Wrapping up ICLW

This week really flew away! For me it has been a week filled with things to do and novelties. To wrap them all up here goes the list:

1) I had the WTF review on tuesday which went well, the plan is to have a hysteroscopy to make sure I have nothing that impedes the implantation in the uterus and then schedule the FET with the single penguin we had in this cycle. I will be on a modified protocol this time which will involve Viagra to maximise the blood flow to the uterus. I look forward to the experience :o)

2) Patches and the Dude came home also on tuesday, they quickly got to know each other and now are inseparable! They sleep together, play together, and even lick each other, so we are delighted with that. Patches was very affectionate from the very beginning, the Dude on the contrary was quite shy and would hiss at you if you were getting too close or try to pet him. Well, yesterday both Mike and I were able to pet him for quite a while (from under the table)! We are hopeful that he will relax a bit more but we know it may take some time.

3) My second PhD student submitted his thesis on friday! What a milestone for him (and for me!) I am really happy with the way his project turned out so hopefully the external examiner will be of the same opinion. The viva will be some time in April.

4) Mum and Dad have finally booked a flight to come visiting after Easter. It took two kittens to get them over here! They will love them and this is now the main topic of conversation when we chat on skype "how are the kittens?" "What do they do?" "Can you show them to us?" and so on. Bless them.

5) I have booked a weekend in London with my best friend, we are going to go to an amazing Spa (check it out here) in March! We went there for my 30th birthday 5 and a half years ago, it was about time we were going back!

6) Last but not least, I found new blogs to follow and I look forward to get to know better my cyber-frineds.

The kitties and the WTF review

Please welcome....the newest members of the family....

Patches O'Houlihan and The Dude Lebowski!

I can't believe we have kittens in the house! Well you may wonder about the names, I know, not the most classic cat names, but we had seen Dodgeball recently and Patches O'Houlihan really cracked Mike up (apparently the surname is typically Irish but no way the name is!) and we decided no matter what the cat looked like, if it was male or female, we would have have had a Patches! So Patches is the stripy-patchy one on the left, he's probably 3 months old and very affectionate. You pick it up and he starts purring in no time. The Dude is actually very shy, and walks really low on the ground, but he has eaten already and although Patches hisses at him a bit he's really cool about it! So Patches and The Dude are now adopted, they have found a cosy place under a trolley in the kitchen where the photo was taken and they don't seem to mind sharing it (allright, Patches is not too pleased...) we are very happy and I'll keep you posted on how they settle in.

And what do you know, while I was at the shelter I got the WTF phone call! Dr. W (the Super Doctor, the one who did the transfer) started with "Oh, Fran, I'm so frustrated it didn't work, you must be too!" oh yeah...you got that right doc! Anyway, he thinks that maybe this cycle the quality of the blasts wasn't as high as the last time, nothing to be read into it really, it just happens. He also said that we should go ahead with the penguin, you never know, it's a nice blast, likely to survive the thaw, we'll be changing a bit the protocol so that I won't be on so much estrogen and we add a bit of Viagra to the mix. Seriously. I said right so, how about we make sure we have nothing to worry with my uterus? Can I have a hysteroscopy? He said sure! I would have suggested it myself if this FET failed, might as well get it done beforehand! And so he's contacting the doctor in one of the Hospitals (very near home) and we'll get that sorted out and then here we'll schedule the FET. He was really positive about us, he said that I always got pregnant on fresh cycles, it's just in the odds that sometime it doesn't work or they would have stats of 100% success per transfer!

Anyway, it may have been that I had Patches and the Dude ready to go home, but I was very happy about the conversation, again the clinic is really hands-on and I'm sure they really want to get me pregnant!