Surgery tomorrow

My surgery is tomorrow at 7:15am, so we have to be at the hospital at 5:45.  My mom, D and I got are checked into the hotel and I got my pre-op blood draw done.  I ate some soup and I'm going to do the enema when they head out for dinner.  Life in Mazes will be updating my blog sometime tomorrow and D will hopefully post on my FB tomorrow when I get out of the surgery.  I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers and I'll probably post once I'm out of the hospital either Wednesday or Thursday hopefully. 

Finally really CD 1, Cycle #29

This will be a break cycle due to my surgery, but I finally started my new cycle.  I need to double check my chart, but it looks like I had a 14-15 day LP, with only tiny amounts of pink in my CM for the previous 3 days.  If this is due to the Endo Diet (which I can't guarantee since this was also my first full cycle on cortisol), I'm sold. My mom got into the States yesterday, and is in our hometown until we leave on Sunday for Omaha.  D and I will go down this weekend.

I was wrong

Yesterday wasn't CD 1, but I'm having the tiniest bit of pink/red combined with 10K and still waiting for true flow.  13 day LP isn't too bad.  6 days until surgery.

One week, and CD 1

Just some quick stuff:
My surgery is in one week.  My current nanny job is finished on Friday.  I'm stressed out, but it's mainly since I need to find a job soon.  I've applied for a couple things, and we'll see if anything pans out.  Please continue the prayers in this area!

I'm doing pretty well on sticking to the Endo Diet (I've posted about it on my recipe blog and I have some Endo Diet-friendly recipes up in my February and March meal plans).

Today is almost definitely CD 1, though it's not quite officially yet.  That means another 12 day LP and no crazy spotting/bleeding.  Hopefully, once the endo is out, we'll have a decent chance of conceiving.

302nd post ***Updated***

Update: I really should know better than to talk about my body improving.  It then immediately does exactly what I said it wasn't.  I have some light bleeding.  My body is crazy.

managed to miss noting my 300th post, so I thought I'd mention it now.

I had a seven day period, so that was very exciting.  It may still sound long, but I usually have 10 to 12 days or more of bleeding, so seven day is a huge improvement.  I'm on day 11, but I'm not having any peak type mucus yet, so I still probably have a little while before I ovulate (just as long as it's by Feb. 21 so we don't have to not use days of fertility this cycle).

I'm working my way into doing the Endo Diet (no dairy, no wheat/gluten-free as much as possible, no red meat, no soy, no eggs, no caffeine, no sugar).  Fertile Thoughts has been a big help on figuring resource and recipes.  I'm slowly trying to switch over and start planning for dinners.  I'll be adding Endo Diet recipes to my recipe blog and I'll also go back and tag the endo diet friendly recipes.  I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to do it while we are in Omaha for my laparatomy, since I'll be in the hospital for 2-3 days.  We'll be staying at R.eside.nce Inn, so we'll have a kitchen; I just need to come up with a plan on what to get for while we are at the hotel.  I also need to cook a few things for the first week we are home or come up with stuff for my mom to make while she's here.  If anyone has any suggestions on meal ideas that fit the Endo Diet and are easy to make or can be frozen for later, I'd really appreciate it.  Surgery is in just over 3 weeks.

Another family member is pregnant.  However, this time it's my aunt (which is weird to say since she's 27, 2 years younger than me), my mom's youngest brother's (who's is 43) wife, and she's due in August. so I'll be have a cousin who is almost 30 years younger than me and will be closer in age to my kids (hopefully) than even my youngest cousin who is 13 (17 years younger than me).  I'm very happy for them especially since my uncle is in his 40s, plus my aunt had a miscarriage previously.  My grandparents will have a new grandchild when they are 83 years old.

It's snow here in NW Louisiana, and has been for the past 2 1/2 hours.  We are supposed to get about 4-6 inches of snow (it probably won't stick much though) in the next 24 hours.  It's nothing compared to what you East Coasters have dealt with in the past couple weeks, but it's a lot of snow for here and this is about the 4th time it has snow this winter, and we usually get one time with about 1/2 inch of snow at most.

A lovely meeting

Today I finally got to meet the lovely Life in Mazes (her blog is private).  We meet at a bookstore halfway in between our towns for tea and then had lunch.  It was so great to finally meet a blogger in person, and like anyone else who has finally met a follow blogger IRL, it's like spending time with an old friend.  It's so awesome to be able to talk about all the IF stuff that no one else understands or wants to hear about.  Even though we both brought our cameras, we didn't manage to get a picture.

In cycle news, I'm on CD6 and am exciting that at least as of now, I haven't had any brown bleeding.  I'm very excited and I hope this continues to be the case.  I didn't have any premenstrual spotting/bleeding in the two cycles since my surgery.  I think that some combination of the D&C done as part of my surgery and the antifungal, antibiotic, and cortisol are helping keep whatever caused it away.

   My surgery is in about 4 weeks, and I'm definitely ready to get it done.  I haven't had any luck finding a place were D can get the SA done without have to take off work (which he can't do since his vacation days are going toward traveling to Omaha), so it may be awhile before we can get a formal SA done (we had an informal one done by the urologist I nanny for and there were no obvious abnormalities).  Maybe we'll get luck and won't need to do.  One can hope.  

CD 1...Cycle 28

Today is CD 1.  My surgery is in exactly 5 weeks so we'll see how my cycle falls but unless I don't ovulate until after CD 23 again, I should be in a new cycle for the surgery.  I had a 12 LP with no spotting, so that's good.  I'm not really upset about CD 1.  Our timing wasn't great, I still have endo on my ovaries, and my surgery is coming up soon.  I'm just hoping that we'll have a chance and decent timing in April.

I could tell all day yesterday that CD 1 was coming, but it pretty much just taunted me all day long.  The cramps kicked in early this time.  I usually don't have cramps until about CD 3-4, but they started late last night, and are in full force in my back.  I'm really hoping that something can be done about the length of my period because I don't want to deal with 10+ days of bleeding (yes, it's better than the 21 I'd been having, but still not normal).

D and I had a big blow-out on Friday night, but we've been communicating much better since then.  We had some interesting conversations on Saturday and I'm glad that we got some of the stuff talked about finally.  We have a tendency to get annoyed, but not ever say what the issue is and we talk about some of that stuff.

Weird dreams, etc.

Last night I had a weird dream.  I wasn't pregnant, but for some reason people who I wasn't going to see for a while were giving me presents of maternity clothes and baby clothes.  It was very odd and I felt a bit embarrassed.  About a week or so ago, I had a dream that was clearly based on AYWH adopting Clara.  In this dream, somehow we had been offered a preemie to adopt even though we weren't actually actively pursuing adoption.  I'm pretty sure that K and R were with us in the dream.

I'm think I might have ovulated about 2-3 days ago (Monday or Tuesday), but yesterday was peak day based on my current instructions.  My ovary pain ended after Monday.  We only used Saturday morning.  I'm getting close to the halfway point between surgeries.  I have about 6 weeks left.

I'm going to post a picture of my pill boxes (I have three for my meds and vitamins).  My vitamins are in one, my nighttime Hydrocort and antacid in another, and other Hydrocort doses and T3, plus the antibiotics in the third).  I got one of the 4 a day pill things where you can pop out the day's worth of pills separately.  Here's what I'm taking:
Hydrocort (5 mg 4x daily, breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime)
T3 (22.5 mg 2x daily, 9am & 9 pm)

Rainbow Light Complete Prenatal (6 daily)

Vitamin B-complex (50 mg, 1 daily)

Vitamin C with rosehips (250 mg, 3 daily)

Vitamin E (200 mg, 1 daily)

Flax Oil (1 tbsp daily in breakfast smoothie)

Fish Oil (1 daily)

These both D and I are taking:

Clarithromycin antibiotic (500 mg 2x daily, for 21 days...we've got about a week left)

Fluconazole (150 mg 1x daily, yesterday, today, and tomorrow...they found even more yeast in the cultures)

Good news and annoying news

The good news: I have 10C/KL, so I'll probably ovulate pretty soon and I'll most likely be pre-peak for my surgery (I still have to get through ovulation next cycle to guarantee it).

The annoying news: My ovaries are have spend the past two days trying to get out of my abdomen (at least that's how it feels).  We also haven't used any days since Monday and I'd be surprised if we used tonight since Friday is his day he hangs out with one of his friends and rarely is home before midnight.  I'm not so much worried for this cycle, but our timing has almost always been not what I'd like (by D's choice).  Best case usually is using 3 days before peak and peak day.  I'd much rather use the day before peak, but every other day for 5 days rarely seems to work out.  I'm worried that we are going to waste all our time after surgery due to crappy timing, and I can't see any way to help the situation.  I'm waiting for D to decide when he's going to do his repeat and more formal SA. I have a feeling it'll be at the last minute just before my surgery.

Cortisol, etc.

I got my results from the cortisol draw (11.4 at 9am), and Dr. H wants me to do the low-dose cortisone since it was on the low side of normal and due to the my answers to the adrenal questionnaire.  I got the letter late today, so I'll be talking to the PPVI nurses tomorrow.  D and I also have been on the 21-day antibiotic regimen again.  The worst part is the horrible taste in my mouth that develops after I take the pill.

To Misfit, I don't think that any sort of hormonal intervention would work at this point in my cycle, plus I don't want to use up any time on hormonal support before my surgery when it's less likely to result in a pregnancy (assuming of course that once I'm cleaned out I'll actually be able to get pregnant).  It is my first full cycle after my lap so maybe that's why ovulation is delayed.  I wouldn't have thought that it would be holiday stress since the cycle didn't even start until after Christmas.   I guess I should assume that next cycle will be a break cycle unless I ovulate this week sometime or have late ovulation that cycle and don't ovulate until after the surgery.  I would be nice to be pre-peak and close to ovulation at the time of my surgery so I could do the u/s series.  I'd like to get the series done but if it doesn't happen this time, it won't happen in Omaha.  I wish I could get it done locally.

I'm feeling a bit down right now.  My grandma feel again and broke a rib.  She has problems with nerve transmission and it's really easy for her to fall down due to that.  I'm tired of waiting for my surgery since I was hoping everything would be fixed last month.  It's been 18 months since I found out about Creighton charting and over a year since I received my letter from Dr. H saying that I'd need to have the surgery done and that he suspected endometriosis.  

CD 1...Cycle 27

Yesterday was CD 1, after a tiny bit of pink on Sunday night.  I had a 27 day cycle, with ovulation on CD 16, but only a 11 day LP.  I'm hope that PPVI will call soon after the first of the year with the plan for probable antibiotics,  possible hydrocort (I haven't heard anything about my cortisol level...Misfit, it was just a 9am blood draw), and any other possible treatment for my uterine inflammation.  I just want to have everything in place (and hopefully at therapeutic levels) by the time my cycle after surgery starts.

My bbs hurt something serious.  I've only had pain in them for the past three or four cycles.  My incisions from surgery are doing fine.  I'm still waiting for the redness and crustiness from the allergic reaction around my belly button incision to fully heal, but the actual incision looks pretty good.

We may use days of fertility depending on how we feel, but I don't see full on Trying until after my surgery.

We had a good Christmas.  My brother and I made a whole lot of food for just 3 people, but it was really good and I have had to cook since we have so many leftovers.  I got an ice cream maker attachment for my stand blender and a mini food processor (so I don't have use and clean my big one for small amounts), and both sets of parents sent some money (which will be a big help with the whole second out-of-town surgery in three months thing).  We are going to our hometown for New Year's, which will be fun.

Break cycle

D caught the cold I had before my surgery, and I'm pretty sure I'm P+2 today. We didn't use any days of fertility since he was sick. I had serious ovary pain on Wednesday, which I'm pretty sure was peak day. I'm pretty bloated still. We are going to a wedding this weekend and I was trying on dresses, and D commented on how bloated I am and how I look pregnant in one of the dress. I'm not wearing that one, obviously since I don't want to look pregnant if I don't actually get to be pregnant. Thankfully we don't have any more weddings that I know of until about 2.5 months after my next surgery.

I'm not too concerned about a break cycle now since it's unlikely that anything will happen before I get the endo removed and the uterine inflammation treated. I have pretty much moved on to not have a chance of having a child before 2011 since we wouldn't really have a chance until my April cycle. I'm hoping that Dr. H will have some results of the cortisol b/w and the cultures from the surgery by the first of the year. I'll hopefully have some treatment started by the time my next surgery happens.

My mom is coming from Qatar for my surgery (which was moved to March 8), and she has been buying all the plane tickets and get the hotel reserved and everything. D is staying in Omaha until Friday, and my mom is flying back with me and then staying at our house through the weekend since D will be working.

Article on Chastity and Waiting

Life in Mazes shared this article with me, and I thought I'd pass it along.

I'm still doing ok after my surgery. I'm feeling pretty good except I have a rash by my incision (don't worry...I already checked with Dr. H's office and they said to just use hydrocortizone ointment on it). I went back to work yesterday. I'm trying to minimize how much I carry W, the 2 year old I take care of. I think I overdid it a bit yesterday; I got pretty tired. I think the spotting finally stopped yesterday (the good news it was red and not brown!). I've had 10YL for the last couple days, but we haven't used any days yet, maybe tonight.

I've been talking to my mom to make plans for her to come for my next surgery.

Surgery

I'm doing ok. The pain isn't too bad. I've got just a bit of shoulder pain and of course abdominal pain, but the tylenol is keeping it manageable. I'm mostly over my cold, but I've still got a bit of sinus junk. When I cough or laugh, it hurts a little bit.

Ok, so the results of the surgery: I have endometrosis. I have lots of little spots on both ovaries, and some on my pelvic wall. I don't have endometrosis on my bowel, bladder or any of the other organs. Even though they were small amounts, Dr. H didn't remove them since they were lots of different spots. I would have gotten lots of adhesions most likely. I've also got signs of inflammation in my uterus. I have a cyst on one of my tubes which is weighting it down away from my ovary. My tubes look clear and the pressure was good. I've got my laparotomy scheduled for March 16, and hopefully after that, I'll be endo-free for a while, and have a possiblity of conceiving. Dr. H also wants D to get another SA done since the last one was just informal (I'm not too worried since D's last one was good). I'm getting my cortisol tested tomorrow morning. Dr. H said that after my lapartomy and if D's SA is good, we should have pretty good chances. Since my hormone levels were well above normal, Dr. H feels like they are not an issue for me.

D is taking very good care of me. He's gotten my food, helps me out of bed and has me hold onto him when we are walking outside because of the slipperiness.

When we were flying up here on Monday, we had to get on a earlier flight, otherwise would have completely missed on connection which would have left before the original flight even arrived. The weather here in Omaha has been pretty bad. It was snowing when we got in on Monday. A blizzard came in on Tuesday and it took us about an hour to get to the hospital for all the pre-op stuff. We got to the hospital yesterday with about an hour before we needed to get there. The snow stopped but it's really cold.

Great timing :(

I'm getting a cold. The kids I nanny for have been sick the last few days, and I should have started Zi.cam then, but I forgot. Surgery is in 4 days. I hope I can keep from getting any worse with sinus rinsing, lots of Vitamin C, and Z.icam.

Anyone have any advice about the surgery?

CD 1...Cycle 26

Today is CD 1 (I'm pretty sure...hard to know since I've been spotting/bleeding for over a week), and my surgery is in just over a week. This time next week, we'll be in Omaha (and I'll have to give myself an enema...oh joy). I'll be on CD 9 for my surgery on December 9. My bbs are still hurting which is weird and annoying. It's weird since I've only had it the last few cycles.

Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe Day 1

I'm going to be saying this novena starting today, November 30 and finishing the day before my surgery, December 8. If you would like to join me and get an email, comment or send me an email at mrsblondies (at) gmail (dot) com.

Immaculate and Perpetual Virgin of Guadalupe, you appeared on Mount Tepeyac to reconcile mankind to God. Plead and intercede with you Son Jesus today, that a bond of Holy Love is formed between all humanity and God.

You left your image on the cloak of Juan Diego, using a humble vessel to bring your Grace into the world. Imprint on our hearts the virtue of humanity, dear Mother, and use us to bring others to your Son.

Your Image of Guadalupe was a symbolic story to the Aztecs, converting them from paganism to Christianity. Pray for us, dear Mother, that our lives will be symbols of Holy Love, converting those around us.

You proclaimed yourself our Mother and Protectress when you appeared on Mt. Tepeyac. Take us into your Maternal Heart, dear Mother, and protect our faith.

Our Lady of Guadalupe pray for us!

Nevermind

I started spotting/bleeding last night right before bed.  Clearly I shouldn't have said anything in my post yesterday.  I really hope the surgery takes care of this.  I'll probably have bleeding from now until my surgery (and a bit after).  I hate bleeding for three weeks straight.  Only 16 more days until surgery.

Where to next and worries about IF and health care reform

Now that I'm about 2 weeks (17 days to be exact) from my surgery, I'm starting to think about what to do if there are problems other than what Dr. H looks for/finds.  What if I have implantation failure?  I don't know if I can afford to go see Dr. K.wak-K.im (in Chicago, TCIE is being treated by her).  I'd like to know whether the implantation zone of  my endometrium is getting sufficient blood flow.  Unless adoption falls into our laps (like might be happening for Sew), we couldn't afford to adoption for a couple more years.  I'm ready for the surgery to be done and to know what treatments we might need (or if he was able to clean out a moderate level of endo).  The good news is that my change in diet (based Fe.rtility, Cyc.les and Nu.trition) seems to have stopped my crazy spotting.  I can't guarantee it since this is only the third full cycle (and I'm only P+4) since I started it, but even D said that there was a difference.

Now that the Senate is getting close to passing health care reform, I'm getting worried.  I know that it doesn't go into effect for about 3 years, but I worry about whether IF people, especially us Catholic who want to treat the underlying causes and not do ART, will be able to get the treatment we want and need.  I don't know if there are any provisions in there about IF (IF is pretty much only on the radar of those who are dealing/have dealt with it).  Yes, changes need to be made to the health care system, but I'm very weary of the government (and especially this administration) being involved in it.

P+3 quick update

We ended up using P-2 and P-1.  CD 1 should be no later than Dec. 2, a week before surgery and I'll be on about CD 8. Surgery is in 18 days.