma. He said he is still unable to read the catscan that was done WEDNESDAY NIGHT because the CT machine is broken.

REALLY?? There is only 1 machine in the entire friggin' hospital???

The regular doctor also has her on a sodium chloride drip that will last 20 hours. Why? No idea. Something about another MRI ordered and the nurse said it's scheduled for "tomorrow." However in hospital language ,being that today is Friday, "tomorrow" equals MONDAY!! But was also told the doctor cancelled it? Now we have a call in to the doctor to find out:

A. What is the sodium chloride for?
B. Why was the test cancelled?

Grandma's in the Hospital

My grandma, who is currently living in an Alzheimer's facility, was taken to the Emergency Room on Wednesday morning to a hospital which will remain nameless. NOTE: it is part of a major chain of hospitals in the Houston area and is located on Astoria Blvd. Management thought she may have come down with pneumonia because she seemed to be breathing hard and was a little unresponsive. They did an MRI and a chest x-ray but her lungs appeared clear. The doctors in the ER discussed admitting her and getting her on an antibiotic drip every 6 hours and oxygen. 12 HOURS later, she was finally admitted into a room. They began monitoring her vitals and put her on oxygen. No drugs...

7:00AM Thursday - Dad goes up to the hospital in hopes of catching the doctor who was seeing her. NOTE: her primary care physician was changed after my grandpa passed away by a relative also to remain nameless. It was changed to a doctor who makes "house calls" to her Alzheimer's facility and the last time she was in a different hospital in Pasadena, was told he did not see patients there, but he had privileges at before mentioned hospital. This being the reason she was taken to said hospital.

2:30PM Thursday- status check. This puts my dad being there about 7.5 hours. The update is....NONE as the doctor has still not shown up. AND when she was admitted the night before, they requested that her food be pureed as she cannot chew and swallow very well. When breakfast AND lunch came...normal food. So basically, she didn't eat hardly anything all day. Now, is it normal practice for hospitals to admit 80+ year old patients whom they THINK have pneumonia and NOT do anything and NOT contact the doctor? GRRRRR. My sister called for a status around the same time. She is a pedi-ICU nurse and was pissed. She immediately hung up and called to speak to the charge nurse about the lack of antibiotics and the lack of a doctor visit. She advised that this particular doctor (recently chosen again for his house calls to the Alzheimer's place) does NOT visit said hospital. WHAT? We thought he had privileges here. Charge Nurse: "Oh, he does. He just never comes to the hospitals himself. He sends another doctor from his group. Oh and that guy's here making rounds now. I'll make for sure he sees her."

3:00PM Thursday - Doctor finally shows up. Says her lungs appear clear from the x-ray and she has no fever. "Probably" doesn't have pneumonia. Is that a common medical term, DOCTOR?? PROBABLY? Mentioned something about wanting to do another x-ray because the original wasn't a "good one." He said a "good one" means that the patient takes a breath and holds it for the picture to be taken. Given that at the time she didn't have hardly any breath at all, to hold it would be difficult. The nurse sister later pointed out that you don't necessarily have to have a breath hold for a good x-ray, only for the tech to know what they are doing and take it when the patient inspirates - or breathes in. Are there orders for a 2nd x-ray? NO. Is she on antibiotics? NO. Are there orders for antibiotics? NO.

Oh - a side note...Dinner did come pureed and she gobbled up every last bite because she was STARVING due to no breakfast or lunch!!!

8:30AM Friday - No change. My aunt is staying with her today. She said she is very sleepy and had to be woke up for breakfast. Doctor been in? NO. Orders for anything today? NO.

WHY, WHY, WHY is she sitting at the hospital for NO TREATMENT???

Strawberries and Peppers

Here are some promised pics of the BBQ, garden, and flowers...

A is for Artall - the right counter on the BBQ


Strawberries, parsley and chives

Mexican lime and lavender

A is for purple pansies....

Hyacinths - they smell awesome!

Updates...The doubling up on the BCP doesn't seem to be helping matters... Guess I'll find out what's up with that at the appointment next Monday. Speaking of appointments, husband has his follow-up today to make for sure his Proxeed is actually increasing his swimmers like it's supposed to. Say your prayers and cross your fingers!

Just Monday...

Saturday was icky weather so we knew there wouldn't be any progress made on the BBQ pit. Instead we went out for breakfast, bought a new digital camera (smaller, slimmer for going in pockets) with a gift certificate I got from work. Then we bought hyacinths for the front yard and some stuff for the garden - celebrity tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, green, yellow and red bell peppers, lavender, chives and spearmint. We still had parsley, basil, thyme, and rosemary from last year's crop. More to come there with pics too!

So the period has yet to stop since 02/03...UGH - it's like it's the first day all over again with the flow and the cramping! YUCK! Did I say how much I love to be a woman? I finally got a hold of the RE again about the problem. He said to double up on the BCP and I have an appointment next Monday to check out the cyst and make for sure the meds are doing the trick.

Funny - I was just reading the post from when AF started and I was so happy to see her. Now I only want to see her GO AWAY!!

Pray for no more cyst and more swimmers - Husband's going for a checkup in about 2 weeks!

Great Food and Great Wine

So for Valentine's Day, we went to our usual spot - Crappitto's - for some awesome Italian food. Josh, my step-son, was our waiter. He was super and comp'd us way too much. Our bill was only half of what it should have been. Thanks! We stuffed ourselves as usual, as the pic shows below. We were running late - had to take Grandma her homemade Valentine before dinner and the batteries were dead in the camera - so this is post food and wine...

Speaking of wine... We are now makers of wine at home. We bought a winemaking kit from a Houston wine and beer making store called DeFalco's. We are making a Cabernet-Malbec-Carménère combination.

Below is the wine in its current state - Primary Fermenter. It stays in this bucket for 2 weeks allowing the yeast to ferment through the air lock. It reminds me of coffee percolating because it bubbles - bloop - bloop all the time.

After the 2 weeks in this bucket, it will be siphoned into a glass carboy where it will further ferment for 6 months. At that time, we will bottle it and let it rest in the gorgeous wine rack hubby built. Hopefully we'll have time to make a 2nd batch to give as Christmas presents!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sweet flowers my friend from work gave me for Valentine's Day...

More Comments at pYzam.com

More Graphics at pYzam.com

Awesome Graphics at pYzam.com

Joke

Nothing of interest to blog about today, so I thought I'd share a joke I got in an email:

Biker Bar
A blind man wanders into an all girls biker bar by mistake. He finds his way to a bar stool and orderssome coffee. After sitting there for a while , heyells to the waiter, "Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?" The bar immediately falls absolutely silent. In avery deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says,"Before you tell that joke, sir, I think it's only fair, since you are blind, that you should know fivethings:

1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat.
2. The bouncer is a blonde girl.
3. I'm a 6 foot tall, 175 lb. Blonde with a blackbelt in karate.
4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter.
5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional wrestler.

Now, think about it seriously, Mister. Do you still wanna tell that joke?"

The blind man thinks for a second, shakes his head,and mutters, "No........not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times."

HAHA! Love you all my little blonde friends!

Progress...

We worked our tooshies off Saturday on the outdoor kitchen/bbq. We worked all day and into the night - even had to set up a light!! We finally called it quits around 8PM. The temp was too cool and the humidity too high...the rocks Dean was putting on kept sliding down the wall. He was fighting a losing battle. We had hoped to get all of the tile and rock laid Saturday and then spend Sunday grouting it all in. Sunday morning was spent laying the rest of the rock and grouting took a lot longer than expected. Especially for husband since he had to get in between all those river rocks!
I used a new kind of of grout on the tile that has an epoxy built into it that is stain and mold resistant. Which is good since it is outside and uncovered (for now). That's pretty much what we did all weekend. Laura and I did have lunch on Sunday with our old friend Rose, whom we hadn't seen in quite a while. It was good to see her. Then for dinner, we visited J and Steph and his brother and wife. Oh and little Drew too!!

Here are the pics after Phase 1 of the Outdoor Kitchen:


The BBQ pit is in the middle with a side burner on the left.


Dean did the rock


I did the tile


This backside has been grouted. It will be acid washed also to clean it up more.


From the side

It's FRIIIIIIIDAY!

Another day, another dollar...

This is the first weekend since December (or so it seems) that we don't have actual plans to do something. Given the available time though, we're going to finish up the outdoor kitchen tomorrow. Hopefully the weather stays nice and we can get it knocked out in one day.

Pics coming soon!

Have a great weekend!

Subscribe to My Blog

I added a new link to the page that allows you to subscribe to my blog without having to remember to check it every day. Well most of you probably don't check it every day anyway. You're not THAT into my life, right? :-)

You have to create a bloglines account, but it will email you when I update the blog.
Anyway, the link is over there ------------> above my Maddie girl's picture.

Happy Day.

The follow up appointment...

was lovely to say the least. The nurse came in and took down some info and said to get undressed from the waist down. I was like, "Super - it's going to be inside and not on my tummy?" GROSS. So again with the "here's your uterus.... here's your left ovary - he's (why is it a HE?) pretty quiet with a couple of follicles. And here's your right ovary. Oh look there's a cyst on him." REALLY? We just say that outloud like I have supposedly heard that statement before? Followed by, "you've had those before right?" UH NO. "Ok, well it looks like a Hemorrhagic cyst so no big deal." Then he takes what is basically a screenprint of the thing and it's measurements. It's about 2.5cm x 2.5cm. Not very big, but also not very calming either.

Doc then says normal treatment is with birth control pills. It usually makes them go away on their own. So he hands me a pack, I do my blood work and then it's check out time. All that is going through my head is that my friend had a ovarian cyst once - actually more than once - and it turned into ovarian cancer (at 22 years of age no less) and now she only has 1/2 of one ovary remaining. Is this happening to me?

So I leave the office in a fluster and in the fluster, I come out of the parking garage and have no idea which way to go. It dumps me onto the street on the backside of the building (not where I went in) and I am lost. The doc is in the Med Center and somehow I end up passing IMAX, the museum, the zoo...UGH. The whole time my mind is racing. I finally follow some truck and end up on 288 and get back to work. From that parking garage I call my husband with the news. Of which he says, "maybe you just weren't meant to get pregant." This coming from someone who has 2 kids from a previous marriage. NICE.

Back to my Home Sweet Cubicle where I Google "Hemorrhagic cyst" and find this article on Wikipedia:

A third type of functional cyst, which is common, is a Hemorrhagic cyst, which is also called a blood cyst, hematocele, and hematocyst.[16] It occurs when a very small blood vessel in the wall of the cyst breaks, and the blood enters the cyst. Abdominal pain on one side of the body, often the right side, may be present. The bleeding may occur quickly, and rapidly stretch the covering of the ovary, causing pain. As the blood collects within the ovary, clots form which can be seen on a sonogram.[17] Occasionally hemorrhagic cysts can rupture, with blood entering the abdominal cavity. No blood is seen out of the vagina. If a cyst ruptures, it is usually very painful. Hemorrhagic cysts that rupture are less common. Most hemorrhagic cysts are self-limiting; some need surgical intervention. Even if a hemorrhagic cyst ruptures, in many cases it resolves without surgery. Patients who don't require surgery will experience pain for 4 - 10 days after, and may require several days rest. Studies have found that women on tetracycline antibiotics recover 25% earlier than the majority of patients, a surprising correlation found in 2004.

Thursday night I had severe abdominal pains which caused me to stay up most of the night, toss my dinner, and miss work on Friday. But I also have gall stones and my gall bladder flares up from time to time so this is what I chalked it up to. Not knowing that it could have been a possible cyst eruption... GEEZ.

So now I am taking birth control pills until I start again. Then it's back to the doc for another probe during AF.

I LOVE being a woman. Really.... I do.

Doctor Visit Tomorrow

I called the RE this morning to give him the good news - yeah AF is here! I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon. They will be doing an ultrasound and more bloodwork to verify my hormone levels are where they should be during the cycle. YIPEE - an u/s while AF is here. That is so GROSS on so many levels...Oh well. One more step towards our goal, I suppose. Updates on that tomorrow.

AF and Super Bowl are finally here!

I never thought I'd see the day when I actually wanted my monthly cycle to get here, but since I took the last of the meds Wednesday night, I have been anxiously awaiting Aunt Flo's arrival. I helped move my friend into her first apartment (YEAH!!!) Friday and Saturday and just knew it was going to happen at the most inopportune moment. EESH. Thankfully that didn't happen.

We got her moved in without a hitch. We even set up her massive waterbed, organized her kitchen and bathroom for her. basically all she has to do is give it her own special touch and she's ready to relax in her new home sweet home. Can't wait for the first get together in the new digs!

The outdoor kitchen is almost complete. All we have left to do is put river rock on the bottom, and mosaic tile the countertop. Do you know how hard it is to find a variety of colors in small ceramic tile? We went to 4 stores. The only colors they have a blue and black. Since the rock will be mainly gray, we want something with color to "pop" on the counter. The lady at Lowe's told us of 2 more places to look. Pics coming soon.

I'm off to the store to get stuff for dessert we're taking to our friends to watch the Super Bowl. They are little mini footballs!! Hope everyone has a good Super Bowl Sunday...