So, I wrote that post on Monday and then went to give myself an injection . . . and realized that the syringes I picked up at the pharmacy that day had no needles!
It's been more than two years since I started with the hCG injections, so I went digging through my nightstand and found three needles that I was given the first time I had the prescription filled. The reason I hadn't used them is that they were 1" long, instead of 1/2" long, like the others I've used. At the time, my doctor said either length was fine . . . so, of course, I chose the short needles! It took me a long time to give myself that injection with the long needle on Monday.
I needed my last injection on Wednesday, but I realized on my way to rehearsal that evening that I had forgotten to go back to the pharmacy for more needles! Fortunately, Mr. X was home from his business trip by then, so he got to do the last injection with a long needle.
But, seriously, how is it that the pharmacy would fill my refill on syringes and not give me any needles? What do they think I'm going to do with needle-less syringes?
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Checking In
Meridith was nice enough to check on me (thanks!), so I thought I'd post a quick update!
Things are going well right now, but busy with opera rehearsals, work, and life in general! I'm trying to fight the crud that is going around, so I'm trying to stockpile as much sleep as I can get.
I got the first day of results from the cortisol testing, and they are . . . normal. Huh. 20.9, which is actually at the high end of normal, and my understanding is that adrenal fatigue is indicated by low cortisol in the morning. I'm going to ask about saliva testing, though.
Mr. X is on another business trip, so I'm going to go give myself an hCG injection and go to bed.
Two weeks to go, and then things will calm down in a big way!
Things are going well right now, but busy with opera rehearsals, work, and life in general! I'm trying to fight the crud that is going around, so I'm trying to stockpile as much sleep as I can get.
I got the first day of results from the cortisol testing, and they are . . . normal. Huh. 20.9, which is actually at the high end of normal, and my understanding is that adrenal fatigue is indicated by low cortisol in the morning. I'm going to ask about saliva testing, though.
Mr. X is on another business trip, so I'm going to go give myself an hCG injection and go to bed.
Two weeks to go, and then things will calm down in a big way!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Bummed Out
I've just been feeling kind of down lately. I'm also feeling completely exhausted and irritable (and I'm still pre-ovulation, so they're definitely not pregnancy symptoms). I think the answer is (here's rocket science for you) to get more sleep and to exercise so that I'll be healthier, sleep better, and have more energy. I'm thinking maybe I should try the low-GI diet, too. I think I react pretty strongly to sugar, and eating healthier certainly won't hurt, right? I sang with the choir this morning and I really thought I might pass out. I kept getting kind of woozy and hot, and I was just so tired every time we stood up. I was going to go to bed early tonight, but I take my thryoid medication at 10:30am and 10:30pm, so that's kind of my "early" threshold. So, I think I'm going to go get ready for bed and see if more sleep doesn't help things.
Oh, and I feel bad that I haven't really responded much to comments in a while! I'm sorry!
So, lifehopes asked about the enzyme stuff we used when the dog peed on the bed! This is it, and it really worked for us (it worked perfectly on a mattress that she peed on a couple of years ago--we were out of town, so it had a couple of days to sink in). It is scented, and the scent can be a bit overpowering at first if you're sensitive to that, but it really does get the odor out. The scent fades pretty quickly, and there's definitely no lingering pet odor.
And athorninthepew mentioned having saliva tests done for adrenal function (thank you!). That definitely makes sense given the little I know about cortisol levels. I know a few of you out there have had this done. If you've had this done or checked it out, do you know what's involved in the testing? What can they learn from those tests? And do you have any recommendations about who would be likely to do it (if my Napro doctor doesn't feel comfortable with it, who do you think I should look for)?
I think there may be a couple of other questions lingering, so I'll look at the comments again and write another post soon!
Oh, and I feel bad that I haven't really responded much to comments in a while! I'm sorry!
So, lifehopes asked about the enzyme stuff we used when the dog peed on the bed! This is it, and it really worked for us (it worked perfectly on a mattress that she peed on a couple of years ago--we were out of town, so it had a couple of days to sink in). It is scented, and the scent can be a bit overpowering at first if you're sensitive to that, but it really does get the odor out. The scent fades pretty quickly, and there's definitely no lingering pet odor.
And athorninthepew mentioned having saliva tests done for adrenal function (thank you!). That definitely makes sense given the little I know about cortisol levels. I know a few of you out there have had this done. If you've had this done or checked it out, do you know what's involved in the testing? What can they learn from those tests? And do you have any recommendations about who would be likely to do it (if my Napro doctor doesn't feel comfortable with it, who do you think I should look for)?
I think there may be a couple of other questions lingering, so I'll look at the comments again and write another post soon!
Friday, October 3, 2008
What Kept Me Away
So, last week, when I wasn't posting at all, things were just nuts. Wednesday was probably the craziest day of all. My mom was in town, Mr. X was on a business trip, and I "took the day off" . . . or tried to, anyway. I knew that I still had some work to do, but as usual, I underestimated exactly how much work.
In the morning, we went and had massages, which was great fun, and then we did a little bit of shopping. So, I did accomplish taking the morning off.
When we got back to the house, I saw Wonderdog slink guiltily out of the guest room . . . a sure indication that she had been in Mom's bed. I ran down to check it out, and noticed that the room really smelled like dog. As I went to open the window, I looked at Mom's bed. And Wonderdog had peed ALL OVER IT. I mean all over it. She got both pillows, the comforter, the sheets . . . thank God, we had a thick mattress pad with a memory foam pad underneath it, so the mattress escaped unscathed. We have this great enzyme treatment for just such incidents (she has averaged a similar incident once every two years, so it isn't like it happens all the time, but we had some left over from two years ago). So, I grabbed all the bedding, sprayed it down, and put it in big garbage bags (to keep it from drying out) while it sat for the requisite couple of hours before washing.
I sat down and did a little bit of work. Then I went to put in the first load of wash. My mom ran out to grab some dinner for us while I did some more work. Right before she returned home, I ran down to put in the next load of wash. And I noticed the large puddle of water on the floor of the laundry room.
We've had major water problems in this house. Major. The sewer has backed up into the downstairs several times (hence the new flooring throughout the entire downstairs). Perhaps the most dramatic water incident was the time I tried to refill our outdoor hot tub on an unseasonably warm February day, only to find out after the hose had been running for 45 minutes that that pipe had burst. I made that discovery when I ran downstairs and noticed that the puddles on top of the carpet.
So, when we redid our bathroom and laundry room, Mr. X put in footers (because our walls DIDN'T HAVE ANY) and sealed the base of each wall very well. And, fortunately, when the washing maching overflowed, the seals held and the water stayed in the tiled area.
But I still had to clean up the water and try to figure out what was wrong with the washing machine, since I had five more loads of bedding that needed to be washed before the enzyme solution dried on the cloth (did I mention that our bathtub is under construction? I didn't? So there was nowhere to soak the bedding in the meantime). I spent an eternity testing the washing machine (note to self: even though our clearly unsafe old washing machine will sort of churn the clothes while the lid is open, it will not spin or drain until the lid is closed. That isn't a pause for soaking. It's a pause while the washer waits for you to CLOSE THE DARN LID!) and could find nothing wrong. By now, I was half an hour late for choir practice. My saintly mother offered to take the bedding to the laundromat while I went to rehearsal. We loaded up the car and drove to the laundromat . . . which had closed 15 minutes before we arrived. So we drove to the next laundromat . . . which was also closed! Does no one in my town do laundry after 8pm?
So, we went to choir practice, and then returned home. I set up a towel perimeter around the washing machine, with our little battery-powered water alarm inside the perimeter, and ran a load of laundry. And it worked perfectly. So, I stayed up until 3:30am finishing the "little bit of work" I needed to do on my "day off," which also enabled me to finish all of the dog-pee laundry, plus a couple of loads of towels used to clean up the washing machine overflow water.
Thank God the dog only does this every two years!
In the morning, we went and had massages, which was great fun, and then we did a little bit of shopping. So, I did accomplish taking the morning off.
When we got back to the house, I saw Wonderdog slink guiltily out of the guest room . . . a sure indication that she had been in Mom's bed. I ran down to check it out, and noticed that the room really smelled like dog. As I went to open the window, I looked at Mom's bed. And Wonderdog had peed ALL OVER IT. I mean all over it. She got both pillows, the comforter, the sheets . . . thank God, we had a thick mattress pad with a memory foam pad underneath it, so the mattress escaped unscathed. We have this great enzyme treatment for just such incidents (she has averaged a similar incident once every two years, so it isn't like it happens all the time, but we had some left over from two years ago). So, I grabbed all the bedding, sprayed it down, and put it in big garbage bags (to keep it from drying out) while it sat for the requisite couple of hours before washing.
I sat down and did a little bit of work. Then I went to put in the first load of wash. My mom ran out to grab some dinner for us while I did some more work. Right before she returned home, I ran down to put in the next load of wash. And I noticed the large puddle of water on the floor of the laundry room.
We've had major water problems in this house. Major. The sewer has backed up into the downstairs several times (hence the new flooring throughout the entire downstairs). Perhaps the most dramatic water incident was the time I tried to refill our outdoor hot tub on an unseasonably warm February day, only to find out after the hose had been running for 45 minutes that that pipe had burst. I made that discovery when I ran downstairs and noticed that the puddles on top of the carpet.
So, when we redid our bathroom and laundry room, Mr. X put in footers (because our walls DIDN'T HAVE ANY) and sealed the base of each wall very well. And, fortunately, when the washing maching overflowed, the seals held and the water stayed in the tiled area.
But I still had to clean up the water and try to figure out what was wrong with the washing machine, since I had five more loads of bedding that needed to be washed before the enzyme solution dried on the cloth (did I mention that our bathtub is under construction? I didn't? So there was nowhere to soak the bedding in the meantime). I spent an eternity testing the washing machine (note to self: even though our clearly unsafe old washing machine will sort of churn the clothes while the lid is open, it will not spin or drain until the lid is closed. That isn't a pause for soaking. It's a pause while the washer waits for you to CLOSE THE DARN LID!) and could find nothing wrong. By now, I was half an hour late for choir practice. My saintly mother offered to take the bedding to the laundromat while I went to rehearsal. We loaded up the car and drove to the laundromat . . . which had closed 15 minutes before we arrived. So we drove to the next laundromat . . . which was also closed! Does no one in my town do laundry after 8pm?
So, we went to choir practice, and then returned home. I set up a towel perimeter around the washing machine, with our little battery-powered water alarm inside the perimeter, and ran a load of laundry. And it worked perfectly. So, I stayed up until 3:30am finishing the "little bit of work" I needed to do on my "day off," which also enabled me to finish all of the dog-pee laundry, plus a couple of loads of towels used to clean up the washing machine overflow water.
Thank God the dog only does this every two years!
St. Michael the Archangel, Defend Us in Battle
Oh my goodness. I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted. Why is time moving so fast?
So, it's CD6 right now. I'm very excited that I'm getting tested this month for adrenal function (just like This Cross I Embrace!). I had my first blood draw for cortisol yesterday, and I got a flu shot while I was at it. (I had my flu shot last winter the day of my last hCG test with good results during my pregnancy--the test three days later showed that my hCG had dropped. Even though I know there's no evidence of a connection, I can't help associating them, so I wanted to get a shot early this season, when I know I'm not pregnant. Irrational? Yes, definitely, but it makes me feel better.)
I realized that I hadn't talked about this fantastic article I came across! It's the first peer-reviewed article that presents the findings of a study on NaPro Technology, and it's very cool! The study was done at a clinic in Ireland, and I believe the doctors there were not using surgical techniques yet, so the treatment patients received was medical only. It was very cool! In the first 24 months, there was a 53% live birth rate. What's even more striking to me is that 47.2% of their patients had a previous diagnosis of unexplained infertility, but after their NaPro evaluation, only 0.5% were still unexplained! How cool is that? Actually having a diagnosis seems so much better to me than wondering what the cause could be.
Well, that's all for now--I'm off to get some sleep!
So, it's CD6 right now. I'm very excited that I'm getting tested this month for adrenal function (just like This Cross I Embrace!). I had my first blood draw for cortisol yesterday, and I got a flu shot while I was at it. (I had my flu shot last winter the day of my last hCG test with good results during my pregnancy--the test three days later showed that my hCG had dropped. Even though I know there's no evidence of a connection, I can't help associating them, so I wanted to get a shot early this season, when I know I'm not pregnant. Irrational? Yes, definitely, but it makes me feel better.)
I realized that I hadn't talked about this fantastic article I came across! It's the first peer-reviewed article that presents the findings of a study on NaPro Technology, and it's very cool! The study was done at a clinic in Ireland, and I believe the doctors there were not using surgical techniques yet, so the treatment patients received was medical only. It was very cool! In the first 24 months, there was a 53% live birth rate. What's even more striking to me is that 47.2% of their patients had a previous diagnosis of unexplained infertility, but after their NaPro evaluation, only 0.5% were still unexplained! How cool is that? Actually having a diagnosis seems so much better to me than wondering what the cause could be.
Well, that's all for now--I'm off to get some sleep!
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