Long Day + Flying

It's just after 9pm and I'm ready for bed. This morning, I woke up at 5-something when I heard my neighbor revving his truck out front. All I kept thinking was love your enemies, love your enemies... I'd love to shove my fist through his teeth. I am not a morning person lol. I decided to go ahead and put something in the crockpot for dinner. I looked at what we had in the freezer and decided to concoct a soup. I used two frozen chicken breasts, 1/2 carton of chicken broth, a package of frozen spinach, a bag of frozen fiesta style vegetables, a bell pepper, a serrano pepper, and a jalepeno pepper and some seasonings and let it go all day. The house smelled so good when I got home from work! The soup tasted pretty good, too. I ended up adding rice to bulk it up a little. Overall, a great way to use leftovers and have a fat free, healthy meal!

Tomorrow is going to be such a long day at work because of inventory. All of the old people (over 60) have the day off, but I'm working at least 12 hours. Yay.

Aaron gets to go flying tomorrow morning! He's really excited about that. He hasn't been up in a Cessna in roughly 4 years. We went to the airport this evening and saw two jets and a Cessna 172 land within about 4 minutes. He was grinning from ear to ear and I'm excited for him to move along with all of the A&P plans. He's going to talk to the director of the A&P school at LU tomorrow about starting the night school program in April and hopefully he'll be able to find a job at Liberty so it will be free. Please pray for that with us. I'm really happy for him!

Well, I'm going to hit the sack. Night night world!

-Jen

3 of 3: Infertility Doctor

I am absolutely impressed with Reproductive Medicine and Surgery Center of Virginia! The office is clean and well decorated, the staff is professional and knowledgeable, and most of what we have to do will be covered by our insurance! I'm going to share with you about our experience there today. This will probably be a long blog. Sorry about that.

Before we left: I was uncomfortably anxious. I was expecting a wrench in the plans-- for the office manager to tell us they no longer accept our insurance, for the doctor to tell us conceiving would be impossible, or to get some other dismal, damning news.

When we got there: We had already filled out all of the paperwork last night because they have it printable on their website. So, we just waited. We were very early, so we ended up waiting about 45 minutes. There were two other families in the waiting room, both with toddlers. One woman kept going on and on about how her son was her "miracle baby" and how she and her husband never would have gotten pregnant without this place. The other woman talked about how she had to try for 5 whole months to get pregnant (poor her, right?) and that she just didn't want to wait as long this time. Insane. Let nature take its course! That's a perfectly normal timeframe!

Finally, I heard, "Mrs. Jensen?" and it was our turn.

The doctor looked at the results from Aaron's semen analysis in '09 and my laparoscopy in '10. I'm still fuming about that-- as it turns out, my doctor in Lynchburg never really did a HSG, but she told me she did it during that surgery and we absolutely paid over $1,000 for it! Ugh. So anyway... He explained more about Endometriosis than I ever knew. They are actually an Endometriosis research center too, so I take his words over those of my crappy Lynchburg doctor. So, essentially, for every normal woman, every month when she has her period, some of her endometrium comes out (her period) and some goes up and out the two other holes-- the fallopian tubes. That's normal. Some of it is absorbed back into the body and used as energy, and some is destroyed by the immune system. Perfectly normal. For someone with Endometriosis, the endometrium that comes out sticks itself onto organs (for me, my ovaries) and creates barriers and inflammation. He said that the reason we have never been able to get pregnant is because my ovaries are inflamed and then the inflammation produces a fluid that then coats the inside of the womb and destroys the sperm and/or any fertilized egg(s) before they can implant and become a pregnancy. My doctor at Women's Health Services NEVER told me that!

I was surprised when he told me I would have three tests done in the office right then and there (and I know Aaron was seeing dollar signs). First, they did an ovary check with a vaginal ultrasound, AKA a baseline scan. This was the second pelvic exam I've had in less than a week. I can't really complain though. Anyway, this was to check out my ovaries (obviously) to see if I had ovulated and from which ovary I had ovulated. They said I had ovulated from my right ovary and that my left ovary had an Endometriosis clump on it. He also said that my Endometrium looked good and thick. Then, they did two blood tests. Again, this should have been the FIRST thing my Lynchburg doctor checked after a year of TTC but she never did. They tested my Prolactin and Progesterone levels. My Prolactin level was good and she said my Progesterone level was also good (needs to be above 10, mine was 14), so, in the lab lady's words, "Your body did a good job ovulating." For once. Ha.

I'm just waiting on the result of my thyroid test from the doctor here. Dr. Williams also wants to do a Saline Infusion Sonogram to make sure I don't have any interuterine fibroids. That will be in two weeks. Aaron will also go in (probably the same day) for another semen analysis. This doctor said the kind of testing they use is more inclusive than what was done at Centra Lab.

Plan of action!!!!

For now, he thinks all of this will be a simple fix! No IVF (thank GOD!!!). He said our course of action will be as follows:

Step 1: Clomid. Double dosage actually.  I'm surprised that it possibly could be this simple. Surprised and relieved and hopeful. Really? A medicine that is less than $10 might be all we need???? Please, God!


Step 2: If we don't get pregnant after one or two cycles of clomid, he wants to try 2 or 3 cycles of Clomid with IUI. IUI is $353/each time and is not covered by insurance. We are praying it doesn't come to this. It's not the end of the world if it does (hey, what are tax refunds for?), but it's considerably more expensive than just Clomid. PLUS, once we do IUI, our insurance will no longer pay for fertility stuff. So, until we do IUI, all of the monitoring and tests are covered at 90%.


Step 3: If after all that IUI and Clomid don't work, I can use Clomid with a shot of Gonadotrophin (HMG) stimulation.

We can take any of those steps at any time and mix and match. I will have to go in for ultrasounds and blood tests every month to see which treatments are working. And he didn't even mention having to use Lupron first! Praise God. This is on schedule to happen much faster than we had hoped.

Please pray with us that just Clomid and "fun" are enough!

Overall, I am pleased with the amazingness of RMSCVA and so thankful to God that we can do this! Thanks for reading! And a BIG thank you to everyone who is praying for us!

Crafts!

I have always enjoyed making crafts. It started when I was very young and my grandmother was seriously the Queen of Crafting. She could make a 50 cent craft and sell it for $20 at a yardsale! Oh how I wish I had her talent for creating craft ideas. So, in the past, I have gotten lofty, spectacular ideas for crafts, but when I have gone to the store or actually started my projects, I have gotten overwhelmed and given up on them. So, essentially, I have wasted a looooot of money on craft projects over the years.


Well, I have found that I can find awesome ideas on Pinterest and give them a try-- provided they are linked to a blog with instructions. Now, I have complained about Pinterest's obnoxiously excessive e-mails, but a friend pointed out how to stop those. I can now get into Pinterest without complaint.

I have a huge "crafts chest", sewing machine, nice sewing kit, and a nice big desk to do this, so I am going to utilize that room as my new craft room. I know I'll need to get it more organized.

Well, here are the crafts I am going to attempt today. I'll let you know how they go!

http://youseriouslymadethat.blogspot.com/2011/02/knotted-headband.html

http://youseriouslymadethat.blogspot.com/2010/12/hair-rosette-tutorial.html

Doctor 2 of 3

We're getting closer to Monday. Today, I went to Forest Family Physicians for my adult wellness exam. I have not had a comprehensive physical like that since my pre-college checkup in 2005. This was even more thorough than that. 

The doctor was wonderful. I felt like he really listened to me and he knew much more than the other doctors I have been seeing. He said b/c of my bad periods, I need about twice as much iron than what is in my multivitamins. I'll have to buy those tomorrow. He also had their lab draw blood to check my thyroid. Apparently my gynecologist should have checked that after the one year of trying to get pregnant mark. He was confused as to why she had never done a blood panel. I won't have the results until next week though.

He also told me to lose weight... sadness. I'm 5'5" and weighed 138 lbs this morning. Apparently I'm supposed to be closer to the 130 mark than to 140. I already knew that though. I feel so fat and swollen. All I eat anymore is sugar, salt, and grease. The morning of our wedding, I was 123 lbs. Over the summer, I walked 2-5 miles almost every single night. Apart from a brief walk Tuesday night, I have not exercised in MONTHS.  So tomorrow (pay/grocery day), it starts. Salads. Vegetables. Fruits. Sports drinks. Supplements. Herbs. Exercise. Joy. (Not really.) I have been saying this forever, but I really MUST stop eating sugary treats. I wish I didn't love and crave them so much. I also have to start my vitamin regiment again. Prenatal vitamins (which I've used for years), iron tablets, fish oil, and vitamin D. This all started when I took this job. We eat all the time there. And I am always too tired to motivate myself to exercise when I get home. Oh well. Change is in order.

The plumber came by to give me an estimate on replacing our bathtub. I'm still waiting for him to put together a quote, but by what he described the process being like, I have a feeling this is going to be far beyond our budget. He'll have to rip out our drywall on both sides of the tub, cut a hole through the kitchen ceiling to fix the plumbing that the lazy builder didn't install correctly, take out some of our tile flooring, etc. So, we've pretty much determined that sounds like it'll be over $1,000 (+ products). Oh well. My dad is going to come down Saturday and try to repair the damage with a fiberglass repair kit. Yay for dads!

My brother is coming over for dinner. I have white chili in the crockpot. It smells delectable, but I won't get to taste it until 5:30. Fortunately, this meal is about as healthy as they come. Just chicken breasts (boneless, skinless), beans, chicken stock, onions, garlic, and spices. We shall see.

And I'm very much enjoying having a day off! Last week I worked 48 hours with Sunday as my only day off. It's nice to rest.

New Tub

When we bought our house in 2009, we had lofty ambitions for its future. We didn't care that everything was old and ugly because it was ours. We have done a lot of work to it, including:

-Replacing the roof
-New windows downstairs
-New furnace & heat pump

-New toilet, countertop, ceramic tile flooring, and mirror in our main bathroom
-New lighting and paint throughout
-New flooring in the kitchen and 1/2 bath
-New countertops and dishwasher in the kitchen

Our next big investment was planned to be replacing all of our carpet. It is disgusting. It has always smelled weird. It is worn flat, stained, stretched/shrunken in places, burned (from an iron, previous owners), and just all around gross. We never got around to replacing the carpet. We decided in November that we would start saving money for new carpet. We have already saved everything minus $600. Like I said, we thought carpet would be our next big expense. We thought....

On Sunday January 8th, there was an accident. I was taking a shower and I noticed that our water pressure was remarkably high (probably what it should be in a normal house...). However, since I'm used to showers taking a long time because of our typically low pressure, the hot water was running out quickly. So, Aaron joined me. He lifted one of his legs to wash his foot and I could hear his other foot slipping and squeaking. I distinctly remember saying, "Aaron, that seems like a stupid idea. You're going to fall."  "I'll be fine, Jen. I've done this a hundred times." Then BAM! I hear this loud thud and then land on my butt after both of my own feet are kicked out from under me. On my way down, I hit my rear on the tub fill and rip the shower curtain rod half out of the wall. Aaron looks up, bewildered, bleeding. It scared me and it really hurt, so obviously I was hopping mad. Aside from yelling at him, it was a good few hours before I spoke to him. That was when he showed me the hole in the side of the tub. It's on the skirted side, covered by the shower curtain. I covered it in duct tape and weighed our options. We hadn't planned on this expense!

The only good solution was to replace our whole tub. This is one of the moments I have been the most thankful for my job. I'm not going to say what my discount was, but let's just say it was steep. I have a plumber coming tomorrow to discuss installation and my dad will tentatively come down this weekend to help us tile the shower walls. I haven't even looked at tile yet. This is the tub and the trim we are getting:

 

The tub is from Mirabelle, Ferguson's private label.

The trim (pictured below) is from Moen. And I really love our Moen rep right now!

Doctor 1 of 3

Well, hands down, today's exam was the most pleasant experience I have ever had in 4 years of going to Women's Health Services. They have always been seriously awful. Some examples of this:

-Making me pay for an entire pelvic exam up front even though my insurance would cover it 100%, and then sending me a partial refund 4-7 weeks later.

-Not seeing me until at least 30 minutes after my appointment time.

-Not listening to me. Not having any compassion toward my condition. Never referring me to a specialist.

Last night I was so anxious (in a bad, bad way) that I was crying. Seriously.  I just knew they were going to make me mad and charge me a lot of money and not care about me. So Aaron pulled me close and prayed for me as a flood of snot and tears deluged his shirt. Love him. And today, he went with me to my exam so that if they tried to make me pay $200 some dollars for a FREE exam, he could talk to the office manager and fix it. Sigh of relief. I prayed for about 5 minutes before I even checked in. The receptionist was really professional and didn't charge me anything (yay!!). I only waited about 4 minutes (if that) before they called me back. They listened to me, asked me questions, and answered my questions. I was in and out in under an hour and the doctor personally gathered my medical records to take with me Monday.

This may sound dramatic or ridiculous to you, but it was big to me. And God took care of every detail. Thank You, Lord!

So, tomorrow I have a day off (yay!) and I'll have my annual wellness exam. Then we're getting our new bathtub, tile, and trim/valve installed. And finally on Monday, we'll have some options or direction.

By the way, this is the place we're doing on 1/23: http://rmscva.com/

QR Business Cards & Resumes!

I'm getting really nervous about all these upcoming doctor's appointments... "female exam" on the 18th, physical on the 19th, and the specialist in Charlottesville on the 23rd. This is what we had decided to do... and it just feels more real now... but also more scary. There's the very real possibility now of getting that definitive "No, it's impossible." But we're really hoping that with some medications, it will be possible!

Aaron is still exploring ways to get back into aviation. He had an awesome idea earlier this week! He is working on making an online resume. He created a QR code online and printed it on the back of some new business cards. So, now he'll be able to give anyone his business card and they'll have immediate access to his resume as well. Hopefully it will help in the job search!

 (His online resume is still in the works, so it won't show it now.)

I thought it was a brilliant idea. I also made one for work to put on the back of our business cards and advertising we do there to take people to our website AND I made one for Jensen Home Staging. I'm going to start working on that again. It's been a while. These are my new business cards.

-Jen

Snotty

I am sick. So sick. I don't even feel very bad. But you would think I'd escaped from a crazy ward if you looked at me. I have gone through more than one box of tissues since yesterday. My nose is raw from said tissues. My chest hurts from coughing. My ears sound plugged up from blowing my nose. And my sinuses are soooo full of snot and inflammation that my right eye has been squeezing itself shut and watering all day. I looked like I'd been crying, I sounded like a man, and my makeup was completely smeared. Yum. So anyway, people at work kept making me feel bad about "contaminating" them... So I went to the doctor over my lunch break. It's just a virus, but he prescribed a narcotic cough syrup and a z-pack in case this junk decides to set up shop in my lungs. I get bronchitis often in winter months. So anyway, I went to Target Pharmacy after work... and realized Ferguson had only mailed my health insurance card, but not my prescription card (which are separate this year, unlike ever before). Ugh. So, they didn't get it straightened out with the insurance company until 8:54, when they called to tell me I can pick it up tomorrow... yay. I hope I can sleep well tonight. 


Oh, and I'm now the go-to Excel person at work. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet...

A Look Back on 2011

Happy New Year everyone! People always focus on their big goals for the next year, but forget to reflect on what has happened in the last year. I've been reflecting, but Aaron and I have only come up with 2 goals so far, but just because we were out of town last weekend and we have family in town this weekend.

2011, like any other year, had its ups and downs. 

January: my goals for the year were to graduate and find a job. Check and check!

February: I started the internship that led to my current job.

March: Aaron and I celebrated 4 years of marriage!

April: I survived the tornadoes. I had been staying at my grandpa's house in TN when we saw on the news that there was supposed to be a massive tornado outbreak across the southeastern US. I wanted to leave that morning and beat the storm home... but he wouldn't let me go. And I'm glad. That evening (before I would have gotten home), a tornado touched down about 3 miles from his house. We stayed in the basement and I prayed for hours. The next day on my way home, I saw numerous towns along I-81 that had been ravaged by the tornadoes right about the time I was driving home. Additionally, our home was untouched. Praise God!

May: After 6 years, I graduated from college! That was such an exciting time in my life. I was ready to take life by the horns and whip it into submission. Still working on that ;)

June: Aaron and I started Jensen Home Staging and Design, LLC. We went to Hershey Park as our graduation vacation. And I interviewed for a job right next to where my mom works and my parents live... but turned it down.

July: I was given the opportunity to freelance a few jobs. I was still a little disappointed that I had not found a full-time job yet. Aaron and I went to Natural Bridge and their caverns for his birthday.

August: I was hired full time at Ferguson. This was also the first season of my life that I did not go back to school... it was odd.

September: The weekend prior to starting my job, Aaron and I spent a lovely weekend in DC. 

October: I got my first paycheck! That's about as exciting as October was. Mostly, we tried to adjust to life with 2 working spouses. It was a difficult transition...

November: Happy Thanksgiving! As embarrassing as this is, Aaron and I created our first ever budget. First. In 4 years of marriage. Before, we had always just kind of paid our bills and not spent much on ourselves. It was so empowering to feel like we were in control of our money rather than asking our bank account's permission to spend it.

December: Aaron and I saw lots of family members and made some big life decisions!