General chatter while we wait (and commentary on the "pull out method")

[shaescott]

Oh geez Dobs. Is he okay? Did he go back for the same thing he didn’t want to stay for a few days ago?

 

[gigglebox]

Shae yay!! Honestly I don't know why I didn't think of that -- I remember now that that was a thing. Actually I'm surprised you didn't think of that

Dobs oh noooo same question? I hope he'll be ok. Prayers he lets them help this time.

 

[DobbyForever]

He had a follow up blood draw yesterday and the results came in today that his platelets are back down to 5. He’s getting more steroids and another ivig in the ER and they’re prepping a room in the hospital so they can give him some newer med that is supposed to help stimulate natural production of platelets. He’s only agreed to stay because they told him he’s hit his out of pocket maximum so he won’t be charged anything.

 

[shaescott]

Gigs I had no idea that cervical ectropions caused spotting, I hadn’t even heard of them until I noticed the rough spot and had the gyno check it and she told me that’s what it is. All she told me about it was that it explains the rough texture I noticed and that it’s a normal variation, especially for my age.

Dobs 5?????? Only 5,000 platelets????? For reference for others, normal is 150-400 (aka 150,000-400,000)!!! It’s considered critically low at 20 (20,000) or less! Does he have massive liver damage? Some kind of cancer? What on earth is causing that? Thank God he’s allowing them to give him treatment and that he already hit the out of pocket max. Will he consent to a platelet transfusion? Prayers for him

 

[DobbyForever]

Yeah he has ITP. It only flairs up this bad every few years and usually when he’s super depressed. Part of why he never applied for residency. He got very sick during med school and had no family support, so he missed a lot of school and was being treated at the hospital he was learning at. That’s why it took him so long to graduate and then he was too embarrassed to get letters of recommendation.

His draw Sunday before last was 5. By the time he went in on Monday morning, it was 3. Before the end o the day it was “less than 2”. He had IVIG on Monday last week, then rituxin on Tuesday. His platelets were up to 30 on Wednesday so they let him sign to be discharged. But yeah his draw yesterday was back down to 5. My mom and I told him he wasn’t ok. We had dinner Sunday and he was in a lot of pain.

 

[shaescott]

Dobs geez that’s crazy. Poor guy, it’s so sad that his embarrassment over his condition/missing school due to his condition prevented him from continuing his career. Is there a possibility of him ever applying for residency? I hope he’ll let his platelet count get much higher this time :/

AFM BFN at 8dpo, not exactly shocking lol. I’ve got a bunch of chores to do plus ones I put off yesterday, so that will be interesting. I have a lot of trouble with motivation so I’m using an app with a cute bird to convince me to do stuff

 

[gigglebox]

Aww Dobby that is too bad and scary for you I'm sure! But yay for him agreeing to stay! I mean that sucks because I know OOP minimums ain't cheap, but as long as he's hit it, he might as well get all the treatment he can before it renews.
As a complete aside, I feel like we haven't had any love life updates in awhile...just saying...

Shae I think I had that same thing years ago, probably in my late 20's. I can't remember the gyn giving it a name though but it felt like a little rough bump and I was concerned, obviously...but it was nothing and went away. I don't recall any spotting, but anything out of the norm can cause it with that blood-rich cervix so that doesn't surprise me. Sorry about the negative, but yes still early! Are you allowed to swipe some tests from work? or is that frowned upon?

 

[shaescott]

Gigs I’m sure I could get my hands on some but only if I’m actually in the ER in the next two days, which I might not be

 

[DobbyForever]

It’s been over ten years since he graduated. He’s tried scrambling but he’s refused offers to fly to his university to scramble or ask for recs. Our younger brother just sent his residency apps. We keep saying just get any job. Districts here are paying for your credential because of the teacher shortage. He would be a great like high school bio teacher. My high school district pays over 150k. But he feels like a failure if he doesn’t do something in medicine. So we said there’s got to be stuff you can do with a BS in bio and an MD. But yeah depression bipolar auto immune. Lot to overcome. My poor brother wanted to celebrate his residency apps but nobody made time. We’re just a mess here.

FXed are you tested already or holding our?

 

[shaescott]

Don’t get excited, don’t get excited, AGGHHHH


My sleep was at a weird time, 7 PM to 2 AM, though per Oura I started waking up closer to 1 AM… but it still says I got about 6 hours of sleep, which is definitely plenty for temping purposes. According to FF, waking time doesn’t matter with the Oura ring either.
AND THEN I broke my rule about not testing progesterone cuz I thought it must’ve spiked, right? Wrong. 8.5. But like, considering my trend this cycle, that’s still fairly normal, and hearing from other Inito users that their levels were lower on Inito than on a blood test, I’m not really freaking out about it, I guess.
I did of course test but BFN. It’s the wee hours of 9dpo, so I’m not particularly worried by that, but we’ll see.

 

[shaescott]

Dobs ah that’s rough. At the same time of course, high school bio teacher is better than unemployed, yes? But I can understand him feeling that way. That’s too bad that your younger brother’s success has been downplayed with everything going on. I hope he gets into a great residency program. Do you know what specialty he’s applying for?

 

[gigglebox]

ugh so sorry Dobs. As someone who has suffered from depression, I definitely get that "all or nothing" mentality-- or rather "all or I'm useless". It's obviously not true but depression ain't rational. Is he open to therapy?

Shae ooooooooooo look that temp! Have you ever had a chart that looks like this one before? Or is a temp spike a new occurrence? I'm going to have to do some chart stalking to see what this "should" look like.

 

[shaescott]

I hadn’t done temps consistently in ages so I don’t know how it would have been the past two years.

Two conflicting examples:

This cycle was clearly pretty volatile for temps. Partly because I’m quite sure I had COVID during this cycle.

This cycle on the other hand is the one that gave me the faint line on frer that was gone the next day. Very steady temps.


So who knows? Not me

 

[shaescott]

This morning my brain for a split second swore I saw something on the test, but I decided I’m definitely line eye crazy. I’ll retest tonight after work, but I’m only 9dpo, so if I am pregnant I might still have to wait a few days.

Also I’m not in the ED today. Boo.

 

[shaescott]

Oh, also: no spotting yesterday, and none so far today. So that’s interesting. I haven’t had a single full day off in the luteal phase once it started since April.