I'm Just That Special

Last week I got yet another diagnosis that sucks. She tested me for such rare things since I've had so many miscarriages and nobody else had tested me. My lupus antibodies test came back positive and it looks like I have thrombophlia. We are still waiting for a couple more tests, but I'm hoping this is the end of it. Apparently I have autoimmune diseases on top of autoimmune diseases. Isn't that fab? Oh and apparently ivf and raised estrogen levels could have killed me with blood clots so at least i made it out alive. That's something.

The good news is that I can stay pregnant with treatment! It will just require lots of appointments and shots of heparin. That's in addition to all the labs I'll need for my thyroid. I'll essentially live at the doctor's office for my whole pregnancy. But, I don't care. Whatever it takes. Just leave it to me to have that "it's really rare but we should test it to cover our bases" disease.

Now we just have to get my body under control and save up some money because this shit is expensive! The chromosome testing alone was $2000! I have no idea what insurance will cover as far as the autoimmune testing, and I know they won't cover the saline sono. It's looking like we will owe around $4000 just for testing. Then we will either have a frozen or fresh ivf to pay for too. A frozen would be around $5000, and a fresh would be around $15,000 with meds. Ugh!! I would love to get off this roller coaster soon! 

In better news, my AMH was 8! So I have lots of eggs! I have to wait for my cycle to start before I can do my FSH and other 3 day labs. Then we will meet with her again and make a treatment plan.

OMG Finally

Since I started on my medicine I have lost 4 lbs. In just one week!! That makes 12 lbs gone. I've been struggling with counting calories, running, and gaining weight for 2 freaking years. No matter what I did it just wouldn't come off. I'm breathing such a sigh of relief that the medicine is helping in so many aspects. I feel so much better! I'm not so tired all the time, I'm losing weight, and my hair has stopped falling out! I'm so excited for this change! Now let's just hope it helps me stay pregnant! We still have several weeks to wait for test results, then the saline sono the next month, and I *might* get to do ivf in October. Of course starting in October means I won't transfer until late November. In a few weeks we will sit down with the doctor and map out a plan. For right now I'm just glad we seem to be headed in the right direction.

Terrified, but Hopeful

Today we sat down with a new doctor for over an hour and went over everything in my chart. It was honestly a very hard experience. Much more so than I thought it would be. We had to discuss every single miscarriage and all the gory details. We didn't even fully discuss treatments. It took us the whole hour plus some just to cover the past miscarriages and testing we need done. So today I had 15 vials of blood drawn. And it's just round 1. I have to go back on CD 3 for more. She is testing our chromosome compatibility, some clotting disorders, and some other autoimmune things. IF everything comes back fine from those then we will move forward with a fresh ivf cycle in several months. I have to get my thyroid level to be around 2 (tsh) for 30 days before we can cycle most likely. Also, we will do a different protocol. First I will have a saline sono to flush all old lining out of my uterus, then I will do a long lupron (God I hate lupron) cycle with a short stimulation period (9 days) with the goal of 15-20 eggs. I will also have to take steroids during my first trimester most likely in order to fight the autoimmune disorder. It's beyond overwhelming for me. I did not want to do another fresh cycle. I still wouldn't say I'm thrilled about it, but this woman is crazy smart and has ivf babies herself. She gives me hope. I'm slightly terrified of another ivf, ohss, another pregnancy, another loss... If anyone can make this work though, I believe it's her. 

Hashimoto's Disease

I got my thyroid results a few days ago, but it's just now something I understand enough to write about. I have Hashimoto's Disease. Essentially, my thyroid is shutting down because my body is attacking it. It's an autoimmune disease and I will deal with it for the rest of my life. The treatment is 1 pill a day and more diet restrictions than I can keep straight yet. I have to take my medicine first thing in the morning and then I can't eat for an hour after that. I also can't take any vitamins or anything with dairy for 4 hours. This is killing my breakfast because I always have a protein shake! I usually use almond milk, PB2, and whey protein. I don't know what to eat now!!

So for just a rundown of the basics, here's a list of things I can't have:
-Anything with gluten. Ever. Like ZERO.
-Soy
-Milk or almond milk within 4 hours of medicine
-Eggs within 4 hours of medicine
-Corn
-Grains

Things I should probably cut out but it will be a process:
-Dairy of any kind
-Nuts
-Beans
-Potatoes
-Sugar

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I can eat. I need to be able to do some sort of protein shake for breakfast, I'm just not sure how to go about that yet. The protein powder I usually use has a little bit of soy protein in it and I can't have the milk. I haven't asked about coconut milk yet but that could be a possibility maybe. I would still probably have to wait a good 2 hours before I could drink it though. Ugh. This process sucks. On the bright side, as soon as I get it under control then we can do another frozen IVF cycle! We have our consult with a new doctor on Tuesday!

Eh.. Random Crap

So... I killed my body media fit. Like, for reals. I forgot I had it on and got in the pool yesterday. Oops!! Oh well.

Still waiting on thyroid ultrasound results, still dieting, hoping to run today after a 2 week break because of moving. 

Oh and I found a new favorite food!! It's chicken, pineapple, sliced peppers, and Franks Red Hot sauce. Omg. Awesome. I 

Pictures

I love this kitchen

Our bathroom

I have a whole room to fold laundry!!

The kids foyer outside their rooms

Playroom... With its own balcony

Madison's room

(Still need to assemble that nightstand...)

Madison's bathroom area

Jacks bathroom area

Looking down from upstairs

Move Update

We are moved and mostly unpacked! I have about 4 boxes left, but they are holiday items and coats. I am so over this move right now so I'm glad it's done. 

Matt and I have matching splints now because after being in pain for several hours and thinking I had for sure broken something, I went to urgent care and I developed such bad tendonitis in my wrist that it was swollen and I have a lovely cyst there now. Fantastic. 

There was also some insurance confusion over my thyroid ultrasound that was scheduled for Friday so now I have to reschedule that as well.

But I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief that I'm no longer packing, unpacking, or cleaning for the first time in 6 weeks!

Blech

Still Sick, And Moving...