Little Updates

First off tomorrow Dan has his 3 month checkup CT Scan. It will be another week or so until we meet with the doctor for the report, but as soon as we know it we will pass it along. On a personal note Dan has decided to start riding motocross again. He has bought a bike, gear and a trailer already. Most are being delivered this week to us. The bike we need to drive up to Ann Arbor Michigan to pick up. This is something Dan has done since he was like 3 years old and easily his favorite activity despite all the risks and injuries that have gone with it. There are several tracks within an hour of Dayton so plenty of places for him to ride around in the mud.


As for me, tomorrow I officially start the IVF protocol. I start on birth control pills for 3 weeks in order for them to time easier all the other shots and tests they need to do and also help prevent any nasty cysts from forming again.

And on a scary note, my little nephew Cole is vacationing in NC this week. Well apparently yesterday Cole was eating with the family and started choking. His little face looked scared and he was making no noise at all. Heather luckily had read an infant first aid book my mom had given her (All parents NEED to take infant/child CPR) and was able to start back blows/chest thrusts and eventually he spit up the fruit cocktail that was blocking his air. Needless to say everyone there was very shook up and crying. I cant even imagine how scared Heather must have been and so thankful that Cole is ok.

Field Trip to COSI

Today I traveled to Columbus and went with Heather and Cole to COSI ( Center Of Science and Industry). Its a super fun science museum for kids and adults. There is a large kids zone on the 2nd floor with stuff to do from infant to preschool and Cole just had a blast. We played for about 2 hours before we were all tired. Heather should be posting some additional pictures and maybe a short film of Cole walking on her blog so check it out. But here are some of my favorite pictures of me and my nephew. The bottom one especially, that was in the medical section and I ace wrapped his head like I used to enjoy doing to myself! Check out the cool x-rays of a frog and snake in the background. COSI was super cool, cant wait to take him again. Perhaps when my mom is up for his birthday . Oh and Cole is 2ft 6 inches tall, a laser beam measured him. Science is fun!

Happy Birthday Bosley!

Today is Bosley's 3rd Birthday! He is such a big boy :)

Above is him howling "Happy Birthday"

Acupuncture Doc

So this afternoon I met with the acupuncture doctor. This was just an informal meeting to find out why I wanted to do acupuncture, to ask any questions I might have and go over what they think should be done. She showed me the needle, which was strangely flexible and even gave it to me to take home and show Dan. Its probably 1.5 inches, very small diameter and solid (not hollow like a typical medical needle). She said she has worked alot with in vitro over the past couple years and has a plan they like to follow. Basically they want to do acupuncture on day 3,5,7,9 (of my Lupron injections) and then before and after the egg transfer. She said the sessions would take 20-25 minutes and she would use about 20 needles in my feet, hands, abdomen and head! She said I could do some sessions during the 3 weeks I am on birth control pills if I want to just relax or know how it feels but doesn't think its necessary. It was an interesting meeting and I think it will be fun to try.

So we are still in a holding pattern. Probably another 7-10 days before I start on the birth control pills. In exactly 2 weeks Dan has a follow up CT-Scan, however his appointment with Dr. Woods to read the CT Report isn't until the 10th of July. As soon as we know anything from that we will let you guys know.

Totally unrelated note, Dan and I just finished watching Dexter Season 2. Its a cool show and worth renting :)

Needles

I am embracing needles the next couple months. In about a month I will be doing daily injections of hormones, most are SQ (small needles just in your fat) but a couple are IM (deep needles into your muscle). But I have decided to try another needle as well, acupuncture.

I have been reading daily about IVF and infertility and treatments etc, and over and over again I would find comments or references to acupuncture. Some IVF clinics even have it worked into their protocols. So I decided to research it some more and see what I can find.

Some sample journal articles, I could post alot more but I wont:
Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilisation: systematic review and meta-analysis: Manheimer E, et.al. British Medical Journal 2008 Feb 7. This was a meta-analysis looking at all the available, high quality acupuncture research. When taking all factors into account the investigators found that "acupuncture increased the odds of clinical pregnancy by 65% compared with the control groups."

Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective, randomized trial: Westergaard LG, et.al. Fertility and Sterility 2006 Apr 4; This study once again demonstrates that properly applied acupuncture results in IVF ongoing pregnancy increases of over 60%.


So today I called one of the local acupuncture clinics and set up a consultation to see what they had to say. So its a bit kooky I admit, but heck at this point I am taking any advantage I can get to have a healthy happy baby. And if these studies are non-biased and scientific, the large improvement in implantation and low miscarry rates are pretty impressive. My consult is next Tuesday (10/17) at 2pm so I will let you know how it goes. The office I am going to is run by a married couple. The man is an OB/GYN and the woman is a nurse practitioner in women's and family health.

IVF Plan!

Well Dan and I had a long meeting today with Dr. Burwinkel (the reproductive Endocrinologist) and with Betheen Struewing, RN (IVF Coordinator). Its so fun to have a plan again! The plan cant get set into motion until my next period starts which hopefully starts in about 2.5 weeks. Once my period starts we will have a definite calendar of events full of pills and shots. If my period starts as predicted then we are looking at an egg retrieval date around August 5th and putting the embryo(s) back in 5-6 days later and hope they implant and continue dividing. Normally they put 2 blastocysts in and freeze any additional ones.

Once my period starts I will start birth control pills for 3 weeks. The point of taking BCPs is to kinda calm my ovary's down and prevent any cysts from forming which has been my big problem. During this time they are monitoring blood work and ultrasounds. If everything is a go they hope to start my injections around July 17th.

So I will go into much more detail with drug names and more firm dates once I can. For now I just keep staying healthy eating right, taking prenatal vitamins and waiting for the next cycle to start. I also don't have the lab work data yet but Betheen should be emailing it to me in the next couple days.

Mold!

So for the past year or more we have been dealing with Ophelia and her ears. Her chronic ear infections just don't ever go away despite several different treatment ointments, liquids, powders, hypoallergenic diets, shots, you name it. We have easily spent a couple thousand dollars at the vet this year trying to get her better. Finally the vet suggested blood work to figure out exactly what she is allergic too. She just called us with the results, Ophelia has a severe allergy to mold. Now we keep our house pretty clean so we started searching for possible areas of mold on the inside the house. After looking all around we discovered the problem. In our water heater/furnace closet there is a PVC pipe that is supposed to drip water into a little grate thing. Well the PVC was off target and dripping onto the floor. There also seemed to be a huge area of mold on the platform the furnace sits on. We never noticed this before because it was hidden by a floor safe we kept in there!

So the treatment is we need to figure out how to clean up this area - not sure if we need to rip out some walls or just treat the surface or what. As for Ophelia she is going to get a series of shots in an attempt to desensitize her to mold.

Day 10 Lab

Today's lab work was much less exciting, only 1 vial. A simple day 10 Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) level was done. The point of doing a FSH test is to measure a women's "ovarian reserve". As you get older and reach menopause your body starts producing more FSH to encourage your ovaries to keep producing estrogen and eggs. A good value would be less than 10. Someone near menopause would be close to 40. In other words, an elevated FSH represents a reduced egg supply (in numbers of eggs remaining) and it might also reflect a compromise of egg quality. Another test they did on CD3 was estradiol. This goes with FSH as another measure of the quality and quantity of your eggs. What I hope to see is a low FSH level in conjunction with a low estradiol level. Another test in the ovarian reserve mystery is the Clomid Challenge. That is what I did and what most people do at the start of infertility treatments. You get labs on day 3 and 10 taking Clomid in between. The normal test would show a low FSH on day 3, a low estradiol on day 3 and also a low FSH on day 10. So next Tuesday when I met with my doctor and hopefully go over the lab work I will see that my eggs are in good shape.

Getting Fit

So a couple things happened last week to inspire me to get more Fit. First off the weather is finally nice outside so the 8 month seclusion is lifted and I actually want to be out running and biking. Secondly I got the new Wii Game called Fit. This game is super fun to do, it comes with a board that weighs you, tells your BMI and center of balance. There are all sorts of games like various yoga moves, strength exercises, balance exercises and aerobics that use the board. The final thing was watching the Florida Gator softball team compete in the college world series. Those girls all looked so fit and fun and I felt like running out and tossing the ol softball around again. Our team ended up loosing in extra innings the game that would have sent them to the finals, but after double headers saturday and sunday I was very proud of my gators! During these softball games there was alot of talk about the USA softball team and of course their quest for a gold medal in the upcoming Olympics (64 days away!)

This made me decide to really work on getting fit by the time the Olympics start. I am working Monday-Wednesday-Friday for the summer so I plan on doing big workouts on tuesday, thursday, saturday and sunday. I have a couple 5Ks and Biathlons that I am going to race this summer also. I dont have much weight to loose, but this is more about being more physically active and converting some fat to lean muscle.

The other thing I have decided is in 2012 I am going to attend the summer Olympics in London. Going to an Olympics is a goal of mine, and London seems like the perfect site. Being 4 years away I will have plenty of time to save some money so I can spend a couple weeks in London with Dan and check out some Olympic events and travel to parts of London I didnt see last time I was there.

So every once and I while I will update my fitness goals here since writing stuff down in public makes me more accountable and more likely to stick with it! If anyone else wants to get fit this summer feel free to post along with me. Right now my #1 goal is exercise 4 days a week for a minimum of 1 hour. #2 goal is by the opening ceremony of the Olympics my belt is 1 notch smaller.

Also just wanted to wish my sister-in-law Debbie a big happy 31st birthday today!! I hope you have a great day.

Clomid

I am on my 3rd day of taking Clomid. I will take the pill for 2 more days and then on Thursday repeat some blood work. Last Thursday I had my initial blood work done. I thought it was only going to be a couple tests. I guess my doctor wanted to check every test known to man, 12 vials of blood later. Lucky for me I have good veins and dont mind being on the receiving side of medical care. After all the blood work stuff is done I get to meet with Dr. Bidwell on June 10th and go over the IVF information and I assume go over all the lab work.

I am finally finishing reading Lance Armstrong's first book "It's Not About the Bike, My Journey back to life". I found it a little hard to read when Dan was actually going through the treatment. But its nice to read it now, it talks alot about the transition back to life again after being told such an awful thing and dealing with chemo and surgery. But now I am on the part where Lance and his wife go through IVF to have a child. I enjoyed reading it, but must admit I kinda cursed when it worked on the 1st attempt for them. I dont know how many attempts it will take for us. Some couples it works on the 1st try, some the 6th, some never. I am pretty positive it will work for us sooner rather than later.