My Lady of the Lantern

Well there had been a meeting in the office on Saturday evening and the Director asked us to submit choices for assignments in the next calendar year by Tuesday. The deal is that we may not get exactly everything of our liking, but allocations are made looking at preferences. If you remember this November post , my extended stay in City I then had caused me to surrender a plum assignment. Well, this time I was openly asked whether I would want to do it this year, and I turned down the offer outright. There is so much commitment (time, efforts and strategizing) involved that if I am planning an IVF/ICSI cycle again, there would be an ill-available me at some key points. Anyways, I spoke to my Director yesterday, (in private, behind closed doors) and I let him know that I am likely to take a month off. (My problem is that I need to travel overnight to a totally different city to meet my RE and there are no appropriate experts available here in G ). For IUI or just timed cycles, medical ...

Time: Today Morning, when we were pseudo-ready to jump out of bed. Situation: A financial review of 2008 (not exactly a dream year in a lot of respects) DH: Mmm… and the price of that land is down x percent, and the real estate rates on that house have slipped y percent….and z month’s salary has been invested into the share market, so I can’t make a deposit out of it and can’t touch it for p years…. BTW, would you be doing IVF w/ICSI again this year ? Me: ( Mentally- Damn right, I will ). Of Course. But we are not to do anything till March, you know! DH: Last time it cost us $$$$$, and still there is no guarantee that it will work out this time. Me: ( Mentally – Yeah, but what if it does? ) There is no guarantee, but I am doing it. Momentary Silence… DH: There will be no savings this year. The last statement is too severe. But I did not want to cut in and spoil DH’s sense of financial calculation superiority complex . Frankly, I know that IF treatments are pinching us financially...

Was checking up on Barren Advice given out by Melissa to Amy , the past week. Amy felt at a complete loss over talking to somebody whose IVF cycle had turned out a bummer and Mel felt that talking out was a better form of support rather than silence. I liked what she recommended - what with the ice-cream and works. But frankly, in real life, I would have preferred silence. Much of my fertility woes are an open book for my female colleagues, especially at the place I am working for the past 20 months or so. And it is difficult indeed to survive like this at a place where I seem to be the only one who is reproductively challenged. I do not have a disease. Only that I need to take timed efforts to do what they have glided through easily, sometimes more than once, and each time successfully. So, it is very tough to really understand. I have never had rude responses. But I can easily detect the 'pity' in their voices. For the past few months, I have stopped discussing my cycle cha...

My doc SMSed me today with the ICSI and IVF results. Breaking News : Out of the 13 oocytes, 9 have been fertilized - 8 through ICSI and 1 through IVF Doc is satisfied with the results. Tomorrow at around 1500 Hrs, the ET will take place and the proposed plan is that 3 will be transferred. The rest will be frozen. Wow and Double Wow! I have been started with Progesterone(200 mg) from today. Wish me luck! I may not be able to blog tomorrow or even day after tomorrow but I hope that you will send your blessings my way because I am really hoping for all the good luck I could garner from the cosmos! ^WiseGuy^

I came back from my City X trip today morning itself. I spent the past two days at the above-indicated place. A detailed history of my fertility woes was noted and a new file with a new doc was created. ~~~~~@~~~~~ The centre is run by a husband and wife duo DJ and SJ, and both of them are doctors of repute. In fact DJ knew me as a kid, but we lost regular contact while I was in my Wonder Years. I had a lot of frank discussion with DJ and I posed him the same question, I have been posing a lot of my doctors….why do so many other people who have so many known root causes for infertility, so lucky in procreating (like my past-druggie cousin, and a schoolmate who was a Pan Parag fan). This guy was the only one who had a funny answer to that. He quipped, “ Does every hardworking guy get a promotion ?” Ah, thanks! Pretty soothing, you know! I have to admit, this was the only time I was smiling at the response. ~~~~~@~~~~~ DJ began his sermon with the line – It takes only one sp...