Friday, August 29, 2008

08/29/2008

Our system at work is down yet again. I have been trying for the last hour and fifteen minutes to get it back up and running but it's just not working. We had ten, yes ten, migrant workers in today applying for benefits. There are only two of us on intake so that was five a piece. They take at least an hour a piece to run. We brought them all into a room and had them fill out large applications which I hate because then I still have to go back and run them later. The apps are now with the supervisor who might divvy them out to all the workers instead of just the two of us. So whether I get three or five, plus all of the intakes from the day I was out this week I figure I am pretty much fucked for next week so there is no point in killing myself for the last hour.

I made it through the entire day with heels on yesterday. The only thing that really hurt at all was my right hip. I am sure that my arthritic bones will not appreciate heels in the winter but as of right now it's all good.

My parents are still trying to figure out winter vacation. In the long run, who really gives a flying fuck. We will all be together, drinking, laying out. What's the hold up here people?

The hot topic in our house is what to do after we get pregnant with IVF. Do we go back on birth control or is a total waste with our less then 10% chance of a successful pregnancy. I really think Chris will be hoping for a 2nd oops baby sometime after the IVF. One thing at a time honey. I go back and forth from being ok to pretty much having no chance on our own to wanting to burst out in tears because of it. I sent all of my ovulation prediction kits to a fellow nestie because I figure they are useless to me at this point. It's pretty funny considering my fibromyalgia has been great lately but then my ovaries and uterus totally shit the bed on me. You truly can't have everything you want but I will surely take the little to no pain while I can get it.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Shot Down

Big time by the RE and insurance company about skipping the IUI and going straight to IVF. No biggie, I just thought I would give it a whirl since the RE doesn't think the IUI will work. At least we only have to do one so it should be over with by October so we can start all of the IVF paperwork.

I will have to say sex last night was fantastic. This is the first time in two years at least that I haven't correlated sex to not getting pregnant to my body is broken. Now that we know that it is a fact, I am not worried about it. If you can't tell by now, I have a wonderful therapist!

For now I am trying to lose some weight before the IUI. I haven't really gained any weight since the m/c and clomid cycle, but you sure as shit couldn't tell that by looking at the way my clothes fit. I bought four new pairs of pants today in yet another bigger size. I figure even if I manage to lose some weight in the next month I am just going to bloat out again so better to be comfy then not.

Onto wheat grass for a minute...wheat grass is supposed to do all sorts of fantastic things such as detox your body, restore your fertility. Oh we can just stop there. Luckily my favorite juice has it in there but I am thinking in the month or two before the IVF I will grab the powder to get the recommended amount daily. I have heard it's gross, but I love my juice so I am sure I can just throw the powder in there and hopefully I will never know.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Less than 10 %

So when you think of less than 10% I can see hoping for the following
~less than 10% chance you will end up with cancer
~you got less than 10% wrong on a test
~you weigh 10% less than you used to


What isn't so pleasant is when the RE tells you that you have a less than 10% chance at getting and staying pregnant on your own. Where do these numbers come from you ask? My ass most likely. You figure though out of the 30 months I have been off the pill I have gotten pregnant once and lost one. Add that in with my age and the fact that my infertility is unexplained and you get less than 10%.

As far as my insurance goes the booklet states you must do one IUI before you move to IVF. Dr. K stated yesterday that he is in agreement with the British journal about "mystery infertility" and said we would not do anymore clomid rounds or IUI if we didn't have to because he doesn't see it working. I called the insurance company today and now I have a form for Dr. K to fill out. The insurance company might approve me for IVF right off the bat, or they may tell me to do an IUI cycle. Time will tell but I don't see the point in doing a cycle that most likely won't work just to make the insurance company happy.

So we will do one IUI if needed before vacation and then will start with the IVF process when we get home. YIKES!!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

08/19/2008

There has not been anything to report lately. My cycle was only 25 days long(shortest on record, gotta love my body) and I am seeing the RE next Monday for our next step meeting. I still have to remember to print out that article. I seriously need to start up a to-do list again.

My back issues finally cleared up once my period showed up, thank god for that. I also got incredibly sick of my face breaking out after the m/c and clomid cycle so I went out and bought one of those crazy acne kits from Clean and Clear. Let me tell you, that stuff works like a charm for under $20.00. My face is as clear as it has been in quite a long time and of course that is always a good confidence booster. I also bought a stationary bike this week and after we put it together tonight I am going to be rocking that once a day to try and lose some of this IF weight. I think I would be happy with losing five pounds, more would be nice but five is a good start. Plus, who are we kidding it is going to go right back up during the next medicated cycle so if I can at least keep it where it is with extra exercise I think I will be all good.

The vacation plans are not coming along as smoothly as I would have hoped. The ultimate plan was to take the family vacation in December and then start the big IF treatments when we got home. Well, my mom did not like the weather enough on our cruise from two years ago and wants to go somewhere warmer. The plane tickets alone to St. Thomas are a grand a piece during the week between Christmas and New Years so I just don't think that is feasible for us considering we would still have to find a place to stay for a week plus our other expenses. Then the fam is thinking about waiting until May which is so not ok with me either. She said it wasn't that far away and it's not a big deal. That is nine months away. Nine more months that we can't do any IF treatment. I am sorry but that is just too long for me. We will already be well into three years of me being off the pill.

So, we have to wait until the fam makes up their mind on what they are doing and then we can decide what we are going to do. If we don't go away with them we are going to hit up an all-inclusive at the beginning of December somewhere in Mexico which I think would be tons of fun and I want them to make up their minds soon so we can book it!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

08/12/2008

I called my RE's office yesterday to give them the lowdown on what is happening with the good old bladder and to talk to them about the recent unexplained infertility article. The nurse said that she never heard of the article but is sure that someone in the office has. I have to remember to print it out before I go next month. She said she wanted me to come in sooner since I told her I did not want to do clomid anymore but again with the IC flaring one month isn't going to make much of a difference at all. I guess we will be talking about the one IUI cycle that my insurance pays for and then going to IVF at the start of next year. Wow!

There is a meteor shower tonight that I am really looking forward to watching. Chris and I are going to lay out on the swing under a blanket so the bugs don't get us and just watch it. Although gymnastics is on tonight so that might interfere with the meteor watching. I will just have to play it all by ear.

We are hitting up La Tolteca today instead of tomorrow since I am on intake tomorrow and it has been fucking nuts at work. My team had ten intakes yesterday. I had four of them. I didn't get a single damn thing done besides those intakes yesterday. Today I am off to try and catch up. My supervisor recently changed the way we split up intake within our whole pool and this way just doesn't work at all.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Gymnastics Age Controversy

Gymnastics Controversy- Old enough to compete?

Fantastic Weekend!

Chris and I had such a nice weekend! Friday night we bought new phones. I got the LG Envy and Chris decided to go with the chocolate. When we got home he decided he really didn't like his phone and we exchanged it on Sunday for the same one as mine, just in a different color. Anywho, when we got home on Friday night we rented the Civilization Revolution game for the Xbox and I played it until one in the morning. It was pretty sad.

Then on Saturday we got up, took the kids for a walk, and then went out to Rock Hall, MD for Pirates and Wenches Weekend. It was very entertaining. Chris and I tried the grog and sangria in the Pirate Encampment. Then we walked around town with Krystal, Kayla, and her brothers to see all of the different things the town had set up for the weekend. My shoulders got fried because I didn't realize how much walking we would be doing but what can you do. We did get to meet and take a picture with Louie from the CBS pirate show. That was a highlight of the day for sure. Then we drove home so we could go to a party later that night.

We got up super early yesterday morning for whatever reason and took a nice, long walk. Poor Chris was hung over as all hell so it was a very slow walk. Then we went to Ihop for breakfast, exchanged the phones, I bought new bras, and then we went to Pleasanton for crabs on our way home. They were so delicious! For dinner we cracked open a bottle of Ice Wine and had that with our crabs. Considering it was a 75.00 bottle of wine, it was a pretty expensive dinner we had going on for us. Then I watched gymnastics and went to bed. I am hoping Tuesday's meet goes better because that wasn't too pretty at all.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Mystery Infertility

"For mystery infertility, two methods don't help
A new study calls into question the use of two common infertility treatments for couples who have unexplained problems having children."


This is the synopsis of a new study out of London about unexplained infertile couples who use clomid and do IUIs. Nice, huh? Pumping my body full of shit that isn't even shown to work. Out of the 580 couples, 23 got pregnant on their own, 26 got pregnant using clomid and 40 got pregnant using IUIs. In the grand scheme of things there is not a statistical difference between these numbers. Of course that is the route you have to take because of the insurance companies. But come on, my bladder is on fire because of a cycle that had no more chance of working then if we had just done it on our own. WTF is up with that?

So obviously Chris and I have a lot of talking to do after my uro appiontment today to decide what we are going to do next. According to my insurance I have to do at least one IUI cycle before we go to anything else. I don't see the point in putting my already battered body though more cycles that are probably raising my risk of ovarian cancer more than they are raising the percentage of me getting pregnant. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Holy Shit

That's all I have to say about how I feel at this moment. Is it really possible that I somehow developed a yeast infection also besides everything else ? Of course not! My arthritis or fibro or whatever is flaring up a little more each day. I am not sure if its the weather or what. My back hasn't hurt in so many months and now it is bothering me again. It is not awful at all like it is in the winter, but it is still there. The nagging that makes you want to throw something. And the fatigue, I can't even get into that. I have been in bed by nine all week long. It's pathetic.

I am very interested to see what the urologist has to say to me tomorrow. I have to go back onto something, I really can't live constantly feeling like I have a uti. It just isn't going to happen.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

BucaBuca

bucabuca.com now has a toolbar that you can download! Chris also attached a chat room to the website that can be accessed through the toolbar. Come chat with me!

AND...

River947.com has a listing of HD channels that you can listen to at work. The 80s channel from Lousieville, KY is awesome. I have heard all my favs today. Yippee!

08/06/2008

My lord I am going to pee my pants. Good thing that I am seeing the urologist on Friday to see if he can't fix me up. I am currently 4 dpo today so I can be expecting my period in about 8 days. I still have not yet had sex since the endometrin flare up. Here's to hoping I will be fine enough in a week to re-start the clomid. The good news is that I already have all of my drugs for this cycle so I won't have to worry about paying for any of them.

We are supposed to take September's cycle off to go camping, but now I think we are going to play it by ear. We already missed one cycle and it should still be warm enough in September to keep my fibromyalgia at bay long enough before I go back on my meds for that. I guess we will see what happens this month and then go from there. I might be late enough in the cycle that it won't matter if we go away the last weekend in September but there is no way to predict that right now but I am not sure if I can justify wasting our last cycle of the year just to go camping for two days. Damn IF!

We have had a couple of really good days at our house. Peanut let us wrap his paw last night. Poor thing hates it and and already ripped the tape off once but we need to do something to help the healing process along. I think we are going to buy one of those Pedi Paw rotary tools to do their nails. I am hoping that will get his toes shorter and then maybe this won't happen again. Lucky Buca has only had his toes cut a handful of times because they are softer and the concrete does the job. We had two awesome meals this week and today is La Tolteca Day. The bathroom looks so good now that we have the new sink and I re-organized the shelves. After the Sunday fight I threw out at least six bags of shit from our upstairs! Chris was right, I had a lot of crap laying around. It wasn't all crap, just things that I have not gone through since we moved in that we no longer use. Crazy ass spices that someone must have gotten me when we got married, teas and coffee that Chris never drank, you get the idea.

Ok, I am going to go pee now.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

In reproductive news

I ovulated this weekend on day freaking 12. Watch out now. This is looking to possibly be the shortest cycle on record for me since I usually get my period on 12 dpo.

I am very calm at this point because...
broken bladder=no sex=no shot at being pregnant=a calm kate

My Birthday Weekend

I had so much fun this weekend, besides the Kate and Chris blowout on Sunday but what can you do. Danielle came down on Saturday morning and we went to La Tonalteca for lunch. There was a hair in her food, so that wasn't good. They did bring out a new hair-free plate in less than five minutes and it was delicious. I will have to say I am not a fan of the new one and will be reverting back to the old La Tonalteca across the street because their service is way better.

Then we were driving home and we saw that the pet portrait people were at Petsmart. She just got a new puppy for her birthday so we swung by to get the pricing information. It was 15 bucks to get Buca and Peanut's picture taken and I thought it was worth it just to watch the guy to get them to calm down long enough to take their picture. Surprisingly enough he was a pro and we got the cutest picture of them. I have to go pick it up on Thursday and then I am going to take it out of the "seal" and scan it into my home computer and order my own prints! So corny and exciting. Buca and Peanut also got at least five new toys this weekend because of the ridiculous sale they were having and because Danielle bought them toys down at the outlets. Of course Buca wants nothing to do with them and is still playing with George's arm.

Krystal, Boo, and Lindsey then came over and we went bowling around nine. I thought it was duck pin bowling but it wasn't! I just used a seven pounder and was able to bowl two rounds. I am sure it has something to do with the fact that I was bombed and it is the summer so my arthritis isn't as bad. There was no alcohol in xbos so we had Chris put vodka in a travel mug and bring it to us so we could drink while we were playing. I thought we were going to get kicked out because the big sign said not to bring in your own food or drink but they never said anything. It was so dead in there I am thinking they were just happy to have the business.

Then after two trips through the Taco Bell Drive Thru we came home. Krystal and I stayed up watching Big Brother after Dark and I passed out on the couch. I didn't wake back up until after five and made my way into my own bed.

Sunday was slightly more interesting. Krystal made breakfast for all of us and then we went to the bookstore. Atlantic books outlet to be precise. Atlantic books is a beach bookstore but all of the things that don't go at the bookstore are sent to the Dover outlet center. The four of us had a cart full of books and we had to be there for at least an hour. It was slightly embarrassing but I bought at least ten hard cover books for fourty bucks. I love that joint.

When we got home we found that a little certain someone somehow ripped the bathroom sink out of the wall and water was leaking everywhere when you used it. So Chris and her husband went out and bought a new sink we finished installing it yesterday. It is freaking gorgeous, I love it. The little one did leave us a message yesterday apologizing which we both thought was totally adorable. Oh well, what are you going to do!

Yesterday Chris and I took off and we went to visit Kayla and Krystal. We went to Milburn Ochards because they have a feeding zoo and buy one get one free milkshakes. We had a blast there also. I will have to post the pics later but Chris and Kayla had a blast feeding the billy goats. We tried to feed the pig but he wanted nothing to do with it and just laid in the mud the whole time. When we got home we finished the plumbing on the new sink and then I cooked dinner. I still have not yet had the nap I wanted to take on Sunday but maybe I will get around to it one of these days!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Happy 27th to me!

Only one more hour of work left. Thank god! I am not sure what we are doing tonight since Chris is down for the count and so is my bladder so that sort of rules out drinking/going to the bar. I called the urologist today and although my doctor is not in they are going to try and get the doctor on call to prescribe something to soothe my bladder until I can get in to see my doctor next Friday afternoon.

I am very excited to see one of my friend's tomorrow that I haven't spent more than an hour with in a very long time. She is also bringing her new puppy so Buca and Peanut should be mighty worn out by the end of the day.

Now that we know what all of my pain issues are, I am hoping to have a much calmer year this year then last. I realize that with my IC flaring I am not off to a great start but I figure my body is just getting it out of the way. Back to work...or bowling on face book. Peace.