Always Be Prepared

So today finds me pondering how I am going to approach this next cycle because this is really going to be THE LAST CYCLE (do you hear that Universe?). Truly. There is always so much debate that goes on inside my head about diet and lifestyle choices that I can make in preparing for a cycle. Do I go gluten free? Dairy free? Sugar free? Do I meditate? Use hypnosis? How many times a day? How long? Do I exercise? Cardio? Yoga? Weights? Do I take any nutritional supplements? Which ones? Chinese Herbs? How about acupuncture? There are so many choices and sometimes I think that I just need to unlock the magic combination for me so that diet+lifestyle=baby. I hear so many stories about so-and-so that finally decided to go sugar free (for example) and poof! Next cycle they get pregnant.

I've tried all of the above, singularly or in combination at some point or other over the past 6 years. Most of the time I don't feel any discernable difference, but by choosing to do some or all of them, no matter how large the sacrifice, it makes me feel like I have taken control of the situation. I have sprung into action rather than doing nothing. I guess that's what it's all about - the illusion of control and by believing that I have exerted some tiny little speck of control, somehow I have finally gained control over the outcome.

I am trying very hard to listen to my body, which is not something I'm used to doing but am learning to do slowly. My digestion has always been poor and I have long suspected that I have irritable bowel since little things can cause significant irritation that normal people don't experience. For the longest time, I didn't know I was lactose intolerant because I ignored all of the clues that my body was giving me until years later I figured it out with the help of a naturopath.

So if I were to play doctor, I would need to write up a prescription for the next few months about the things I am comitting to doing. Here goes...

1. Continue taking 6oz of wheat grass juice daily in the morning on an empty stomach
2. Continue taking the following supplements:
- once a day: pre-natal vitamin, folic acid, B6, calcium, vitamin C & E, zinc
- three times a day: R+ alpha lipoic acid, CoQ10, fish oil
3. Meditate 2x a day; Qi-Gong in the morning and guided meditation in the evening
4. Better sleeping habits - in bed by 10:30pm at the latest with the lights out
5. Acupuncture once a week in the first half of my cycle up to ovulation
6. Gluten-free, dairy-free & refined sugar-free (this one is going to hurt since both my DH and I are foodies and we love to eat not to mention the holidays are coming up)

So there it is...and I guess it's not too bad (either that or you're thinking I'm pretty crazy right about now) when I write it all out because I have done all of those things before, just maybe not in that particular combination and all together.

And now, I raise my right hand and solemnly swear that I commit to making the above diet and lifestyle choices up until the time that I cycle, which is expected to be sometime in February or March 2009. I commit to this so that when I look back, I will have no regrets about whether I should have done these things in an attempt to give our last cycle the best chance possible to succeed. I will take this one day at a time, one choice at a time and I will not beat myself up if I don't execute these changes perfectly.

One other thing about being prepared to cycle again is that I have been calling around to other clinics in the Toronto area to see if anyone else will do satellite monitoring. So far, here is what I have found out:

1. Create, TCart & Next Steps will all do the monitoring for me; however, they charge a flat fee of $1,500 which covers the cost of all b/w and u/s required from Day 1 and for up to 2 weeks and faxing the results to CCRM. None of the clinics will drop the price even when I explained to them that I would need only 2 u/s and 2 days of b/w. So, at an average price of $375 per treatment required, it's actually cheaper for me to fly down to Denver for one day and have my check done by CCRM believe it or not.

2. IVF Canada & LifeQuest do not do satellite monitoring. I am not a patient of IVF Canada and at LifeQuest, I only did a prelim consult with one of the doctors there so they may have been more receptive if I had actually cycled with them.

3. My first clinic, which shall remain nameless, will do it the cheapest and will only charge me $100 per u/s and $60 for each day of b/w; however, the ultrasonographer at this clinic is the same one that missed the cyst last cycle so needless to say, I will not be returning there for fear that they miss something again.

At this point, we will have to wait until our regroup on Jan 8th with Dr. Sch but it looks like there will be a lot of travel to Denver in my near future.

P.S. I'm not starting my "new" diet and lifestyle until Monday next week! I'm giving myself a chance to say goodby to gluten, dairy and SUGAR