2nd Blogiversary

I created this blog two years ago.  I am giving away a prize to one lucky reader.  

Please leave me a comment to enter the contest.

I would like to know more about my readers. You may leave me an anonymous comment if you are shy.

Can you please tell me 

• about how long you have been reading my blog
• what you like about my blog
• how you found my blog
• something about yourself
• anything else you want to say

....................................................................................

Here are my cumulative blogger stats since 2010

Page Views: 39,303             Followers: 24

  

Top 5 Most popular Posts Listed by Page Views 

7,695   (LUFS) Luteinized Unruptured Follicle Syndrome

   982     A New Plan and Spirulina Warning

   873    3 updates in one post

   706    New Article: Gianna Center 

  368    New Article: Birth of a Miracle

Top 5 Most popular Pages Listed by Page Views

1,785  10 Reasons to Choose NaProTechnology Over IVF
1,737  Napro Trained Doctors

1,335  My TTC Summary
    964    Napro FAQ
    507    Reproductive Immunology

Audience Listed by Page Views

 United States 24,305

 United Kingdom 1,858

 India 1,539
Canada 1,528

 Russia 1,189

 Australia  883

 Ireland    596

Germany 517

Ukraine   212

 France   154

Back from the Wizard

Today I got back from my big apt with with wizard or more like the man behind the curtain..............

Before I get into that. I had to go to an event at school tonight. At the end you have to stand by your room and greet the parents. Well, my coworker ignored me as usual. I decided that since she wrote in her last email that I misread her body language,  there should be no issue. I made two comments and she ignored me. Then I walked over to her and said that I was leaving and that I hope she has a good night etc. She turned to me and spoke. I could tell that she did not want to. I am going to make her talk to me. I am not going to let her intimidate me anymore.
......................................................................................................................
I am sad to report that this was a huge disappointment. I am glad that I went though bc if I hadn't then I would have been playing the what if game and regretted not going. We get there and there is nobody in the waiting room but us. Then I see many women come out but none go in. We waited for an hour. My DH goes up and asks about the ETA etc.

We finally go in and I see the packet I sent him on his desk. He says something about just getting it. REALLY??? I'm sure he got it a few days ago. I asked him if he read it, he said no. Then he asked me to  tell him what's been going on. I asked again if he read my report he said no, just tell me. OMG My heart starts to beat, I turn to my DH and say, "I don't know what to say" At this point I am stunned that he could not take 5 min to read it before I walked in. OMG OMG. OMG. At this point my DH sees my face and jumps in. He asked him to take 5 min to read it now. Which he did.

He reads through it, but at this point I'm not sure how deep bc he gave me the same diagnosis and basically the same treatment plan that he did last year. REALLY????? This makes me think that his treatment plans are more generic than I thought. Maybe he did not read over my report bc he knew what he wanted to recommend no matter what was wrong with me personally.

He said that my main problem is endometriosis and that is causing poor egg quality. He said that Endo also attacks sperm so it cannot fertilize the egg. Of course if I did IVF then he could test this hypothesis and help me out....................OMG REALLY? I had already made it very clear that I was not interested in that.

In fact, he suggested that I stop all the immune treatments and just by some fancy supplements that "are only 60 a bottle". He said that he does not make any money off of them, but it felt like he was making a sales pitch. He also recommended that I take melatonin for my poor eggs. I am not sure about that. I have to do my research first.

He saw one weird thing in my report. There is a test called a LAD and it measures your body's immune reaction to your husband's. We both got our blood drawn and they mix it. I had a good result. He said that since I have never been pregnant I should not have that result. He thinks it means I have some other immune disorder. Then he said there is a new test coming out next month that could give some more info on this LAD mystery.

He also suggested that my DH and I get our HLA matches tested. I had never bothered bc I was already taking neupogen and that is the treatment for matches. So there could be a breakthrough with these new tests or this could all be nothing.

He was much nicer in person than he was on the phone. He did spend almost an hour speaking with us. He  answered all of our questions. I am disappointed that he did not take the time to read over my report and really spend some time thinking about how to help me.

After we left, I got thinking about how they would charge me another 350 to go over the test results. My DH came to the rescue again. He asked at the front desk about the charge. Megan, the nice woman at the front  told him that it would be covered bc he would just call me quickly to read the result. My DH asked them to put it in writing and she did!!!! Then she said to call asap to make an apt bc they are already booking for June.  Even though it was a major hassle to drive down there with the traffic and pouring rain I am much happier with my service in person.


I am not sure what to do. I don't agree with stopping the immune treatments and just taking supplements. If it was just poor egg quality I think I would have gotten pg at least once in 5 years. Once I left, I felt so defeated and wanted to just cry and give up. He made it sound like the endo was a death sentence to my eggs. I had a long car ride home to think it over. I guess I have to wait and see what these next two tests reveal.

Update on the coworker drama

The next day after she returned the markers, she walked into my room and stood next to me. She spoke to me in a normal tone. She was very nice to me and said that our boss wanted us to fill out a paper on one of our students together. She asked me to meet in her room last period. I agreed. The whole thing was way too nice. Then it hit me that maybe she was setting me up to ambush me in her room. I decided that I would give her the chance to be nice. I also decided that if she started anything I would walk away.

I went to her room and we filled out this form together. The whole thing was pleasant and you would think that we were bffs. After we were done there was an awkward silence. So I just said thanks and left. After that I thought that maybe she was turning over a new leaf.

At the end of the day I saw and email from her. She basically accused me of reading her body language wrong. Now wait, she did not say anything like I am sorry that you felt that way...... I did not mean that.....maybe you misread me....No, she said she had witnesses in her room (her niece) and that I had a similar incident in the fall with another coworker etc. She said that she was only trying to remind me to get this done on time and that I was the one who was confrontational.

Really??? Whatever. I know what she did. Coming into someone's room and standing by the door making demands is not nice. I know that she is only trying to cover her butt.  I am not going to take her crap anymore. I am not replying to that email. She had her chance to respond and it is over.

I am just going to call her out every time she is hostile towards me. I am not the only one in the school that she is mean to. I know of at least 5 others.

 It has taken me a while to realize that it is her problem and not mine. It feels so good to finally stand up to her.
 

No Thanks

My work situation has greatly improved since the start of the school year when I had a melt down. I am relieved that the drama storm has died down. I now am able to get along with all of those who were involved.

Now that I feel more comfortable with that, I have more mental energy to focus on another situation. My school has it set up so that teachers who share the same kids have rooms near each other and meet to discuss their students etc.

Well my teacher is not very nice to me. We have worked together for about 5 years and this is the third time that she has decided to stop talking to me. When she speaks to me we actually work well together. It is a weird situation. I try to just do my job in peace and not let it get to me. She has not spoken to me all year except when we are in front of the boss, she wants something from me, she wants to complain about a parent or student, or someone complained about her and she wants me to help her out.

I have kept it professional. I have not done anything mean, or said anything mean. In fact, the few times she has spoken to me I have always spoken back.

Well lately she has upped the hostility level and yesterday I had enough. Last week she gave me forms to be filled out by the end of May. Yesterday, she came into my room and started to harass me about filling them out out a week early. She demanded that she get them by the next day etc. I reminded her of the deadline and told her that she would get them on time, but she kept arguing with me about it. After she left, I was shaking and I had to hold back the tears. I went down the hall and confided in some nice teachers. They told me that I am allowing her to get away with it.

I drafted a letter and had another teacher read it. I kept it to the point. I kept the emotion out of it. I summarized what she did and explained how I felt when she spoke to me. At the end, I requested that she speak to me in a respectful tone. I mentioned that I wanted to solve this conflict peacefully and move on.

OMG I could not believe I sent that. I also made sure to CC someone important so she knew I meant business. I am going to document her behavior from now on. Maybe she will get the hint if I start sending her emails.....

I waited for her reply. Nothing..................

Then my boss stops by the next day and gives me a large box of markers and asked me to share them with her. I took out half and left the box on her desk with a note explaining that they came from the boss and this is her share.

After lunch, I came back and saw the box on my desk with a post it that said "No thanks" I had to include the photo bc I cannot believe it,

So I just scored some more free markers and I think she is going to leave me alone for now.

I am laughing right now looking at that note. Does she think that she punished me by not accepting the markers from our boss???

I emailed a copy of the photo to my work account just in case she tries to say that I did not give her the markers. 

Off to See The Wizard

Next week I am finally going down to NYC to meet the famous Dr. Braverman. I made the apt two months ago. I had been his patient last year but  I always spoke to him on the phone. He is smart, but his office is overwhelmed with patients. I always felt rushed on the phone. This time my DH is going with me to make sure things go well. I also have my large binder full of test results and notes to bring.

I started to look back into my files and I could not believe that it has been a year since I last spoke to him. I left last May bc he doubled his price on me without warning. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise bc I met Karen Pace who is an immune consultant. She is wonderful and I highly recommend her. She ran 20 tests on me that he never did. It was because of her that I discovered my blood clotting issues and vit d deficiency.

I gathered all of my test results and I made a 7 page packet to send him in the mail. I figured that he needed to be reminded of my old issues and updated on my new tests. I made sure to use bullets or tables since he is always in a hurry. I decided to mail it today so that he would get it a few days before my apt. I put it in a large envelope and wrote on it. Please review before our apt on May 21. I might email him a copy the night before.

I am not sure what I will gain, but he is the one who came up with the miracle treatment for my lufs which was to use a lupron trigger. Who knows what tricks he will have up his sleeve this time.

We are going to drive down the night before and stay in a hotel. We have an early apt the next day. Then we will drive back that day. My husband started to look for hotels. He told me that he found one that had themed rooms. I started to get nervous. He said they looked really cool except...............they rent by the hour........OMG so that is not for us.........After the experience in Georgia with that crazy hotel, we are more cautious now.

Mystery Smell

Today I had to get home early because a friend of mine and her husband were coming over to take measurements in my bathroom. He is very handy and is going to build a cabinet for our sink. I was so excited because right now there is just a top that is probably the original from 30 years ago. I tried to replace it before but the size is weird and you cannot just buy a top that size. They wanted lots of money to custom build it. So when my friend offered to build one I was thrilled.

I came come and started to clean. I smelled rotten garbage, so the first thing I did was take it out and light some candles. I went upstairs to clean the bathroom that was getting looked at. Then I went downstairs and kept cleaning. I still noticed a horrible funky smell. I was so embarrassed. I opened up all the windows. I checked everything that it could be like the kitchen sink, the fridge etc. I could  not find the source.

I started to clean over by my DH's side of the couch. He had wrappers and bags of chips etc. I saw some old nacho cheese and thought could this be it? Then I saw it. My husband has been working on some small craft project that involves something like a clay model and hobby paint.

OMG I saw an open  can of paint on my NEW carpet. Not only  had it oozed out of the jar onto the floor, it also splattered all over in multiple places like 3 feet away. I almost fainted. It looked like a crime scene except it was silver and not red. I took some photos and called my DH to yell at him.We saved up for a long time to replace that carpet. We are trying to spruce up the house and sell it. When I saw that my new carpet was ruined I freaked out.

The paint smelled like rotten garbage. I asked him why his paint was all over the floor and how he did not notice the smell. etc. He tells me that it must have exploded.............He said that when he bought it, it had a weird smell. Then he noticed the bottom was sticking out...........REALLY? UGH

It was a small plastic can like a frosting can and the top popped off and the paint shot out and splattered all over. I freaked out. Then I took some more photos in case I had to sue them.........I started to scoop up the large pile of cheesy looking paint. I could not stand the smell so I took it outside.

Oh and don't forget that my friend is due to come over any second. So I call my DH again and yell at him some more because some of the paint has already dried. There are huge spots of silver and gray on my tan carpet. He gets home and calls the company. They tell him that this is water based and should wash out. He also tells my DH that...........oh yeah they sometimes explode but it is rare. WHAT? REALLY? They sometimes explode. Don't you think you would put a warning label on it?

My friend arrives and I tell her the story. At this point, my DH is scrubbing the carpet. I go upstairs to go look at the sink.

Thankfully it looks like it came out. It is hard to tell bc there are now large wet spots but I don't think I see any silver.

I was so mad and my DH kept saying "How would I know that it would explode?" I said "your paint should not have been left on the carpet."

Contest Winner Updated

 

 

Congratulations to Lucky as Sunshine who is the winner of  my book giveaway. 

She will receive a free copy of The Infertility Companion for Catholics

Update: Well she is very lucky becuase she just emailed me and said that she also won the same contest on two other blogs. She asked me to pick another winner.

Melissa M is the new winner. 

Teacher Appreciation Week Sale May 6th to May 8th

  
Teachers Pay Teachers is having a sale and so am I.

When you buy from me May 6th -May 8th you will get 15% off my products.
At the checkout you will enter code TAD12 and then you will get an additional 10%

Come check out my store.
 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Simone

My most popular items are my bingo math games.
Link to list of Bingo Games

Thanks,
Simone

Update CD9 May 2012

The  (4.5 hours over 3 days) math test is over. What a hassle. My students worked very hard and I am so proud of them. I have no idea how they did score wise, since they change the amount you have to get right every year. This year they also embedded field test questions into the test, so some of the questions do not even count. The results are supposed to be back in June.

Last week in the afternoon of each test day I had a different reward for great test taking behavior. We planted seeds, made playdough and had game time. The playdough was a big hit. It is amazing to see kids who are so high tech all day fall in love with something simple like playdough. It was easy to make and it came out really soft and smooth just like the real thing.We used unsweetened koolaid to color it.

Since last week was the test, my schedule was all crazy. I was supposed to go in for a baseline US but could not. This week I went in on CD8. I figured better late than never. I am very happy to report that my ovary behaved last month. I did not have a cyst!!! This is a huge victory for me. The lupron trigger works like magic. We saw two follicles on the left forming. Most likely only one will be the dominant one. I go back on Friday to check out their progress.

I had some immune tests run last week. I had natural killer cells and cytokines. This was the first time I had the immune tests run while on lovenox, neupogen, and piroxicam. The results were interesting. I have an appointment with my immune consultant next week. The big surprise was my TNF. It has always been in the 20s and under 30 is normal. This time it was 11. So something lowered it. Then my NK came down, but not as much as the last time. That was a bummer. The normal range is 15 or under. Mine only came down to 16.8 so I do not know if that is close enough or a big deal.