#179 9DPI (02/25/13)

It seems so hard not to think “This time it worked.”  The problem is I have nothing to compare it to.  For this TWW, I feel like the little child in the back of the car “Are we there yet?” And just like the little child, there is nothing I can do to speed up getting to the destination faster.  What can I do to make the test come out true?  Alas, there is nothing that can be done, so we are still adhering to waiting until Saturday, which is 14 DPI, one day shy of when AF is supposed to arrive.  Any sooner would be a waste. 

As for phantom symptoms, I’m still getting dizzy/light headed fairly frequently.  If this isn’t pregnancy, it is something I probably should have looked at.  (If it isn’t just my head playing tricks on my that will go away should I get a BFN.)  My boobs are a bit more tender than usual, but as AF approaches that could be just a side effect that I had never noticed before.  My stomach feels “alive/active” for lack of a better description.   But me noticing this could be just the fact that I’m paying more attention to my uterine area more than I ever have in my life, and the “alive” could be the constipation I’m having issues with because of the prenatal vitamins, it could be my body preparing for AF, or could be my Crohn’s flaring up a bit.  Periodically, I’ve also been having random cramps/back ache like AF was starting.  The last random phantom symptom is I’ve been a little more spaced out than usual, noted by Deb, as well as a little more tired than usual.

This documentation of every little thing is to be able to record what is happening, for next month, and I’m going through the TWW again, I can look back and see this is what happened last time, and not to stress about it, just get over it.  

Update:  This afternoon I'm feeling extra irritable/moody, most like a PMS symptom I usually get the week before AF for a day. This is not promising.  

#178 Calm Seas for now (02/21/13)

I'm kind of back to being pessimistically calm about everything and trying to not read too much into everything and just letting it be.  Being anxious is not good for anyone. 5DPI

What will be will be;

I’ll just have to wait and see;

If this egg will grow;

To make my pregnancy glow.

Weight loss plan update.  For the past few weeks Deb and I have had a gain and a loss and gain and loss.  End result our weight loss has stalled.  Our eating habits haven’t changed much, the difference is we haven’t been working out much.  We were trying to workout with fair gusto every other day.  But that has turned to not looking forward to it, Deb’s knees have been upset over the whole ordeal.  The past couple days we’ve been taking it a bit lighter and a bit shorter, but liking it at the end of it.  So for now, (We’ll see how long it sticks) we are doing a lighter workout almost every day.  Out excuse for not working out with gusto, we don’t want to jar implantation.  Alas, if we can work out for 30 minutes 5-6 days a week instead of 45 for 3-4 times a week the total minutes are about the same.  Let’s see how it works for us.  On the positive side, we are at least still continuing, instead of abandoning all together.  

#177 Tinge (02/20/13)

Am I psyching myself up for a heartache?  Am I getting excited over gas?  Today I’ve been a bit crampy.  I’ve been trying to let myself think it is just gas or general stomach issues, in an effort to not get my hopes up.  It feels a bit “pokier” than usual menstrual cramps, but a pretty close comparison.  Well, this afternoon while on the loo, I noticed a pink tinge on the toilet paper.  This is too hard not to think this is implantation, but at 4 days past ovulation/implantation, isn’t it too soon?  Is my body crying wolf just to make me think I’m pregnant?

Alas 10 more days at least before I can take a HPT.  

#176 4 DPI (02/20/13)

We are finally in the first Two Week Wait.  The IUI went well.  The IUI nurse complimented me on my cervix.  It is a good shape and position for baby heads/delivery.  That is good news.  The odd part was; they didn’t have me lay still for any period of time.  While I asked a few questions and what not, I stayed on the exam table, and didn’t rush getting up afterwards.  

Our sperm numbers were pretty good I think.  Post thaw this is how the numbers went; total sperm 76.4 Million/ml.  Our vial was .5ml and they used .1ml for testing.  Of those sperm 42% Highly active, 2% Slow but active and 56% Immobile.  The amount of active sperm I got was 13.4 million.  The clinic said that was fairly good.  So we are hopeful.  Once we got home we did some research on how long it takes the sperm to reach the end of the fallopian tubes.  Surprisingly the little guys make the journey in as little as 10-30 minutes.  With the IUI, closer to the 10 minute mark. 

The day of the IUI, every little twinge had me wondering if that was the sperm meeting the egg, or if that was my official ovulation, or if it was just general stomach issue, or plain psychosomatic and my head just playing tricks on me.   Since then, I’ve had a couple things where, Is this a sign, but in reality, I know it is way too early to have signs of anything, so I’m blaming the HCG shot for them.  Some symptoms include dizzy (which I get periodically for no reason anyways), upset stomach (usually caused by the prenatal vitamins, which I think is the full reason of morning sickness anyways, lol), sensitive sniffer, (this is a new one, as most smells I don’t register unless directly in my nose or very overpowering.  The downside to this is, I get the odorous diapers as my wife is very sensitive.) 

It seems things are getting calmer, and imaginary symptoms are getting less (dizzy spells still happening a bit though, and had an odd urge for hot sauce on dinner last night).  But everything could be coincidence, and just hoping everything is happing as planned.  We still can’t help but wonder if the sperm met the egg, and the egg wasn’t a prude and let the sperm in.  My uterus feels welcoming though.  

I have a few pictures from the day I will post when I sync my camera.  

#175 Valentine’s Day (02/15/13)

Nothing says I love you like, jabbing your loved one with a needle.  Alas, it was not like I had prepared myself for, the worst.  Last night at midnight, my lovely Sherpa wife gave me the HCG shot to stimulate ovulation.  I didn’t even feel the needle.  She is a great Sherpa nurse.  Of the two options given we decided to put it into my thigh. Deb pinched the skin as instructed, and I didn’t feel a thing.  An added bonus is, given my tendency to allergic reactions, I didn’t get the rash that a good portion of people get temporarily at the injection site.  That was a bonus. 

For Valentine’s, tonight, we are going to the Hot Springs nearby.  Having a lovely relaxing night, in a lovely hot pool, which hopefully will be the last time I can enjoy such luxury for 9 or so months. 

Last night, we noticed that Valentine’s has been a fairly significant holiday for us, without making a point of it.  Our first Valentine’s, we were away on Vacation in Fernie (which I had planned before meeting her), within 2 weeks of meeting each other.  We have been inseparable since.  Our next Valentine’s we got our first together puppy Tuffy.

 

The following year, we went to Las Vegas; more so because we needed a holiday than because we were celebrating Valentine’s.  Our Fourth Valentine’s (this year).  We are getting the first try at being ultimately creative, and making a baby.  (And going to the hot springs.)  All of these things happened on Valentine’s day, not because it was the day itself, just because of life timing.  

#175 Follicles Update (02/13/13)

The results are in.  My egg has grown to 1.8.  Not quite enough for the HCG shot tonight, but tomorrow night at midnight, my darling lovely Sherpa (Deb) will be giving me the shot.  It will be a lovely Valentine’s day thing to do, the start of our official attempt of trying to make a baby.  That’s a lot of maybe, and it is hard not to get to over excited, but we both realize that this is just that, an attempt.  No guarantees.  It is still nice to feel like a puddle of goo because we are so smooshy about finally getting to this point. 

This also means, after about one year of getting everything ready to try, we have finally scheduled our first IUI for Saturday afternoon.  It is great that it is Saturday because then I don’t have to go to work after the fact.  We can make it a lovely day, maybe go to the zoo, and just have a relaxing day for us.  This does mean our trip to the states will be postponed.  We could go on Sunday/Monday instead, if the packages we are shipping to the boarder have arrived, or just next weekend.  

#173 Follicles (02/11/13)

This morning was my first follicle measure for this month.  They are still small, but that is to be expected on day 10, as I usually ovulate around day 15 or 16.  The one to keep an eye on is 1.5 cm and on the right side, it needs to be about 2 before they will do the hCG shot.  That is just one good size egg, which takes some stress of twins off the plate, the rest of my eggs were under 1.  The additional plus is that it is on the right side, which is the opposite side of my rubber nub (polyp) in my fallopian tube on the left side.  All is well with my eggs thus far. 

Deb came with me, but they wouldn’t let her in for the ultrasound, and the follow up appointment was just to say my eggs were too small, and give me the measurement of the eggs and say keep my ultrasound appointment for Wednesday.  It was nice to have Deb there to wait with for the appointments though.  She is coming to the next one as well, because that is when they will be giving instructions on giving the hCG shot and she sort of needs to be there for that as there is no hope on this green earth that I will be able to give myself a shot.    Deb has this vision of her running from the other end of the room with the warrior holler as she runs towards me, then stops right before injection and says “I can’t do it.”  I have faith in her she will be able to do it. 

Acupuncture has been going well, and I love chiro.  I had a double appointment on Saturday.  Chiro helps keep my stomach/digestion in check, as well as my hips.  I don’t know how I did before chiro, it is great.  The meditation during acupuncture is great, and I’m getting good vibes that it helps from the fertility clinic.  I don’t think they can officially say people should do it, but they have responded positively that I am doing it and have been for a few months.  The day of the IUI I will be going in for a pre and post acupuncture appointment; which if my IUI is on Saturday might delay the road trip to the states, but all for a good reason.  I do miss the massages, but I’m saving my coverage money for when I’m pregnant and need them for my back or feet or to pamper my pregnant belly/body.

On a side note, my crohn’s ultrasound went well.  I didn’t even need the contrast ultrasound because nothing is flared right now.  With nothing being flared there is nothing to contrast, so no IV and a fairly quick, normal belly ultrasound.  

#169 hCG? (01/23/13)

Well, yesterday I went for more blood work.  From Friday to Tuesday my levels went from LH 10 > 4 and Progesterone 5.6 < 30.  So timing something didn’t quite work for catching the positive OPK’s properly.  The clinic recommends next month I do follicle monitoring ultrasounds and use the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) Trigger Shot when the time is right. 

This does increase the possibility of twins I think. This is does make for me being a bit more nervous on this, but I think it is worth it.  The amount of stress I’ve had peeing on three sticks at a time to see which ones work for me, and to try and pinpoint my ovulation has been hair raising.  HCG doesn’t guarantee twins, nor does it guarantee pregnancy.  Just helps things be a bit more relaxed about the process I think. 

One thing is for sure, Deb will have to give me the shot (if I don’t get it at the clinic), as I will not be able to give myself the shot.  I’m too nervous about needles.  So next month is hopefully the first go at this, which is the next step to this long process of getting the TTC journey started. 

From what I have read though, it does mean I can’t take a home pregnancy test early because it will give false positives.  I will have to truly wait the two weeks, or until AF shows up.   

Does anyone have experience with hCG shots?  

#168 My eggs may have stage fright (01/21/13)

The clinic called on Saturday and said my progesterone levels were 5.6, but I still haven’t surged.  So I’m still testing.  Still negatives this weekend and today though.  They said to call back today if I still haven’t had a positive OPK. 

Today is CD18, so there is still time.  I don’t have spin (EWCM) though.  I’ve all ready been through the stages; however spin was a very short window, now I’m back to infertile mucus.  Maybe my eggs were getting ready to go, all systems go, and then Poof decided to stay in their follicle where it is safe, stage fright. 

Friday was a very emotional day, and it took a good night’s sleep to come out of the funk.  However Deb was very glad it happened, as she had slight reservation that I was doing this just for her.  Based on my reaction she now knows, I’m also doing this for me.  So at least my melt down served some purpose.  See everything does happen for a reason. 

At this point, if we have missed this month, I will be ok with that; still sad, but ok.  If the clinic calls for more blood work, I will go in.  I don’t have high hopes for a run this month, but still would be a great turn of events if we do.  

#166 CD13 Part 2 (01/16/13)

Well, I ended up testing again with the First Response.  I had gone to their website to make sure I was using the tests correctly.  The big difference on the ones I’m using is they need to be in the urine for 15 seconds.  So I decided to just test again with the Wondfro (just in case it was a fluke) and with First Response.  Unfortunately I got the same results as before.  So it is being left till tomorrow, where I will test once again and hope for a positive on the First Response or the Clear Blue Easy.  I think I will try with all three tomorrow just for stress and giggles.  

#165 CD13 (01/16/13)

Positive? Negative?  Confusion...Arg. 

The top test is First Response OPK.  The bottom is Wondfro.  In the digital reader FR came up NO.  The wondfro is a clear double line.  Same pee cup sample.

My fertility clinic only recongnizes CB or FR.  Should I go and buy some CB or test again later this afternoon with FR?  Or just test again tomorrow, as my clinic recommends only testing once a day?

Over all going in on Friday/Saturday vrs tomorrow is all around better.  

Anticipation of first Insemination is driving me bananas. 

#164 Christmas Recovery (01/14/13)

The weekend weigh in went well.  I’m back down to just about what I was in early December; a loss of 3.7 pounds this week.  That is partially due to TOM the week before, but it is at least nice to see on the scale again.  So I am classing myself to have recovered from the weight gain over Christmas.  Now it is time to continue losing weight.

We are trying to work out every other day; so far doing fairly well.   This weekend we kept fairly busy, and come Sunday night I was ready to just sit and relax and watch some TV.  But, bless her, my wife got us going to work out. 

Our eating habits are getting back under control.  Our main faux over Christmas was desserts and sweets; a typical weakness over the holidays.  Hopefully next year I will be a bit better at this lifestyle change. 

Once pregnant (in theory), I hope to not use that as the ultimate excuse to eat everything/anything.  Relatively in second/third trimester, they say you need an additional 300 calories.  That isn’t much extra, so I hope to be able to maintain my general eating habits and just include extra milk in a day, and a small snack to two.  I think I need to read up on cravings and what they mean to nutrition deficiencies.  Try and be prepared as a defence for cravings.  (One week or less to my first IUI.)

#162 CD1 Came Early (01/03/13)

Well, I had this dream, my first cycle ovulation day would be on a weekend day.  Have acupuncture, have a relaxing insemination, go back for acupuncture, and have a relaxing day with my wife.  Poof, that dream is coming to a probable end.  AF came a few days early thus I will more than likely be ovulating on a regular week day, and thus have to try and fit these things into my schedule.  Maybe I can try and swing my work schedule to work on a weekend, to have my ovulation day off, or a half day. 

This does explain my extreme chocolate craving yesterday though.  I had figured it was way too early to be PMS cravings and just thought it was my diet enemy Amy coming forth.  Which I did cave in to and had some chocolate. 

Yesterday I had scheduled my appointments for acupuncture on January 19^th, which would have been a great day.  I even had to reschedule after looking at the Fertility Clinic’s times for weekend IUI’s and found they only do afternoon appointments on weekends.  Now I will more than likely need to reschedule again.  I think I will talk with my boss a little bit to see how they want to handle these appointments.    Alas, all the talk about starting this month and my body reacted “Ooohh it’s time to start here we go.”  Hopefully it is open and receptive and we have compatible healthy sperm and we get the one shot trial.  We’ll see how it goes. 

But the insanity of officially Trying To Conceive is beginning and it is CD1

#161 Happy New Year (01/02/13)

Well, over the holidays, the diet went out the window, exercise didn’t really happen, and I’m back down to only 10 pounds lost.  Alas, it is an old habit that is going to be hard to break.  It is the new year and time to get back on track. 

We had a wonderful holiday season though.  My wife made me a lovely command centre for the kitchen.  It is a beautiful up-cycle of an old picture frame.  It has a calendar space, a white board area for our weekly meal planning, and a magnetic space to hold the note pads for grocery lists and post-its she put magnets on, as well as clips for notes for each of us for to do or things for the week, and of course in my favorite color, Purple.  I’ll try and post a picture of it soon. 

As far as New Year Resolutions, I don’t really have any per ce.  Still working on the typical, trying to exercise more, lose weight, eat right, organize the house, purge clutter, pre house nesting, and get pregnant soon. 

In my heart I do feel 2013 is going to be a good year.  Let’s hope my heart is right.  

#159 OPK’s (12/21/12)

Yesterday I got my first positive OPK.  Woohoo.  For getting to know my cycle I purchased some of the cheap OPK’s from Amazon.  Last month was my first one trying, and I didn’t get a proper positive.  However I had been using them in the morning only, and that was recovery from surgery.  I was a little worried I would need to be going in to the fertility clinic for daily monitoring to catch my ovulation, instead of the simple home version.  Alas my worries were unfounded.  After talking with my doctor he said I should test in the afternoon.  That worked.  My OPK’s work, and so I’m confident the ones I am required to use by the clinic (expensive version that we will be picking up for next month) will work.  Today would have been my first insemination day, just in time for the Christmas closing, but my teeth are the delay, damn.  But it’s better to get things fixed now rather than when I’m pregnant if my tooth acts up, putting major stress on me, which would put the stress on the theoretical baby. 

One month to go for first try.  

#156 Surgery Follow Up (12/11/12)

My polyp removal was a success.  My uterus is in good shape.  My right fallopian tube is good and clear.  My left fallopian tube has a small polyp that he left alone.  The doctor showed me a picture, it looks like a little rubber nub.  It isn’t cause for concern, and once you start to play with the fallopian tubes, things can get fried (his word not mine) pretty easily, so he left it there.  This is a bit step forward.  We have clearance to go ahead on my next period.  Which would be now, but because I have one more tooth that should be fixed before pregnancy, it will be in January. 

The countdown is on.  Approximately 38 days to my first IUI.  We are hoping the stars align and we are one of the few that gets a home run on the first try.  Not holding my breath, but hoping.  I went through Deb and my plan for pregnancy with the doctor and he did caution I may want to try more than three times, I mentioned, I realize that, but for now, this is the plan.  Virgos, we need a plan of action first, winging it doesn’t work. 

OT – I’m slowly getting my groove back towards weight loss.  The show The Walking Dead is helping with that.  We’ve signed up for Netflix and now I mostly limit my Walking Dead watching to when I’m working out, thus motivating me to get on the treadmill.  Whatever works I guess.  We’ve also been pretty good about eating healthy too.  

#154 Polypectomy (11/19/12)

On Thursday I had the surgery to remove the polyp.  Barring almost getting sent for a mammogram, (Patient mix-up) everything went well.  While getting checked in, the nurse informed me that I needed to take a pregnancy test.  They failed to let me know beforehand, I had just peed, so I tried to say I didn’t need one.  I said “there was no way I was pregnant because I hadn’t had sex with a man in over 5 years.”  She then said “I’m Sorry.” As if to say I hadn’t been in a relationship for that long.  I then went on to explain that the person next to me was my WIFE, and this surgery was part of the journey in order to get pregnant.  She then went to her higher up person to ask, the answer was I still had to pee in a cup.  I told them they would have to wait until I had to pee again.  It wasn’t a huge surprise, my first BFN. At least it wasn’t the full TWW before that test. 

There were many stages to the day; mostly from one nursing station to the next.  Once I got escorted to the surgery ward we got to meet the anesthesiologist, the intern and talk with my surgeon.  I walked right into the operating theatre suite.  Once I was situated on the table, the surgeon went over what he was going to do to me; which was a good thing seeing the mammogram mix up almost happened, this gave me the extra piece of mind that he was doing the right surgery.  Shortly after that, I was out via IV sedation.  I do remember waking up during surgery and saying, “That is a bit painful”.  They must have given more sedation, as that was all I remember. 

Post surgery, the hand written note from my doctor was “The polyp was removed.  J”.  While in the one hour wait post waking up the nurse was talking about pain management.  She was saying I could take, to Advil, then in two hours I could take two Tylenol, then after the next two hours I could take Advil again, and repeat that rotation.  That was in fair shock, as I didn’t think there would be that much pain that required that much management.  All in all I took one Advil when I got home to help with the cramps, and that was it.  There was some discomfort, but I didn’t want to over medicate so I could monitor if things were getting better or worse.  The cramps followed for a couple days afterwards, minimally.  But at least the oven is clean to put a bun in it to start baking. 

I need to go for a follow up appointment in four weeks.  Then we will begin the wait for my first cycle that we will be able to inseminate, which looks like the end of January due to the clinic closure for Christmas. 

My wife pampered me all day and night.  It was a great “Sherpa” training day.  I came across that term reading the linked blog.  I liked it and so did Deb, so we have agreed to use that term Sherpa to the Non Bio Mom when one of us is pregnant.  I’m lucky to have such a wonderful wife. 

This is a picture of me being wheeled out to the car by my Sherpa. 

#153 Update in General (11/08/12)

Well, I was right, I didn’t get in and out of IM appointment as quickly as last time.  I got in to see the nurse right away, but then was waiting for the doctor for two hours.  Apparently the doctor I was supposed to see got snowed in, so he was filling in.  He said I was a low risk patient for surgery next week.  That is good news, nothing I didn’t know though.  As a precaution he might order a nebulizer before surgery to make sure my asthma is calm.  Not a bad idea, so that at least made it a little worthwhile for an appointment. 

While I had someone, I asked him about weight loss and nutrition.  He in general said to go to a nutritionist, as he didn’t want to give me bad advice.  So I did say what we were doing for Carb/Protien/Fat proportions, and asked where squashes fell in the vegetable category ie potatoes > broccoli.  It is somewhere in the middle, which is what I had figured.  Overall, our diet plan is pretty good, from what he was saying.  The problem is sticking to the plan. 

As far as our “diet” is going, the past few months have been a valley of denial.  Not going completely off the rail, but we’re not really making progress either.  My wife stopped logging onto MFP a while ago now.  Without her doing it along side, I’ve been lazy with my logging, and not doing it to the extent it should be done, as well as missing days entirely. 

I’ve stopped walking at lunch, even before the snow arrived.  The main reason was sweat.  The more I walked, the more I wanted to walk.  That is great in theory.  The downside to this is; it is a break at work, and the first place I sweat is my head.  My hair was beginning to look pretty slick in the afternoons.  Yuck.  The doctor gave me an idea though.  Nearing the end of the day, go up and down the flight of stairs in our building a few times.  It is only a few minutes of workout, but it is more calories burned than walking, and it is at the end of the day, so I wouldn’t need to worry as much about the sweat in my hair.  So I’m hoping to get that into action, maybe even today.  I say this as I snack on Kellogg’s Krave cereal, with 0 nutritional value, other than “fortified vitamins” I’m sure, as an after lunch snack.  It is a good think I only have a measured portion of this, as this cereal is a very moreish item.  If left unchecked I’m sure I would eat the entire box.  Alas, I think we will buy these anymore once the box is done. 

 

On the hopefully up side of our diet, we have purchased a book; A Year Full of Recipes.   So far this is inspiring us to cook from scratch, thus having less processed foods.  With some modifications to reduce oil used and various spices we don’t care for, these recipes have been a hit, and most meals being between 300-500 calories with sides on the recipe.  My wife has been doing the cooking so far, which is a lovely thing for her to do.  They are very filling dinners that are fairly nutritionally balanced, without overdoing it on the calories.  Yes they have some deserts, and we will probably make them, but the idea is only have deserts once/twice a week, instead of every day, which is a routine we have fallen into, even if they are small desserts.

 

I hope this meeting with the doctor is enough to help get me started again, be more focused on losing weight, while I have the time, before I try to get pregnant.  In the past year, since we bought the Wii Fit, I have lost about 12 pounds.  That is one pound a month.  This is not a large progress, but it is solid progress in my eyes.  We’ve made small changes here and there, but seem to lack the combination of using the small changes together to make a larger difference.  Hopefully over the next year we can work on that.  The one thing is though, we have been at this a year.  We haven’t been 100% goal oriented, but have majority kept going, kept plugging away.  I think this is the longest period of time where weight management has been at least remotely on my mind.  Some things have taken the focus off, Deb quitting smoking, going on a vacation, clearing a hoarder house, and a cruise full of buffets, but we have kept going and kept most of the weight loss off, so now is a time to start going down again. 

Everything in life has peaks and valleys, but at least life isn’t flat and boring.  

Sorry for the long winded post, just a lot to say today I guess.

#152 Internal Medicine Appointment (11/05/12)

When I got this phone call, I was very blatant with “Are you kidding me?”  As discussed on my last post, my appointment with the anesthesiologist was quicker than planned, good to go etc.  Well I get another call this morning from the Pre-Admission clinic.  I need to have another appointment eerily similar to last Thursday, ie bring medications, talk with the doctor, have blood pressure done.  This time, instead of an anesthesiologist, it is with an Internal Medic.  Once again the appointment wait time could be from 2-3 hours.  They say I get a physical, but really, couldn’t they have done that at the last appointment.  This is an example of creating jobs.  It used to be, “oh you’re going for surgery, show up at the hospital an hour early, you then talk to any of the staff required, and they look you over, then wheel you in for surgery.  I even had a second person call from the clinic to make sure I was coming to the appointment, and clarify that the reason I need to see IM is because of my asthma.  I reassured her that my asthma is under control.  She says it is standard procedure. 

The drive to the hospital is a good 30-60 depending on traffic, each direction, plus hospital parking upwards of $10-20 or so.  Plus the wait time at the hospital.  (Last time I got lucky getting in and out in less than 45 minutes, I don’t expect to be that lucky again.) Last time I got a ride to the hospital with my MIL, so I could avoid parking, but I don’t want to inconvenience her again. 

On the last appointment my blood pressure was a little high, after these two phone calls, it is through the roof.  When my fertility doctor, who is doing the surgery, asked if I wanted a consult with the anesthesiologist, I thought a phone call at most.  If I would have known this rigmarole, I would have said “No thank you, I’ve been under various anesthetic before and had no issues, I will be fine.”  That would have saved a lot of hassle. 

So, this Thursday, I need to get up at an ungodly hour to go through rush hour traffic to a hospital at the other end of the city, to sit and probably wait. ARG.  In my opinion, I don’t need a second opinion from a different doctor, I really didn’t need the first.  

#151 Anesthesiologist Appointment (11/02/12)

Well, as part of my TTC journey, I had my anesthesiologist appointment yesterday.  When the nurse was making the appointment with me she warned me to bring water, snacks, and something to read, the appointments would take at least 2-3 hours.  Being I didn’t want to pay for outrageous hospital parking I had arranged to have my MIL to drop me off and pick me up when I was done.  I had also booked the afternoon off work.  My baggage carrying into this appointment was fairly large, I had a big bag of all my medications, and vitamins, with a bottle of water.  Then I had my large purse with a variety of snacks stuffed into it.  Then I had the big book “What to Expect When Your Expecting” by Heidi Murkoff, Sharon Mazel.  (On a side note, I have been told it is not a kind book to people who are overweight, so I’m trying to take any negativity with a grain of salt, and doing a slight skim read instead of reading word for word.  So far it has been worth the read.) and of course a travel coffee mug.  When a hospital says the appointment is going to be 2-3 hours I was ready for longer. 

The appointment was to consist of and EKG, nurse consult, anesthesiologist consult and chest x-ray.  The estimated time waiting was I think because you are forever waiting for the appointment to start on time, then the next person, move to next area and wait, and repeat. 

This is how the appointment ended up going.  Traffic was good, so I was about 15 minutes early.  When I went up to the admissions desk, they thought I was someone else, which had been late.  Because the earlier appointment was late or a no-show, and I was early they put me in that slot.  So I was escorted into the exam room right away by the nurse consultant.  I got my bags put down, and the EKG technician came in right away to do that first.  That was very quick, and unofficially looked good, yay.  The nurse stayed in the room, so once I was done the EKG I sat with her, went over my medications and medical history.  She also took my blood pressure, which was a little high, but we were talking about babies and TTC, so I chalk it up to that, but I think my blood pressure might be something to keep an eye on.  Not good.  Once the consultation was done with her she left the room saying the doctor would be in soon, which I took as I would be waiting for a while.  I read less than two pages in the book and the doctor came in.  We went over my anesthetic options for surgery; she asked a few health questions; then instructed me to go back to the front desk to get my x-ray form and go over to the emergency wing of the hospital to get to imaging diagnostics.  So I did just that. 

Once at the diagnostics area, I handed the form to the front desk, which she then instructed me to have a seat in the waiting room.  I was the only person there.  About a minute later I get called by the x-ray technician to get changed into a very fashionable hospital gown.  Once I was changed I went right in, had two x-rays, and left.  The whole series of events took a little less than 45 minutes.  The down side, I had to go back to work, the up side, I have no red flags for surgery in two weeks.  Yay.