Happy (?) April

I'm so sick of this weather I could spit. Today, it's pouring down rain and the weather people said it was supposed to get up to 60 today. I don't mind rain (when it's warm), but don't tell me at 7am that it's going to be 60 when it's barely 40. This weather sucks.

Tonight is my last birth control pill. Yippee! They're not that bad, but they do make me a little sick to my stomach. I've been taking them at night before bed, but the effects still wear on through the day. I get hungry, then can't really eat much. That's not to say I haven't eaten! Make no mistake...my sweet-tooth is very much intact.

Thursday, I start taking Lupron. This time around, it's a micro-dose that I take for 10 days, but instead of waiting 2 weeks to start the other drugs (like I did last time), I'll start them on day TWO. That's quite a change, but a welcome one. I can't believe we only have a couple more weeks of this before an embryo transfer (provided I produce enough eggs). If anyone remembers the first time around, there was some controversy over whether to transfer the embryos 3 days after the harvest or 5 days after. Paul and I didn't even realize what an issue this was until we were faced with it, but there's a lot of talk out there about the pros and cons to each. We had ours at day 3 the first time but this time around, they'll wait until day 5. If we have embryos survive to that day, we have a better chance of them actually sticking around a while. But the risk in waiting is that they may not make it. We grappled with this the first time but this time, I'll take the risk.

Bailey (the dog) is having some sort of issue. Yesterday, we were visiting the Hall family when she suddenly had a seizure. It wasn't a big, dramatic-filled one where she flopped around, but it was remarkable enough that it scared the shit out of me. She was shaking and couldn't stand or walk, and her jaw was clamped shut (or so it seemed...we didn't try to open it, but it just looked stiff). The whole incident lasted less than 10 minutes and afterwards, she was as good as new. I'm worried now that there have possibly been more of these that we just haven't seen, which is entirely too possible. You can bet I'll be keeping a sharper eye on her now. I'll take her with me to work tomorrow to watch her (and have Dr. Lisa take a gander).

The house has been on the market for a week now (we finally have a sign!!). There have been ZERO calls though. I didn't really expect any, but it's still a little disappointing. We're having the carpets cleaned this week, then a maid service in next week to do a thorough cleaning. Our first open house will be April 13th. We'll probably have more after that (on our own, since Dawn lives too far to do them often). I have been spotting some on the internet that look interesting as well, but we're not going to buy anything until ours is sold. In fact, we're not planning much of anything until ours is sold (no vacation, nothing like that).

That's the latest. I'm off to school to get ready for class tonight. Enjoy this pitiful excuse for spring. I hope the weather is better in other parts of the world! (I say that like there might actually be people reading this who either aren't related to me or who live outside the Chicago suburbs....). :)

Up and running!

THE HOUSE IS OFFICIALLY ON THE MARKET!! Ugh, after months of packing and cleaning and fixing and replacing and painting and rearranging and storing, it's finally where I've worked so hard for it to be. Dawn (my sister-in-law) listed it last night (MLS #06838897, if anyone's interested) and now we'll just wait. For some reason, my family seems to think that Paul and I expect to sell this in 2 weeks. I'm not sure where they got that CRAZAZY idea, but no, we will consider ourselves VERY lucky to sell it in 6 months. We won't be surprised if it takes more than a year (of course, we won't be happy about this!). Make no mistake--we're under no illusion that this will be a quick sell.

For those who haven't heard the news, Paul's sister, MariaElena, has now been diagnosed with TWO cancers, breast and Hodgkin's disease. In a bizarre twist, what turned out to be (what everyone thought) was one, has been found to be 2, now making things more interesting (not in a good way). The doctors, while doing the normal scans, found things lit up in her lymph nodes that seemed unusual. After a thymus gland-ectomy last week, the Hodgkin's was discovered. Those of you that know of my friend, Michelle...it's the same cancer as hers (which, BTW, she still has after almost 6 years). Thankfully, despite the double diagnoses, they seem to have caught everything very early, especially the Hodgkin's (this isn't normally found until something else [tumor, etc] develops, but in ME's case, it was found long before that). Her outlook on all of this is good, though everyone is a bit scared--it's not common to have 2 cancers so there's not much information out there about it. Each cancer responds differently to different treatments. No one's really sure what the next step will be (hopefully, the doctors know!!). If you'd like to follow along with what she's going through, her site is here.

Between the house, MariaElena, and the IVF, life in the Iacopetti house is quite active. I'm trying to find moments of peace, which aren't really hard to come by, now that I'm not teaching in the mornings. Paul is having a tougher time though. He's trying to be the strong one for everyone else, but still crumbles underneath it all. I wish we had put off the IVF, but he insisted on going through with it. I guess it really doesn't help anyone to put aside anything. Life just has to go on as normally as possible.

Many have asked how Kate is doing. She just passed her 12 week mark and things look good! The kids have accepted this so easily--they have no problem asking questions, and Kate and Rob are good at explaining and making sure they understand. It's easier with them than with the adults since the kids won't judge her. They just accept it. A very simple concept, really. Anyway, aside from some meat-related repulsion, she's doing pretty well!

If you know anyone interested in buying a house in St. Charles, send 'em my way! :)

A load of HOOEY!!

EEEE-GADS I hate this weather. So we're going to get 6" of snow overnight tonight and into tomorrow? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ALL ABOUT??! First day of spring, my ass.

I started drugs this past Monday night. The current birth control pill is kicking my heiny this time around. UGH. My stomach is upset and I generally feel like crap. I developed a headache at work today that I still haven't gotten rid of (not sure if it's related--I thought it might be sinus-related, but my Excedrin Sinus Headache medicine isn't kicking in...). I keep reminding myself that I only have 11 days more of this pill, then I'm done. Looking VERY forward to that.

I had an experience at work today. Actually, a couple. One woman came in with her guinea pig and brought her 2 small kids, who were apparently very sleep-deprived. There were tantrums and fits being thrown all over the place (the kids were 4 and 2) and after they left, I jokingly said I was going to discontinue my IVF drugs. :) A little while later, another woman came in with her dog and 2 kdis (ages about 9 and 2) and wouldn'tcha know it, the 2 year old melted right there in the waiting room. I'm not sure what was in the air today, but it wasn't much fun.

On the flip side of things was Lucky, a little 13 year old Yorkshire terrier who came in to have his 5 little teeth cleaned and ended up having them all pulled. To say he was pathetic was an understatement! This little guy made Kim (a co-worker) and me drool (funny, because he was drooling the whole time)--we just fell in love with him! I was holding him all afternoon and at one point, had to go get some actual work done, so I put him in the pocket of my scrubs top. Check this out....

UGH! He was just so stinkin' cute!!

I'd like to wish anyone who reads this a very Happy Easter! Paul and I will be spending the holiday at his mom's for dinner. This is one holiday that I don't often spend with my family--we all do our own thing. I hosted it a couple times at the condo before Paul, but enjoys spending this holiday with his family, so that's ok with me. Really, the only holiday we "fight" over is Thanksgiving (it's not really a fight, but he doesn't particularly enjoy shuffling between both families....I'm ok with it though).

HAPPY EASTER!!

B.

Jumping in, head first

There is nothing like getting up in the morning and NOT having to rush to be somewhere! I'll have no problem getting used to this. That's not to say I'm not working--I am, and I still have 3 other jobs, but no more the 8am class, or having to leave at 6:30am to get there (did I ever have to leave that early?). I can now do laundry, clean the house, empty the dishwasher...all the things I've neglected for the past 10 weeks. Thank goodness I have a husband who doesn't mind playing housewife. :)

Last night, I started the first of many drugs for IVF. I'll be on a birth control pill for 2 weeks. It seems so ironic to be taking these, but I understand why. Funny that I've NEVER needed to be on them in the past, I'm only on them when I'm trying to get pregnant. Tee hee! Anyway, April 3rd or 4th starts the next drug, Lupron, then 2 days later, I start the whole barrage of drugs--Gonal, Menopur, then eventually the progesterone (shots in the butt). I'm SO glad we waited to start this again...I could not have done this while in school.

I ran a bunch of errands this morning, now I'm off to work this afternoon. The relief of not having to grade online workbooks or prepare for class tomorrow is so nice!! I feel like I can finally breathe again!

B.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Yes, it's true. I'm DONE DONE and DONE teaching at NCC!! I still have papers to grade, but that's minor. I'm so stinkin' excited I can't stand it. It felt sooooooooooo good to walk out of there today! I just can't believe these last 10 weeks are finished.

No sooner had I gotten out of school when we had an appointment with the fertility doctor to discuss what's coming up. If all goes as scheduled (i.e. Aunt Flo arrives tomorrow), I'll start on the pill in a week or so. The heavy drugs start at the beginning of April, then the transfer will be sometime in mid-April. Hopefully, this will go smoothly because I have a lot of showers, weddings, and birthday parties to attend in April, May, and June! Any change to the schedule could mess something up. The plan this time around is much different than the first time I did this (besides being at a whole new facility!). In a nutshell, I'll be on some drugs for a significantly shorter amount of time (those would be the ones that suppress everything), and other drugs FULL BLAST (those would be the ones that stimulate everything). They are maxxing me out on one of them. Pretty scary stuff. One that I did before (the coochie progesterone) will now be a shot in the butt, which doesn't thrill me. Paul better not pull a Rob and hit me in the sciatica.

The meeting went well overall and everyone seems very positive. I don't think I'm either positive or negative, just more realistic. I don't know if this will work--I'd like to think it would and, of course, I'll be ecstatic if it does, but honestly, I won't be surprised one bit if it doesn't. I'm not really expecting it to, given our horribly low odds for success. I'll be pleasantly surprised if it does though!

Gotta go grade something now. WOO HOO! Ugh, it feels so good to be done with that place!!




B.

1 week...OH YEAH...1 week...and 2 days.

Everybody sing now....1 week! OH YEAH! 1 week! Only ONE (count 'em...ONE!) week left of classes at NCC. I'm not counting the 2 days of finals next week--those will be easy, comparatively. Actually, it hasn't been a difficult term, but I'm still very much looking forward to NOT being there. And much to my surprise...I was asked to return next year. I thought he (the dept chair) was kidding, but no, he wasn't. I declined with much glee. I'm still happy that I've finished my work there on a relatively high note.

We are almost done getting the house ready! I finished the basement this week. That was monumental. There are still projects that Paul needs to finish, but he's planning to take 2 days off work this week to get them done. I'm not really happy about him using vacation time, but there was only so far I could push him to get things done. I feel confident that they'll get done when he's home. That makes our market date next weekend and I couldn't be happier!!

All the other jobs are going well. At the vet clinic this past Thursday, there were 2 euthanasias--one on a 19 year old cat (it was definitely time), and the other on a 7 year old Rottweiler mix that really didn't need it. I tried to talk Lisa (the doctor) into just knocking him out, reviving him, and letting me take him home, but she couldn't. The owner was distraught, but not willing to hear that it might be too soon. And I've learned that as hard as it is to have ones own animal put down, it really isn't much easier when it's someone elses. A lot of tears were shed.

Teaching at WCC is going pretty well, except it seems that everytime Monday rolls around, the weather is hideous and students don't want to come to class. It's hard for me to accept the weather excuse when I myself have had to drag my butt there. I have been letting them out early for all but one class so far. Kind of stinks, but that's really the only stinky thing about it.

IVF starts at the end of this month. Ahhh, the pills, the shots, the coochie ultrasounds....I wish I could say I can't wait, but for that, I can. Oh well. Hopefully, the end result will be successful!!

I'll post pictures of the house when we're finished....one of these days.....



B.