No relief

Hi everyone! I have not yet had any relief in my flank pain or abdomen pain. I went to the Dr this week to be checked out and she agreed with the ulcer diagnosis and thought the flank pain MIGHT be kidney stones or a kidney infection, so she ordered a urinalysis and x-rays. They came back showing nothing, so we still don't really know what the flank pain is about. Maybe I just need a chiropractic adjustment!?! haha

This week Aaron did his latest semen analysis. We were really hoping it would show some good improvement since he has been on the hormone therapy for almost a year now, but it was actually worse. After a few hours of crying and feeling sorry for ourselves, Aaron got on line and started researching to try to find SOMETHING that might help his sperm count. He found some very interesting information in this search.... He found that Prozac and other SSRIs can cause male factor infertility in the areas of sperm count and morphology (the amount of abnormal vs normal sperm). These studies he found were done by VERY prestigious universities, so it was pretty safe to say they are legit. Aaron took this information to his psych appointment on Thursday and his psychologist was thoroughly shocked and agreed that Aaron should go off the Prozac. So, he will be gradually reducing his dose over the next couple weeks and then he will retest with another semen analysis in three months (that is how long it takes to produce sperm). Aaron also made an appointment with his urologist to see if there is anything he will suggest to do to improve Aaron's count. Oh, and as part of his research, Aaron also found some information on a leading Dr in the field of male factor infertility who happens to be located in San Francisco. Aaron sent them an email to see what the appointments cost, so he may try to get in with this Dr for a consult at some point. And we are also looking into acupuncture to help with male infertility. If you can't tell, we are going to do anything we can to help boost Aaron's fertility.
In other really great news, Aaron finally got his
referral for weight loss surgery, so hopefully the process will keep moving forward quickly for him :)

Here are my latest photos. I am down about 107 lb :)

Catch up

Sorry it has been so long! I have been pretty busy with lots going on, but really that is no excuse. I will try to do better

So, last week was my three month post op visit. It was a group appointment (everyone was 3-4 months post op) and was pretty easy going. We all went over the nutritional information along with the vitamins and all that jazz. We all talked through some post-op issues/complications and things like that as well.

After the appointment I talked with the internist who is taking over my care to let her know I Have been having some pain in my sides and abdomen along with lots of vomiting and she is concerned I have an ulcer. So, I had to start on two medications and did some blood work today to see if it is due to an infection called Helicobacter pylori, which I guess causes ulcers.If it is due to this infection then they will have to treat that as well. So, we will get it figured out. Right now I am just uncomfortable and sometimes have issues keeping my food down, but I can deal with it.

Today I had an appointment with my Reproductive Endocrinologist to go over the lab work I had done a couple weeks ago. My androgen levels were abnormal so I wanted to see what he thought about it and how he wanted to move forward from here. The went really well. My Doctor is very optimistic that my body will do much better after the weight loss in responding to medications and even ovulating on it's own. He ordered a progesterone test to see if I did in fact ovulate on my own last week since my BBT chart shows signs of ovulation.

He looked over my labs and said everything looks "optimal" except the testosterone, but that is was so close to being within range and had already improved a lot already. He didn't want to do anything to medicate me to try and bring it down because he feels it will likely get even better and should not affect my reaction to medications anymore at this point. He wants me to continue to chart my cycles until I am cleared to start TTC again by my surgeon, then I can contact him/his office, get any blood work they need done and get started back with IUI. He said if I am ovulating on my own they will probably add some clomid in to make sure I get a few good follies each cycle and hopefully my "new" body will respond to the clomid w/o having to do any injectable meds.

Aaron will be doing his semen analysis again after pay day (Friday) so we know what's going on with his swimmers, but the doc was very optimistic for us. This is a HUGE change from before where his view was that even IVF would not be possible for us since my ovaries just did not respond well to medication and I was so overweight he worried he would not even be able to get access to my ovaries to be able to do egg retrievals.

So, this is all really great news!! He was very proud and excited about what I have accomplished and didn't have a problem saying so many times through out the appointment.

I will post some pictures soon! I have lost 107 lbs now! YAY!

It's Official!

As of today I have lost...





100 pounds!!

EEK! I am so excited

I have only 16 pounds to go until I am at goal. I have gone from a size 28 to a size 14/16, I am no longer hypertensive, do not have sleep apnea, blood sugars are fabulous and my hormone levels are looking better (not perfect, but better). Thank you to everyone for being so supportive through this whole process. All of the positive comments from friends and family have been awesome and make me want to keep doing the best I can on this journey. THANK YOU!


Here's the pics