And It Only Get's Busier...

Whew! What a week this has been. Yesterday was completely non-stop as far as infertility treatment goes. It started with filling and starting our prescriptions for antibiotics and my birth control pills on Tuesday. Then I got a call from the fertility pharmacy later in the day confirming my insurance and filling me in on my estimated start date of June 8th (whoops!) Wednesday my RE's nurse called to set up my date for going over our IVF calendar and drugs, which ended up being the very next day. So on Thursday for my lunch hour I speed over to their office and met with my nurse. She flew through the calendar so fast I thought my head was going to spin. So when she asked me if I had any questions, my only response was, "can you repeat that one more time?"

And to make things more fun I used the last few minutes of my break to swing by a local pastry shop and pick up a treat for a going-away party at work (which I totally slacked on doing the night before). And I arrived only 5 minutes over my break time, I'm so impressed with myself.

Later in the day the pharmacy called with my fee for the drugs. She told me that my insurance didn't cover two of the drugs: Bravelle and Novarel. And then she told me how much it would cost us. I made her repeat it three times because of the sticker shock. I was totally not expecting to pay close to $2,000. When I talked to my prescription insurance company they said that they cover almost 100% depending on the drugs. My RE picked the only two drugs that they don't cover, and it's a really expensive conflict. But at that point there was no way I could fix it because we were running into the weekend and it would mess up getting my drugs on time. Since the fertility pharmacy called me past my RE's office hours I could not get anything fixed until Friday and the shipment would hit the weekend. It completely stinks but I keep thinking that it could still be worse, I could have no drug coverage and have to pay for everything out of pocket. Sigh. Friday (today) I set up my work days so I would be all set for the next few weeks and be able to get to all the appointments. So we're ready to go for IVF.

In the meantime, Hammer and I decided that what we need is a weekend get away. Our five year anniversary is June 12. So we made plans to head to Mac.kinac Island for the lilac festival that weekend. And I am stocking up on fudge. (They make the BEST fudge there!) So even though it seem extravagant to drop a ton of money on IVF and then head out on a vaca, life has been so stressful lately that we think it's well worth it.

Current Meds: BCP (week 1), antibiotics (1 week dose)
Side Effects: nausea in the morning
Days Post Transfer: 0
# Eggs Transfered: 0
# Eggs Frozen: 0

The IVF Ball is Rolling

I just got a call from a pharmacy confirming my insurance so that they can put in my order for IVF meds. I've gone from excited, to scared, back to excited. The girl on the phone stated that my anticipanted start date was June 8, ahhhh!!! My clinic didn't even tell me that information yet. I feel like a kid in a candy store, I can't focus on anything because I'm out of my mind with raw excited emotion. I know they put in an earlier date to ensure you get your meds but still, it's exciting!

I have such a strong peace and assurance about this cycle. Maybe it's all in my head but I really do feel like this is it for us. Even my whole family agrees. With everything that has happended with my dad we have been even more connected spiritually to God's leading than usual and everyone is feeling positive about this for us. My dad even said to me, "Now once I get out of the hospital you need to get back on track for doing IVF. I believe that it's the right time now." I do hope that these feelings are right.

P.S. I'm going to get to my honest scrap award here in the next day or so. I've been so busy trying to catch up on my house since being MIA for a month I haven't had time to just chill and blog for a while. Hang in there!

Current Meds: BCP (week 1), antibiotics (1 week dose)
Side Effects: mild nausea in the morning
Days Post Transfer: 0
# Eggs Transfered: 0
# Eggs Frozen: 0

Sisterhood Award

Now that Daddy Hammer is resting safely back at my parents home I'm catching up on a little R&R for myself. Which means catching up on reading all your blogs and finally responding to my awards.

So to start us off I'd like to give a big shout out to osuraj at Anything's Possible who nominated me for the Sisterhood Award! She has been such a great bloggy friend and supporter. Send her some positive vibes, love and prayers her way as she and her DH get ready to do a FET next month.

The guidelines for this award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude and/or gratitude. Be sure to link to your nominees in your post. L
3. Let your nominees know they have received the award by leaving them a comment on their blog.
4. Be sure to link this post to the person who nominated you for the award.

And the nominees are......

Bouncing Buckeye Baby

Hoping For Our Own Peanut

IVF Infertility

Making Me Mom

Oh baby!

Where's Baby

My Heart's Testing

Babymaking 101

Not So Newlywed

And my two new followers (Welcome Ladies!)

Waiting On a Miracle in God's Timing

There is a Light at the End of This Tunnel

So I know that makes 11 but the more the merrier, right?

The Big Day Is Here!

Daddy Hammer will be going home today!!!!!!!!!  After almost one whole month in the hospital we have word that he will be discharged home today.  He will still have about two months worth of recovery and trips to the local heart rehabilitation facility but that will be the easy part.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.  You are a wonderful group of women and I'm so thankful to have the privilege to experience the support of your compassionate hearts for one another in a time of need.

 

On the fertility front, Hammer and I are going to pay our deposit to start IVF this month!  So as soon as AF gets here we can get this show on the road.

 

Successful Surgery

Yesterday God gave us all so much peace about Daddy Hammer's surgery. Even he was calm as they transported him up to the surgical pre-op room. It was that peace that passes all understanding which gave us full confidence that Daddy Hammer would be alright. At 11:45 he went into his 2 1/2 hour surgery. We sat in the cardiac waiting room and about 2 hours into the procedure we got a phone call that Daddy Hammer had come off the heart/lung machine right away and they were closing up. When the surgeon came in to see us he was all smiles. He said that Daddy Hammer had done wonderful and that he was very, very happy with how everything had went. They ended up doing 5 bypasses instead of the expected 3 which was a bit of a shock. But the doctor said that he wanted to make sure that he never needed to come back in for a tune up.

My mom was able to go in and see him for only 20 minutes because they have such big restrictions on post-op visiting on the first day. She said he looked really good for having just gone through major surgery. And she gave the seal-of-approval for his nurse. After that they have you go home and give you phone call updates. At 10 pm we got our update that he was waking up and doing excellent with expectations of getting him off the ventilator in the next few hours. This was our biggest hurdle because of our last ventilator experience. For us this was the test of how he would do recovery wise. He was extubated at midnight (praise the Lord!) Then at 8 am my mom was able to talk to him on the phone. We were so excited for when they would give us the green light to go in and see him. When we got to see him he was sitting up in a chair. It was wonderful to see just how God had prepared him to have a successful surgery.

The Big Day is Here

Sorry for the hiatus but I've been spending my evenings with my dad and away from my laptop. It's been wonderful! Even though it has been a rough week of chest tubes and getting a 1/2 gallon of fluid off of my dad's right lung it has done worlds of good for him. He has made great recovery strides and is now ready for his surgery tomorrow. I have enjoyed the extra time with him, catching him up on the weeks he's missed, and having our whole family together again.

On a cool side note, when my dad had his cardiac attack he was out training for the biking Cure de Tour for diabetes with a local company team. My dad was diagnosed with Type I diabetes when he was just 16 years old so it is near and dear to our hearts. We found out today that the team made my dad the Honorary Co-captain of the team and they are biking in his honor. They had reached their original goal of $10,000 in donations and are now adding an additional $5,000 that will be specifically donated in my dad's name.

My dad's surgery time is not nailed down yet but will be either at 7:30 am or 11:45 am if you would like to pray for him and the skills of the surgeon who will be doing the surgery. Thank you all so much for lifting up my family in prayer these last few weeks!

On a fertility note: We are in the last week of the two week wait. Hammer and I will make a decision about IVF after this weekend when we see how Daddy Hammer does. We may start the process in about a weeks time or hold off one more month until all the stress decreases a bit around here.

Change of Plans

My dad took the weekend to work on regaining his strength. By Sunday he was booking it around the floor with the aid of my brother. His biggest remark was, "It's incredible how weak you get after lying around for two weeks." He is incredibly motivated to get back to normal. His only complaint was a pain in his back on the right side. My family were all worried that he had not seemed to regain his lung capacity in time for the Monday surgery.

Last night around 11 pm Hammer and I prayed that the doctors would have the wisdom to know if dad's lungs were ready. Immediately after we prayed those words the phone rang and it was my mother. The Pulmonologist had just received the chest xray and noted fluid around my dad's right lung. He recommended to cancel surgery in order to evaluate the fluid and put in a chest tube. It was an answer to my prayers. At 1 am daddy Hammer went for a CT scan and then at 8:30 am he had a chest tube placed. While it is incredibly painful for him they were able to take off over 1800 of fluid (which is a lot). If this had not been resolved before surgery he may not have been able to come off the vent again or they could have punctured the fluid during surgery and created a major infection. His surgery has been postponed until this resolves until Wednesday or Thursday. God continues to show us that he is watching over my dad through out this ordeal.