Weight Loss & Lowest Medical Bill Ever

Today I got a bill for my blood work that was done from just a few weeks ago. I was completely shocked to see that it's less than $6! I'm not sure how this worked out this way, but I'll take it. My last bill for blood work was $700.

I also got email confirmation that I won my most recent dietbet games. I'm down from 215 to 172. I'm doing great with eating healthier which seems to still be managing my endometriosis pain. Having less fat could contribute to less endometriosis symptoms since fat increases estrogen. Only 35 more pounds to go and I've already lost over 40! I'm over halfway to my goal.

Catching Up on CD 2...almost 3

Despite being MIA for the past couple weeks, I'm still doing good with eating on the healthy side. I've also done my best to keep up with taking pictures of new meals that I've tried. Everything is surprisingly very simple, but pleasing. Most of my meals consist of regular old fruits and veggies. It's the spice department that I'm really exploring lately. I've found myself using spices I never new existed.

My favorite spice combination is thyme and rosemary. Before the last month or so I'd never purchased either of these spices. I'm really starting to warm up to basil, dried, not fresh, yet. I've also been playing around with a little balsamic and coming up with some interesting things. The salad in the picture above actually has a basil balsamic vinaigrette on it. The other salad in the bottom picture has a little gluten free thousand island. Yum! Next to that is thyme and rosemary roasted red potatoes and scrambled eggs with onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes, topped with salsa.

I know that dairy doesn't do me well, but the huge pile of fruit sitting next to the heap of plain Greek yogurt was so delicious. Crazy enough, I didn't add any type of sweetener to the yogurt and I actually enjoyed it. I tried Greek yogurt once, years ago, and hated it! And it was actually flavored. This wasn't sweet at all, and was honestly a little on the tangy/bitter side, but paired with the fruit it was really good. I have to admit the texture of this yogurt was a lot better. I don't remember what the brand of the first one I tried was, but it was so gritty. Taking a bite resembled dumping a load of sand into my mouth. Not cool.

I got on a roasted portobello mushroom kick a while back and the ones pictures were actually pizza mushrooms. I made the same homemade pizza sauce that I made before using tomato sauce, basil, oregano, and garlic salt. It was pretty good, and I could eat that sauce all by itself. Heck, I had some tonight :)

The picture above shows two of my favorite meals in the past couple weeks. I found a box of gluten free gnocchi pasta and a box of gluten free rice noodles marked down at Kroger. I cooked up some onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes and  seasoned them both with Italian seasoned olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I discovered the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and Italian seasonings combination quite a while back and it has become my preferred sauce for any pasta or pasta substitute.

This last set of pictures shows the same meal from a few nights ago. I've been calling it black bean veggie tacos. It's just cooked onions, bell peppers, diced tomatoes, jalapenos, and black beans. I season it with cumin and toss it on a tortilla. It is so yummy. I've actually had it three days this past week and looking forward to having it again. It's so quick and simple it's not funny.

Speaking of funny, since changing my diet I've really started to enjoy cooking. I used to see anything that didn't come from a box and go straight into the oven or microwave as a chore. Now, it just doesn't feel right if I don't have my cutting board and chopping knife out when fixing a meal.

Weight Loss:

Well, I'm happy to report that as of yesterday I'm down to 175.5! I wasn't sure I would ever get away from 179 for a while there. It seemed I was doomed to stay that weight forever. In all I've lost 39.5 pounds. So close to 40. My goal is 130 so that means I only have about 40 more pounds to go! I'm half way there. I have to be honest though, when I started this journey, a huge part of me didn't think I'd have the chance to drop this much weight before getting pregnant. I guess I thought it was going to be my cure all. Now, I"m feeling pretty confident that I'll make it all the way to my goal.

TTC News:

Today is cd 2, almost cd 3, and I wish I could say I was surprised about starting another cycle, but I can't. I'm really starting to have mixed feelings about being forced into a TTC break in less than three weeks. I have to confess, I've spent weeks trying to figure out a way to have the surgery and continue to TTC while I'm in MD when the hubby comes to visit. It was only recently that I faced the fact that it just can't happen. There's no guarantee that he'll be able to make it up during my fertile window, and who knows if we'd even get the chance to try??

As much as it sucks, surgery after the break will be best. I'm still back and forth on whether or not I'm going to take the birth control pills I've got. I have some anxiety about taking medicines, especially new ones, and how my body will react. It kind of scares me that I could have a bad reaction while I'm up there alone with Peanut. I know it's just birth control but, what can I say, I'm super paranoid. I'm also a little confused about how I should take them if I do. Do I take the sugar pills to induce a period or not? I've read that girls do it both ways, but I"m not sure which is the right way for me. I don't want to do anything that will screw up my cycle and I know that taking birth control is risky in that department anyway.

Life News:

On top of everything, I'm starting to feel anxious about being without the hubby for so long. He started a new job about six months ago and I think I'm still adjusting. Before this job, he spent 8 years at a job with extremely flexible hours. We were lucky enough to spend pretty much all of every day together. When he did have to go in to work he usually went after hours and took us with him.

It was super hard in the beginning. We went from being with him all the time to barely seeing him at all. He's gone before we wake up and he's only home for about 4-5 hours before he's ready for bed. Most days he falls asleep on the couch before 9pm. To make it worse we lose almost an extra 2 hours with him since he has to drive almost an hour one way to get to work. We've been talking about relocating lately, but I'm not sure we will because we have a pretty nice home set up where we are currently. We'd be crazy to leave just yet.

Lately though, it's not really the amount of time we get to spend with him that's really bothering me. For about the past week or two I've been feeling really insecure about myself. For the first time in our 11 years of being together, I'm scared to death he's going to get bored of me. He's made several friends at work and he's always telling me about them when he comes home. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy listening to him, especially when it's some juicy work drama, but I never have anything interesting to say back.

I cook, I clean, and I teach. That's my day. My life.

I'm trying really hard not to let my fear leak out. I don't want to push him away by becoming too needy or too attached. I feel like I need to find something for myself to do. I'm just not sure what?

CD 20 & A Portobello Mushroom Sandwich

I had the best sandwich ever yesterday! I really wanted a sandwich made with these skinny bagels (not great for my endometriosis but I just had to try them), so I decided to season a portobello mushroom cap with salt, pepper, and garlic, roast it and use it as the "meat". It was so yummy! I topped it with lettuce, tomato, and half of an avocado seasoned with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. The other thing on my plate is something I came up with after craving a blooming onion. I call it the naked blooming onion. I cut it so it would open up like a flower, seasoned it with salt, pepper, and garlic and roasted it. I'll be making more of this same stuff again today.

Weight Loss:

I've been stuck at 179 for almost a month. I've had two splurge days over the past three weeks and I've been getting a little carried away with macadamia nuts. I've started tracking on myfitnesspal so maybe I can get it under control again. I only have 2.5 weeks left on my dietbet and I have 4.3 pounds still to lose.

TTC News:

I went back to see my new doctor on Wednesday. He did a full pelvic ultrasound and went over my blood work results. Good news is I do not have PCOS, but he's not sure if I had it before. He said if I did I don't anymore, which is what matters. I did, however, have a cyst that had ruptured recently on my right ovary. It's weird because I thought if I had a cyst rupture I'd know it, but I had no idea. I'm pretty sure I know when it happened now, but at the time I thought it was ovulation. In fact, if that was the cyst, I've had them before. I've read that some girls with endometriosis have higher pain tolerances. Maybe that's why I didn't have excruciating pain?

My blood work came back great. My TSH seemed a little on the low side to me, .72, but still within normal range. My AMH was 2.32 and in the normal range. The only problem he saw was my vitamin D was low. He told me to start taking 2000-5000 iu/day. We have nothing else planned for now other than a new semen analysis and my second laproscopy plus the HSG to make sure my tubes are open. I'd love to do the surgery now, but I still hate the idea of having it done right before a forced 3-4 month break. I don't want to lose my best months to try. My mom offered to come and help me and Peanut out if I do the surgery after we get back. Since she's willing to help, I'll probably just wait.

As for my current cycle, I'm pretty sure I'm around 6 dpo or later, but I'm for sure cd 20. My breast are just becoming sore, I think. This usually happens around this time. Sadly, I woke up to some spotting this morning. I've never spotted this early before, but I felt the same pinching feeling that I always get before my spotting begins. There was one month I started spotting on cd 21. I just hope that I don't spot all the way to AF this month. It's so annoying.

CD 13 & Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day <3

Today has been such a fun day. Peanut spent a lot of time making Valentine's Day cards for me and the hubby. It was so sweet and I just love it when she puts her mind to work on something creative. She left a handmade card in her dad's lunch box last night and he found it this morning when he left for work. I wish I had been up to see him find it. I hope he knows how much us girls love him!

Let's just dive right on in to the good pictures, shall we? I fixed this sweet little tray up for the hubby and Peanut tonight to go with dinner. Despite the yumminess loaded on this tray, I was good and only had three strawberries with a bit of chocolate. It was so delicious and so worth it if I bloat or if a war between my ovaries and uterus breaks out.

I also made some heart shaped biscuits. Funny enough, the hubby jokingly said better get some heart shaped biscuits for dinner. Little did he know I already had them planned. I took the left over pieces, tore them into small pieces, dropped them in a cupcake pan, and drizzled melted butter with cinnamon and sugar over them. I didn't take a picture of them, but they were actually pretty cute and the both loved them. I'd never made that before, but it was really simple and I'm sure I'll be doing it again.

I also cut heart shapes out of bread and made french toast with them. I put a little butter on the rest of the bread and fried and egg in the center. That didn't really come out as planned since the egg spread out and didn't really look to much like a heart inside the bread. I should have used the next biggest cookie cutter. Lesson learned I suppose.

There was also bacon and gravey to go along with all this other stuff, but I stayed strong and stuck with a scrambled egg, black beans, jalapenos, a banana, a few strawberries (3 with chocolate), and that was it. I will not lose these other two dietbets!

The hubby called it his 'manly heart shaped dinner' <3

And I have to share this amazing mascara I got today! I got them HERE! They're called 3D lashes and I absolutely love them. My lashes are really short and you can't really see them curl up like they are now. I had a picture where I did one eye not the other but I must have deleted it. I'm not a big makeup fan, but I think I'll be using them pretty often, if not daily. I've always wanted longer lashes but hate the fake eyelash look.

TTC News:

I'm pretty sure that tomorrow will be ovulation day. My belly bloated up pretty bad and I had some pretty bad right ovary pain. For a minute I thought I was having an endometriosis flare up, but it went away after a couple of hours which is typical the day before ovulation. I'm not temping again so I can't be 100% sure about that, but I know that I've had lots of EWCM lately so I'll have a pretty good idea when that dries up.

CD 12 & I don't know what to do...

Since my visit with my new doctor yesterday I've been struggling with what I want to do. I'll will be leaving for Maryland in less than two months for Peanuts surgery. We will be there for 3-4 months and the original plan was to do surgery after I get back. My new doctor thinks it would be best to go ahead with surgery before I leave, but I don't know what to do.

Surgery before we leave for MD

Pros

• Our deductible will be broken up over two different months instead of coming out of our pocket all at once.
• I won't have to worry about recovering while Peanut is in a fixator and still needs me more than usual.
• If there is a blockage, I won't waste my sanity on two more pointless cycles.

Cons

• I will be taking birth control when we leave, but I fear my endo could build up over the months we're gone.
• I could be tossing away my best months to try while we're in Maryland and unable to TTC.

Surgery after after we leave for MD

Pros

• We will get to TTC during the first few months which offer us the best chance of getting pregnant.
• I won't have to take birth control and risk making my cycle wonky.

Cons

• I will have to recover while Peanut is unable to get around as she usually does and while the hubby is away for work.

We're still waiting to find out how much we're going to have to pay for a laproscopy. I had hoped to hear back from them today. I do know that we'll have a flat fee of $200 that the insurance will not cover for checking my tubes. I'm not sure if we'll do the SA before or after MD, but I do know it's going to cost us $150.

I wish we had started pushing this insurance stuff long before now.

CD 11 & A light at the end of the tunnel?

After all of my insurance confusion recently I decided to look for an ob/gyn that does fertility as well. When I found one I called to ask a few questions and ended up scheduling an appointment. That appointment was today and I think it went really well. Way better than I expected.

I'm still not sure what our insurance will or will not cover, but we talked about my past few years with my old doctor. He wants to do another lap sooner rather than later, but I'm unsure if I want to do that now or after I get back from Maryland. He said that birth control should keep my endo at bay while I'm away. He also suggested doing another SA for the hubby. He went ahead and took blood today and I go back in a week for an ultrasound.

Both the hubby and I both wish we had made the switch sooner. One of the first things he asked was whether or not my old doctor had checked to make sure my tubes were blocked. I told him I thought he had during the lap, but I wasn't sure and it didn't say anything about it in the report.

Speaking of...

I picked up a copy of my records and I finally know the details of my endometriosis. Right after the surgery when I had asked about what he'd found he just told me that it was on my abdominal wall and that he had removed all that he could see. However, according to my surgery report I had it not only on my abdominal wall, but also on my right ovary, right tube, and I had filmy adhesion attaching my bladder to uterus and uterus to abdominal wall. It did say he was able to remove it all easily.

Something else weird in my medical records was where he listed PCOS under my history. It also said that I was taking metformin, but I've never taken metformin nor has he mentioned PCOS. I brought it up with the new doctor. He doesn't seem to think I do have PCOS, but I think that's why he's doing the ultrasound and one of the things he's checking with blood work.

I totally forgot to ask about the preauthorizing forms so I'm going to mention it during my ultrasound appointment on Wednesday.I hope there isn't any trouble with the insurance. I'd really like to get knocked up at some point, preferably sooner rather than later.

Endometriosis Diet & Weight Loss

I'm still doing well, but my meals are pretty basic and boring lately. I've taken a few pictures but they're not that appealing to look at. After my preveious dietbet ended I splurged on pizza and a fish sandwich and fries before starting my new one. I gained a couple pounds, mostly bloat from sodium I'm sure, and my weight loss stalled for a while, but it seems to be going back down now. As of this morning I'm down to 179.

Dare I Hope...

The hubby brought up having a baby today without me initiating the conversation. At first I didn't know what to say, partially because of the question itself, but mostly because he has never done this. He's not against a baby, but he's not ready to dig deeper into medical assistance for my endometriosis. Anyway, the question was...

"So if we have a baby, are the girls (breast) going to be spraying everywhere any time I even look at them?"

After a brief pause, I couldn't help but laugh at the question. I suppose in his mind I'd have a pair of sprinklers on my chest ready to blast milk everywhere at any moment. He knows I want to breastfeed as I did with the daughter, but I guess he forgot that it wasn't really that messy. In his defense, it was 10 years ago.

The only other time he mentioned having a baby without me starting the conversation he started the question with, "this doesn't change my feelings about having a baby but..." He didn't do that this time and I can't help but hope he's warming up to the idea.

I did recently find out that he favors the name Edwin, after his great grandfather and grandfather. He's not gaga over Oscar, but he is not opposed to it since it was my grandfathers name. I prefer Oscar, but I'm not opposed to Edwin at all. Edwin Oscar, Oscar Edwin...

Now we just need a baby boy to take the name <3

**I have an appointment scheduled with a new ob/gyn that specializes in fertility for Wednesday.**