Annie and Egg Updates

Today I went for an u/s update at 8:15.  I have three good possibles on the right – a 13, 10 and 9, and a pitiful little 7.5 on the left.  The lining is actually slightly thinner, but we still have a week to go.  Also, he lowered my dose the night before again, and my lining always gets thinner on the lower doses.  I’ve got half a mind to keep my dose at the higher level;  they just keep getting too cautious!  But I’ll be good, they’ve been doing this a lot longer than I have.

I totally forgot to get my E2 done.  He upped my dose of Gonal F.  I ‘m just about to use up my last pen, so he refilled my prescription for two more pens.  I get another E2 and go back for an u/s on Monday at 7:45.

The mail-order pharmacy where we’ve been getting the Gonal F, Freedom Pharmacy, doesn’t deliver on weekends, so they had to  their weekend response team (didn’t know they had one! but I’m glad they do!) arranged for a local pharmacy (People’s) to give me one pen, and they’ll deliver the second pen Monday morning.  My sweet hubby, who helped my brother pack up his house all day, took time out to run across town to People’s Pharmacy to pick it up for me. 

One interesting thing about picking up the drug from People’s was that they actually gave us a reciept .  OMG, the price the pharmacies charge insurance companies for the pen is $1410!  That’s unimaginable!  I know they give a discount to people who are paying up front (without insurance), but even then, it must be hugely costly.  Once again, I realize how blessed we are by Troy’s insurance.  God has really provided for us!

While I was sleeping today our vet, Geana, left me a message that she had just checked on Annie and she is looking much better!  Geana said Annie was waiting at the front of the cage for her and she gave little meows of welcome and put her paws thru the cage for attention.  Geana also said she ate really well with a great appetite!  Annie wasn’t making urine when Dad took her in, but since she was hydrated overnight Geana was finally able to do a urinalysis.  It showed a lot of red and white cells in the urine (blood and pus), but  as horrible as that sounds, it’s actually a very strong indicator that she is experiencing a kidney infection rather than a malignancy or true renal failure.  Geana is cautiously hopeful and will call me with another update tomorrow.

I wanted to share something that I’ve learned as I’ve done a little research on renal failure in cats.  It turns out that in nature, cats get most of their hydration from consuming their live prey.  When we feed them a primarily dry cat food diet, they are chronically dehydrated.  As the kidneys are forced to work harder, the tissues of the kidney fail and are replaced with scar tissue, until eventually, there is no healthy tissue left.  In most cases, by the time the cat shows evidence of renal insufficiency, the kidneys are almost 75% scar tissue.  I’m going to the grocery store today to stock up on wet cat and dog food.  I don’t care if it makes their poop stinky if it means I get many more years with them and they don’t have to suffer through kidney failure and dialysis.  I know I sound like a public service ad for pets, but I wanted to be sure to pass on what I’ve found out, in case it helps anyone else.

Thanks so much for all the love and well wishes ya’ll sent my way.  I can’t thank you enough.  It helps so much to know ya’ll are rooting for her right along with me.

Annie

Dad took Annie to the vet for me today ’cause neither of us could take off work after all the time we’ve taken off for fertility appointments.  I have next Friday off but I could tell she wasn’t feeling well and I didn’t want her to have to wait another week.

Annie is in kidney failure.  Our wonderful vet, Geana, has her hooked up to an IV for fluids and antibiotics.  There’s a chance that it’s a really bad infection and the fluids and meds will work and she’ll bounce back.  In the hopes that this is the case, Geana is keeping her over the weekend to get her well-hydrated.

The second scenario is that she’s been in a slow kidney decline that will continue.  Sometimes this can be temporaily reversed and health can be maintained with regular fluid infusions that can be done at home.  Geana says cats in this situation can have  a good quality of life if they get regular health care and it’s a manageable condition.  If the cat’s health starts to decline again, then quality of life can be reassesed at that time.

There’s also a possibility of a malignancy, maybe kidney cancer.  If she is worse on Monday, we have to decide if we want to do an ultrasound to see what her quality of life would be.  The lumps on her chest are just fatty deposits that we’re starting to notice because she has been slowly and gradually losing weight.

My sweet fuzzy baby.  I miss her so much.

Today’s Egg Count

At today’s poontang peek-a-boo visit, I learned that:  my Estrogen is now a hopeful 159, lining is 7.1 A (I’ve still gotta look up what the letter means);  the right ovary has now pulled into the lead with two 11 and one 10 follicle (and several smaller ones); and the left ovary is lagging behind with two 7’s, a 6 and several smaller ones.  Looks like we may make it to the finish line with more than one egg this time!  Woohoo! (Amendment:  the appointment was yesterday.  I was typing this out while lying in bed last night when poof! the laptop ran out of power.  And I was too relaxed to drag my lazy butt into the living room to get the power cord.  Besides, it’s hard to move 2 dogs and three cats, and if I leave they’ll take over and I’ll never manage to reclaim my spot.)

In lieu of having anything more exciting to report on the IF front, I’ve decided to post random animal pics.  ‘Cause who doesn’t love pics of happy, adorable, fuzzy animals? 

Here’s Troy the day after surgery.  Sweet Dobby snuggled in next to him.  The other animals came and went in intervals, but I had to make Dobbs go out to pee.  She loves her some Troy.

Troy post-sinus surgery with Dobby

 

I know it’s hard to see, but Poppy found a gecko on the screen (upper left).  She kept making weird noises and randomly launching herself head-first into the window.  Fortunately, she doesn’t seem any more “special needs” than she was before the repeated head-knocks.

Only amateurs let windows get in the way of attacking prey!

 

Aren’t these gerber daisies cheery?  I just fell in love with the bright yellow and orange!  Usually they’re $8/bunch but I got them for $4.  My awesome MIL bought me the vase at Goodwill!  It matches the daisies perfectly!  It’s my favorite vase!

Poppy on the table – again.

Yeah I'm on the table again! Hahahaha!

 

Lila hanging out dangerously close to the vase I brought back from our honeymoon cruise.  I think I bought it in Honduras, but it might have been Belize.  WHY must she hang out next to the pottery?

Looks like it would roll really great...

Lately our girl Annie has been a little lethargic.  She’s always been the sweetest, quietest one, so much so that it would just crack us up whenever she’d get a wild hair and do the “kitty skitz-out” (cat owners, you know what I’m talkin’ about).  She never met another animal or person that she didn’t love at first sight.  I took her to the vet just a month ago for her yearly shots and check-up, but I’m concerned enough that I’ve made another appointment.  Her tummy feels a little lumpy.  I’m hoping it’s allergies and not a lump like the one that took my kitty girl Johnnie Doe last year.

Sweet Annie, sweetest, lovingest kitty I've ever met

Our little foster girls are doing great!  The mama is tiny – not much bigger than her baby girl!  Mama’s name is Padme and the baby girl is Ewok (named by Troy, I’d just like to clarify that).  When we first brought them home we kept them in our spare room as they have to be separated from the rest of the zoo for at least two weeks.  We found that they pretty much just hid under the bed.  It’s hard to socialize cats when you’re just poking at them from arm’s length.  So with more than a little drama, we moved them to the spare bathroom.  I know it seems mean, but they seem a lot calmer in a small space, and it’s a lot easier to interact with them. 

Little mama Padme

At first they’d freeze when we’d pet them, and stare at us with huge, terrified eyes.  But yesterday when I hung out with them for a while (brought my phone into the can with me and chatted with Mom), I realized that they were both purring and closing their eyes!  Then Padme actually stretched her booty up in the air for a good back scratch!  It felt so good, really good progress.  They’re learning how to be loved on!  I’m slowly introducing toys, but so far they’re pretty much just scared of them.  Even the laser dot on the floor hasn’t gotten too much reaction yet, and that one’s usually irrisistable to cats (and dogs … truly hilarious on slick floors).

Our fosters Ewok on the left and Padme on the right

They hid in the cat box for the first day.  Finally I figured out that if I took the lid off the litter box and laid it on top of the kitty bed, they’d move to the kitty bed.  They just wanted a den to feel safe in.

Ewok looks so tiny in the kitty bed!

When I got home, I could tell one of the dogs had messed in their kennel (guess how I could tell).  When Troy made it home shortly after I did, I gave him the choice of litter box duty or dog kennel clean-up.  He chose dog poo, so I grabbed a plastic bag and headed off to scoop cat nuggets.  Suddenly there comes a strangled half-yell, half-gag from the other room … turns out, they must’ve gotten into something disgusting, because BOTH dogs had a case of explosive diarrhea.  Unfortunately Troy thought it was only Dude, so he let Dobby out of her kennel, only to find himself surounded by puppy-poop paw prints.  And Dude’s kennel is mesh … you wouldn’t believe how far a bulldog’s bunghole can fling poo.  After a lot of Clorox, vinegar and carpet shampoo, we washed both dogs outside with the hose.  Then I made Troy strip and I hosed him down, too.  Moral of the story:  always choose the cat shit.

I made Daddy cry!

I bet I can reach that camera if I jump right....

...NOW!

I take pussy-cat Annie to the vet tomorrow, then take my pussy-cat to Dr. Silverberg’s on Saturday.  Hopefully we’re getting close!  I’m almost out of Gonal F.

I’m So Confused…

… but that’s not an unusual state for me. *sigh*

This cycle we uppped the dose of Gonal F, and I seemed to be responding great.  I had the baseline u/s with no cysts on either ovary – excellent!  Then the first post-dose u/s showed showed a lining of 3.8 with about 10 follicles on each side, meauring between 5 and 7.  Estradiol came back at a healthy 87.

Dr. Silverberg agreed to be more agressive with our treatment this cycle, but he was concerned about my having around 10 follies on each ovary.  So he decided to reduce one of the next three doses. 

Friday it was back to the office for another u/s.  My lining was us to 4.6 – good!  Follie count came back – exactly the same as the previous visit in number and size – ?!?  And the bad news – estradiol dropped to 18!  The nurse explained that the last doses weren’t high enough to support the growth of the follicles, but upping the next two doses to 225, my highest dose yet, would put us back on track.

I’m discouraged, but hopeful that tomorrow morning’s appointment will show lots of good growth and the numbers of follicles on each ovary will still be good.  I’d like to make it to the end of the cycle with at least two eggs.  Also, for tomorrow’s appointment Dr. Vaughn will be on call, and he’s the most aggressive of all the docs in the office.  I feel really good about the visit.  I do love me some Dr. Silverberg, but I’m ready to throw caution out and move forward!

In other news, Troy has bounced back great from his surgery!  He got the tubes out of his nose on Friday, and he’s finally sleeping great – which means I am, too!  Having the tubes removed lifted a lot of the  pressure that was makin’ him so uncomfortable.  He does still get tired easily, but his energy is coming back.

Our little foster girls are doing great!  Neither of them approach us yet, but they aren’t as frightened as they were when we reach out to pet them.  The kitten (a girl, I just learned) will eat chicken out of our fingers.  Although she’s a little timid still, she loves to be loved on and she’s starting to make eye contact.  While Troy was home recovering he named the mama Padme and the kitten Ewok (he thought it was a boy).  I was going to go with Willow and Mouse, but I let the nerd win since he was still in recovery.   The little mama doesn’t want to be picked up and she’s still tense, but she’ll let us scratch her head and neck.  Their poop had gone from liquid to solid and they eat all their food every time we fill the bowl.  I’ll post their pics later today.

On Friday I drove my two nephews to my folks’ new place in Gatesville to stay with them for the weekend.  My brother Chris and his wife JoaAnn have sold their house and have bought a new one, so they’ll be packing all weekend, as well as working, so my folks get some quality grandkid time!   The 2 year old, Andon, fell asleep as soon as we hit the road.  But 6 year old  Cayle and I had a blast just talking and laughing the whole way!  My ipod was playin in the background, and it just cracked me up when he heard Joan Jett’s I Love Rock ‘n Roll – he hollered, “Crank the bass, Aunt Stacey!”  How does he even know that song, and what the bass is?  We played it over and over!    I had to come back to work this weekend, but had a wonderful time spending the day with my folks and the kiddos.

I think I’m experiencing some weird side effects from the Gonal F.  For some reason, I’m peeling, mostly on my tummy and forehead.  Not majorly, but some.  Also, I’ll have these flashes of intense emotion, where I’ll get really sad, then it’ll suddenly lift and go away!  It’s very disorienting, and most of the time, I don’t even know what I’m sad about.  I’m very bloated, too.  I’m trying to get more sleep and drink more water, so hopefully that’ll help.  Anyone else ever experience Gonal F side effects?

Sleep-Deprived High

Did you know that when you go for a long time without sleep, you can actually get a nice little buzz going?  Which is then followed by a raging headace.  And to think of all I spent on booze in college, when I coulda had the same experience for free.

Troy’s sinus surgery went off without a hitch last Thursday.  And then the sedatives wore off.  No sleep whatsoever Thursday night, despite pain meds and cold packs and vaporizers.  Friday morning we were back in the doc’s office for his follow-up appointment, where my pleas for coma-inducing drugs were ignored.  For me or for Troy, either would’ve been fine, but nooooo, it’ll get better, they promised. 

Finally managed to knock him out Friday afternoon when I slipped him a Benadryl along with his pain meds.  Just as I drifted into blessed sleep, I was thwacked awake by my old enemy, Aunt Flo.  Oh yes, on top of it all, one day before test day the old Ho shows up, and brings Crampy and Achy with her.  The cramps were so bad I couldn’t sleep, so I called the RE’s office and got the ball rolling.  Called Freedom Pharmacy and $100 later, my next round of baby crack is on the way to my front door.

Then my MIL arrived to baby- (I mean husband-) sit Troy, and it was Hi Ho, Hi Ho, off to work a 15 hour shift overnight at the hospital.  You’d think as soon as I got off work Saturday morning I’d crash, and I did – for 2 hours.  Then it was back up to go see my good friends at the Dr. Silverberg’s office.  I tried really hard to ask questions, but I think I must’ve been talking really slow ’cause the doc kept answering them before I had a chance to spit a whole sentance out.  I felt like I was in a movie – only I was in slow-mo, and the rest of the movie was flying by.  From what I can remember, he agreed with Dr. Vaughn that he wanted me to be much more aggressively stimulated this round.  Instead of starting me on Gonal F on cycle day 3, he actually had me start with 150/day starting day 1.  I have high hopes for this cycle.  I feel like we’ve done all the experimenting we’ve needed to do, and now we should have the winning formula down, yaknow?  Thank God my most wonderful MIL drove me to and from my appointment so I wasn’t a menace on the highway.

Back home I crashed out for a few more hours, then it was another overnight shift that is really fuzzy so hopefully I did my job and didn’t kill anyone; then finally, blissful sleep Sunday morning ’til 4 in the afternoon.  When I woke up, happy friendly fairies had arrived and cleaned my house!  My bestest girlfriends in the whole world, Judy and Melissa, came and cleaned the house and made dinner.  By 6 we had a house full of good friends who came by to visit Troy, swim, play cards and eat.  It was a wonderful evening.  We are so blessed.

As soon as True Blood was over, I was out like a light.  But it was another night of getting up periodically to help or at least check on Troy.  He’s doing much better but his head fills up every few hours and the pain pills wear off and it wakes him up.  He’s supposed to be ready to go back to work tomorrow, but I’m worried he’ll be really tired.  And he probably will.  Hopefully tired enough to sleep through the whole night.

So today’s been another hazy blur, but it’s gone great and I’m just about to head for home.  We have tons of food left over so I don’t have to cook for a couple of days, yay!

My next b/w and u/s are tomorrow morning.

And oh!  I almost forgot!  Troy and I have been approved to be cat foster parents!  We get our first pair on Tuesday, a mom and her kitten that had only 10 hours left before euthanization!  They’ll stay with us to be loved and socialized ’til they get adopted.  I’m so excited!

I’ll be catching up on blogs tonight and tomorrow, too.  I’ve missed ya’ll!

Waaaa

I’ve had a nagging stomache ache – for 3 days now.  Lots of heartburn and a little nausea and soft stools (yes, I just put “stools” at the beginning of my post).  I know what you’re thinking, that it’s that “ooo, she might be pregnant!” tummy ache, but I’m tellin’  ya, it’s not.  This is without a doubt the “I’ve caught a bug” stomache ache.  Bah, blech.  At least this bug didn’t bite me on the boob.

Today was my last day of work this week, raaahhh!  Tomorrow DH is having sinus surgery to fix a snoring issue, deviated septum and sleep apnea problem.  It’ll be at a day surgery center and he’ll come home tomorrow when he wakes up.  His mom is coming in tonight to stay with us for the weekend.  I was having difficulty getting the weekend off, and I’m so glad she’ll be here to watch out for DH and keep him company.  He’s an only child and his dad passed away, and I know she just wants to be with him and he’ll feel better having her here.

I’m off to curl up in a ball and moan.  Mooooooaaaaaaaannn.

There’s A Nipple on My Nipple!

Yesterday DH and I were hanging by the pool and toolin’ around in the garden.  We’d lay on a towel beside the pool, get hot, get in, get out and mess in the garden, get hot, get back in the pool, and on.  It was such a great, relaxing evening.

On the way in from the pool I scooped up my beach towel from beside the pool, wrapped up to try and minimize drips on the floor.  As soon as I stepped into the kitchen, Troy started pawing at my chest (not unusual for him).

“Goin’ the caveman route today?” I asked. 
 ”No!  You have an ant on your chest, and it just went down your towel!”

One freak-out dance later, ant is vanquished - but not forgotten.  This morning I woke up to a huge, weepy, frickin’ ITCHY bump – on my nipple!  The bastard bit my nipple!  And it itches like crazy!  How and I going to make it thru a whole day of work?  I just wanna claw at my chest.  Think anyone will notice?   Aargh!

I think I was really evil in my last life. *sigh*

Believe It – Or Not (and a cake recipe)

Over the past few months I’ve discovered several IF sisters at work – and it turns out we all go to the same fertility center.  While we don’t talk about it a lot at work, from time to time we’ll share an update and check up on each other.  It’s amazing how close the IF world is – we are definitely not alone! 

Just about five weeks ago a co-worker, V.,  was talking to me about an upcoming procedure she was going to have in the next week to repair her fallopian tubes to hopefully get her and her husband on their way to their first baby.  Another co-worker, M, just passing by overheard us talking and went on to share her story.  M is newly married for the second time, and she and her husband would like to have a child together.  After the birth of her fifth child she had her tubes tied.   (Oh yes, there are five of them already, including a set of twins conceived naturally).  She was scheduled to have an out-patient procedure to have the tubal ligation reversed that week.

Today, five weeks later, she is pregnant.

I am in awe.

 

And just ’cause you’ll probably need it after that true story:

Cream Cheese Butter Cake

8 oz soft cream cheese

1/2 c warm water

1 box butter cake mix

2 tbsp softened butter

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c oil

4 eggs, room temp

Directions:

Mix together the cream cheese and water with mixer.

Add cake mix and butter, mix

Add sugar and oil, mix

Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well

Grease and flour pan, bake at 325 for 45 min.

I’ve made it in a typical rectangular cake pan and in a bundt pan, and both came out great.  I usually use cream cheese frosting.  For a bundt, I heat the frosting in the microwave and pour it over the top. 

My husband is so vanilla he actually eats it with vanilla ice cream.  That’s a lotta vanilla.

You Really Do Like Me!

I’m Lovely x 2!  I’ve been awarded twice!

Jessica, thank you so much for the Lovely Bog award!  So very cool!  You absolutely deserve it.  Check out Jessica’s journey at Dreams of A Baby at http://dreamsofababy.blogspot.com/.  Her blog is so pretty!  She is so brave and honest in sharing her heart.

And thanks so much Katie at Once Upon A Time at http://tootles23.blogspot.com/.  Ya’ll have to read her amazing success story!  On their very last attempt at IVF, they got their miracle BFP – times two!  Reading her blog gives me hope that it’ll happen for me, too!

  

The rules of the “One Lovely Blog Award” are: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.  I’m so bad about passing on awards but I will try to get it done before the weekend sweeps me away!

A Whole Lotta Nothin’ Goin’ On

Sunday was such a lovely day!  Several of Troy’s friends from work and my brother and his wife came and spent the afternoon and evening with us.  Troy’s brisket was absolutely delicious!  I made a German fried potatotes recipe that turned out great!  We ended up playing cards (Spoons and I Buy) outside on the patio ’til almost 10:30.

 

Troy, Josh, Thomas, my brother Chris and JoAnn

 

Josh discovers the hammock

 

A while back our good friends Mike & Lorelei left a sea-horse floatie for their 3 year old daughter at our place for whenever they come by to swim.  Much to her distress, Dobby discovered the monster of Loch Ness floating in our pool and went bonkers!  She never barks, so it took us a while to figure out what that noise was!

 

 

Chris makin’ his move on JoAnn

 

But Dude gets to first base first!

 

 

The week has been good.  No signs or symptoms.  I took Wednesday off to spend with my BFF Judy for her birthday.  She wanted a day to just chill and sit by the pool.  Melissa and my mom came by later, and after we had absorbed all the sun we could take we went to Charming Charlie’s, a great accessories store – like Claire’s on steriods for women.  Judy loved it!  I had gotten her a gift certificate for her b-day and she picked up an adorable little dress and necklace.  Back at the casa we gorged ourselves on cranberry martinis (well, everyone ‘cept me), meat lover’s stuffed pizza from Papa Murphy’s and cream cheese butter cake (that I made).  Yum!

In the evening Troy and I checked out a church down the street from the house and really enjoyed it!  I think we’re going to go again on Sunday.