Two Weeks from Hell

Okay, so I've been quiet lately. Honestly? I'm just coming up for air right now. It's been a couple of weeks from hell. Seriously. We couldn't have scripted it any better. No joke.

My mom and my aunt came to visit. Fantastic, right? Oh definitely! I love seeing them and spending time with them. I am blessed in that they have the opportunity and are close enough in proximity to travel a couple of times per year to see Petite. They do enjoy doing that. We all lament though that my sister and her little boy are so far away in West Virginia. It's tough not being able to see him more frequently as he grows up. He'll be one year old at the end of May and I would LOVE to see him for his birthday. *sigh*

Anyway, so my mom and aunt arrived.

I think they brought the pox/plague with them.




They arrived on Wednesday. The day after they arrived, Mom said she wasn't feeling well. Just... "off" so to speak. By Friday night when we went out for supper, she was definitely having chills and not looking her finest. Saturday she spent in bed. She thought she had a bit of a fever. And she was having aches and pains. She desperately needed sleep.

Alas, my two cats are definitely nocturnal and they just LOVE to roam through the house, meowing, pawing at closed doors, tearing around, doing anything and everything possible to interrupt sleep. One of them sat on my pillow and bit my hair/head the other day, so badly did he want me to get up and feed him at 3 a.m.! I was NOT impressed.

Oh, and then one of them puked in the hallway and Hubby stepped in it. *sigh again*

My aunt, thankfully, survived with a tickle in her throat, but I am told it developed into something more drastic when she returned home. Ugh.

Added to that the fact that the day before they were to leave (Wednesday), I had taken the day off to spend with them. I was looking forward to my Tuesday off, spending it at home with them all, maybe taking them shopping while Hubby watched Petite in the afternoon.

That wasn't to be either.

On Monday, our fridge died. FAST. Great: the one week that we have nice, warm, sunny weather that is abnormally hot, our fridge gives up the ghost!? Freakin lovely. I spent Monday evening making space in our little bar fridge for essentials and moving freezer stuff down to the deep freeze in the basement. Then I started scouring around for a new fridge. We found a few possibilities.

And thus we spent the entire day on Tuesday fiddling with that. Getting a fridge, getting it delivered ASAP, moving it in, moving the other one out (removing doors as per law), and changing the handle on the new fridge, cleaning it, moving stuff into it, tossing old stuff out, etc. What a nightmare! We had taken out a roast for Mom to cook that day for a family dinner, but in the end, we were far too tired to deal with that. However, the roast was thawed so we had to cook it. We did. And then ordered pizza for supper after a long, tiring day. I really needed to put something stronger into my tea that night, that's for sure.

Okay, so they flew home one week after they arrived, and Mom apparently dropped her bag in the hallway at home and went to bed for three days straight. Poor woman. My goal isn't to exhaust my mom and aunt when they visit yanno. Jeez. Some hostess I am... We never got to the new Ikea. We never even hit Costco! We didn't get to go shopping like we planned. Mom hoped to be able to babysit one night for us so Hubby and I could go to a movie or something. But none of it happened. Seriously. The. Week. From. Hell.

Three days after they left, I came down with whatever Mom had. A flu I guess. I had no vomiting or stuffy nose, none of that sort of thing. But I had aches. Chills. Pains. Stiffness. Dizziness. Exhaustion. BADLY. I went to work on Friday, but on the weekend I spent many hours in bed.

And over that weekend, Petite got sick with a cold. Nice. Snot everywhere. We went through two boxes of tissues. She had to stay home with me on Monday. And she was stir crazy. She didn't want to nap (and I badly needed one). She didn't even want to eat (fine enough, as long as she drank something). Tuesday came, and I was so out of it. I HAD to stay home. And she wasn't quite well enough to go to daycare for the second day. So she stayed home with me, again. But it was worse.

When she wouldn't nap, I left her to play in her room with her gate closed so I knew she was safe. I drifted in and out of a dazed sleep for about 30 or 40 mins. However, upon hearing, "Mommy help! I'm upside down!" I quickly hauled my sick ass to her room. What I saw made me collapse in a heap. I texted that photo to Hubby and simply cried. He left work to come rescue me. I was a mess. Needless to say, she was better enough to go to daycare by Wednesday.

And I stayed home, yet again. I'm still not quite back up to snuff, dealing with a bit of tunnel vision and vertigo. But I'm managing.

It gets better right? Please Lord, let it get better.

Oooh, one bit of good news. One of the local winners of last year's contest (The New HOT 89.9's Win a Baby contest... which won awards by the way!) just announced on the station this morning that her first IVF cycle in January is a success! She would be about 6-7 weeks right now and is due in November! I'm SO happy for her and her husband! Amazing. May the road to her rainbow be a fantastic ride!

Oh yeah, and I had my CD3 bloodwork last Friday to test LH, FSH, TSH, E2 and Ferritin. I still have the bruise. We'll see what happens.

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by FindingChaos/Soulemama.

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment'

in the comments for all to find and see.

"Mommy, I touched dino poop!"

Fertile Future

In the IF community, here among ALI bloggers, we know of many who have been down the hellish road of dealing with cancer as well as infertility. Sometimes, cancer precedes infertility and treatment can lead to infertility.

But there are ways to look ahead, down the road, and change that outcome.

Fertile Future is a national organization, based in Ottawa, that is dedicated to preserving the fertility of young people who are diagnosed with cancer. The organization has an all-encompassing approach that helps young people across the country (in 40+ affiliated centres) with fertility preservation, as they face cancer treatments and tackle health issues head on. On their website, you can find a number of resources.

• success stories



• stellar REs (ours included) on the board



• patient support



• ambassador program



• cost reduction program



• registered, charitable organization info



• newsletter



• events



• and more!

This year, on May 10 in Toronto, Ontario, they are holding An Evening of Hope. It will be an evening of art, food, wine and well known Canadian broadcaster and handsome weatherman, Anwar Knight, will be the Master of Ceremonies. Tickets are now on sale, or if you would like to donate to Fertile Future, that too is an option. If I'm not mistaken, one of my old schoolmates, Rick Mercer, hosted a benefit for Fertile Future here in Ottawa last year sometime. (God knows, Rick is always hilarious to watch; that hasn't changed since high school!)


I think this is a wonderful cause. Kudos to the organizers and all of those involved. While I didn't have the added stress of cancer to accompany our infertility diagnosis, I know many in the ALI community who have and something like this is a beacon of light and hope in the dark night as they try to find their way. May An Evening of Hope this year be absolutely wonderful!


A shout out to FET Accompli who brought this to my attention. (If you're reading this, get in touch with a link to your blog so I can add you to my own reading list please??!!) It's so important for us to discuss the affects of cancer treatment on fertility and how best to preserve fertility for future opportunities.

Belated {This Moment}, etc.

It's late, I know, but this is a photo of Petite from last Thursday. She had her first dentist appointment (wow, I didn't know they would do a cleaning for a 2-year old!) and she did really well. Too bad it was quickly followed on Friday by a fever and discomfort. I suspect it's teething; at the dental appointment, we clearly saw her upper right eyetooth coming through her gums. Poor girl.

• Tomorrow morning I work early and take half the day off. Petite and I will head to the airport to pick up my mom and my oldest aunt. They're visiting for a week with the intent and purpose of spending as much time as possible with Petite.
  


• I picked up Hubby's birthday gift the other day. He will be 44 in April and I know he will LOVE this gift. I can't wait to tell him what it is. He'll be thrilled! I know it.
  


• A former elementary school classmate has an exhibition launch at the Museum of Science and Nature next week in Ottawa. Unrequited Death promises to be gorgeous. Helen was one of two or three fabulous artists (hmm, do you call a child at age 7 or 8 an artist? or just an excellent 'draw-er'?) in school and we always knew she would follow through and do something artistic with her life. As the show is in my hometown, and I would love to attend, Helen ensured that I got an invitation and so next Wednesday, Petite and I will be going to the Museum for a couple of hours. I'm so looking forward to it! I must remember to be home in time for Petite's bedtime though! Lest I have a cranky girl on my hands. But it will be wonderful to see Helen and her art!
  


• It looks like spring may have sprung in our corner of the world. I hope so. The snow pile on my lawn is down to a manageable level (read: I can see across the street now!) and warmer temps mean that we can leave Petite's snowsuit at home in favour of a splash suit and rainboots in the morning. My girls loves splashing in the puddles, that's for sure!
  


• In 2013, my high school will be holding a 25-year reunion. Dear God, it's been that long? Organizers are busy planning things and with luck, Hubby and I will be able to make it. That would be wonderful. The other vacation we're planning next year is somewhere warm on a beach in February. The -30 temperatures that we get here in February aren't much fun so we're going to plan to do an all-inclusive somewhere, with my girlfriend and her daughter, and my stepson too we hope. Suggestions? Anything other than Mexico or Cuba are possibilities. If you have recommendations, I'm listening!

Have a great week everyone! Enjoy your March Break!

Happy Birthday Poppy!

My dad's birthday was yesterday. He turned 71 years old. For his birthday, I didn't give him anything; there's nothing I can give him that he truly wants. Except...

Petite grabbed the phone, saying, "Wanna talk Poppy." I handed it over and listened. She chatted for a moment, answering Poppy's questions. Gently, I reminded her, "What do we need to say to Poppy today?" She looked up at me, "Happy Birthday Poppy," she said loudly into the mouthpiece.

What happened next, I couldn't even script.

She said, "Wanna sing Happy Birthday." So I said, "Let's sing it together," and I helped her get going:

"Happy Birthday... " and she was off and running singing to her Poppy, loud and strong.

I gave him a great gift after all; well, Petite did. It was such a good gift, it made him cry. That's saying something. My dad is old school; he never cries.

Except when Petite sings to him obviously.

Happy Birthday Dad. I'm so glad you had the chance to hear your granddaughter singing Happy Birthday to you and telling you how much she loves you before she kisses the phone and hands it back to me.


On a personal note, much to my surprise, this is post #401. I can't believe it's been more than five years since I've been writing here, and it's been nine years that I've focussed on infertility awareness. Time flies when you're having fun!