Thursday, January 29, 2009

30 Day Shred

Between the stress of TTC, the holidays and having a sedentary job I've managed to put on about 20 pounds since the summer. When I first started this blog last year I was doing Weight Watchers and had managed to lose a little bit of the weight I'd put on after I switched jobs (I went from a very active job to a completely sedentary one last February). We started having problems with our finances though so I quit going to WW and went back to buying not so healthy but much cheaper foods. About a month ago I noticed that my "fat pants" were getting tight. Not good. So I dug out the bathroom scale and when I saw that I now weigh as much as I did 2 months after Ashton was born I knew it was time to do something about it.

I started trying to eat better. I try to stay away from the vending machines at work. I'm trying to drink more water and pick lower calorie foods. The number on the scale hasn't budged so it's time to go further. I bought Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred yesterday and am planning on starting it on Monday. Why not today? Well, I'm waiting to see if, by some miracle, I actually get a BFP this cycle. I know that exercise probably won't hurt anything at this point but if I start the DVD now and then get a BFN my mind will put them together and I'll quit exercising before I even get started.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Really?

The other day Ashton and I went to get some Chinese take out. He only likes chicken fried rice but I was really wanting some crab rangoon, sweet and sour chicken and lemon chicken. My favorite Chinese place doesn't do "combo" meals so I would have had to settle for sweet and sour chicken and crab rangoon. So we went to one that does do combos. We've gone there before, it was good, the lady behind the counter was friendly. Not this time. The lady behind the counter barely spoke to me except to grunt something that I guessed was an "what do you want?". Anyway, we got our food and drove home. I settled into my comfy chair, already looking forward to the yummy goodness I was about to encounter. I open up my styrofoam container and see no sweet and sour sauce. Really? The rude lady wouldn't think that I would want sweet and sour sauce to go with my sweet and sour chicken? Rather than drive halfway across town again we went to the closest grocery store and bought some La Choy sauce. Not nearly as good as restaurant sauce. So now I'm out $12 bucks and I still have a Chinese food craving.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Doctor Tuesday #2

This Tuesday was the second Tuesday in a row that I had a doctor appointment. Last week was the RE appointment with Dr. T, this week I got to see my family doctor, Dr. R. When I went in for a regular checkup last month Dr. R noticed a couple of moles on my back that she wanted to remove and send to pathology to have them checked out. Tuesday was my mole removal appointment. She took one off my left shoulder and one off the lower left of my back. I got two stitches on each after she cut them off. Boy did they hurt after the pain meds wore off! I took Tuesday night off work in anticipation of the pain and I'm glad I did. Yesterday wasn't much better, extra strength Tylenol helped some but I was still uncomfortable at work. I did sleep better last night though and they don't seem to hurt as much today. I go back to Dr. R next Tuesday for my well woman exam and to have the stitches removed.

In the land of TTC, it looks like I O'd on Sunday. Our timing was ok this cycle but I'm still not going to get my hopes up. AF is due to arrive on February 1, just in time for the Super Bowl (go Steelers!). If AF arrives on time then I'll be going in to have CD 3 blood work done on Tuesday, Feb. 3. Yes, another Tuesday appointment, the 4th in a row.

Tomorrow Ashton, my mom and I are going to the Choices Fair the local school district has every year. It's a chance for us to check out all of the magnet schools and decide if we'd like to have Ashton go to one of them next year instead of our neighborhood school. I can't believe that it's already time to start thinking about Kindergarten for next year!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

RE Apointment

The appointment went well. I really like our doctor. He seems to really know what he's talking about and didn't try to sugar coat anything. He told us not to worry about the Lyrica, that he really doesn't think it will cause us any problems. He wants me to have all of my CD 3 blood work done again and have an HSG done next cycle before he gives us a treatment plan. Danny had another SA done today so we'll see how his numbers are compared to the last one.

The doctor did an ultrasound today which kind of surprised me. It showed that I have a retroverted uterus, which I already knew from when I was pregnant with Ashton. My right ovary is "beautiful" but I have an endometriosis cyst (endometrioma) on my left ovary. He said that in most cases they are usually benign but if it doesn't go away on it's own then I'll have to have surgery to remove it. He did say that there is a chance that it is a corpus luteum cyst but probably not. I'll go back next month for another ultrasound to see if it has gone away or gotten smaller. If it hasn't then I'll have laproscopic surgery to remove it. He did mention that there is a chance that I could lose my left ovary but if it comes to surgery he would try to save it.

Not really what I was expecting to hear but if this is what has been causing all of our problems and it can be fixed then that's good. He also said no more Clomid for now. He'd like to see what my body does without any medication first, then see if I need to move on to Clomid or other drugs.

Some info I found:
What is an endometrioma?

An endometrioma is a mass of tissue (noncancerous cyst or tumor) that contains shreds of endometrial tissue. Endometriomas most frequently occur in the ovary, in a part of the peritoneum (sac around the internal organs) between the rectum and uterus, the wall (septum) between the rectum and vagina, and the outside of the uterus.

How are endometriomas treated?

Several surgical treatments are available for endometriomas:

Simple puncture - This procedure is completed by draining the fluid from the cyst. Endometriomas have been shown to recur in about 50 percent of the patients treated with simple puncture. However, a more aggressive surgical approach, such as cutting away the mass, can cause extensive adhesions (scar tissue) that may prevent the ovary from releasing an egg.
Ablation - Another approach is to drain the cyst and remove its base with laser or electrosurgery. However, heat can also damage the ovary.
Cutting away of the cyst wall - This is the procedure of choice to decrease recurrence of disease. This procedure can also damage the outer layer of the ovary that contains the eggs.
Draining, drug therapy, and surgery - Endometriomas can also be drained, treated with medication, and later removed by surgery. Endometriomas recur in 8 percent of the patients treated with this procedure. Results from several different prospective studies have reported pregnancy rates of 50 percent over 3 years. There are no randomized clinical trials comparing these different treatment methods.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Doctor vent

Yesterday I was setting up our mail order prescriptions. Danny has quite a few because he's Type 1 diabetic. I got to wondering if any of the prescriptions he takes could have an affect on his sperm quality since I've heard that some can affect motility and morph and both were a little low on his SA. One medicine he's been taking for over 2 years now is Lyrica. He uses it to help with his nerve pain (it has to do with his diabetes). So I'm reading the drug facts about it when I notice this:
Men who are planning for fatherhood should also talk with their doctor before taking Lyrica. Studies showed that the drug made male animals less fertile. Also, birth defects occurred in the offspring of male animals who were treated with pregabalin.

I was with Danny when the doctor prescribed this so he knows that DH is married and would then possibly want to father another child. He never mentioned this to us at all. I know that really we should have read about it before he started taking it but if a drug has serious side effects aren't doctors supposed to at least mention them? I am so angry and frustrated that this could be what's keeping us from conceiving and even if we do conceive that baby could have birth defects. We have an RE appt. tomorrow so I plan to ask him about this. This is my first Clomid cycle and now I'm terrified to even TTC :(

ETA:
I found more information on Lyrica. A study was done with male rats:
In fertility studies in which male rats were orally administered pregabalin (50 to 2500 mg/kg) prior to and during mating with untreated females, a number of adverse reproductive and developmental effects were observed. These included decreased sperm counts and sperm motility, increased sperm abnormalities, reduced fertility, increased preimplantation embryo loss, decreased litter size, decreased fetal body weights, and an increased incidence of fetal abnormalities. Effects on sperm and fertility parameters were reversible in studies of this duration (3-4 months).

I'm really hoping that the RE has some information on this. I'm really interested in the "increased preimplantation embryo loss". I could have actually been pregnant several times in the last year and a half and the embryo just didn't implant. I'm guessing we'll probably have to avoid getting pregnant for awhile. It takes about 90 days for new sperm to form so we may have to wait until April to start trying again.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Clomid: All done!

I took my last Clomid yesterday. I still haven't had any of the horrible side effects I've read about. It makes me wonder if the Clomid is even doing anything.

In a completely unrelated topic, I get to go to the doctor every Tuesday for the next 3 weeks. This week is our RE appointment, then next week I get to have some moles removed, then the next week is my annual. Oh the joy. I decided to take the night off work next Tuesday since I'm not sure how much the mole removal will hurt and one of the ones being removed is on my lower back. I'm guessing it won't be much fun to sit in a desk chair with my clothes rubbing against it all night so I'm taking a sick day. I checked my last pay stub and I have over 140 hours of sick leave saved up so I figure I might as well use some since it doesn't look like I'll be needing any for maternity leave any time soon.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Clomid: Day 4

Day 4 of Clomid and really still no side effects. I've been tired but that could be because I haven't been sleeping well. I think I'm too excited about this cycle. Last night at work I had a slight headache that would come and go. Other than that, nothing.

Ashton and I went to the library yesterday. It was his first time at the library (that he remembers) and he really enjoyed picking out some books. He got two about World War II airplanes. I picked up Waiting for Daisy and Inconceivable. I guess we can see where our interests are right now.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Clomid: Day 1

Yes, I am officially taking fertility medication. And of course this morning I woke up to find news of my niece's new baby in my email. Surprisingly I didn't feel sad or really even upset at all. I've really been in a better state of mind about this whole TTC business and I think I can give the credit to my doctor. She really took the time to listen to my frustration and asked a lot of questions. I think it also helps that we finally have an appointment with an RE. It really feels like, after a year and a half of going nowhere, we are finally headed down a road that will lead to a baby.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Happy New Year! On to Cycle 20 :(

What a way to start the new year. After having a chart that looked amazing last week, AF showed up this morning right on schedule. So I guess I'll be starting Clomid on Tuesday. I dropped off my Clomid prescription yesterday so I'll probably go tomorrow or Tuesday morning to pick it up. I got the results of the blood work I had done at my doctor's appointment and I apparently have a vitamin D deficency so I also get to start taking a vitamin D supplement. Yay for more pills!