More meds added to the pile

First, a question, so how do I refer to the last cycle, which sort of wasn’t a cycle since it was canceled. Is it IVF #5 and the next try is #6, or is it not b/c it was canceled and the next one is #5????? Minor detail, but it’s bugging me nonetheless.

So I finally talked to my nurse today about our next cycle and I’m partly pleased to have a plan and partly annoyed. After leaving a message for her late Friday, she called me back this morning. Only it turns out she hadn’t yet talked to the doc about me, so she promised to call me back. Before we hung up though I asked her if she could ask the doctor for an explanation of why he didn’t end up putting me on Metformin as he’d indicated back in October (just before I found out I was pregnant). I assumed it had something to do with my getting pregnant and some overall shift in plans given that event, but I wanted an actual explanation. About 30 minutes later the nurse calls me back and says that he DOES want me to start metformin (gee, glad I asked!) and that I’ll need to be on it for a month before we do another cycle. So I’m annoyed and frankly, my confidence in the doc is shaken a bit, since he clearly forgot all about the metformin. Plus, having to wait means we’ll likely face retrieval and transer at the end of April—a particularly bad time for my husband given some work commitments. Obviously, we could choose to wait yet another month (ARGH! – I’m not exactly a patient person and I’m pushing 39, so I really don’t have time to lose on this business), which would put us sometime around the end of May. So the new plan is yet more blood work to make sure I’m ok to start the metformin. If ok, start metformin with my next period. My nurse also emailed me my drug plan and it looks like he’s keeping me on Follistim, but adding some menopur to the mix. More fun and games!

On the other hand… While I’m not thrilled about a one or possible two month delay, I do think it might be good to have the time to focus on me a bit. Though I’ve complained a lot about my weight I decided I’m not going to go on a “diet”. However, I am trying to focus my energy on avoiding junk food, eating lots of healthful foods, and NOOOOO soda. In fact, I’ve been totally soda free for 6 days. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen last night filling snack sized ziplocs with healthy foods. Dried apricots, almonds, pumpkin seeds, peeled and cut up carrots, cherry tomatoes, dried cherries and cranberries (unsweetened thank you very much), All bran buds. I have about a two week supply, so that I can just grab my assortment of baggies and yogurts as I run out the door to work every day. I also made an enormous fruit salad and planned healthy dinners for the whole week. Fortunately, my daughter actually loves tofu, lentils and a variety of vegetables, so it’s not too hard to plan healthy meals that we can all eat together. In addition to the healthful eating, I am going to get back to the gym too. Having gone twice last week, I’m hoping to get there at least 4 times this week. Also, next week my daughter is heading out of town with my in-laws to go visit her beloved cousins. She is constantly begging us to go visit them, but it’s either a plane ride or 10 hours in the car, so it doesn’t happen too often. She is so thrilled to be going and I’m excited for her. I’ll miss her, but I am looking forward to having the extra time to focus on myself. I can work late (hopefully get caught up!) and then go to the gym, all without having to worry about racing out the door to get to school on time. Starting any new regime is always difficult for me, so I think having a week that’s a bit less hectic will help me get into the swing of things.