Where I was one year ago this week...

A year ago today we were in Italy. I can't believe it's been a whole year!

The trip was a blast. We went for free, believe it or not, because it was a tour and we were the "hosts." A t.v. station in the city where we used to live used us to promote the trip (since we were former news anchors there) and let us go for free. How lucky were we? We had joked about doing something like that when we were old and retired, but young people are rarely asked to do it. And we're talking airfare, hotels, and two meals a day all included. The blessing was it allowed us to take video of the Vatican for my movie, and so I believe it was an answer to prayer.

Since it was a tour, it was mainly retired couples, with a couple people in their forties, and a few in their fifties. Most, though, were in their 60's, 70's, and 80's! But don't let their ages fool you, they were awesome! It's amazing how much older people act exactly like young people - they formed clicks and there were even some tense moments when some of the group was upset at the rowdier members! (Not surprisingly, we were among the rowdier ones, although most of our little circle were in their seventies!).

Sadly, it might be the last trip I take abroad, because I had enormous anxiety over the flight and I don't think I can go through that again. And, yes, I took Xanax, but I would seriously have to be heavily medicated the entire month before we go to make it worth it.

So allow me to take a little trip down memory lane from one year ago this week:

Us in Verona, where we spent the first couple nights. While it's a good location to take day trips from, Verona itself was awesome. (By the way, I can't believe how much heavier we both are here!)

More Verona, and its marble pedestrian streets.

I think we're in Florence here. I'm holding someone else's wine, since I don't drink. You're probably thinking, what a waste! (At least that's what my husband was thinking the whole time!)

Our best friends on the trip, and we had never met them before we went. Please say a quick prayer for the woman in the middle, Lou. She suffered a stroke not long after returning and then they discovered cancer, so she spent many months in the hospital.

St. Mark's Square in Venice. I love Venice!

This woman was nuts, in a good way! There was never a dull moment.

The group. The woman in the forefront with her back to the camera was our tour guide for the week (thankfully, that wasn't the job of the hosts. Our position was entirely ceremonial!). She was Irish and quite liberal, and vocal, and even told the group that the Vatican once had a side business manufacturing birth control. What?

Barb, the crazy one, again.

Lou's husband, attempting to steal a decoration from a restaurant. I told you these people were rowdy, despite their age!

Our table always managed to acquire everyone else's leftover wine at dinner.

One of our many live performances at dinner.


Our first night at the Vatican. They wanted to baptise him, since he wasn't Catholic, despite the fact that he was actually baptised Catholic as an infant. I hope this isn't sacreligious! It's what happens after all that free wine.


Awaiting the Pope at a Wednesday audience. We didn't know at this point if Pope Benedict would make his way by us.


And he did!

We were so close! I even made eye contact!

Trevi Fountain, Rome, with our new BFFs.

We had such a great time! It almost makes me want to fly again! Almost. Okay, not really. But it was an amazing trip and I'm so thankful we were given this opportunity!

I'm back

It was a long trip that included two overnight drives, one sick dog, a wedding, a sore throat, seven stops, 24 hours in the car and a lot of quick visits. It was fun and tiring and although I wish we had had more time, I'm glad to be back home and sleeping in our own bed. The wedding was great and my videography was a success (well, I haven't watched it yet, but I didn't miss any important moments so it can't be that bad). Here are a couple pics from the wedding:

That's my sister-in-law's baby. Isn't he cute?

So for a cycle update... I don't have my chart in front of me right now (and I'm too lazy to go and get it), but I'm pretty sure I had an "ovulatory event" the day before we left, which I think was day 15 (I think I'm on day 22 today). My temperature spiked around that same time. It went down a couple days later (although I woke up really early that day) but went back up the next day and stayed there. Today it went up an additional 3-tenths of a degree, but that is probably because I slept in real late. So nothing is too out of the ordinary this cycle except that while I was gone I had a lot of abdominal pain. I'm assuming it's related to PCOS.

As for my diet, on our scale I'm down to (or up to) fifteen pounds. While I was at my parents I weighed myself on a big scale, like the one in a doctor's office, and with my clothes on I had lost 13 pounds (that is, as compared to the scale at my last doctor's appointment). So it's safe to say I'm somewhere between 13 and 15 pounds. It wasn't too tough to eat good on the road because there were meat and vegetables choices at both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, and we brought a big box of our oats to have for breakfast each day. And since my mom and sister had kind of started the diet, it was easy to eat healthy at their house. We slacked off on walking though, so we do need to get back in that routine. The best part was that everyone who saw me thought I looked a lot thinner, so that was nice to hear. Although last night on the way home I really could have gone for a big fast food burger. But I didn't.

So the other highlight of the trip was showing the documentary to one of the families prominently featured in it. They loved and since the parents are both PhD's and are probably the most intelligent people we know, it was really neat to listen to them talk about it on an intellectual after we watched it. We also gave a copy to the woman in charge of the adoration chapel, who is also featured in the movie, and she called after she watched it to say she loved it too! So now we are working on securing a venue for a screening and getting the website up and running.

So that's the update. As for my mental condition, I really felt good the whole trip. I'm just focusing on my next doctor's appointment that is now less than two weeks away. I've got to have small goals!

Vacation pics

We are back from the beach. We had a really good, relaxing time. And other than when I posted in the middle of the week, I really didn't get down about infertility the whole time.

If you were to ask my husband, a constant goal of mine is to have a good picture of us taken. Of course, he is more than happy with the many photos of us from throughout the nine years we've been together, but I'm never happy with any. Either I hate the way I look, or he has is making a funny face, or I hate the way I look. We've spent many a time setting up the camera, then running to get in place (that's what happens when you live hours from your friends and family - there's no one to actually take a picture), trying to make it look like we just happen to be taking a candid shot. And, big surprise, it never works. So I was determined to come away from this vacation with some good, frameable photos of us, especially since my dad has a new camera and is really into photography. I also hoped for some of me and my sister, but she has a blinking-at-the-flash problem and has forbid me from publically using any of us. So here are some of me and my husband that I find acceptable. I could only take pictures on the last day due to my second-degree burns on my face (which, oddly enough, you can't even see!).







The last one is my little Goddaughter. She had just mastered swimming under water earlier that day.

I actually ruined a bunch of photos because I'm a big dork and decided to use the advice of a DMV worker. When I got a new license a year ago, the woman taking my picture had this elaborate way to get me to pose. She had me stick my neck out, past the point of what I think will look silly, she instructed me, because, trust her, it won't. Well it worked and I did not have a double chin in my license picture. Actually, I like the picture so much that I have yet to get an ID in my new state (that and the fact that I keep saying I'm going to lose weight before I go - those pictures are so permanent!). I think I'm actually breaking the law at this point. Anyway, I decided I needed to stick my neck out in nearly all of my vacation photos and, big surprise, I look like I'm sticking my neck way out (I'm kind of doing it in the middle photo up there). After a while my sister pointed out that I probably shouldn't listen to posing advice of a DMV worker. I guess I should just pay better attention the next time I watch America's Next Top Model.

I also did a little bit of spring blog cleaning and made one of the vacations pics my blog picture, since we were wearing sweaters in the old photo. Lately I have felt rather warm when I looked at the winter one. Now I'll feel cool and breezy. I'll almost hear the waves.

So a little bit of news on the infertility front. I have officially been accepted in the PPVI thyroid malfunction study. I had a letter in the mail when we arrived home today that was basically a long, numbered list of instructions. At the end it gave final instructions to call one of the nurses at PPVI with any questions, otherwise call the Omaha pharmacy where your prescription has been called in and the pharmacist is awaiting your call. I thought for sure the next instruction was that the letter was going to self-destruct. It seems like it's going to be kind of confusing. I've got to take the medication every twelve hours, as close to the minute as possible, either one hour before or two hours after eating, and I have to take my temp and pulse five times a day. Ah! Confusing! I'm not good with keeping track of things. To be honest, I had to make up some of my temperatures and pulses from the first round of testing because I kept forgetting. I know I can't do that now. I guess I can always set an alarm on my cell phone.

On Thursday night we met up with our best friends from NY who were also on vacation in the same location. I was updating my friend, the wife, on my infertility situation, and she thinks she might have the same thyroid problem. For anyone who doesn't know, it's called Wil.son's Synd.rome, and is basically a hypothyroid condition that is unable to be detected by blood work. Dr. Hilgers thinks this condition exists, and may have something to do with infertility I suppose, but it is controversial. For instance, the Am.erican Thyr.oid Asso.ciation (or something like that) has taken the official stance that it isn't a condition. The great part is that its symptoms are basically anything and everything I complain about healthwise in my life - infertility, fatigue, lack of concentration, anxiety, depression, even clumsiness (I trip a lot) and much more. It'd be great if I could fix everything (but what, really, are the odds of that?). I'm kind of nervous about the treatment, though, because there are all these warnings about heart problems and to contact PPVI if you feel a rapid pulse. Well, I often have a rapid pulse (and isn't a slow pulse a symptom of hypothyroidism?) so I'm worried my pulse will get out of control. I guess if that were to happen, they'll end the treatment.

I'm also awaiting a call from my Creighton educator about my crazy cycle (it's not over yet - I think I'm on day 23). As I posted in my last post, I'm not sure when my peak day was, but there may be a chance it was less than seven days ago, which would mean I could still get a blood draw. We'll see. Either way, I had no clear peak day this month and so my cycles continue to be drastically different from month to month. I'll update when I hear something more - hopefully good news!