September 07, 2008

Still Plugging Along

First of all, thanks to all of you who commented about R and his heart issue.

R had the EP study done last month, and he got the defibrillator. The way the EP study was done, his cardiologist injected a medication to see how easy it would be to trigger cardiac arrest. The cardiologist had only injected about 20 percent of the medication he was planning to inject when R arrested, so the doctor felt it was clear that R needed the defibrillator, and he implanted it right then.

Thankfully, R's recovery has gone very well. The pain is almost all gone, and the bruising is gone. This particular doctor implants the device as if it was a pectoral implant, so R now looks very buff on his left side. The doctor (and the rest of us) have teased him that he will need to focus on working out his right side now so that he is even.

The biggest change for him has been mental - adjusting to the idea of being a "cardiac patient." The morning after his procedure, while I was down in the hospital cafeteria getting myself breakfast, a cardiac rehabilitation specialist came by to talk to him. When I got back, he said, "But it's not like I'm a 60-year-old with a pot belly who just had a heart attack!" During his follow-up appointment at the cardiologist's, we were the only people in the entire waiting room under the age of 65, except for one guy about our age who was there as his grandmother's ride. All the other patients kept looking at us, no doubt wondering what we were doing there.

His restrictions (no driving, no lifting more than 10 pounds) will end on Oct. 1, and we'll likely be out of state at our clinic later that month for the next cycle. Right now I'm just waiting for CD1 to show up so that I can start the BCPs. It should happen toward the end of next week, but I had some spotting last week, so I don't know if it will happen next week or if my body is on another wildly irregular cycle. If it doesn't happen by CD35, I'll do a round of progesterone withdrawal to induce it.

Our new RE is cutting my stim meds in half - I'll be starting with 75 units of Gonal F and 75 units of Menopur per day. I know that sounds insanely low to most cyclers, but during our last cycle I started out on 300 per day and wound up with 32 eggs. (And 17 embryos and 0 babies.)

Given that I am R's chauffer for the next month and that I really want to focus on the cycle, I began taking steps last week to scale back my second job (real estate). I'm hoping that by the end of this week, I will have reduced my load in that area by at least 50 percent. I'm also hoping that means I will have more time to blog again. I've needed the space from it - and really, from all things infertility - but it's time to step back in again.

Here's hoping for a relatively uneventful autumn.

6 comments:

Josée Martens said...

Oh my goodness, you two have had a lot on your plates. Thanks for popping by my blog. Praise God for modern medicine. Can you imagine where we would be without it?! I am very moved by your story and am so glad your hubby has the defibrillator. Amazing invention huh? Just amazing. And good luck with your upcoming cycle. Just so you know (based on your comment), I am the one that pushed to have my thyroid tested. CCRM did NOT ask for that test nor did they show interest in my thyroid before that. I felt funny and asked them to add it to my bloodwork. The best guide is your gut. TRUST it always. :-) With all this stuff, wouldn't it be cool if your children were doctors who made other people's life better and happier and fuller too! It would be full circle and beautiful. Anyhow, I wish them on you.

Joy said...

I am glad that you husband is recovery nicely. I can only imagine how scary that was.

Wishing you lots of success with your upcoming cycle!

DAVs said...

Hey thanks for commenting on my blog. That's funny about your Sophie-cat...and we're the same age, too.
We'll be at CCRM in late October--travel date is 10/25. My stim doses are HIGH--b/c I'm doing the micro flare protocol. We'll see....I keep seeing everyone else's doses low so I'm nervous. It's hard not to trust, eh?

But I'm so glad your DH is doing better! Believe me, although it might feel like it, he's not the only young heart patient. I have a few myself.

An uneventful autumn sounds good--I agree with scaling back work. I got tired of everyone telling me to relax and so I ended up scaling way back on work and you know what? It's awesome :)

Anonymous said...

De-lurking to say that I am glad your husband has the defibrillator and all went well. I also wanted to add my empathy about being the youngest people in the cardiologist's office. I was diagnosed with my heart condition at 17 (I'm 33 now) and I have ALWAYS been the youngest in the waiting room. After my heart surgery in 2004 I was in a hospital room with someone who was probably 2 1/2 times my age. I get stared at whenever I go to the doctor (never more so than when I was pregnant). You get used to it though...

Good luck with your upcoming cycle!

MrsSpock said...

Good luck with this cycle- I'm glad the husband made it through the procedure OK.

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