IVF: Retrieval Complete

We just finished the procedure and I am sitting with Leandra in the recovery room waiting for the drugs to wear off. Everything went well and she is taking a little nap right now.

The process officially started for us at about 12:42 pm when Leandra popped her Xanax pill in advance of the procedure. We arrived at the clinic and found out that there were four scheduled procedures and we were the last to go.

I was in the room with her the entire time as the doctor was working his magic. It was funny talking to him about the NFL, MLB, NBA and NCAA during the process. (Total sports fan.)

I'll skip the details except to say that there was some noticeable discomfort at times. The ultrasound was pretty cool as he was moving around the ovaries and sucking out all of the follicles.

We ended up with 15 eggs. Even though we had around 30 follicles for both ovaries, therie was no guarantee that there would be an egg in each of them. The eggs they did obtain will be looked at to make sure that the healthy ones are used.

Now that she is done and resting, it's "my turn." Don't worry, I won't be writing about it. If you can't figure it out, then talk to your kids. They can fill you in.

IVF: Retrieval Scheduled

Leandra had one last round of bloodwork this morning. The clinic wanted her to come in one more time to determine the retrieval date.

This afternoon, she received a phone call and was told that the egg(s) retrieval will take place Monday afternoon at 1:30 pm. Luckily, we both already took that day off. I was also took off Tuesday...just in case. My work has been pretty flexible under the somewhat uncertainty of the circumstances. Hopefully, Leandra's employers will be just as flexible.

The one downside to our schedules time is that I have to give her a shot...probably the most important shot...36 hours beforehand. Not that big of a deal, except that we have to be awake at 1:30 am this morning to administer it in her butt. (Heh, heh.)

Not Going the Duggar Way

Leandra had her last ultrasound this morning and all is still looking good. In fact, it looks really good. According to the nurse, her left ovary had 19 egg follacles (sorry, no pictures this time). I have no idea how many are on the other side.

I think it is safe to say that we will not be going the route of the Duggar family and put to use every egg that is viable. That said, it would give us our own reality show niche. Where the Duggars had their 19 children "naturally," we could market ourselves as the parents who had 19 children through the help of science.

Regardless of whether or not it would make for good TV, we'll be stopping at two (if I have anything to say about it).

IVF: Bursting at the Seams

Leandra had her second ultasound today and she sent me this picture. This is what one of her ovaries looks like. All of the black circles/ovals (middle of the picture) are egg follacles that will be extracted next week. From this angle, there are apparently eight visible, bit it is a little hard to tell.

When we started the process, the doctor was telling us that her ovaries would get big...and she might even be able to feel the difference in size. She has yet to tell me that she feels "bloated."

While it is not the "happy-happy, joy-joy" picture of an unborn baby in the womb, this is a good sign for us. She has one more ultrasound on Friday and then the weekend comes which is the start of the home stretch.

IVF: $800 Refill Averted

One of the fertility drugs Leandra had been taking is called Follastem. It comes in this little glass vial and provides up to 900 units. When we started taking three shots, her doseage was 150 units which would last six days.

At day four (which was Monday) of taking the triple shots, we were down to 300 units which would last us two more days. That morning, we had an ultrasound and bloodwork done. The bloodwork would tell the doctors if she needed to change her doseage. Without the bloodwork results, we had to plan ahead and order an extra vial of Follastem. I think my neighbors heard my jaw hit the floor when we were told the cost of the vial was $800. YIKES!

We had some relief when the bloodwork results came in. She was able to drop her doseage to 50 units. With 300 units left, this would fit perfectly. We talked about cancelling the order, which made sense, EXCEPT...she has another round of ultrasound and bloodwork tomorrow (Wednesday) and they could re-up the doesage.

As it turns out, a friend of ours (and my former co-worker) just did the IVF process and is "heavy with child." No longer needing the vial that she has (which is around 500 units full), she offered it to us. Leandra immediately called the pharmacy and cancelled the order, although we are still paying for the overnight shipping costs. No worries, I will take a $30 (I'm guessing) over $800 any day!

By the way, if you are interested, here is a picture of all of the drug Leandra is currently taking:

This includes (in no certain order):

• Follanstem (that's the pen looking thing on the case)
• Lupron (which she has been taking from the beginning)
• Menopur (which has two small vials that need to be mixed)
• Some pill that I don't know the name of (and we have to cut it in half)
• Some kind of antibiotic pill (that we are both taking)

The Next Ultrasound + Other Updates

We went in this morning for Leandra's ultrasound to get a look at her ovaries and see make sure they are responding to the fertility drugs. As it turns out, I guess there are about 10 follicles on each ovary that are working towards maturing. I'm just happy that we are doing the drugs correctly.

I apologize that I was unable to get a picture to include here. I'm not sure how mind-blowing the ultrasound would look, but I don't have it so no worries. She will have another ultrasound on Wednesday and if all is clear, they will be harvesting them on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

On another note, we needed to get a "refill" of one of her drugs. The cost? $800! That's right! $800. That means that when we got our "big box" of drugs and needles and other stuff, everything else in the box cost $350. Crazy...

The Next Phase of IVF

We've hit a bit of a turning point for us in the IVF process. Up until this point, Leandra had been taking one shot a day of one of her drugs (it starts with an "L"). This is the drug that makes her body think it is going through menopause. She's been pretty misearble the last couple of days.

She went in for her first of three ultrasounds to make sure everything still looked OK. Along with some bloodwork, this was considered sort of a baseline testing. I guess everything was fine because we didn't receive any altered instructions, but it does mean that we are taking things up a notch.

Along with the first drug that was being injected (by me), she now is adding two additional drug that have to be injected (by me). Additionally, she has a two pills she has to take. One of the pills is an antibiotic that I also have to take...to make sure the swimmers are healthy at "crunch time."

I think the hardest part is that Leandra is somewhat susceptible to headaches and migraines, which is a side effect of the drugs. Of course, she can't take anything so she has to tough it out until it goes away.

Just to show what we are going through, I am going to see if Leandra would be OK to video our routine. I think it would be interesting to share. (This would also give my cousin the chance to turn back because she starts her IVF process soon.)

After next week, we hit our window of time where they extract the eggs, I make my "donation" and then they put it all back into her. Sounds like fun.

IVF: Three Days of Bad Shots

After six days of in vitro shots for Leandra that went off without a hitch, we hit a bit if a bas streak. Or maybe I hit the bad streak since I am the one giving the shots.

Outside of what I believe to be some minor discomfort for Leandra, our first six days were pretty clean. I got the routine down...no problems. Right?

We expereienced a "first" on Friday as Leandra started bleeding a little bt from where I gave her the shot. We didn't think much about it until we woke up the next morning and she had a nice sized bruise on her stomach. I'm not sure what went wrong, but we were told by her mom and sister (who are both nurses) that it can sometimes happen.

As luck would have it, Saturday's shot produced the same result with some blood coming out. Luckily, there was no bruise to show for it. If there was, I'm sure that there would be some law enforcement officer or social worker knocking at my door.

Sunday evening was a bit different, but has me worried a little more than I have been. Everything went well and I was happy to see no blood come out after I removed the needle. The problem was that this show really hurt; more so than usual. As I've said in past postings, Leandra has been a real trooper through all of this and I know she is tough, but there were tears rolling from her eyes after this last shot.

Based on everything we have talked and joked about over the last couple of months about this procedure, I would never question Leandra's determination to see this through. That said, it worries me to know that in three days we will be adding two additional shots to the daily routine.

This brings a different meaning/interpretation to the phrase, "No pain, no gain." Regardless, this will likely be the only time we will go through this part of the process even if the IVF fails the first time through, which is good. I don't know if I would want to continue with these daily injections knowing the potential pain she may experience.

Century #9: A Valiant Attempt

I received a message from one of my Sinfonian brothers from UW-W (Roz Craney) asking if I would be interested in riding the Ironman Wisconsin route with him for his training. I figured that I would take the chance to get in one more century. I got in touch with Roz and explained to him that I may have a lot of miles, but I am not the poster child for a fast rider. He said that he was fine with that so I agreed to go with him.

I drove out to Madison to meet him at the Monona Terrace which is "ground zero" for the race. I haven't seen Roz in at least 6 years, but he looks about the same as I remember him...except for a hint of grey, but it seems we are all adding a bit of that.

The day was overcast with a noticeable wind. The clouds helped keep the temperature at a tolerable level. The plan was to do the route and add a short run at the end (which I anticipated being a bit interesting..but WHY NOT!). As it was described to me, the route started with a 14-mile stick, a 42 mile loop done twice and then ride back to the start point on the stick. It was also told that the Wisconsin route is one of the hardest in the U.S.

No problem, right?

Things started fine. I felt pretty good, but I think that was because the wind was pushing us out. Once we hit the loop, things took a turn. I'm just not sure where to start.

Perhaps it was the fact that the wind seemed to always turn to hit us in the face...
...or maybe the downpour that hit us in the middle of nowhere...
...or maybe the hills...ugh, the hills...
...or maybe the cramping that starting hitting my legs after climbing those hills...
...and this was just the FIRST loop.

We got to the spot where the second loop begins and I decided to head back. Could I have done it again? Yes. Would I have finished? It would have been painfully slow. When it comes down to it, I didn't want to hold back Roz as I was dealing with my "issues." The plan was to ride the bike path the runs alongside Lake Monona and get the final 30 miles to finish up the century and maybe meet Roz afterwards for the run.

I trudged back to the Monona Terrace at a very "leisurely" pace. Unfortunately, my killer pace could not outrace the pending storm and I got nailed a second time. At that point, I threw in the towel.

I drove back to Elkhorn and thought that I could wrap up my 30 miles there. One step out of the car and I knew that I was done. 70 miles would have to do for the day.

So I came up short on the mileage. I can still say that I rode the Ironman Wisconsin route, I was just a loop short.

The First Shot is the Deepest

Last Saturday was the official IVF (in vitro fertilization) start date for us. That evening, I injected her first fertility drug (Lupron) into Leandra's stomach. This was the first of what will be many injections over the next month.

We were in Alexandria for the inaugural shot and it was quite the spectacle. Since we have joked about holding fundraisers to pay for this, we thought about charging an admission price for her family to watch. We also considered auctioning the first shot off to the highest bidder. In the end, we skipped the pomp and circumstance and I just did it myself. (By the way, check out the picture to the right. You'll notice Leandra's cousin covering her ears while I am inserting the needle. Most people would cover their eyes. Very funny!)

We are five days in now and she is being a trooper right now about it. I know it is uncomfortable, but she knows the bigger picture. She actually has it easy right now because Lupron is the only drug she needs to take. In a week and a half, the amount of injections will increase to three daily so this will seem like a piece of cake.

Athelstane, Wis.

My only option to write is to use my iPhone since I have no Internet connection here. My phone connection is pretty weak here as well. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that I can get everything posted without any issues.

We got to our cabin just after midnight and took the opportunity to finally sleep in. We woke up, made a late breakfast and took a walk around the property. I haven't been here since August '06 (when I broke my leg) and there are some minor changes, but nothing earth shattering. For the most part, almost everything was as I left it four years ago.

The cabin isn't exactly in Athelstane, but it is the closest intersection of a town where we will go for supplies when they are needed. My dad left us a lot of food so we didn't really need anything, but we did make a run for milk and OJ. This was where one of the larger changes in the area as the general store that has been open for as long as I can remember was out of business. Thankfully someone else took up the torch...but the other place had the best cuts of meat.

In the afternoon, we took a drive to Goodman Park which is one of the larger county parks in the area. The park runs along the Peshtigo River which has a nice little waterfall with some rapids running through it. The river was running pretty strong with a water level higher than I have seen. Leandra and I couldn't really go to far out into he river because of the strong current even being downstream from the falls. We also walked some of the paths in the woods which provided a nice feast for the mosquitos. We suffered a little, but the exercise was nice.

We got back and chilled for the rest of the night. We grilled chicken and corn for dinner (the first time I grilled
corn in the husk) and caught up on some of my comic book reading. That's right...I still collect.

We got one more day up here until we head back to Milwaukee to catch a couple of ballgames.

Century #8: Central Lakes Trail

(Click on the image to see the full route.)

Finished up a great century today. It was actually 130 miles in total so I got 30 bonus miles out of the trip. The plan was to ride from Alexandria, Minn to St. Cloud, Minn which would have been 140, but I'll get to that later.

The Central Lakes Trail is a "Rails to Trails" route that cuts through Minnesota. Because it originally was used for trains, the route is relatively flat. No sudden hills, just a lot of gradual stuff. On the plus side, there were no hills to climb. On the other side, there were no downhills which means I was pedalling the entire time. No coasting on this route.

I was delayed by an hour in the morning due to rain. Once it cleared up I was out the door. The path is fantastic. This is probably one of the best overall routes that I have been on. It's not perfect. There are a few flaws in the path, but you can't argue with a trail that is 14 ft across with plenty of room to share the space with walkers, runners and other bikers.

The majority of the towns that the path passes through has made the immediate area really nice. Picnic tables, benches, garbage cans, bike racks and other simple amenities really make the area look nice. Kudos to everyone who has bought into the concept of a large bike path to make the communities look good.

In case you can't see the map, the towns that I passed through were:
Alexandria (starting point)
Osakis
West Union
Sauk Center
Melrose
Freeport
Albany
Avon
St. Joseph

I had originally planned to finish up in St. Cloud before turning around, but the path came to an abrupt end in the St. Joseph. I could have hopped on the Hwy 75 (which has some nice shoulders for riding), but I was happy with where I was at the time. So I grabbed some lunch at a Subway and turned around to head home.

The most ironic thing when comparing Minnesota to Indiana is that Minnesota has better developed trails than Indiana, but has a riding season that is at least two months shorter in a large part of the state. It is obvious that bike riding has far more support in this state than Indiana, which is pretty disappointing because there is a lot of potential there.

I'll get the pictures up later in the week.

Alexandria, Minnesota

Leandra has a family reunion this weekend in Alexandria, Minnesota. We were here two years ago for a family reunion and I was slightly ticked the way that she sold it to me. I asked where Alexandria was and she told me "west of the (Twin) Cities." Now when someone says that to me, I am thinking Minneapolis suburb...except that we kept going and going. I finally asked again once we were past St. Cloud and that's when she said we were almost there. In her defense, it was west of the Twin Cities, but so is Seattle. I've learned to do my own research before taking trips.

Present Day.

We left early Thursday morning from Evansville and drove up to Milwaukee, Wis. to stay with the Plutas. I thought I was going to have a dinner gathering with Sinfonians...but I found out that it was on Friday. Whoops!

We had a nice and simple BLT dinner (thank you Barb) and a quick visit to Aunt Holly and the kids (Uncle Tom was sleeping). Came back, shot the breeze and headed to bed.

Friday morning was another early wake-up call as we had an eight hour drive ahead of us. Of course, that is assuming the traffic would be perfect, which is wasn't. We had a major construction back-up by the Wisconsin Dells. Once we got past the cities, we had another slow crawl just west of Minneapolis. (Long story...) Right before Monticello, we were held up by an accident that was cleareed out by the time we got there. Boo.

We made one planned stop at St. Cloud State University to see if I could get an updated alumni list from them. Nice campus, but I didn't really get a chance to look around ecause we were in a time crunch. As far the alumni list goes, I didn't have any luck...but I am going to try again.

We are in Alexandria with the fam. Tomorrow morning, I'll be heading out to get a century done on a "Rails to Trails" route. I was told it is pretty flat so it should be nice and easy...and fast. Hopefully the wind is light. I'm not sure what direction I am going, but the path does run through enough civilization with food and supplies when I need it. I can either double back toward St. Cloud or continue going west into some uncharted territory.

With a long day and flat road....who knows how far I will go.