Category Archives: DE Cycle #1

East, meet West

Posted in Acupuncture, DE Cycle #1 by

Well, I had my first acupuncture appointment yesterday. It was sort of what I expected… but with a nice surprise.

In the waiting room, pictures of babies. Lots of them, in a book. A brag book of sorts, with letters from patients who were LIKE ME. Infertility flunkies. Used to disappointment, but very adamant that acupuncture was the key to their long-awaited pregnancies.

JD, acupuncturist extraordinaire, was very knowledgeable about his craft. He walked through my health history in more detail than an doctor ever did. Asked me about my “feelings” through my infertility journey. And gave me a starting tutorial on the yin/yang (pronounced “yong”.. who knew)? and the history of Chinese Medicine.

I found out my movement of Qi (pronounced “chee”) is less than optimal when it comes to my spleen (official Chinese diagnosis: deficiency of spleen Qi). Not to mention the probable affect of my heart/blood disharmony.

Have I lost you yet?

I have to admit, by the time I laid down on the very comfy table listening to the sound of the many “water features” (fountains) in the room, and the soothing music I was wondering what I had gotten myself into.

BUT, there was “something” my body reacted to when he began placing the needles. About 10 minutes in, I felt my body start to melt into the table. I would qualify the sensation as very, very, VERY relaxing.

Perhaps with my hectic life, I took advantage of lying on a table in such a serene environment and, just simply, “detached” and became relaxed. But after I rose from that table and walked out, I felt like I was walking on air.

Coincidence?

Time will tell. I have another appointment next Tuesday, and it appears I’ve finally found the magic bullet to at least zap that anxiety and tension out of my body, momentarily at least.

Whether it helps me in my DE cycle, who knows… but for now, I am feeling like this is a very good diversion.

Ancient Chinese Secret

Posted in Acupuncture, DE Cycle #1 by

Well, I made my first appointment for acupuncture next week.

I have to admit, I’m not totally sold on the concept, but I am willing to give it a shot because I am never one to not try something once.

I had a short phone consultation today, and the acupuncturist sounds like he sure seems to have Chinese medicine down to a science. His speciality is acupuncture for infertility, and he made reference to his clinical pregnancy rate of 75% (which my RE also references on their website). If 7 out of 10 women get pregnant under his care, then who am I not to give it a whirl?

I don’t know what acupuncture fees are like across the country, but I was surprised that his fees weren’t crazy expensive for my area. I had expected it would cost a lot more, but, hell I could be paying a lot and not even know it. To me, the money is secondary to the possibility of it working.

Let us not forget that my transfer from my IVF last August was horrific. If I can be relaxed through this one, it’s worth its weight in gold.

So, I am planning on once a week up until transfer. If this really agrees with me, I can do twice a week in the two weeks leading up to transfer. Acupuncture guy also will personally come to my RE’s office day of transfer and do a session before and after.

So… away we go.

And, in a last bit of good news, the donor has her psych eval next Wednesday! AHEAD of schedule.

We are on a roll…

Bullet… Dodged

Posted in DE Cycle #1, Illness by

Thank you for all the comments from yesterday. Today, I am happy to report that the shooting pain is gone… just a dull ache at this point. Still taking the super-dose of Motrin for just today, then I’ll back off and see if the pain is gone.

The doctor called yesterday, and the ultasound was negative. I feel like I dodged a major bullet there. Nothing like a life or death situation staring you in the face.

So the question remains, how does one have 48 hours of intense, repetitive (every 5 min) leg cramps if it isn’t DVT or trauma? Hell if I know, but if it comes back, I’ll be back to radiology for an MRI.

For now we do something I am so very good at… wait.

Speaking of waiting, amongst all this drama going on, the RE called me and said the donor got the “all clear”, medically speaking. Contagious diseases and STD’s are all negative. Nurse T said she wants the donor in for her psych eval within the next week or two as to not delay this any longer.

With any luck, I should be starting Lupron very soon.

And getting my official calendar of fun.

Hurry up and wait

Posted in DE Cycle #1 by

I honestly wish I could tell you this donor cycle is kicking off, but we are still in the rough patch of the waiting game.

The donor still isn’t done with the last task to get this moving forward. The sluggish pace is is not purely anyone’s fault alone… it’s a mixture of bad weather, rescheduled appointments, and the very specific step-by-step process that MUST FOLLOW a straight line.

The RE is done with all the required visits (consults, Day 3 testing, u/s, basic b/w last month), we are just waiting for the infectious disease blood work to come back (donor had blood draw yesterday). If the donor doesn’t pass that, then everything is for naught. The last (expensive) task was the psych appointment, which got pushed out because the last blood work got rescheduled.

I appreciate that the RE doesn’t want me to incur needless money by doing everything out of order (because if the donor flunks one test, it’s dunzo anyway)… but… I am getting a little anxious.

I realize that this is the nature of the beast, so to speak. The anonymous donor I chose is not with an agency (she is from my RE’s private list of local donors), so I am stuck waiting for a lot of the screening that would already be done if I had chosen from an agency. There is an upside, however, in that the cost out of my pocket is much less in the long run with the RE handling the show. Not to mention, this donor is ours alone… not a shared cycle with another recipient couple. And, we pay no travel expenses.

The downside is the state of limbo. I feel like a jilted girlfriend waiting by the phone for my boyfriend to call.

I spoke to the Donor Coordinator today, she was very adamant that I can bug her if I feel the communication isn’t quick enough. Basically, she’s to call me in a few days with the last b/w result. If it’s clean, then we move on to the last requirement, and the calendar commences posthaste.

Sigh.

We are so close to getting this show on the road. Please gather all the positive vibes you can and send them my way. I am feeling a little dejected.