Renewed Hope

After focusing on other things for the past several months, we've decided to try IVF one final time. Luckily in our state, insurance companies offer to cover IVF once in a lifetime. I've already used my benefit once with one insurance company and now we may have the opportunity to try again with another insurance company. The reason I say may is because we have to go through all the preliminary testing again to see if we are a viable candidate for IVF before we are approved coverage. While the testing is a daunting task, we haven't done anything with fertility medically for the past 2 years. So it will be interesting to see if things have improved especially since we've been trying to take better care of ourselves healthwise, we've been on a new vitamin regimine for almost a year, and had been doing acupuncture for almost a year.
One major evaluation I just experienced yesterday was the HSG. About 8 years ago, my ob recommended I do one, but because my insurance plan didn't cover it I would have had to pay about $800. So we decided not to do it. I had already done a laparascopy where he tried to see if my tubes were clear at the same time and found that one of my tubes was blocked/spasmed. Prior to my HSG yesterday, I had gone on-line to find out what it was like from other experienced women. The experiences posted were varied to say the least. I decided to expect the worse and hope for the best. Easier said than done. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. Worse than having a catheter put in without any anesthetic after I couldn't use the bathroom by myself following my laparascopy. The radiologist explained that the pain occured because of the pressure when shooting the dye through my fallopian tubes. He did it first while I lay on my back. Then once while laying on my left side and then once while laying on my right side. I was relieved when it was over and he said he was going to check the film. I was hoping he would come back and say we're done. Instead, he said he had to do it again. I had to endure the whole thing all over again.
Thankfully, this was the last hurdle we needed to cross in order to find out if we will get the green light to move forward with IVF again. Now we wait for April 5th when we go back to my new ob to see what the results are. I am able to see the results as they are posted on-line, but trying to figure out what they mean is another story.

36-19-0

At around 2:30 this morning, I officially turned 36. Every birthday I kind of reflect back on my life considering all that I've experienced and accomplished so far, along with of course comparing where I had hoped to be at this point in my life. I have definitely come to the realization (and yes, it's now been engrained in my mind) that I can't plan everything or control things that happen in my life. I had hoped/planned to be happily married (which I am), living in our own home ( which we are), and have 2.5 children (still waiting...). So I'm 36 years old. We've been together for 19 years. We have no children. I know I should be thankful (and I am) for everything and everyone I have in my life. Life could definitely be much worse. I need to remind myself of that and stick to the positive things.
I still think about what Mr. B said when he blessed our previous house. This was before we moved here and before I was diagnosed with my kidney disease. Along with blessing our house, he talked about other things. When he talked about our health, he seemed to focus mainly on dh and kind of avoided talking about my health at all which concerned me because what the heck did that mean? I had no clue what lay ahead. To this day, I think he saw it coming, but didn't want to tell me. Then he told us we would be moving again which we told him was crazy since that was our dream house. Well he ended up being 2 for 2 because a year later I was diagnosed with kidney disease and a couple of years later we decided to sell and move here to build what would really be our dream home in a place we could see raising a family. Since he hadn't mentioned anything about a family, I asked him about it. He brushed off the idea of fertility treatments saying we didn't need any of that and that we would have our own kids by ourselves. Since he turned out to be right about my health and moving, I still hold on to hope that he will be right about this as well. Only time will tell.
So dh has had 3 acupuncture treatments so far and she has put us on a supplement to help with fertility. I don't really think it's an herb because when I looked it up, it was described as the fungus that grows on the backs of caterpillars in China. I wish I didn't know that part. I had gone looking for more information about it because I wanted to know what it does for fertility. Since dh has started treatment too and because I've stabilized, she only sees me every other week. My bbt chart temperatures have drastically improved and with my energy levels increasing, I believe acupuncture and Chinese herbs really made the difference. I'm hoping dh feels/notices the difference too.

Making progress...

Today marks my 12th session. I brought my updated bbt chart so she could look at my temperature pattern this cycle. Today is cd 17 and I am 3dpo. She commented that my temperatures have stabilized which is a good sign compared to previous cycles and my temperatures are making a good progression in the second half of my cycle. She did a little acupressure on my abdomen at Ki 16 before moving on to inserting the needles. Today she targeted St 36, Sp 9, triangular fossa, intertragic notch, Du 20, Ki 3, Lu 7, Sp 4, and Pc 6.
Before leaving, she advised me to avoid anything strenous with my legs this half of my cycle - no running, kicking, etc. I will continue to take what's left of the ginseng nourishing formula and begin taking liu wei di huang wan. In addition, I will be drinking organic nettle leaf tea three times a day.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a successful cycle. If it doesn't result in pregnancy this month, I'll continue on with the hope that it will happen in the near future. I'm happy that dh will be starting acupuncture as well next week Saturday.

Relaxed..

AF arrived two days after my last post. No surprise since we weren't really trying this month. Today was my 11th session. It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable sessions. Since she is still trying to build up my qi and immunity, she did some cupping massage and applied warm towels to my back afterward which was very relaxing.
I asked her why I usually feel surges when she targets points on the left side of my body and she explained that I could have a blockage of qi or I am more active on the left side. Right after that, she inserted a needle on my right side and I felt a sudden surge of qi. To help further boost my qi, I am continuing with the ginseng formula and at a larger dose. Hopefully it will produce better results this week. I told her that I had been feeling sluggish this week with headaches which I thought were connected to the ginseng, but she said it is due to my low immunity and the way my body is reacting to the poor air quality.
I've started using the Clearblue Easy digital monitor this cycle with the hope that we will begin trying again. I'm looking forward to our romantic weekend getaway. It'll be nice to have some relaxing alone time together.

It's Electric!

So now that I'm finally on break from school, I've been feeling sort of lost. It's scary to think how much of my life is spent at school or working on things pertaining to school. Not a good sign. I've been having withdrawals and trying to find things to do at home. I bought Randine Lewis' book The Infertility Cure almost a year ago, and although I started reading it when I first got it, it was hard for me to relate to, so I had stopped. Now that I'm actually seeing an acupuncturist and taking Chinese herbs, I understand the things that she writes about. So I've started reading it from the beginning.

As I waited for my acupuncturist this morning, I read a section in the book about the spleen, digestion and immunological systems. It was as if I was reading about myself. When she called me in for my session, I asked her if my problems are associated with my spleen and she said they were. It seems that I have a malfunctioning spleen system judging by my autoimmune problems (IgA nephropathy), allergies, digestive disturbances, and scanty menstruation. This is getting more and more interesting. I need to read more.

This was my 10th acupuncture session and day 29 of this cycle. I've been experiencing mild cramping, but no sign of AF yet. She didn't do any work on my back this time, but put a lot of needles in different points on my left ear, GB 26, Sp 10, St 36, SJ 5 (on the right arm), and Pc 6 (on the left arm). In addition, she did moxa on the lower points and my abdominal area. The most interesting thing happened when she inserted the needle at the Pc 6 location. I felt this intense "electrical" sensation shooting from that point to my middle finger on my left hand. I also felt a strong sensation when she inserted the needle at the St 36 location on my left leg. It seems like the most intense sensations occur on the left side. Interesting...

I am continuing to take my new vitamin regime and she has now added in Ren Shen Yang Ying Wan in addition to the Dang Gui Shao Yao San.

Home Stretch...

Wow, it's been quite awhile since I last posted. I've had 3 more sessions since I last posted two of which included cupping. I know after the first time I experienced cupping I was hesitant to ever have it done again because of the pain I was in. However, it ended up helping me have the best week ever. So having shared that with my acupuncturist, she did cupping massage again but not as intensely as the first time. I did have some purplish bruising, but it went away much quicker than the first time. I notice with each time she does it, I don't have as many marks. I read on-line the more you do it, the less bruising because there's less toxicity. I wonder if that's really true. Hmmm...
My BBT temperatures have been really weird this month which she noticed as well. In the beginning of my cycle, my temperatures were above 98.0 and then a week into the cycle they went down to below 98.0 which is unusual for me. Then just before she was going to do the abdominal massage therapy she asked if there was any way I could be pregnant. Hmmm...again. I told her that I didn't think so since we tried to avoid intercourse during the middle of my cycle, which of course doesn't guarantee anything. I'm now about a week away from my next AF and my temps have been hovering in the low 98 degree temps which isn't normal for me either. Looking at this cycle's chart, it doesn't look like I ovulated at all. I'm hoping that my body is gearing up for an amazing cycle so we can get pregnant. We're celebrating our 19th year anniversary a little earlier by going to a beautiful resort for a few days at the end of this month. Hopefully a nice, relaxing semi-getaway will help do the trick. Keeping our fingers crossed. :)

Progress...

I just finished my 6th session yesterday. It seems like we are making progress dealing with dampness, qi deficiency, and blood deficiency. My acupuncturist needed to increase my herb dosage last week because she wasn't seeing enough of a difference. It now seems to be working better and I am maintaining this new herb dosage. Yesterday, she also sent me home with a moxibustion stick to warm my navel area, the area just below both my knees, and the point above my left and right ankle bone. I am to do this at least once day from cd 1-14. For the first time since I started treatment, she said we can focus on making me more fertile. Prior to this, we were focusing primarily on building up my immunity.