I considered writing out the whole plan here- and color-coding it to make me REALLY happy- but decided it is a little boring and a little too personal to share here. (Hey! I have my limits!) But what I can share is this. On day 3 of my next cycle, I'll head to the lab to have a series of tests done via blood work. The reason they want me to go on day 3 is to measure my FSH/LH levels to get an idea of how many eggs I have left. This is incredibly disheartening and I had to fight back tears as he explained to me the reality of running out of eggs, but knowledge is power, and knowing the reality of our circumstances will make the battle easier to fight. Apparently if my FSH/LH is very high, that means my body's working overtime to get any last eggs out. If it's low, I've got a full bank. (I wanted to explain to him that hey! I'm a saver! Can I make any deposits in that bank??)
They're also going to test my cholesterol, thyroid, prolactin levels and androgen levels as well as run a diabetes test.
Things I liked about this doctor:
- Great bed-side manner
- Spoke at a level I understood- not over my head
- Showed me charts in text-books
- Spent an entire hour with me
- Came up with a plan and even wrote it down in checklist fashion for me!
- Had some new ideas about treatment AND ways to save money attempting this treatment. (Specifically femera)
- Definitely not Catholic- talked about in-vitro and artificial insemination...
- No knowledge of NFP or ability to gather data from my charts. He seemed not to care that my luteal phase is too short even though I know that's a big problem.
However...
Last night we attended the first of three NFP classes. Since we had stopped charting for two years, we've totally lost the science of it all and are taking a refresher. I remembered the overall patterns, of course, but not the specific details. As I looked through my charts attempting to identify peak day, the lower temperature level and higher temperature level, I was incredibly disheartened. In some cases my phase three shrank to five or six days. (Good thing we're not avoiding pregnancy!) And my peak day was several days before phase three began which may be in part to my misunderstanding my symptoms.
But I'm trying to remain positive about this. The updated method of charting according to the CCL sympto-thermal method helped me better understand how to classify my symptoms. I'm going to be crazy accurate in charting over the next three months, then send off my charts to the central office to get their opinion. My new doc may not know how to interpret charts, but CCL definitely does
The only thing better than one good plan is TWO good plans! Though yesterday was hard on my heart in several ways, I'm choosing to focus on the positive and our ability to take action!
4 comments:
I just wrote a REALLY long comment, realized I was signed in as Matt, determined that the comment would be wildly inappropriate coming from him and would seem far too confusing, tried to sign in as me, found out that doing so means my comment is deleted, and got depressed that I would have to start from scratch after my previous incredibly witty and insightful comment. So, I'll call you sometime and tell you my comment. The end.
SO glad you liked your new doctor! Even though he may not be in the know on NFP, I think it's great for you to get a second opinion from someone who approaches it differently. Like you said, it's great to have TWO plans!! Praying for you!!
very exciting! Having a plan reminds me of a quote I just read (again) recently, "Work as if everything depends on you; pray as if everything depends on God." Will keep praying for you!
I used a website called fertilityfriend.com when charting with Jack. It used to be free. It may be too simple for what you are doing, but in case you hadn't found anything online you like you might want to check it out.
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