Another Try...

  For the past few weeks I have been preparing for a Frozen Embryo Transfer.  The steps for that were seemingly easier than a fresh cycle.  I took BC up until August 21st and then started an antibiotic (3 day Z-pack), baby aspirin and 6 mg estradiol (Estrace) daily.  I have also been on a prescription prenatal vitamin which is also required.  The only other thing I will be on is the Crinone or progesterone suppositories.  No injections this time around, which is nice.

  We left Chicago Monday at 10 pm and now it is Tuesday night and here I am in Istanbul again.  It has only been about four months since John and I did our fresh cycle.  This time my mom joined me, and John stayed at home with the boys.  John's father flew up to our house and is helping out while I am away.  Thank goodness for our wonderful families. 

 This time around our plane ride wasn't as great and the trip from the airport to the hotel was even worse.  The plane was crowded, which is understandable and out of our control.  Unless we were so loaded we could purchase multiple seats in which case I don't think we would be in Turkey for IVF to begin with.  No, the worst part was the fact that I am 5 ' 11" and the person in front of me spent much of the trip in my lap with their seat all the way back.  Not fun at all! 

  We arrived and went through customs in a reasonable amount of time and found the driver rather quickly.  Then we sat and waited for over an hour while the driver waited on another couple, which put us at 6:45pm before we left.  The drive was stop and go, well more like speed up really fast and then slam on the breaks ten feet later.  What made it really special, and when I say "special" I mean nauseating, was the fact that the air wasn't up high enough.  Then the driver opened his window only, in stop and go traffic, and we had to inhale the fumes.  Then he turned off the air all together.  At this point, I was completely out of it.  In fact I was possibly delusional, drooling on my arm with my head against the window and my hand hanging out of the crack because it only popped out two inches.  I have NEVER done well in the back seat of any car, especially if it is hot.  It was the most miserable 2 1/2 hours of my life since going on vacation at age twelve with my parents where we had to go over the Appalachian Mountains on hairpin curves and I christened my dad's brand new company car when we got to the bottom. 

  We finally arrived after 9 pm and I flew out of that tiny little Hades on wheels so fast the influx of oxygen to my brain made me higher than a kite. I stumbled into the lobby and said hello to my old friends at the desk.  Oh, I forgot to mention that while we were on our way the driver got a phone call from Burcu and passed the phone back to me.  She welcomed me back and then proceeded to mention that we won't have an apartment room that we booked because others haven't moved out.  I was not thrilled at all since my budget is based on me cooking most of our dinners.  That brings me back to the front desk where he also mentioned that fact and said it could be tomorrow or it could be after the weekend before a room opened up.  Very frustrating since we booked this trip months ago.  I do understand though that this is a hospital based hotel and many of the sick patients end up needing extended stays for unforeseen procedures and treatments.  

  Well, since it was very late, we ordered food from the restaurant.  We split a pizza which was very good, but strangely it had corn on it.  We also split a durum and fries which I have had before.  It is a unleavened flat bread wrap with meat and vegetables.  It was delicious.  It was also 25 TL, which is expensive considering on the street it would have been 3 TL.  I don't eat a lot of french fries at home but here you will be hard pressed to find another side dish.  I will tell you, they sure know how to make them....look out McDonald's they were awesome!   

  Tomorrow is my first appointment with Dr. Arici and then I have no idea what we are doing.  We would have gone to the grocery store but since we have no kitchen I guess we will see.  There is a mini fridge so we might be able to come up with something until we can move rooms.  I will keep everyone posted and let you know more about an FET as I learn the protocol.

More on the next leg of our journey to come....

Kelly