Getting Ready…

This week has been one of getting ready…

I started my Lupron injections on Tuesday and received my new box of medications getting ready for this 2nd IVF cycle. It was interesting to review everything for this cycle (oral, injectable and topical (patches) medications and corresponding supplies). It was also a bit surprising to find out that apparently our insurance doesn’t cover the drug “Menopur” that was prescribed for me this cycle. So instead our RE is having us use a comparable medication called Repronex. Menopur is an injectable that I would have done subqutaneously (SQ) in my stomach, as I do with the Follistim in my stomach and the Lupron in my thighs. As it turns out Repronex, similar to the Progesterone in Oil (PIO) shots we did last cycle and will do again this time after the ER, is a medication that is to be injected inter muscularly (IM) in the upper quadrants of my rear end. It’s not that big of a deal, we did fine with the PIO shots last cycle, it just caught me a little off guard when I saw the supply pack for the Repronex and realized there were big needles and syringes in it, instead of smaller ones! I called the nurses at our RE’s office for clarification and they explained about the insurance coverage and the prescription being adjusted accordingly. She said that the Repronex IM injections will not lead to the same muscle discomfort that the PIO shots do, but that the actual medication may sting a bit going in. Good to know when I am getting ready…

I ran the “Ridge Run” route (or variations on it) Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and today getting ready for our neighborhood’s Memorial Day Ridge Run 5K! I will officially register for it this afternoon and pick up my race packet. I had been waiting to see how the combination of being on the pill and Lupron might effect me/my energy level before registering. Since I have run three times since I began the shots this week and have felt fine, I figure I will probably also feel well enough to go for it on Monday! My average for the 5K route this week has been 40 minutes. It has been very hot when I have be running most of this this week and I have only been training for two weeks, so I figure that isn’t too bad. Today it was much cooler than earlier in the week and I ran it in just over 37 minutes! Still nowhere near the time I ran it for the first time last year (33 minutes 28 seconds) on a very hot day, however I was in much better shape then and had been training for significantly longer. Excuses, excuses… I do feel ready though and hope to at least break 40 minutes on Monday, weather and energy level permitting!

Being the mom of a somewhat spoiled 3 1/2 year old boy, I also spent some of this week trying to track down all of the “Shrek the Third” movie Happy Meal toys at various McDonald’s locations around our neighborhood! I even enlisted my dad to drive to a suburban McDonald’s, near where he and my mom live, to pick up two of the character toys that I could not locate here on the South Side of Chicago! Sean has proudly been “doing things around the house to help Mommy,” trying extra hard to be a good boy and well behaved and on one occasion this week (last night) even kept his pull-up diaper dry to “earn” the Shrek Happy Meal toys! For those who don’t know, you can actually buy the Happy Meal toys without purchasing a Happy Meal at most McDonald’s locations, so after eating there with my dad and Sean for the second time in one week on Tuesday, after my Dr. appointment, I took on the challenge of trying to hunt down the rest to avoid too many more unhealthy trips to a fast food restaurant in one week — misson accomplished!

We have also been getting ready for this summer as a family, as Memorial Day Weekend approaches. Bob has accumulated a good amount of vacation days, so we sat down last night and figured out when he might want to take some time off so we can spend time at his parents’ and uncle’s summer home in Michigan and attend a family reunion in Tennessee in July, among other things. This weekend we will be staying in town, instead of going to Michigan, which we often do Memorial Day weekend, as one of Bob’s high school friends is going to be ordained a Catholic priest tomorrow. We want to be there to support him and also since neither of us having been to an ordination before, we think it will be interesting to observe! Sean will spend the day with my parents tomorrow, which he will surely enjoy! Tomorrow morning Sean and I are both getting ready for summer by getting haircuts and I am going to also get some more highlights, which I am looking forward to! Also on Sunday afternoon will we attend the 1st birthday party for one of my college friend’s little boys! Sean loves birthday parties and can’t wait!

Well, I am sure we have done a lot more this week that I could comment on, but when I reflected on the past few days, what I shared, especially related to “getting ready” is what stood out in my mind. Thank you for reading and for your continued support, thoughts and prayers! I hope that you and yours have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!