Ho Hum

So what's been happening here in the barren Pamplemousse household?

Mr P's band have a gig at an arts festival on the West Coast, beginning of August. It looks pretty cool but I bet it will be crawling with legions of children with their faces painted. And we are maybe camping out so the midges will get me.

We had blood drawn last week for our up-to-date HIV/Hepatitis B and C/syphilis screenings. This is needed for treatment in SA, never mind the fact that my old clinic let us cycle this year with out-of-date results. Little did they know that I love to celebrate an ectopic pregnancy with dangerous activities like too much Pimms, too much cake and not enough shared needles full of heroin. Let us not even mention unprotected s.e.x. What is that???

Ditto the semen analysis required for Mr P. Last one he had done? 3 years ago. Do you see a pattern here? My clinic tried to fob off my complaints with the defence that counting the sperm during ICSI was almost like an SA and I am like "What, dude? Does the embryologist have a copy of that scribble for faxing to SA???

Then to add insult to injury, because I am daring to go elsewhere for treatment (subtext-abroad), the shutters come down and the clinic are unable to provide new testing for us so I have to plead with my GP for help with further testing. Luckily, she steps up to the plate like a trouper but what the hell? I swear that I was ready to start killing people.

Hmmm, what else? Oh yes, my GP also prescribed me Proz*c at the same time. It was probably the wild eyes and the sobbing that gave me away. I am not taking it though, at the moment. I just like to keep a stash in the drug cupboard, together with 3 million unused Gonal-f needles. Anyone need needles, just drop me a line. You are not getting the other stuff in the cupboard yet though.

Amongst the angst and sobbing, I also decided it was time to stop the Pimms and cake and get back on the bandwagon. You know, the diet one. Otherwise the way I am going, I will not fit in my seat on the plane to Capetown.

I have 9 weeks (minus a couple of days) to lose 8 kgs (17.5 lbs). This gets me to my lowest ever IVF weight. Needless to say, I will still be gigantic and wobbly but it would be a start (albeit a small one). I started back on the multivitamins and chromium and magnesium and folic acid, all of which I had stopped when the ectopic was discovered. I know I will struggle once I add the hormones back in in September but I figure I can give it a good go until then. I am due to have my depot Lupron shot around August 31.

This leads me on to my next rant. It is over 2 weeks since I have been at zero HCG so where is my period? I am tortured by my body endlessly. The stupid thing never does the right thing at the right time. I am due to start BCPs when it arrives in July and it is almost August. I emailed the good doctor in Capetown and he says no worries. It is easy for him to say. He is not the one whose body is dysfunctional and cannot ever do anything to a timetable.

And of course, there will be no help forthcoming from my old clinic, will there?

Kudos if you have made it to the end of this ranting post. Feel free to mutter "Oh, shut up" at the computer screen as I do that often too.