BBB

Bad Blogger Becky. That's what I've been this week. It's been crazy since the end of our vacation, but here's the recap:

1) We left Quebec on Sunday to drive to Niagara Fall, supposedly a 9+ hour drive. We got going at 4am, and after a potential debacle getting out of our B&B parking lot, we found ourselves on the QEW (main highway that goes to the falls after 100 miles). Within 5 minutes of getting on the QEW, traffic came to a halt. Seems we weren't the only ones headed that way. Frankly, Niagara Falls isn't tops on my places to go to, so it was up to Paul to finally turn around, which he did not long after. We headed back to the highway that leads home and, after begging Paul to stop at a hotel for the night and the million refusals he gave in response, at just after midnight, we arrived safe and sound at home. It took 20 hours to get from Quebec to St. Charles, but we stopped a couple times and only had bad traffic in Gary, IN (no surprise). We were wiped out on Monday, but we did a lot of laundry and hung out at home finishing our vacation. The vacation was really spectacular, save for the drive there and back.

2) I found out why Les Miz was not what I was expecting. Apparently, in honor of the 400th anniversary of Quebec city celebration, the theater (where Les Miz was performed) commissioned to show an updated version of the musical. The story was the same, but the sets and songs were all changed. It was still a professional cast that starred in it, but that's all I really know. I'm still disappointed, but it's good to have an explanation. Now I just need to find that new soundtrack in French (hahaha). MAJOR KUDOS AND GOOD JUJU TO THE FIRST PERSON TO FIND IT FOR ME. I'm betting that my dad is already on google. ☺

3) On Wednesday, we met with yet another fertility doctor (Morris). He was recommended by my friend Leslie (who also gave us Dr. Miller's name). We went to see him and were surprised by what he had in mind: essentially, a whole new protocol. For those keeping track, that now makes THREE we have to choose from. It's called Low Dose HCG (the other 2 are the antagonist approach, and a high-dose FSH). My reaction: MERDE. We both liked Morris and his straight-forward approach, but I found him to be the least enthusiastic about us doing this again. That's not to say he wouldn't do it--he just didn't sound too upbeat about the whole process. I'm not either, so that works.

Anyway, his approach would completely take out both the Lupron AND the Menopur (the latter being one he said is potentially a contaminant...and also one that was used in the first 2 tries and would be used in the other 2 protocols). I really have to do a lot more research on this. I would be on a very high dose of FSH, followed by lowering it to a miniscule amount and starting with a low dose of the HCG.

I'm sure this is all alphabet soup to anyone reading it. Paul feels the same way, so don't think you're alone.

He told us of a few other protocols that exist, but if he were going to help us this time around, he would do the above-mentioned one. SO...now we have 3. And finding information on any of them isn't that easy. There is information out there, but on the internet, most of what's found is what everyone else has gone through and posted on message boards. I can't find many hard facts, so whatever we decide will be almost solely based on everyone's opinion.

I'll take time later to explain the typical process of IVF. I'm just too tired tonight.

4) In other news, Paul's computer took a nose dive off the nearest edge and died the other day. We went to a computer store in Naperville last night to shop for something new, and he found an HP at an affordable price (so much so that he bought one for his mom as well). He still isn't quite sure what made his crap out, but it's either the power supply, or errors in the registry. There are more details about what could be the cause, but I couldn't begin to explain them. Anyway, he spent a good portion of this morning putting things together, merging the 2, and figuring out the rest.

5) The last bit of news is Bailey (the dog). Wednesday, we had our doctor appt, then went to play cards with Busia (P's grandmother). We left the dog at home in her cage because we couldn't take her to the appt. We got home just after 9pm and let her out. She seemed very out-of-sorts and wasn't turning her head. She started yelping in pain shortly thereafter and, after a few moments of panic, we noticed that the problem appeared to be in her neck and shoulders. She wasn't limping, but just very stiff and shaky (almost like she might have been having muscle contractions). I almost took her to the emergency vet that night, but decided to hold off until the next day when I went into work.

The next morning, she was yelping even more than the night before. It was sooooo heartbreaking! She's had pain before but normally, there are few signs of it. She's never cried out like she was, even to the slightest touch. I took her into work at 8:30am, even though I wasn't due in until 12noon. I figured I'd give Lisa more time to look her over. I went back home and cleaned (we had 2 showings), then went back at noon. Lisa had checked her out and suggested x-rays and bloodwork, so those were done. Results: nothing out of the ordinary was found. She suspects it might be some sort of disc disease so, for the next 7-10 days, Bailey is on strict cage rest (no climbing or jumping either, which means we have to carry her in and out to the yard to pee and poop), a pain killer, steroids, and Pepcid AC (to protect her stomach from the steroids, which can be really hard on her). She has improved since then but not completely. Her head turns in both directions now, but earlier today I decided to test her and see if she could make the stairs. She did, but yelped on the way up, so no more stairs for a while.

I feel so bad for her. I should be used to this sort of thing, since I have a history of dogs with problems (they are my favorite kinds!). I'm glad she's on the way to being healed, but it's going to be a slow process. Tomorrow, we are going to Paul's sister's (to celebrate their dad's birthday) and we'll take Bailey, but she'll have to stay in a cage the whole time. Likely, we'll allow her to clean the kitchen floor, which is one of her all-time favorite things to do there, but after that, it's cage time.

So that's it on the homefront. I'm exhausted--it's after 11pm and Bailey had me up at 4:30am (neither of us could get back to sleep), and I have a feeling she'll be up again tomorrow morning at the same time. I'm sleeping on the couch tonight (Paul has a horrendous cold and snores too much for me to get any sleep), so I won't leave her in the cage. She'll now have more direct access to getting me up at the crack of dawn. GREAT.

This was a long post! Sorry about that, moreso because I'm sure most of it is boring. It's nice for me to have a journal to look back on though.

Enjoy the warmth while it lasts!!