Dave Barnes - God gave me you

2nd Inning...

We went back to the Doctor yesterday...we got some pretty good news concerning my health plus we moved to the next "inning" of this ballgame...

As I mentioned in my last post I have been experiencing some MAJOR pain at the start of my cycle so this was a high topic of concern yesterday.  As I expected Dr. Elben was not happy to hear about the pain and was on the same page I was thinking it as another cyst or some very fast moving endometriosis SO she sent me to ultrasound...I hate these...the tech came in did her thing and even told me herself that there was nothing to be alarmed about, so we went to talk to the Dr again.  Dr. Elben came to the conclusion that the pain was caused by the Clomid I was taking for the last three months.

She came back happy to report that there were no bad cysts and no endometrisosis but there was a visible egg follicle...since I'm getting close to ovulation that's a good sign.  She wanted me to take the HCG Trigger Shot called Ovidrel ( I will explain this in a minute) on Thursday ( today) and come back on Friday to do the IUI...WELL if you know me at all this STRESSED me out! Its Wednesday...and you want to do this Friday...so the Doctor leaves for us to talk and we had so many questions...so we went and got the nurse, after answering our questions she finally said "this is too stressful for you all right now, take the shot home do it on Thursday and then try on your own Friday, Saturday and Sunday...WHEW why didn't they mentioned that to begin with???  So that's where we are right now...Jimmy will be giving me the shot when I get home this afternoon and we will spend the weekend TTC...

Now let me give you an explanation of the HCG Trigger Shot...

The hCG trigger shot is a dose of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, which normally is produced by the body after implantation of a fertilized egg into the uterine lining. This medication is delivered by injection and is timed in conjunction with the maturity of the ovarian follicles containing eggs. When the hCG shot is delivered, those follicles release their eggs and a woman may become pregnant. The hCG trigger shot is used in fertility treatments such as timed intercourse and medicated cycles for intra-uterine insemination and in-vitro fertilization.

An hCG shot may be administered at the doctor's office or at home. The timing of the shot is very important, as ovulation may occur anywhere from 12 to 48 hours after the injection. These hours will be the woman's peak fertile time, and any timed intercourse, egg harvesting or insemination needs to occur while the eggs are viable. The hCG trigger may be administered as a subcutaneous injection in the belly or thigh or as an intramuscular injection.

Once the shot is administered, the signal for final maturation of the eggs and ovulation occurs. Some women experience slight cramping and bleeding when ovulation occurs; this is quite normal and is not a cause for alarm. Timed intercourse or insemination takes place anywhere from 12 to 36 hours after the shot is given. Ideally, more than one insemination or round of intercourse may be used to increase chances of a viable egg being met by sperm.

If the hCG trigger successfully induces final maturation and ovulation, when combined with timed intercourse or insemination, this may result in fertilization of the egg. The hCG from the trigger remains in the urine for about seven to 10 days after the shot is administered, which means that home pregnancy tests may give a false positive after the trigger shot. A blood test to measure levels of hCG usually is conducted 14 or more days after ovulation, as these results should not be affected by the trigger.

Well OK...are you confused and overwhelmed yet???...

All Dogs Go To Heaven

Who doesn't believe this??? In our family our dogs are treated like members of the family and they are all spoiled rotten!  So needless to day when we lose one of them its heartbreaking...

On Monday afternoon my parents had to make the very tough decision regarding our family cocker spaniel T.  T has had a very tough life and suffered some horrible pain in his 11 years.  If you know anything about cocker spaniels they are prone to ear infections and T suffered through his share of them.  Within the past three or so months T's health had been a concern, he had an ear infection that just wouldn't ease up even with medication, he was losing weight (although he never lost his appetite) and he had developed a unproductive cough as well as shortness of breath.  Over the weekend they decided they needed to call the doctor again and they advised bringing him in.  My dad took him in on Monday morning and the initial prognosis wasn't good, they wanted T to stay for some blood work and X-rays.  When Dad and Julie went back to get him they were told (in the short version) that he had heart failure, a tumor and was extremely dehydrated.  And in the end T went to Heaven!  We liked the vision that he was sitting in my Great Grandmothers lap somewhere.

Now lets talk about the happy times...We got T in September of 1999...the story is that he is named after UTs National Championship Winning Quarterback "Tee" Martin.  Now I don't exactly remember this fact as I wasn't the sports fan at that age but I do remember saying that T also stood for the Taylor's and the Treadways (my stepbrother and sisters last name).  T had his own personality, he was a very sweet and loving dog and liked people and other animals WHEN we wanted too. 

Here are a few funny tidbits about T...

He howled like a Werewolf in the middle of the night

He would only sit on your left side

He wouldn't let you lean on him or touch him unless it was on his terms

He didn't have a water bowl for years, he would only drink out of the bathroom sink

He ate the dirt out of Julies flower pots

He begged for food like no other, he would even "tap" you with his paw so you wouldn't forget about him

He liked to RUN, as in RUN out the door

He ate paper

If you tried to take anything out of his mouth you risked losing a finger or hand...

You didn't pick T up and you didn't TOUCH his ears

He could be very grouchy...

But he was a very loving dog...

As you can see everything was done on HIS terms.  We all had our own relationship with T, which was again on HIS terms...

Dad- their relationship was a Love/Hate one.  Dad has many scars on his hands to remember him by...remember me saying don't take anything out of his mouth, well Dad never really learned this.  On the other hand T loved laying next to Dad on the couch or in his lap in the chair.

Julie- T was a Mama's boy.  He slept next to Julie at night and Julie was one of the 2 people T allowed to pick him up.

Me- T was my sleeping buddy when I stayed at Dads.  He didn't sleep with me at night but he would come to my door and scratch on it so he could sleep in with me in the mornings.

JT- their relationship was great.  T was JTs little buddy, he loved that dog so much that a past girlfriend gave JT his own cocker spaniel!  JT was also the only other person T would let pick him up on a regular basis.

Chase- Chase and T's relationship was pretty good as well.  T slept many a nights with Chase.  On special occasion Chase was allowed to pick T up...

Liz- lets just say they also had a Love/Hate relationship, as in T use to attack Liz for no given reason.  She would walk into the room and he would attack.  We joke saying that T thought he ranked higher on the Totem Poll then Liz. As Liz got older the attacking stopped and the loving came around.

We are all going to miss our beloved T, that house just wont be the same...I'm going to leave you with some pictures of our Precious Doggie Angel...





Third Strike...

...and we are back to the dugout...to the doctor that is.  Our third and last round of Clomid was proved to be unsuccessful this past weekend so I go back to the doctor on Wednesday the 13th.  I'm not sure at all what this visit will in tell, they didn't tell me much when I called just that she wanted to see me.

I have been in some incredible pain the past two months when that dreaded week came around.  I literally lay in the floor in a ball and cry.  I haven't felt like this since I was about 17 and experienced my first ovarian cyst and not too long after that was when they decided that birth control was the answer.  So needless to say I'm a little concerned with what the doctor will say or think about this pain I'm having.  Please pray that its nothing serious and I haven't developed anymore cysts.

I took it this month better then the last, I honestly think its because I'm not under as much stress I LOVE MY NEW JOB! Its so laid back and I'm not bogged down with the constant negativity from my previous job.

That's about all I have right now, I will give an update next week after the doctors appointment.