CF Fertilty Webcast

Mark your calendar! On February 3 the CF foundation will be broadcasting a webcast titled "Adult Nutrition and Fertility Information for People with CF." A nutritionist, an OB/GYN, a urologist, and a CF doctor will be discussing the issues of nutrition, male fertility, and female fertility in people with CF. You may submit questions in advance. For more info & to register, please click here.

Our Consult

Greg and I had our fertility consultation with my OB/GYN on Thursday. I am happy with the way it went.

We talked to the doctor for a few minutes and I showed her my charts. She agreed I am ovulating. It was interesting - when I showed her how obvious my thermal shift has been each month, she still wanted to make sure I have been getting positive OPKs. This made me a little nervous because I have a hard time getting OPKs to work for me - I've only found one brand that consistently gives me positive readings every month, and even my CBEFM hasn’t always given me peak readings. However, when she saw that my cycle lengths have only ranged from 25-32 days she said, "Oh, if your periods are that regular, the odds are good you have been ovulating."

She then went on to tell us "if the problem was just that you aren’t ovulating, I could prescribe you Clomid. But that’s about all I have been trained to do. I think it is important you see someone who has done a fellowship in infertility.” Meaning, our next step is to see an RE.

However, she also told us that she did some quick research and found only 20% of women with CF have fertility issues, and part of these issues are caused by women not ovulating due to lack of nutrition. That is not my problem. So there is an even lower probability of me having fertility issues caused by CF. Therefore, she said we could wait a little longer to see an RE. If I was 36, she would be telling us to see an RE now, and, if I was 22, she would be telling us to wait until we hit the one year mark TTC (six more months). But, I'm 32, so she said we could go now if we want to be aggressive, or wait.

Greg and I thought about it overnight and I asked the helpful women on the Nest and CF message boards for advice (everyone suggested we go now). Greg said he is 99.5% sure we are going to need IUI to get pregnant, and I kind-of agree with him. I just don’t think my CM is normal. (My OB/GYN also said IUI would likely be our next step.)

We decided to go ahead and make the appointment with the RE. We figured we could at least go to the consult and find out if the RE thinks we should begin testing now or wait a few more months.

Amazingly, I was able to get an appointment with the RE for next week! I’ve heard that sometimes it can take months to get an appointment with an RE. I guess this particular one is not that busy ;) (But he was highly recommended by my OB/GYN.) Our appointment is on the 20^th. Hopefully we will have some more answers then!

A Bad Thing About Blogging

The other night, I did a search on Google Images for pictures of EWCM. Gross, I know, but I wanted a better idea of how normal my EWCM is. The only useful pictures where the ones already in TCOYF. However, on page 17 of my search results, I found this:

Yep, there I am, right between the condom and "submit question." At least I share the honors with Desmond from Lost :P

Allergist Visit Today

Austin is one of the worst places in the country for allergies. I never had allergies until I moved to Austin. Oh, I got the occasional sniffle when I hugged my cat, but that was it.

I grew up in Maine, a place with wonderfully clean air. When I moved to Austin for graduate school, my lung function dropped 10%, I started having sinus issues, and I cultured pseudomonas aeruginosa for the first time. My CF doctor even suggested I quit grad school and move away (which I refused to do and I now see a different CF doctor).

After graduate school, I moved to Boston for a job. My lung function went back up 10%. However, I was miserable and missed Austin(oh yeah, and Greg was still here getting his PhD). So I moved back. And my lung function went back down 10% and my sinuses started killing me again.

It’s been five years since I moved back to Austin. Why did I wait this long to be tested? Because I've heard allergy shots only work about 30% of the time, and they are time-consuming. Free time is something a CFer doesn't just doesn't have. But my allergies have gotten so bad lately (night sweats, body aches, headaches), that I finally caved..

So today I had my back pricked with 48 different allergens. It turns out I am very allergic to dust mites, and pretty darn allergies to cats, cedar, juniper, and molds. The allergist prescribed me a new nasal spray and wants me to switch from Allegra to Zyrtec. He also wants me to begin allergy shots.

When I told the allergist that I am TTC, he asked, "Soooo, what do you think yours odds are of conceiving quickly?" (he didn't want to begin shots if I would just get PG right away - you can't increase the dosage of the shots while PG, and if we didn't get too far into them before I got PG, the shots would be pointless). I told him we have been TTC for over six months, about CF causing me to have thick CM, and about how we going in for a consult this week. He wants to wait and see what my OB/GYN says on Thursday before deciding to start the shots.

This was all fine, but when he handed me my sheet to checkout, I looked at the items listed under "Diagnosis": Chronic Sinusitis, Cough, Rhinitis, Cystic Fibrosis, and Infertility. That's the first time I've seen that last one. It didn't make me sad, but, at the same time, I felt like he had written it in big letters with a red sharpie across the page.

I had considered myself as "having possible fertility issues," not being infertile. I mean, we've only been TTC for 7 cycles! How could we even know if we are infertile? Seeing that word written by a doctor about me was like punch in the gut.

So that was a bit sucky. But hopefully the new meds will make me feel better!

Consult on Thursday

We had a great Christmas vacation visiting my family in Maine! We ate lots of seafood, drank yummy microbrews, and even got to go skiing (one of my favorite things in the world!). Unfortunately, AF showed her ugly face on Christmas Eve. So we are on Cycle #7.

A few months ago, I felt that six cycles TTC on our own was not enough to give us a fair shake. Now I am glad my doctor wants to see me so soon. I’ve pretty much accepted that we don’t have a good chance of conceiving by ourselves, so I feel like we will really be trying soon.

We are going to the OB/GYN on Thursday for a fertility consultation, and must admit I know almost nothing about fertility testing and treatments. My head is swimming with questions:

• What tests will they perform?
  
• What will the results mean?
  
• Is IUI our next step?
  
• If so, will we do medicated or unmedicated IUI?
  
• If it's the latter, what meds will I take?
  
• What are the odds of getting PG with unmedicated versus medicated IUI?
  
• What is risk of multiples?
• How many IUI cycles will we do?
  
• How much will it cost?
  
• Will my insurance cover anything?
  
• Should I see an RE right away?
  
• Will I have to cut back on caffeine, alcohol, and/or exercise?
  
• Will Greg?
  
• How much of my time is this all going to take?
  
• What the heck are follicles?

Hmmm...I should print out my blog so I remember to ask all of these ;)

I will definitely be updating my blog after our appointment! I am excited!

It's Pleurisy

This is the first time I've ever had pleurisy. I didn't even know what it was until I surfed the web yesterday morning in attempt diagnose myself. Basically, pleurisy is an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the lungs. My CF doctor thinks a virus caused it.

I went to see my PCP and kept my CF doctor updated on the results. The visit with my PCP was interesting. Let me first say my PCP isn't too keen on the idea of me getting pregnant. Last year, when I saw him after getting a (false) positive pregnancy test, he gave me a stern look and said, "This is serious!" A few months later, Greg saw my PCP so he could be tested for the CF gene, and my PCP told him "what a big deal" it is for me to get pregnant. So, when I saw him yesterday, the first thing he did was look at my list of current medications and ask, "Are you on birth control?" And when I said "no" he asked "why???" in a stern voice. (He didn't say anything else when I reminded him that Greg and I are trying to get pregnant.)

Knowing he had this attitude and that I am in the 2WW, I was a little nervous when he ordered a chest x-ray. The x-ray technician made a much bigger deal about this, and she really put my mind at ease. She was definitely concerned when I told her I was TTC but said one x-ray during the 2WW should be fine and to, "Just make sure you don't have anymore x-rays until you get your period." And, of course, she carefully placed the protective apron over my reproductive area.

After my x-ray (and blood work), my PCP came into the exam room all exited - "Good News! It's just a bit of pleurisy." He told me to take Advil or Aleve. When I expressed my concern about taking those drugs during the 2WW (because they can interfere with implantation), he said it shouldn't be a big deal, but that I could take Tylenol if I wanted to.

Needless to say, I am taking Tylenol ;)

Overall, I am very relieved it's only pleurisy. I was pretty scared the other night because breathing was very painful. Last night was bad too, but I think it's improved over the course of the day, so I think I am on the mend. And the virus hasn't affected me too much - it has just made me very tired (I slept 12 hours last night!) and put me in a bit of a fog.

Hopefully I will be back at work tomorrow!

It Hurts to Breath :(

This sucks! Last night I was relaxing on the couch, writing Christmas cards and watching "It's a Wonderful Life", when I suddenly started experiencing pain in my back. It hurt to inhale, cough, and burp. Hoping it was just a pulled muscle, I took some Tylenol and went to bed. At about 2:00 AM, the pain got bad enough to wake me from my sleep - I actually got a little scared. I decided to call the doctor in the morning, took some more Tylenol, and was eventually able to go back to sleep.

Now it's 9:00 AM. I left a message with the nurse at the CF center an hour ago, and I haven't heard back yet. And, of course, my mind is racing, wondering what it could be: pneumonia? pleurisy? pancreatitis? a pulled muscle?

I'm almost positive the doctors will want a chest x-ray, but I am in the 2WW, and, (as we all know), x-rays during pregnancy are usually a no-no. And it's too early for a blood test to tell if I actually am pregnant. So I am wondering how the doctors will deal with this.

I'll update as soon as I know more!