May 20, 2009

What to Say?

I've decided it's time to kick the last post's title off everyone's blogroll, but I haven't been able to figure out exactly what to say. I've started several posts and saved them as drafts, but they all feel very convoluted and scattered to me.

I know I've been relatively quiet since the great micro array results from a couple of months ago. The reason is, a few weeks after the results came in, I had a follow up consult with RE that kind of threw me for a loop.

I figured given that we have 19 embryos to work with, we'd give me a shot with at least 6 to 8 of them before contemplating surrogacy. However, RE says if I have one more miscarriage, he'll recommend surrogacy at that point. That was a bit of a shock - I just wasn't expecting to be facing a "one more strike and you're out" kind of scenario with so many embryos on deck.

So, I decided to take the ostrich approach while I processed that. I didn't do anything infertility (or thyroid) related in April. I just chose to ignore the whole darn thing.

Of course, ignoring it can only last for so long, so last week I finally did get around to making an appointment with a new endocrinologist. That will be in the first week of June. A co-worker who also has thyroid issues recommended her. She's a young doctor (finished residency in 2007) and had a baby a few months ago. Co-worker said, "Maybe that will make her more sympathetic to your situation." I hope so.

Generally I prefer doctors who have had at least 10 years of private practice experience, but at this point I figured, why not give her a try? She can't be any worse than the endo who told me he wouldn't do anything to treat me until I start to show signs of congestive heart failure. Yes, that's right - he wants me to develop an irreversable heart condition before he'll take action to treat my thyroid condition. Infertility or not, he's out of his mind if he thinks I'm going to wait until that point before getting my thyroid addressed.

On a happier front, now that I understand what's going on with my thyroid, I think I've gotten the hang of managing my eating in a way that is helping me lose weight. I'm significantly upping my food intake when I feel the hyper signs, then as soon as I feel myself swinging to the hypo side, I start popping Synthroid for a few days and switch to eating salads for the last two meals of the day.

So far, I've lost 16 pounds in the last three months. There's still a looong way (weigh? - sorry, couldn't resist) to go, but at least I'm moving in the right direction.

Other than that, R and I are thankful we're both still employed, which is definitely never a sure thing in this economy, and we've embarked on a new (hopefully tear-free and heartbreak-free) adventure: we're buying our first investment property. It's amazingly nice to have a goal that doesn't involve needles and wand dates.

Once I manage to edit my other ramblings into semi-coherent thoughts, I'll post those too. But I'm starting the next semester of school next week (two classes this time - what was I thinking??), so I probably still won't be a super frequent poster. Looking at the syllabuses (syllabi?) for each class, I think I have about 200-250 pages of reading each week. Yikes!

6 comments:

Josée Martens said...

I hope your new thyroid doc will be more open to working with you.

Also, didn't you consider intralipids or IVIG? I know the super clinic doesn't believe in that. Nor do they do the lovenox/heparin stuff, but are you looking into that too. One chance before surrogacy surprised me too. Has he offered a reason for what could be off in the uterus? I am wishing you all the best. When will you cycle then?

DAVs said...

I'm surprised at that 'one last chance' thing.

I didn't realize you were having so many issues with the thyroid. What's going on specifically, if you don't mind me asking. I work in endocrinology--but mostly I deal with thyroid cancer and lipid issues. Just curious.

I wish this were easier on all of us. We're all just due for some good luck,eh?

kayjay said...

It's always so hard when someone tells you that you have just one more shot at something and then that's it. Kaput. Done. However, in your case, you do have quite a number of normals to play with so I wouldn't be so quick to jump on the surrogacy train if you feel that you want to try again. GL with your decision

MrsSpock said...

Sometimes a new doc fresh from a residency might be up on all the latest research, so who knows- maybe she'll have an idea what to do...

I, too, would not be very keen on waiting until CHF kicked in to mess around with a thyroid. Sheesh.

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