27 February 2013

Canceled

This cycle was officially canceled on CD22 (last Friday).  I went in Friday morning for a blood draw to check on my estradiol level - it was low on CD13, still low on CD16, slightly higher on CD18, and then plummeted again on CD22.  It never broke 100, which was definitely not a good sign.  My wimpy E2 has been the bane of my existence for a few months now.  I actually remembered to ask my NP if there was anything that could be done to help it improve, but she said the only way to help it would be to increase my Clomid dose next round and hope that my follicles grow faster.  Yay.

So now we’re pretty much back to square one, which totally sucks.  I have to admit, I wasn’t really feeling this cycle - it just didn’t feel the same as the ones when I actually did ovulate.  I was super surprised at my mid-cycle scans when we saw 2 growing follicles - I wasn’t expecting to see any good one, but of course they had to fizzle out and be disappointing, as usual.  At this point, I’m surprised when something good happens rather than the opposite.

Regardless of my low expectations, I’m still bummed that this cycle was such a waste.  We’re getting down to the wire - if I have a cycle in March, it will be our last chance to have a baby in 2013.

I like even numbers better anyway … :)

14 February 2013

Frustrated

With everything that’s going on right now, I could really use a win.  Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

On Saturday, B took our Prius to the dealership because we had gotten some recall notices.  Of course they found $1,200 worth of things that needed to be fixed up, including a $400 water pump that needed to be fixed immediately.  Awesome.  (The rest of that stuff includes some stupid things like replacing the spark plugs, so we’re going to put that off for a little while.)  As much as I love our Prius, I’m really tempted to just sell it.  I don’t want to deal with paying a bunch of money for all of that junk, we only use it on the weekends because B has a company car and I don’t drive … we could use the extra money from our car payment every month to pay student loans or improve the house … We’ll see what ends up happening with it.

After B finally got home from the dealership in his rental car, we took our cat to the vet.  She had a hernia on her left side from the day we picked her up from the humane society, and there was a new lump that had formed in front of the prior one, which worried us.  Our plan was for her to have surgery to have these problems fixed - she was dropped off Monday night, had surgery Tuesday afternoon, and she came home yesterday afternoon.  The surgery was more complicated than they had expected (both lumps were indeed hernias, but there’s a third that goes into her chest cavity.  It’s blocked off by some connective tissue that acts as a fat storage area, so we shouldn’t have to worry about it, but it’s something for us to keep in mind if she ever starts acting “off.”  Some of the connective fatty tissue was removed from the 2 hernias on her left side.)  She looks so sad and pathetic.  (They didn’t clean her up very well post-op, so she’s going to need a sponge bath eventually.  Maybe when she’s feeling a little better in a few days.)

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I haven’t seen her eat or drink anything since she came home, but she’s used the litter box, so I guess that’s a good sign.  I think the cone on her head is part of why she’s so mopey.  It can’t be fun.  She’s only had a partial dose of her pain medication - she fought really hard when I tried to give her a dose last night.  The girl hates medicine.  We have to take her back to the vet in a week and a half to have the staples removed, so I’m sure that will be a fun adventure also.

Before we picked the cat up from the vet’s office yesterday, we went to my clinic for my mid-cycle follicle scan.  This time, there were 2 follicles, but they were only 13mm and 12mm (on CD13).  I have another ultrasound appointment on Saturday (CD16).  I’m not sure how that’s going to go though, because the results from my E2 draw yesterday SUCKED.  We were looking for a 200 range, and my result was 56.  I’m so frustrated.  I really thought that being on the double dose of Clomid was going to make this cycle better.  Wrong again.  Urgh.  Hopefully I’ll have a chance to talk to my NP before the appointment on Saturday and we can figure out a way to help those numbers improve (if that’s even possible).

I kind of feel bad that I’m not in a very good mood on Valentine’s day.  I didn’t do anything special for either of my classes - I didn’t have the energy.  B and I don’t have anything too crazy planned for tonight either - we decided our lunch out yesterday would count as our special Valentine’s dinner, and we text messaged each other funny Valentine cards this afternoon - good enough for me.

Hopefully things start getting better soon … that would be nice.

08 February 2013

My husband is the greatest.  Over the weekend, he gave me the green light to order myself an early Valentine’s Day/Birthday combo gift - a Silhouette Portrait.  I’ve had my eye on Silhouette products for a while, but could never pull the trigger because I couldn’t justify spending $300 on my arts and crafts hobby.  Thankfully, the new Silhouette Portrait comes in at a much more reasonable price of $200, and thanks to shopping around and watching for sales, I was able to snag my fancy new toy for $160 from Overstock.com (free shipping!!).

UPS delivered the machine yesterday, just minutes after I had left for work, so I had to get through 3 hours of anticipation until I could start checking out my new toy.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to play with it.  B really wanted to catch up on TV last night because we had a night apart, so I installed the software, but didn’t have a chance to do much more than browse at all of the designs they have in the digital store and start putting together a wishlist.  I was lazy today and didn’t start playing with it until after noon, leaving me with not enough time to actually start cutting.  I did manage to fix an issue I was having, as well as add some free cut files that I’ve found via Pinterest.  We’re busy tonight and tomorrow as well, so I guess I’m going to have to wait until Sunday to play and cut and enjoy this new machine.

So far, I’m really impressed with my Silhouette Portrait.  It’s a nice size, the software isn’t too confusing, and customer support is efficient and friendly.  I’m definitely looking forward to the crafting adventures to come.

06 February 2013

I’ve been meaning to write a post about nothing in particular, but I’ve been having a hard time finding my voice. (Kind of ironic, because over the weekend, I nearly lost my actual voice from this stupid cold that I’m battling) I’m hoping the magic combination of inspiration and motivation will come to me sooner rather than later …