Catch-Up

I took Friday off of work (Marc already had it off, since it was an off-Friday for him). In the morning, we drove to San Ramon to attend an IVF class. Some of you (maybe most of you, there aren't that many people that read this!) already know that we're planning on starting IVF treatments soon. It's not for infertility reasons, but rather for genetic reasons (I won't go into details on this blog, but if anyone has questions, feel free to e-mail me). I'll just say that Marc and I are both fine, but there's no way of knowing if the baby would be if it inherited the gene.

So why IVF? There's a procedure called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) that involves biopsing (by removal of a single cell) the embryos at a very early stage. The DNA from that cell is then analyzed to determine if it contains the mutated gene or not. Then only the ones that are normal can be selected and transfered to the uterus.

We've already started the process, and right now we're waiting for the genetics lab to get their test ready. Every test they do has to be custom made for each couple, so it's a bit of a process. We don't know yet how long it's going to take. Could be a few weeks, could be as many as 12. Once they let our IVF clinic know, we'll be able to start the actual IVF treatment.

So the class we went to on Friday was to go over all the medications and injections. There are a LOT, more than I expected. It looks like 2-3 weeks of injections before they do the egg retrieval, and then another 2 weeks after they do the transfer. At some point, it looks like I'll be getting three medications at once, although thankfully two of them can be combined into one shot. Most of the needles are small, but there are two weeks of daily progesterone injections that are given with a big needle. I'm not looking forward to it, but if it all works out, it'll be worth it.

Luckily it looks like my insurance is going to cover part of this (thanks to my company for forcing me to switch from my HMO, which didn't have coverage). For our case, we pretty much have the most expensive IVF route, so we're definitely fortunate we won't have to pay for it all out of pocket.

Anyways, I'll make updates here as things progress.

After class we swung by FedEx to pick up a package for me with a fish in it. I ordered a Regal Angel from an online vendor. The fish looked pretty good, and they say it was eating, but I haven't gotten it to eat for me yet.

I had to put an eggcrate barrier halfway across the tank to try to keep the big fish away from the Regal while it got comfortable, since they're very shy fish. That worked for about a day, until one by one, all the fish discovered they could squeeze through the half inch of space I'd left between the eggcrate and tank wall. Dory was the only one I was truly worried about, and given that she's about an inch wide, I wasn't too concerned about her getting over, but sure enough, when I looked at the tank at one point, she was happily swimming on the Regal's side of the tank. Thankfully, the short time I'd kept her away from that side seemed to stem her usual aggression, and she hasn't bugged the Regal.

We will see how it does. I was unsuccessful with my last one, but that one got bullied quite a bit.

In the evening we went over to Jan's house for dinner. We also watched Burn After Reading, which was funny, but really weird.

Saturday we didn't do much during the day - mostly errands - but Cynthia and Steve came over in the evening. They'd offered to help us try to set up a head-to-head competition on Rock Band 2 (with full bands), but we weren't able to get it to work. I thought there was a feature for it, but it doesn't look like it. We did get to try out the stage kit that Marc bought, which flashes lights and fog in coordination with the music. We didn't think beforehand and didn't ventilate, so when the fog came on it quickly filled the room and just about suffocated all of us! We all tried to play through it, but eventually had to abandon ship. It was pretty hilarious.

Sunday afternoon we went to Trapeze Arts in Oakland for Elaine's birthday. I signed up for it, Marc didn't. I'm not sure what I was thinking, since I really don't like heights. Basically, they teach you how to do the flying trapeze. It is HIGH, and it is SCARY! I did it about three times before bruising myself to the point where I couldn't continue. Leslie took some videos, and I posted one of myself on Facebook. It's pretty funny with the sound on, since I screamed every time I did it.

We went to dinner in Berkeley afterwards, and got home pretty late. I was exhausted. I woke up very bruised and sore on Monday, and I'm still really sore today.

Anyways, I think that's about it!