Okey dokey. After a nice few weeks at home and being able to live in our normal routine again, we were ready to knock out part two. Day one came and I made the much anticipated call to the clinic. It was on a weekend, so I got to leave a voicemail. “Hey, just calling because it is day one. Yaaaaaay (in my enthusiastic sarcasm). This is the ONLY time in my life that I have ever been excited about this stuff.” I knew what was up and all I had to do was start my new meds and carry on. Welcome to another round of hurry up and wait. I missed the call back, but got a reply voicemail. The amused nurse was excited about my “enthusiasm” and let us know that we needed to be in the doctor’s office on June 21. Time to sort out the travel plan.
The plans were set and the final preparations made. The doc detailed the dates from June 18-July 1st so that is what we were playing with. I was excited because that was way less time away from work which makes me happy. It was just over a week and we were on the road. Although we had been home for a month, it felt like deja vu. Overall the road trip was uneventful, but we did get to see a few grizzlies, which is always fun.
June 21, bring on the doctor. We were eager to find out what was going on and where we were at. I had been taking estrogen for the past 11 days, and the goal was to build up the lining of the uterus to the point where it was prime for some spaghetti sticking. It was good though, because I was starting to miss complete strangers shoving stuff up my hooha. The doctor showed me the dark abyss on the screen and I didn’t have a clue what he was going for. At least last time I could see the alien pods that were growing, but unless they throw some black lights up in there to light that $hit up then I got nothing. He said that my lining, which I will now refer to as my force field (just sounds cooler), was at 6.2 somethings….apparently it has to be at 8 somethings. I was told to up the estrogen intake and come back for a check in. Contrary to my level of patience, the next check up was 5 days away. 5 days!!!! What on earth was I going to do for 5 days? The doc wasn’t worried, so I had no reason to worry, all I had to do was wait this out. Hurry up and wait….
5 days later, we were back in the office for another poke and prod. At this point we were like, bring it. We were expecting to be at 8 somethings and told when the spaghetti was going to be thrown on the wall to see if it sticks. Unfortunately, my force field was not ready to roll. Apparently I did not watch enough Bridgette Jones or wear enough floral patterns to help push my estrogen levels to the necessary levels. The stupid thing is that last time, they were concerned with my estrogen levels being too high! But, that was on completely different meds. They were seeing how my body reacted on the meds used for this half of the process, and it apparently was more cautious than we would prefer. The doc wanted to wait a week! But after my wife and I simultaneously gave her the polite version of “Are you F’ing kidding me?” she adjusted it to 5 days. However, she told us not to get too excited because she didn’t think the force field would be in full force by then. My meds were up’d once again and we had to hurry up and wait once again.
Both of us walked out of that appointment defeated. I couldn’t help but think that maybe I did something wrong, maybe my diet or lack of water? My wife was devastated and as much as it was really out of my control, it was my body and therefore my guilt. We immediately proceeded to a Southern, soul food restaurant to eat our feelings and regroup. The next appointment was scheduled for the day before we were supposed to be home! Clearly we were going to be going over the allotted time. Not too mention, the cycle was coming to a close the following week and I had no idea how these meds affected that. Was my window closing? Were we going to have to cancel and try again because the window was closing? I just didn’t have the answers. I called and talked to one of the nurses and tried to see if we had another option. We lived so far away and I had to take valuable time away from work, could we not take a more aggressive approach and just knock this S!#t out? Yeah, the answer was a no from her, but she said talk to the doctor next time we were in. To complicate matters further, we had an escape to Vegas booked at the end of the next week. It was planned to be far enough to allow for contingency time, but not too far to take me away from work for too long. With a consistent 5 days in between these appointments, that week of contingency time is not looking so good. Seriously, we need a brain break so bad that Vegas would be great right about now. If it wasn’t for the fact that a babysitter was arranged for the pre-scheduled trip, we would just adjust to one of these unbearable waiting periods, but instead, we just wait…
On a positive note, I have been super open about this whole thing because essentially I just don’t care anymore. I understand why people keep it hush hush, because lets be honest, it is an emotional freaking gong show! Not only because of the hormones that are pumped into your body, but also the unpredictable way your body will respond. However, this open discussion has actually created an expected level of support. There are people that I have known for years that are opening up about their experience with it and we share many laughs about the completely insane things that we have, or are currently putting our bodies through.
Less than 48 hours until the next check in…fingers crossed for us! The hope is that we can throw that spaghetti in and still get our Vegas vacation. We will update accordingly. Happy thoughts, estrogen filled thoughts!!!
Adventures of Offspring 