Pre Op, Pre Op My Baby

My surgery is officially 10 days away.

I had my pre op today, all things considered it went well.

Every other time we’ve gone the waiting room has been seriously empty.  Not this time, there were at least 4 other couples waiting and several that were slowly filtering out.  It’s hard not to people watch. My appointment was set for 2:50 pm, we sat in the room for just over a hour, I was able to read 2 people mags and play with every app on my phone in the midst of slyly glancing over to check out for lack of a better term “the competition”.   I can’t help wondering what other peoples issues are and at what stage of this whole process they are in.

To our left was a couple, looked like later 30’s, husband looked casual, wife looked totally annoyed. Her body language was terrible, she was turned completely away from him and had the most sour look.  Maybe they had bad news?  Maybe they’ve already been trying for years?
To our right a single woman, looked mid 20’s.  She was in and out pretty quick, I’d say she was there for blood work.

Directly behind us is an older couple.  They look like they came directly out of the 80’s, She a pastel floral dress with big shoulder pads, white Minnie mouse shoes, frizzy perm hair and He Mr. Rogers sweater vest cousin. We couldn’t tell if they were in their 50’s or just had aged terribly and were early 40’s?

On the counter where you sign in there is a candy jar and a sign that asks patients to please consider others at a sensitive time and please do not bring in children.

Right when I finish reading this sign, a woman walks in with a diaper bag.  She says “Is she back there, I have the baby.”  The receptionist gives her the ok, she opens the door and a man quickly whizzed by in a black blur with the stroller trying not to disturb anyone.

Time passes.  I notice that about 3 different couples, including Sour Puss, have come out with organza bags filled with a green blanket.  When we first came we were given a book, so I wondered if this was some kind of new give away.

The stroller couple comes out and I notice not one but two babies!  The stroller was front to back, not side by side.  I continue thinking about the sign, I wonder if it really disturbs people to see babies here.  I know it can be difficult with you want something so bad, but seeing those babies gave me a little (tangible) hope that this place is successful.

We were finally seen about 4 pm.
I had a physical complete with breast exam.  I don’t know why but this was totally awkward, probably because 1. I’ve never had a male doctor before and 2. I’ve never had Hubby go to ALL the Dr apts.  I wasn’t quite sure where to look, the ceiling seemed the safest.

Everything looks good.  He drew 4 marks on me, 1 in the belly button and 3 along my pelvic bone.  
We talked about blood loss (less than a table spoon) and how we refuse blood transfusions’.  It was a relief that he was familiar with Jehovah’s Witnesses and he said he practices all his surgeries bloodless.
He’s going to take pictures before and after, that’s a new one for a creepy scrapbook.  He plans to drain my tube, clip it and pull it out.  Worst case scenario would be that it’s attached to my bladder, intestines or another organ.  In that case he will detach it from the uterus and leave it in to not risk nicking anything else.  He won’t know until he’s in there but he feels very optimistic.  

Another contributing factor to this ongoing saga is male infertility.  Yea, that’s a thing.  Dr. Potter said we hit the infertility jackpot marrying each other.   So now we are 100% on track for IVF.
Hoping everything goes right, good healing and all to start a cycle in January.

Got a blood draw to check my thyroid levels and was given instructions for surgery day.

While we were checking out I asked my nurse about the green blankets.  She said once couples make it to the 10 week mark of pregnancy they have a little graduation, getting a blanket and are turned over to obstetrics.   I then told her about Sour Puss, come on lady you got a blanket, Smile!

I felt like the lady on Napoleon Dynamite that is giddy over Tupperware whispering “I want that”

I will get my green blanket.  Heck, I’ll take two.

Unexpected Results - Hydrosalpinx

This is what happens when your appointment is at 1:45 and you don't get seen until 3pm.

My feet were freezing! I left my socks in the car and thought for sure the second I sent Hubby to get them that the Dr would come in.  Should have got the socks!

He got a hot coffee, while I could not have fluid for 4 hrs.  This is the "do not instagram me" face.

The sonohysterogram was not as bad as the HSG. It was pretty awkward, I had to maneuver myself to sit on a trash bag!  This procedure also required a cath to insert saline in my uterus during a ultrasound to get a better look at the walls and make sure everything was in the right place.  I'm not gonna lie, the cath hurt, fell out and hurt again.  The saline felt cold and there was cramping but I survived.  When everything was done we looked at the images and he said everything looked good.

My ovaries are good, I have a great supply of eggs (apparently the chart I posted meant 14 total not per side) 20 plus follicles.  They are small but with stimulating drugs we should get some good ones.

He also said my hormones are in the right place so the metformin is working (yea!) my TSH is in the normal range at a 3 but under 2 is preferable for pregnancy so he's put me on thyroid meds to bring it down.

Then he talked about my HSG results.

This is what I have:

A hydrosalpinx is a blocked fallopian tube filled with clear fluid due to injury or infection.
The inflammation and healing process resulting from such infection destroys the delicate finger-like fimbria, which extend from the end of the fallopian tube to the ovary. When injured, fimbria become fused together, thus closing off the tubes. Fluid then collects in the fallopian tubes, making it impossible for them to function.
The blocked tube may become substantially distended giving the tube a characteristic sausage-like or retort-like shape. The condition usually affects both fallopian tubes, (even when only one tube is affected, there is usually some residual damage to the other).

He drew the tube while explaining all this to us and it looked exactly like my X-ray.
Apparently somewhere in the past 10 years I had a infection that inflamed my uterus. He could not tell me what exactly caused it and that sometimes it's asymptomatic.  My suspicion is this has to do with a burst cyst or something related to PCOS. 

He went on to tell me that he believes the fluid in the right side is now damaging the left side (accounting for the partial blockage) and that the tube will have to come out.  The fluid is toxic and will kill any embryos and continue to damage the left side.  So I have surgery set for December 2.  He will try to repair the left side when he removes the right.  If its beyond repair the left will come out too.

Laparoscopy. This is a surgical procedure using a laparoscope -- a thin, lighted instrument fitted with a tiny viewing camera. The laparoscope is inserted into the pelvic area via a tiny incision in the belly button, enabling the surgeon to directly see the fallopian tubes on a screen.

I'm a little freaked out about this, I've never been in the hospital, never broken a bone, never had stitches. It's been a week and I'm still wrapping my brain around all these pieces. 

In the Background

So my last few posts may have looked “zippity do da” like we’re just buzzin’ through life with fun filled weekends; which is partly true but there has definitely been activity in the background.

Back in Feb I posted about my fasting glucose test and all the other required tests to get a proper plan in place.  The result of that glucose test was a prescription to get back on Metformin 750 mg 3 times a day and switch over to the Paleo diet.   I never actually made it up to 750, I’ve been maintaining 500mg x 3.  I’ve been doing OK on Paleo, until about 2 weeks ago.  I literally thought I was going to vomit if I had to eat one more premade meal with caulirice.  So we put that delivery service on hold for this month and I’m cooking.

August 26 I officially changed from contract to permanent employee which means we have insurance!   They automatically sign everyone up for Kaiser, which I have nothing against but I like my own doctors and I hate having to go through the endless paper approval process.  So we switched over to Blueshield 90/10 plan, the most expensive (560 per month) but the least in deductible and included infertility coverage.

When I took this job the idea was to work 3 12 hr days a week.  That should have allotted me the time to go to the dr. Well HR wouldn’t approve that, the most they would agree to was a 4/10 schedule.   After a lot of back and forth and being completely burnt out I got assigned a normal 5/8 schedule.  I now work from 6-2:30.


Sept 25 I saw my regular Dr to have my yearly physical done and get all my stats updated.  My blood pressure was abnormally high, it was attributed to work stress.  

Oct 1 Went to get the remainder of my blood work done.  Was gone from work 2 hrs, there was a miscommunication on how I could break out my time, which turned in to a discussion with my supervisors on what I’m perusing and how much time I can take.
Basically they want me to make all my appointments after I’m off for the day, they are willing to let me take a hour lunch and stay until 3 pm to get my lab work done.   We have to meet again in 3 months.

Oct 7 Nurse called with lab results, said everything looked good except I was very low on vitamin D and needed good cholesterol.   Recommended 2000IU Vitamin D and flax seed oil.  Later that night I was curious about my BP and had hubby take it.  156/110, scary high.

Oct 8 Called Nurse back told her about BP, she insisted I see the dr right away.  Go to dr get prescribed BP meds and asked to take log of readings for 2 months.  Attending dr see’s we are trying to get pregnant in chart and thankfully prescribes a med that I can stay on through a pregnancy.

Oct 9 Go back and forth with our lousy PA Janet on lab results and missing tests.  Apparently she forgot to order 2 blood tests on top of needing my LH and FSH levels.  I had to have a baseline ultrasound done between cycle day 1-4 and she insisted it be done at their office between 7-9 am. And then there was the Sonohysterogram that needed to be scheduled before day 12.  Can you believe she told me "just send me a email on cycle day 1 and I’ll get all this scheduled for you?"
I call the dr’s office and ask to speak to anyone BUT Janet, thank goodness I did.  Ended up talking to a very nice lady named Lisette.  She explained that I could get my labs done at Quest or at any HRC office as long as they were same day results and that I can also get my ultrasounds done at any HRC office.  She helped me move my baseline to a 4pm apt in Newport and confirmed my sono with Dr Potter on 10/24, which Janet never scheduled!

Oct 15 Cycle day 1.  Email Janet (useless)

Oct 16 Cycle day 2, go to Newport for the most awkward ultrasound of my life.   I’ve done the internal deal before but never bleeding!  Who signs up for this job?  Gross.  It only lasted about 10 minutes.  He took pictures and basically said 10 words.  

“Healthy lining for day 2.  10 Follicles on each side, small. Ovaries consistent with PCOS.”
I wasn’t really sure what all that meant, this is what Dr. Google found.

This whole time I thought the cysts were on the outside of the ovary, not around the eggs. So then naturally I wanted to know how many follicles was normal.

So I guess I'm lower than average?

I also ran into Janet on my way out, who forgot to tell me to schedule an HSG (hysterosalpingogram) between day 6-10.  Do you see a pattern of forgetfulness here?

At check out; $323 for one ultrasound, 4 labs and 1 copay.  This is at 50% cost according to my plan, I double checked.   Dr. Potter wasn’t going to be able to meet up for a complete follow up until Nov 13. So the soonest we can start a cycle will be Nov 15.

Oct 17 Called our insurance to find a hospital with a radiology department in plan.  I still cannot believe I had to schedule this on my own.

Oct 21 Cycle day 7 Went to Whittier Community Hospital for HSG.  If you are squeamish stop reading here.

“During a hysterosalpingogram, a dye (contrast material) is put through a thin tube that is put through the vagina lady business and into the uterus. Because the uterus and the fallopian tubes are hooked together, the dye will flow into the fallopian tubes. Pictures are taken using a steady beam of X-ray (fluoroscopy) as the dye passes through the uterus and fallopian tubes. The pictures can show problems such as an injury or abnormal structure of the uterus or fallopian tubes, or a blockage that would prevent an egg moving through a fallopian tube to the uterus.” – WEBMD

This had to be the most utterly horrifying experience in my life.   My nurse was really nice and sympathetic.  She showed me all the tools and explained the procedure. The Dr was the exact opposite.  I had to lay on a table similar to what you would for a pap accept completely flat on my back and totally exposed.   

He had to clean the “area” with iodine, then the speculum (which was not smooth or gentle), then he fed in the catheter which felt like a jab and then pressure and then extreme pain which made me yelp and nearly push off the table.   He said he made the balloon to big and had to start over.   I wanted to grab something.  My first instinct was to grab onto the thing nearest, which was the xray machine, so that was a no.  I couldn’t grab the table either.  I ended up balling my fists and covering my eyes and breathing.  The pain was so extreme when he put in the contrast, burning and pressure and cramping. I thought I might faint or vomit.   Just a few more minutes. More dye, more pain, more breathing. Then he stopped to look at the screen.  I could barely look at the screen myself.  “Right side completely blocked.  Left side blocked, no wait, dye is showing slowly.  A partial blockage.”   

(This is not my film, but mine looked very similar)

Then he leaves the room.  Nurse says all done and I say are you sure?  She says yes again.  And I say it still hurts, I feel pressure, are you sure he got everything out?  She says yes and that I will have cramping because there was some bleeding.  And I say No, there is pressure.  She tries to help me up. At this point I reach around all the draping and PULL out the speculum.  He left it in!!  I knew I didn’t hear the clicks of it being released.   The nurse looked totally humiliated and kept apologizing. She took the tool and we looked at the stand together as she recounted all the tools.  There was blood on most of it.  She helped lower the table so I could get off, my legs were quivering and there was a rush – the dye and whatever else coming out.  She gave me a towel and helped me walk to the bathroom.  I don’t know if I wanted to sob because of the pain or because of the results, but I had to hold it together long enough to get my films and get the heck out of there.  
I text hubby on the way out to go pick up my scrip for antibiotics and guess who forgot to call them in?

When I got home I soaked in the tub for about a hour. It was therapeutic, kind of like I was washing off what just happened.    There was lots of cramping and spotting for the rest of the night and following day.

Oct 24 Tomorrow my Sonohysterogram is scheduled and I’m totally freaked out about it.  It’s a similar procedure with the cath and inserting saline.  This time hubby can go with me.   I’ll update this post either Friday or Monday.

Paleo Bites

You've probably seen a theme here as of late...my little mason jar beauty's.  this has been the easiest way for us to have on the go lunches.  But that's not all I've been up to;  I recently tried my hand at paleo baking.  One of my new goals is to make a recipe weekly/semi regularly found on Pinterest and see if its all as easy and amazing as it seams.

Sesame Chicken Salad

Grilled Chicken 

Carrot shreds

Diced cucumber 

Lettuce 

Orange 

I used trader joes sesame dressing, not paleo, contains soy.  You can't win them all.  Maybe when I have a little more time I can figure out a paleofied version.

Grill Baby Grill

Our grill has saved us this summer.  It's been way to hot to heat up the kitchen with cooking.

I found these amazing pre seasoned ribs at Costco for $18!  They lasted us about 3 days.

And pre grilling your chicken really saves time on packing lunches.  Nothing like a nice char.

Grapes of Wrath

Look what Hubby found in our back yard!  We didn't see them until he started hacking away at the over grown weeds. He came in the house so excited to share.  The vine is actually growing up and around one of our trees, which is in danger of being choked.  Hubby's decided to build a arbor to lead the grapes to, really hoping nothing dies in the process!

Berry Breakfast Bars

Recipe found at here

My bars did not come out quite as cakey as the pictures lead me to believe, but there may be 2 reasons why.

1. I substituted apple sauce for mashed banana.

2. The site did mention that coconut flour could be tricky with absorption. 

Don't get me wrong, the bars were good. Just not to die for.  It was a good try though.  I think I will give it another go but this time with dark chocolate. Mmmmmm. 

Here's something new, well new to me.  I saw a add for E Meals on another paleo blog.  They have all kinds of amazing weekly meal plans that will fit anyone's life style/diet.  There was even a deal on groupon, I got a whole year for under $30.  I haven't made anything yet but I have about 3 weeks of menus to pull from so far.

My other great find was Paleo food delivery.  There just aren't enough hours in the day, especially when you work 13 of them.  I was getting desperate, to the point of asking a friend to cook for me.  I figured it was worth a google search, if I needed help others must too.   Here are the top sites I found in the So Cal area.

1. Hunt Gather Food

2. Brian's Bowls 

3. Paleo On The Go

4. The Paleo Box

5. Loss Arts 

6. Body Food Kitchen

The bottom two have great options but were way out of our price range.

We tried Brian's bowls first and they are good but they only offer 3 bowls a week, so if your not big on repeats you may have to supplement, but if your just looking for a back up supply of food in a pinch they are great.

We got our order from Hunt Gather this week, so far so good.  When we calculated everything out from groceries, fast food and eating out we found we spent just as much if not more than we would for the convince of this program.  The food tastes great, it's totally portable, fresh and healthy.

Paleo on the go is next on our list to try.  

The Paleo box is based out of Florida and is not yet shipping out of state, but they have crazy cool snacks and bread!  I'm on the notify list for when they ship.

Smooth E Operator

I know its been few and far between that I've been able to post anything.  The short story of it all is that we're short staffed at my work and I've been working 13 hour days (that's right people, I'm gone from 5am to 7pm)  The sad side effect is that I've been eating out for all my meals because I leave so early and come home so late I'm to exhausted to prepare anything.....and now I've gained back all the weight I'd lost plus some more.  BOO.

Upside, Hubby bought me a Ipad so in my down time at work I've been on Pinterest, pin pin pining away paleo recipes.  By some miracle I had 6 days off in a row and decided to actually try some of these recipes and really try to get back on track with paleo eating.

These are my trusty tools:  IPAD and Blender.  I also picked up this snazzy mortar and pestle at Costco, a few of these recipes called for ground flax seed.  I also heard that ground chia seed helps thicken smoothies and is amazing in Omega 3.

This did take quite a while to cut up all the fruit and read each recipe so I don't have pictures of them all.  Instead I'm posting the pretty pictures from the blogs they came from, followed by my modified recipe, when you click on the picture it will link you to the original recipe.

Why modified you ask?  I'm allergic to banana (the base of most smoothies), I had to use the fruit on hand and some had to be paleo-fied.

Strawberry Sunbutter & Spinach

http://www.coffeeandquinoa.com/2013/03/strawberry-spinach-sunbutter-smoothie/

• 2 cups frozen strawberries
• 2 large handful spinach leaves
• 3 Tbsp sunbutter
• 1cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1.5 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1Tbsp ground flax seed
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

I doubled the original recipe and it filled 2 mason jars perfectly.   This smoothie is pretty delicious, especially if your a peanut butter lover like my hubby is.  Sun butter is the perfect sub, Trader Joe's has a pretty yummy jar for under $5.

Mango Orange

http://oursavorylife.com/a-super-hydrating-paleo-smoothie-recipe/

1 cup frozen mango's

1 orange, peeled

2 apricots

1 cup almond milk

1/2 cup 100% pure coconut milk

Chia Seed and Ground Flax optional

Bright citrus flavor, the apricot didn't blend down to well though.  If you don't like chunky smoothies I would leave it out.

Pina Colada

http://www.vegalicious.org/2011/02/04/pina-colada-smoothie/

• 2 cups pineapple (I used frozen from Trader Joe's)
• 1 cup mango
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• Chia Seed and Ground Flax optional

This was my favorite, the only down side was it was a little to acidic drinking it all at once, but that could just be me. I still have one more jar of this so I'm going to definitely try again.

At this point I was feeling pretty confident in my smoothie making ability's and decided to wing it.  I had purchased some pre cooked beets at Costco, super healthy....super disgusting.  Picture me, dumping 3 juicy beets in the blender, dancing in the kitchen singing "turn the beet around, blah blah blah, the passion".  It didn't matter how much fruit I put in the blender it was not going to cover that taste.  I even dumped half out and tried to salvage it.  No Bueno.

So we scrapped that batch and moved on.

Very Berrylicious

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-super-berry-smoothie/

1 cup blueberries

1 cup strawberries

1 cup blackberries

2 big hand fulls of spinach

1 tablespoon chia seeds (I added ground flax too)

1 cup unsweetened almond milk 

Another fav of the Hubby's, he loves anything berry and definitely better than beets!

Here are my little beauties in the freezer, each batch filled 2 jars. My mom bought me blue ball jars at Target.  I also bought larger jars to make salads in more on that to come and more smoothie recipes too.  I found some with avocado base, that should be interesting.

Meatball Soup

It's been a while since I've posted and this little ditty is past due.  I started this one way back in March but didnt want to over load on recipes. 

Let me preface that I've never made a meatball.  Truthfully I hardly ever eat them, unless they come in the form of my mom's albondigas (mexican meatball soup).  So this was a huge step for me to make and eat meatballs.

First off I found this recipe for "italian wedding soup" on theFoodee.com (you have to click on the picture to get to the blog it originated from)  I got all my ingredients between Sprouts and Trader Joes.

• Ground beef pork (1 pound)
• Basil, dried (1 teaspoon)
• Onion powder (1/2 teaspoon)
• Garlic powder (1/2 teaspoon)
• Carrots (2)
• Celery
• Onion
• Garlic (1 clove)
• Chicken broth (6 cups)
• Tomato sauce
• Cauliflower (1 cup)
• Frozen chopped spinach (2 cups)

This Mirepoix mix from Trader Joes was a great little time saver for my soup base.  In the pot it went with garlic, spinach, chicken broth and tomato sauce.

My first soup faux pas was that I grabbed my ground pork instead of ground beef out of the freezer.  Oops.

This recipe also called for "ricing" cauliflower.  Let me just tell you, with out a food processor this makes a huge mess.  So I opted out of that and went for almond meal in lieu of bread crumbs and a good old fashion egg to combine my herbs and meat with.

Under cooking pork really freaks me out, so I made sure they were nice and brown before plopping them into the broth.

With garlic salt and ground pepper to taste, I was pleasently surprised with my paleo creation.  Next time I think I'll through in some stewed tomatos.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Hash

Things have been mainly quiet on the home front...just plugging away an bags and boxes.  I'm pretty happy to share that I got all my purses put up on a shelf and all the boxes in the kitchen and den cease to exist.  We've also made major headway in the curtain department.  Maybe next week I'll have some after photos for everyone. 

Paleo is also going well.  My hours have just been slipping away between work, food prep and house stuff so I haven't had time for the o' bloggeroo but I have been keeping a photo log in my phone.

Hubby made some amazing sweet potato hash, super simple and super yummy.  I'm not sure where he came up with this little ditty but we've made it a couple times so I pretty much have it memorized.

You start out by chopping half a red onion, one apple, one orange and shredding about 2 cups of sweet potato.  My poor little grater is now stained and strained!  I highly suggest getting a food processer with a grater if your looking for paleo friendly tools.  I'll be getting one next month.

Secondly heat your non stick skillet with coconut oil and saute the onion and apple till translucent.

Then add in your sweet potato and oranges.  I squeezed my oranges just a little to get some of the juice going in the pan.  You'll continue to stir and saute till the hash cooks down.  Then finish it off with a Tbsp of honey and a tsp of garlic salt.

We had this as a side to Spicy mustard pork and to steak, I'm sure it would also be great for breakfast.

Enjoy!

Lab Worked Over

So Fridays lab work didn't turn out quite like I thought. I actually didn't have any blood drawn at all, this is why:

The PA that issued my lab orders failed to tell me my fasting glucose test was going to take 3 hours and that I needed to have a high carb diet for 3 days prior to the draw. (Yea I had a salad for dinner)

Seeing I had to go back to work I asked what else I could get out of the way so the trip wouldn't be a waste. Here's where it got hairy, the remaining hormone and infectious disease tests came up to $900 and they wanted payment up front. Turns out that Quest only takes payments for people who have been approved for financial aid.

I got a little angry at this point and wanted to see what the cost per test was. I also questioned why I had to do these infectious disease test anyway, I was basically told the state mandates it because they don't want any more children being born with HIV or Hepatitis. I both understand this and think its ridiculous, what about all the infected people who get pregnant every day? Can't control that. So the standard HIV test is $40 and then there's a secondary test that tells you what type you have for $400. This is what mad me really angry, I KNOW I have no STDs why on earth would I pay for this extra test??

I basically sat for a hour arguing with the lab on what I would and would not be paying for especially since it had to be up front. I finally got the cost down to $300 and wouldn't you know it my credit card got declined. I totally forgot we used it to buy hubby's flight to Canada.

Totally embarrassed I picked up a form for financial aid and cried the ugly cry in the parking lot.

The PA called and we worked out how to stagger the tests then I pulled myself together in time to walk into my office.

Now I'm back at the lab on Monday morning. I had my first draw done and drank the limeaid sugar water. Toward the end I wanted to gag. I have 2 more draws today, 4 tubes each. Can't. Wait.

Hi Ho Paleo

I decided to dive into the world of paleo eating.

 

A week or so ago I got on the topic of diet with a co worker and ending up telling her that my Dr had recommended going paleo. Excitedly she told me she'd been doing the diet for a few months and loved it. After talking about all our ailments, struggles and benefits of eating paleo she sent me a email full of blogs to follow and let me borrow her book.

Last night I cooked the last bag of pasta in my house. I've slowly been riding my house of carbs and grains as I'm reading the paleo diet book. Principles seem simple enough, no processed foods, dairy, carbs and sugars. If it comes from the earth/doesn't have a label it's A OK to eat baring a few things like legumes and starchy potatoes.

I have to do a little more research on sweet potatoes, starchy and yet a super food. I'm also not ready to give up my hummus! My absolute favorite snack with veggies. Ms. co worker said she had a paleo friendly hummus recipe; I'm leery but I'll give it a try before I knock it.

There's also the little matter of doing a 21 day sugar detox. While I totally see the benefit in this, I think I may just go bonkers giving up carbs, dairy and sugar in one shot. So hubby and I decided to cut the carbs first then move on to dairy and sugar. Also being in the middle of moving this is the best I can do.

After long debate on what to do about getting my blood tests done I decided to bite the bullet and go through with it, I scheduled a apt to be drained on Friday.  Quest Diagnostics will allow us to make payments...because by my count the lab request looks like 12 x $70.   When the results are in I'll be able to start a new prescription of metformin along with the paleo diet and see how my body likes it.  Apparently on this new dose if I even smell a carb I'll get really ill, hoping that will work as a nice deterrent.

From there, when we're ready we'll start booking the ultra sounds/xrays (somewhere around April/May) are really get this pony show on the road!

Counting down the days till we move, starting to pack this weekend and meeting with the painters tomorrow.

What's up Doc?

Here's the big update

The office was nice, intimate and private.
The first thing we were handed was our "hope" workbook and Dr. Potter's book "what to do when you can't get pregnant" I'm not sure if the title was some sick twist on what to expect when your expecting?  But I took it with stride and chose a seat thinking I cant believe I'm in this place.

We sat in the waiting room about 15 minutes. Long enough for hubby to fiddle with the high tech coffee maker and for me to flip through the book. To be honest I haven't even looked through our work book yet because I'm still in "sticker shock" but I'll get to that later.

Earlier in the day I stumbled on to Yelp reviews of the facility and the Dr I was about to see. I thought Yelp was only for food! There was some good bad and ugly, but for the most part I felt it made be better prepared. I chalk up the reviews to some people need to be coddled and sugar coated while others like myself want the more direct approach.

Dr Potter was the perfect amount of straight forward while still maintaining sensitivity.  He started out by asking for my medical history in my own words.  Of course in my own sarcastic way to defuse awkwardness I answered "I like sunsets and walks on the beach".  I got the desired chuckle and proceeded to run down my issues in 3 minutes or less.  He listened as he flipped through my records and made notes.  To my relief he told me that my old Dr Wood was on the right path by prescribing the metformin, that most Dr's are not comfortable dealing with my problem because they just didn't know enough about it.   I was really bummed out when Dr Wood retired and I got passed on to Dr Garcia.  I felt like Dr Garcia didn't really care to work with me, especially when I asked if my met could be increased and she looked at me like I was crazy.  And now Dr Potter is telling me that not only should it be increased, I need to be taking 3 times the amount.  He also shed some light on insulin resistance and how some cultures are more genetically predisposed to it.  He told me that I need to be on the Paleolithic diet, like a hunter/gatherer eating small animals (his words), green veggies, nuts and berries.  He also brought up that people didn't hoard the food they found all day till 5pm and sit down to a big feast, they ate as the went.  Eating wasn't easy, it was out of necessity.  He said if I worked really hard at this new diet, increased my exercise with my new meds the weight should fall off more easily.   I found this all very interesting.  He was so exuberant about it.

We talked a little more about our concerns.  And here is the bottom line. 
Can he get us pregnant?
Yes, he believes with in 3 IUI treatments we can have success.

Does he recommend IUI over IVF?
We won't be able to tell our direct path until we get all the blood work and tests back.  If its as simple as I just don't ovulate with no added issues IUI is definitely the way to go.  But if we find there's stacked issues we wont waste time and go straight to IVF.  Time will tell.

Do I have to drop 100 lbs before we start?
No, while I do have to lose some its not as drastic as I thought.  We can start as early as the next 2 months.  I need to get off my current meds so he can test my hormone levels and check out my liver before I start the new scrip.

He was very nice, I didn't feel like the brush off and no question was stupid.  It was really nice that he was familiar with everything I asked about and had a logical answer to everything.  So after the run down he wrote out all the details of what he wanted tested and when, then we got to sit with his assistant.  She gave us all the test prices and here is where the sticker shock comes in.

Tests include but are not limited to:
Ultrasound to check if my tubes are open  $243
Sonohysterogram (say that 5 times fast) to check my uterus and egg count $500
Mock Transfer (I don't know what this is) $145
Hormone Tests 5X $63
And now the state of CA is requiring infectious decease screening for $200 X2 for me and Hubs.
And then we have to get the guys counted for $220

Anybody have a calculator?  That's about $1900 out of pocket if I can't get insurance to pay for it. (remember I still have to choose a new insurance too)

And it's all so time sensitive, each thing happens on a specific cycle day.  The nurse was kind of pushing that we start in Feb.  But its just to soon.  It's so much to wrap my brain around, I've waited this long 2 more months are not going to kill me.

In the mean time its fun to go to restaurants and order "large animals with a side of carbs"

Dominos

I've maxed out my brain capacity; there are to many things whirling around upstairs. 
I'm going to write it out in a list because its the only way I can make sense of all the domino's.

1. Credit Issues
My sister's first name and my middle name are similar.  Our socials are also 2 digits apart. Resulting in our identity's via the credit bureaus getting crossed up.  Unfortunately she has a some not so bueno things showing up and it is now tanking my credit score.  We hired a company to get it straightened out and its going to take at minimum 30-45 days.

2. Finance
This whole credit issue is really jacking me up because now I can not get financed to put in carpet in the house. I've been getting denied left and right.  We're going to try it under Hubby's name only and see what it gets us. This is also distressing because we will have to finance the baby stuff. 

3. Work
My job location just shifted.  I knew all along that I was going to be working in a different office but I didnt anticipate things to change with in a few hours.  Its kind of hard to explain the whole scenario because I report to one person but have a dotted line to like 6 other departments.  So I came from our Brea office to our Chino office to train and cover for someone else and my supervisor decided it was a good day for me to just make Chino my perminant home.   So I'm learning new people and new tasks.  Also for the time being my hours will be 7-4 M-F, but once my department gets in full operation I'll work 6-6 W-S with a alternating 3 and 4 day week.  Yes that S stands for working Saturday!!  Yuck.

Hubby also started his new job on Monday.  He's loving it.  I just wish he'd cut ties with his old company but thats a whole nother Oprah.

4. Insurance
Kind of ties in with work...So since Hubby's new job is based in Canada (which has standardized health care) they have not quite figured out how to cover his insurance.  The game plan was go put him on insurance through my work and expense the cost difference.  It was going to work out smashingly because I'm supposed to get benefits starting Feb 1.  Surprise! My work doesnt offer medical insurance...they give us the option for supplemental coverage.  Something like Aflac.  So I am now on the hunt for individual coverage and its looking like about $300 for each of us. Yikes.

5. WW
Last Monday I missed my lunch time meeting because of a work meeting.  This Monday I missed because 1. I was in a new city and didnt feel like navigating and 2. I had another meeting to rush to for work back in Brea.  Monday's are clearly not working out for me.  Once my schedule settles down I'll have to pick a new meeting time near my new office.  In the mean time I've slide down the slippery slope of Cold Stones ice cream to the effect of being up 2 lbs.

6. Dr Apt.
D day is Thursday.  For so long it was so far away and now its right around the corner.  I have a wide range of emotions, I wish I could say excited but anxious is a more appropriate word.  I had this whole rosey colored bubble in my head that we'd meet with the dr and I'd show him my progress with weight loss and he'd say we have great odds.  My bubble hasnt totally burst, but I do feel down about not making my weight loss goal.  With no clue as to what we're going to discuss I feel almost vulnerable and I have a gut feeling like I'm going to be told to come back after I'd lost 50 lbs.

All this stress is jacking me up.  My period is MIA, I have a sty in my left eye and my psoriasis is flared up (I could play a mean game of connect the dots on my stomach)

I just need to get through this week....3 more days.  Hopefully I'll have a more positive post on Friday,  I know you'll want all the gory details from my visit.

Turkey Lurkey

I'm proud to say as of yesterday I've completed 4 successful weeks on WW.  My loss for the week was 2.4 bring me to 7 1/2 lbs lost. I'm pretty dang excited. So far I haven't felt deprived at all, I just feel like I'm more "careful" in my choices. 

One major change I did was go back on my meds (metformin) to help with the insulin resistance.  The last time I took it it really made me nauseous.  I've been taking it at night and haven't had any bad feelings yet,  I did stop taking my herbs last week so my body could get used to the Met again. I think I'll start them again in December.

Tips from this week:
1. I've been drinking alot of mint tea.  It's calming to the stomach, helps me drink more water/feel fuller and it has no caffeine.  Plus its been cold and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

2. Planning ahead.  This really helped me alot especially during the 4 day weekend.  I knew my mom was going to make our big family dinner on Saturday so I loaded my point tracker with everything I could possibly want to eat so I knew what kind of damage I was working with.  I made sure to plan my week to eat super good and save up those bonus points for turkey!  And its a good thing I did.  Sunday we went over to a friends house who made 18 point roasted potato's (she used a cup of butter)!!! 

3. Picked up my hobby, crocheting.  I had a lot of free time to graze this weekend, by keeping my hands busy with a crochet hook and working on my invitation job it kept me from popping things in my mouth.

As you saw from Thursday I did a little baking.  I also did a little freaking out.  Hubby joined WW a little earlier than expected and I wasn't mentally prepared for it.  I'm not sure why but it really made me mad that he gets 54 points and I only get 39.  I had spent all day Thurs cleaning my house, catching up on ironing, baking and cleaning up that mess and he....tinkered around in his truck.  I know I should have been grateful when he made me a tuna sandwich for lunch (maybe it was the hunger mixed with cleaning fumes) but I lost it because I didn't have control over how my tuna was made.  I already know I'm a control freak, but this brought out the worst in me.  I told him I wasn't going to let him sabotage me because he had so many more points and could eat what ever he wanted.  In the end, it was ok.  I made a turkey sandwich even though it was the same point value as what he made it was the fact of being in control. 

Yesterday I felt bad, poor hubby didn't really know what to eat so he took yogurt for lunch.  I went to trader joes on my lunch break after weighing in and loaded up on protein full point friendly foods for him to make his lunch.  When I got home last night I whipped out my sharpies and wrote the point values on everything so he wouldn't have to ask.  I told him to pack his food for the day and plan for 20 pt dinners.  I hope it works out, after my melt down I realize we need to help each other and this needs to be a team effort.

This weekend I turned my alarm off.  Every morning I woke up trying to figure out what day we were on.  I got alot of things accomplished and it was nice to be with my family and friends.  Coco didn't seem to mind the turkey scraps either.



Good News and other things

So here's the dish...sorry its a day late, but I do work ya know.

First things first, I wasn't going to weigh in yesterday because of Flo and water weight, but I did and I'm glad I did.  I had a loss of 2.4 lbs.  BOO-YAH!  That made me so happy, especially because of my little loss last week and that I tried SO hard even with my 9 point coffee hehe.  We are now at a total of 5 1/2 lbs down.  I got my little *bravo star* in my book but didn't stay at the meeting for any announcements.  I'm determined to have no "gains" in my 16 week book.

Speaking of Aunt Flo, she came at day 32 this month.  Not bad.  Way better than 48 or not at all. Hopefully with the continued weight loss I'll get down to and maintain 28 days.

Here are my tips from last week:
1. DON'T put the creamy chocolate shake mix in your coffee.  It does NOT taste like a mocha.  My team leader LIED.

2. The best meal I cooked was grilled chicken and vegetables covered in mozzarella and a half cup of marinara for 10 points!  I now found a light provolone at target thats 1 pt.  Going to try that next.

3. Fav Finds: Skinny Cow Mocha Truffle Bars for 3 points and WW Dark Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream Bars for 2 points.  Got both at target.

What really helped me is tracking.  I'm trying to make it a game, see how much food you can get for the least points.  Its the first thing I do in the morning when I get to work.  I also started taking my dog Coco for short 15 minute walks.  Since it rained half of last week it was short lived, but I plan on getting back on track.  I had taken him to a dog trainer for jumping and she told me that he needed to be walked to exhaust his brain.  Works for me.

Here is my Puppy Love.

In other news...I was with my friend on Monday night (had to pick up my lunch bag) and her Mom was there, she works with insurance, we'll call her Nana P.   A few months back neither myself or hubby had health insurance and I was calling around to get pricing on coverage.  In my quest I had been asking about infertility/pregnancy coverage and kept getting shot down.  We now have Kaiser through Hubby's work and I was afraid if we used a RE (reproductive endocronologist ie. fertility dr) that the pregnancy wouldnt be covered.  Which is partially why I was thinking in desperation to go to Mexico.  Thankfully I asked Nana P about what these insurance reps were telling me.  She explained that Independant coverage can deny you where as group coverage will cover it. She encouraged me to call Kaiser today and find out what exactly they will cover. 

And thats exactly what I did (about 30 minutes ago).  In short I now know that we are not covered for fertility treatments under our current plan, but that I can see my Kaiser drs OR go to the HRC and once we do get pregnant they WILL cover the pregnancy.   This is a hugh relief.  I am a glutten for punishment/worry I guess, because I keep reading these blogs and now on the WW site there are MORE blogs about women who've gone through all this crap.  I really thought IUI was the way to go, but the more I read I'm seeing that these poor women are going for 6, 7, 8 failed treatments and eventually going to IVF anyway.  I don't want to pay for each IUI and have it end up being a waste/costing the same as 1 IVF.  I still dont know which way to go, but I'm glad I can now get this ball rolling and that I can finance it either way at the HRC.

Starting off November with a Bang

Today is weigh in day....my first of many to come.

"Drum roll please"  This week I lost 3 lbs! 

I have to say I'm a little elated because I did exactly what I was told not to do, weigh myself.  Not only that but I did it like every day.  And my scale only showed a 1.5 loss. As my WW leader says the only scale that matters is this one. So I'm going to stop weighing and just be surprised on Mondays.

Tricks I love this week:
1. Greek yogurt, tastes good high protein low points.  My friend showed me how to make tzakiki too.  Amazing.

2. Hummus and Cucumber, delish crunchy snack.

3. Using flavored olive oil in tuna instead of mayo.  It was SO good, I used a tsp of basil flavored EVOO in my tuna with onion, pickles, celery and a little mustard.  I stuffed 2 sandwich flats and had a totally satisfying lunch.

I also bought a pomegranate, my mom showed me how to knock out all the little gems.  I juiced them and added some to my green smoothie this morning.  SUPER sweet.

This morning I found out that one of my long time dearest friends is ALSO doing WW.  She just joined the week before me and I'm so excited that we can encourage one another.

My 5% goal is 13 lbs. I'm really hoping to be down 20 lbs by January. The community center that my ww meeting is at has a small gym.  I used to go about a year ago and I really like it.  I dont feel overwhelmed by the equipment and I love the classes they offer.  Anyhoo...they are offering 50% off the monthly membership in Janurary so it will be $14 instead of 28.  This is going to be my treat for acheiving my first goal so I can keep the momentum going.

After reading the PCOS blog, getting a big eye opener on the process and a little more research, I've determined that IUI is going to be the best course for us.  This also ties into my January goal.  I made a deal with Hubby to follow through with the consultation at the HRC (Huntington Reproductive Center) so they can give me a current status on my ovaries and do a work up on him too.  Its time to jump in.  Next year I'm determined to be a Mother.

Hubby is out of town this week for work.  I got the cleaning bug yesterday and purged his dresser and closet.  Got a nice little donation pile for the good will.  I also ironed the big pile of dress shirts I've been avoiding for about a month.  Now I actually know what he has and needs.  I'm hoping to give the bathroom a good scrub tonight and dust.  Then I'll have a chore free house for the rest of the week which means I will have time to scrapbook! guilt free.

I have a baby shower invite job to get crackin on too.  I have till the end of November to pump out 75. Woo..

One, Two, Three...

Ok so since my last "poor me" post I've actually accomplished somethings...

One...on Monday I officially joined weight watchers and went to my first meeting.  Thankfully my scale and theirs is the same so the number wasn't shocking...I was pre-shocked at home lol.  I love the new point system, it totally makes sense that the values should be determined by how your body digests foods.  I got the app on my phone, super handy and easy to use.  I love the web site and I actually get excited to track my food.  I'm actually looking forward to getting weighed next Monday!

Wednesday I popped over to TJ Max and bought myself a new lunch bag.  It's my little way to go you did something good for yourself treat, that and Hubby lost my old one.

Two...I started taking my herbs.  I called to find out my dosing, some went up and some went down and one got dropped all together.  I started taking them Tuesday morning because I altogether forgot on Monday.  So far, I feel like crap and they are making me burp some weird clove/Cinnamon flavor,  I know that my stomach will need time to adjust. The last time I took them I felt great with in 2 weeks.  I have a follow up call on Nov 12 to see how things are going. 

Three...I decided to drop coffee.  Its bad for you, bad for me more so because I cant take the caffeine.  It really screws me over on top of my insomnia.  Plus its 5-7 points the way I like to drink it with cream and sugar.  My next big feat will be to drop the diet coke.  I had stopped it for a while and was drinking juice instead but now that's out because of the sugar....baby steps.

I started reading a blog about someone else's trials and accomplishments with PCOS.  I think its funny reading about how someone else has done all the things I'm doing including wasting time at work googling any and everything about fertility and blogging about it.  She's a real person, with the same real problem and real anxiety who has twin girls today.  It makes me feel good and inspired and not alone to read it.  I even emailed her today, we'll see if I get a response.

I'm still reading the beauty detox book.  Slowly but surely.  Good thing is that it follows the same principles as weight watchers so it will be easy to incorporate.

I've also started knitting again.  I'm working diligently on some baby scarves for my friends visit to NY this winter.  I'm very excited I just learned how to make a button hole.  My next you tube video will be on how to crochet chevron stripes!!

I feel good.