The Eggs and I

First a quick update:

I got my blood work results and my E2 number has continued to go up.  I went from 2251 (yesterday) to 3361 (today).  I’m thinking there has got to be a reasonable number of mature eggs given those levels.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed and feeling better, coming back to a place of hope.  Thanks everyone so very much for your comments and encouragement.  You guys have managed to help me breathe easy again.

I went to the Family Picture Show 2009 at The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) this morning with a girlfriend.  The place was packed with parents and their kids, all looking forward to unique independent short films that are both clever and family friendly.  The kids were asking their parents questions about the shorts in between films.  A man next to me had his son and they would have a quick discussion about what the son enjoyed and how he rated the film.  There were tons of laughs and clapping and hoorays in all the right places.  It is exactly what I am looking forward to some day if having a family works out for us. 

I sat there a little excited and a little weepy when the lights went out.  At one point I realized that I brought my eggies to the show.  If I’m really lucky maybe one of them will join me again in a few years to sit in his/her own chair, eat popcorn, laugh and clap and then tell me their rating from 1-5 for the SIFF awards voter card.  What a joy that would be.  I’m glad my girlfriend really loved the show too, she’s super fun.  Luv ya Linds!

You can watch one of great the shorts in the festival called “Madam President” here: http://www.petelist.com/animation/MP/#

My absolute favorite was the brand new Wallace & Gromit – A matter of loaf and death.  You can’t watch that one online, but the DVD is available.

Here’s my 2nd favorite short from the show.  It’s so clever. I hope you like it as much as the eggs and I did.

Tiny dancer in my hands

But oh how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you and you can hear me
When I say softly…slowly

Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
you had a busy day today

I’m so glad that Marie at MoreCheese received great news after her ER.  The embies are working their little hearts out, growing away in the lab.  I promised her on the Resolve boards that I would do a silly fertility dance at midnight for the last few days.  Maybe my dances have been a little too intense because my numbers are going crazy right now. This tiny dancer is in fate’s hands and honestly, I’m really getting scared. 

I have taken stims for only 7 days.  My estradiol numbers have gone up well. I have lots of follicles on each ovary progressing nicely day by day.  I was very satisfied with what was happening, it seemed predicted and normal.  It was estimated earlier in the week that I would trigger on Day 10 with ER on Day 12.  Today I went in and my ultrasound looked good.  I had one follicle at 18, most of the rest were a few at 17, 16, and 15 (plus a few smaller ones chugging along).  I was told if my blood work was normal, that I would probably trigger on Sunday (Day 9) or Monday (Day 10). By the way the term “trigger” refers to taking a hormone called HCG.  Taking a HCG shot will force your body to ovulate in about 36 hours.

I received my afternoon update/instruction call from the RE nurse.  She asked me if I had taken my antagonist (cetrotide) that morning.  I told her I had taken it today and yesterday on time, without fail.  Well, my LH was surging on my own and it was too high for them to put off the trigger for even one more day.  So even though my follicles were very close to perfect/classic numbers we are rushing things along due to my wonky chemistry.  My LH hit 15, my E2 is at 2251.  I was sooo close.  Drat. Argh. FFFFFFFFuck! 

I told my husband over the phone when I heard the news from the RE nurse.  I lost it a bit and started to cry.  He was so understanding and kind.  He cheered me up, reminded me that we have some good looking ones that are very close to being ready.  I know that I could have had much worse news, but I do have a boatload of hormones zipping around in my system.  You can call me Girly McWeepypants.

What’s the big deal?  Well this means that I may get fewer mature eggs because the follicles aren’t as far along in the stim cycle.  Do you have any information on the best size of follicles versus E2 levels?  I did read a summary of a scientific paper that showeed evidence of smaller follicles for women over 35 leading to improved pregnancy rates, but they were using a different protocol than mine.  I can only hope that eggies are growing like gangbusters now that the drugs are done.  It’s all in my hands.

Ballerina,
you must have seen her
dancing in the sand

And now she's in me,
always with me,
tiny dancer in my hand

Now this tiny dancer is off for a midnight silly song/fertility dance for Marie’s embies (and now my follies too).

read-ING, talk-ING, walk-ING, stimm-ING

First I want to thank Wonderful Liv for sending me an email mentioning problems posting comments.  I was aware of the bug with the template but had no friends/followers commenting at the time.  Admittedly, I was a lazy a$$ and put off going through the code.  I am happy to report that I finally fixed the problem which only seemed to be for IE7.  I really appreciate the comments very much so thanks for being patient if you had trouble. There are many advantages to being a computer geek.

As for me, the IVF cycle is progressing very well.  I have been into the RE office every day this week either getting blood work or ultrasounds to monitor and measure those follies.  I am getting to the point where I feel I am bursting at the seams.  I have 8 on lefty and 9 on righty over 11mm right now.  I can walk at a pretty decent pace, but I can’t go super-fast and I also have some problems sitting and bending at the waist.  No complaints, just information.   Your kind words of encouragement are much appreciated, especially after the 5th shot in the belly of the day.  Thank goodness I’m down to 2-3 now.

After I went to the RE this morning and then spend a few hours talk-ING with my MIL about how things are progressing, the process involved, etc.  I answered all of her questions.  She is a very kind and fabulous person who said all the right things and made me feel very special.  If we are successful, this will be her first grandchild (my husband is an only child, so we’re IT).  After our nice talk, we went walk-ING down near the waterfront.  My huge ovaries were a tad uncomfortable by the end, but it was a glorious sunny day not to be missed or ignored.

I thoroughly look forward every morning to firing up ole bessie (my ancient laptop) and relaxing for an hour or so, read-ING my favorite blogs.  I love to hear the news on how folks are progressing with their cycles, their IVFs and IUIs, their pregnancies, and life with their children.  I also feel honored to be able to read and comment where folks are having a truly hard time.  Bad news, lost opportunities, and heart-rending sadness that is almost too much to bear.  Some of those brave souls are climbing their way out of an abyss. I cannot imagine the courage or grace it takes to do so. 

I am glad to know all of these people are out in my world.  It is a better place because of all of you.  I learn so much from every stage of this journey. 

Stims Day 4, so far so good

I went to the RE’s office for blood work and follicle count/measurement.  I got to see DocO for the ultrasound.  Yay!  I really dig how positive he is.  He said he was in just to check this and then off to play some golf later in the day.  We’ve had great weather so I was very happy for him to get out and enjoy the sun.  I’m responding really well to my meds and have several bits of good news that make me ever so thankful.

1. That little headache I had after day 1 has so far not returned (knock wood)
2. No other medicine side effects
3. Stims really seem to be working.  I have been upgraded to having 10-15 follies progressing on each ovary (up from 6-7 and 8-9 on Day 1) – I’ve actually noticed that DocO is also more thorough with the ultrasound.  Leave no stone unturned!
4. Estradiol level (667) is increasing very nicely and according to DocO is so far exactly what they hoped. LH is still low.  Progesterone is where they like it as well.
5. From my untrained eye, the follies are looking good in terms of size and even distribution on both ovaries.  Measurements of the largest ones by the ultrasound confirm they are pretty similar.

I go in tomorrow morning again to check blood work.  They are checking to make sure my LH isn’t up.  We don’t want any surprise ovulating over here.  Now if you will excuse me, I promised Marie over at MoreCheese that I would pick a silly song and do a dance at midnight.  I choose “The Time Warp!”

Stim Day 1

Today I started my stimulation drugs.  We woke up at the way too early hour of 7:30 a.m. (we finally went to sleep some time around 3:00 a.m.)  I got the gonal-F pen package out the the fridge, dragged all of the swabs and directions out of their storage and we began by watching the video on how to use the pen off of the Freedom Fertility Pharmacy patient’s training site.  We used this as a refresher from our injection training.  The videos are very detailed and step-by-step so you don’t miss anything.  I highly recommend checking the company out for your IF drug needs.

The morning injection went off without a hitch, I was a little bummed about having to get the max dosage for some dumb reason.  My husband <who I will from now on call him by a bloggidyname> MrBeep watched over me, double-checked for air bubbles in the pen and gave me kisses and snuggles when it was all done and we went back to sleep for a couple more hours.

I felt pretty good all day long then we went over to his folks for dinner and cards.  We enjoyed some pan-fried sole with mashed potatoes, fresh Washington asparagus, cabbage slaw and lemon poundcake for dessert.  Yum!  We played some poker together for a couple of hours and had fun teasing each other about gameplay.  What a super night. 

During our poker-fest we had to take a break for my evening menopur injection.  I forgot to bring the instruction sheet with the meds, so rather than having to drive home, we just logged on to the computer and checked my dosage and instructions on the pharmacy website.  Awesome!

I had few symptoms other than a small headache starting in the afternoon that blossomed into a blown-out tension/slam me in the back of the head with a baseball bat headache by nightfall.  Was it the meds, dehydration, allergy season, the change in weather, or the power of suggestion? (Headache was listed in the medication symptoms and my RE office pal said the menopur gave her a migrane.)  I dunno.  Tomorrow I will drink a lot more water and make sure I move around a little more.

MrBeep did all of the preparation for the meds, he was so careful and meticulous.  I sat and watched him, welling up with so much love for this man who takes such good care of me.  I feel so lucky and blessed by the universe that I found him and he loved me back. 

Friday = 3 good things

Today I am happy to report on three very good things that made my day.

#1 – Blood work improved

My blood work is looking good enough that I am to start my stim medication tomorrow.  Here are the numbers/info from my day 1 and day 3 baseline ultrasound/bloodwork:

Follicle count = (lefty) 5-7  (right-o) 8-9
(Day 1) LH = 2.84 mIU/ml                    (Day 3) LH = 6.64 mIU/ml
(Day 1) Progesterone = 0.38 ng/ml       (Day 3) Progesterone = 0.42 ng/ml
(Day 1) Estradiol = 228 pg/ml               (Day 3) Estradiol = 97 pg/ml

So the high day 1 estradiol number was a concern for them (I have never had a number this high before).  It may have been due to the medications prescribed to me from in preparation for this IVF cycle. I had taken two additional estrace tablets that were a likely cause.  My day 3 estradiol has in the past couple of months has been around 50ish.  My FSH has hovered between 6.9 and 7.3 for the last few months.  The RE nurse explained were happy with the smaller day 3 estradiol number and I was told to start my stimming medication on Saturday morning. However they were surprised my antral follicle count was a tad lower than normal for me, I was told to start with a higher dose of gonadotrophin at 450 instead of 300 which had been the earlier estimate.  On Monday we’ll do another check and see how I’m responding.  So tomorrow morning I’ll be using the gonal-f pen at 450 and in the evening I’ll be taking menopur 150. I told DH the plan. He was excited and gave me lots of kisses.  Yay!

#2 – Working on my karma/helping a new friend

I ran into a great gal at my RE’s waiting room.  She and I share this IVF cycle (within a couple of days of each other).  We met at a Resolve meeting and also had injection classes together. We had a greet and a hug. She told me how her cycle was doing (unfortunately she’s getting some wicked headaches), I told her my estrace error/estradiol number.  She said that she didn’t know her exact numbers but was told they were “normal”.  “You didn’t use the web portal to find out your exact results?” I asked.  “What portal are you talking about?" she answered.  So I took her over to a demo computer, logged in and showed her the absolutely awesome web-based client system that gives you all of your lab results, instructions, medications and a means to contact the doctors and nurses at our RE clinic.  Did I mention how awesome DocO & the staff are?  They are truly faboo.  My cycle friend had forgotten their mentioning the portal and was super stoked to see it.  She got her password reset by the RE admin and thanked me for taking the extra time to show her.  I was very glad to help and hey, I need all of the karma points I can get right now, right?

#3 – A beautiful day

Today it was warm and sunny outside.  I went for a 3 mile walk on a nature river trail, listening to my ipod with the sun shining on my face. Aaaahhhhhh good.

Did you have a good day/good news/built some karma?

<Insert sound of tires screeching to a halt>

So I went in for my baseline ultrasound and bloodwork on Wednesday.  I even got a really sweet friend to hang out at my house in case the FedEx man arrived with my big box of medicine.  (I scheduled my baseline on the same day and morning as my meds were suppose to arrive.  Brilliant planning on my part.)  The medicine arrived about 30 minutes after I got home from my RE appointment but I did get to enjoy my girlfriend’s company for a couple of hours which was super nice. 

Later the same day, I received a call from the RE nurse with bloodwork results.  She said I was to wait and not start my medication as my estradiol levels were too high (it could have been from the estrace pills I took the day before) or I guessed correctly and it wasn’t really Day 1 after all.  Me and my stupid smartypants. 

I am scheduled to go back in on Friday morning at 7:45 a.m. (ye gods that’s early) for another blood draw.  If my estradiol levels are normal then I will begin stimming medication on Saturday.  I’ll let you know what happens on Friday.  I had expected to start all of my meds and schedules and swabbing and pinching and then life was all <insert sound of tires screeching to a halt>.  I was wound up.  I’m at the starting line, the light has gone from red to yellow and I’m waiting for the green to get the pedal to the metal.  I am excited and terrified.  Giddy and dizzy and sick.  What the freak will I feel like once I have the hormones in my system?

How do you count Day 1?

I’ve been having some trouble trying to figure out what exactly constitutes Day 1.  Is it “a little bit”?  Must it be “a lot”?  What the hell am I talking about?

Her. AF. Aunt Flo.  Or as my protocol sheet calls it “Menses Begins” (actually, that sounds a lot like a name for a bad network TV series where you find out the main character’s last name is Menses and they are just starting college or a new job or something truly lame like that).

Today started out extremely light and never picked up to any “normal” Day 1.  I called the RE office for advice.  They asked me if it was typical and I said, “No, but I have no idea what is ‘normal’ anymore.”  You see, my huge fibroid used to make Day 1 into a B-movie/horror flick.  Actually…it wasn’t funny.  For the last few months before surgery, I couldn’t really leave my house on Day 1.  I’d cancel anything that required my being away on that day.  Day 2 was risky too.  Boy am I glad that’s over.  Whew.

So yeah, I had no idea if I should call it Day 1 so the RE’s office set up an appointment tomorrow morning for a baseline.  They’ll let me know what day to call it.  Science makes it so much easier.  For those who haven’t done IVF or IUI, your appointments and medicines are all timed to the start of your menstrual cycle.  So Day 1 is where they start to count from.  Days 2-5 you may be taking drug X, on Day 7-9 you may need to take pill Y, etc.  So defining Day 1 is important.  I wish my clinic would provide a clearer description of their definition as it is not the same as what I would call it (the first day you see any blood whatsoever).  Their instruction sheets says: “Cycle day 1 is the first day of full menstrual bleeding by bedtime”.  Fine.  I’m not sure how I am predict to call for a Day 2 appointment by 4pm on Day 1 when I haven’t gotten to my Day 1 results “by bedtime”.  Perhaps I need a time machine or a futurescope. Argh. Mumph. Feh.

I’m sure it’s just me.  Now that I am fixed up and my uterus has shrunk down to normal human levels (for the first time in about 5 years) I am at a loss and feel like a stupid dork when the nurse asks me (very, very nicely) a simple question like, “So today is Day 1 of your cycle then?”

Ehhhhhhh.  I guess so?

3rd time’s a charm

I am a night owl.  I don’t like waking up early.  My internal clock has always been a little late.  In a perfect world I would get up at 10:00 a.m. and go to bed at 2:00 a.m.  It’s just how I’m wired.  Luckily my dear sweet husband is also a night owl and may be actually worse than I am when it comes to getting up early.  So imagine my sheer joy while reading my RE’s instructions on my medication and injections (take daily between 6 and 8 am).

“Wow” I said to my RE office nurse, “That is really early. I usually get up late and stay up late. Is this timing specific to monitoring at your office or can I adjust it to my schedule?”  Nope.  She explained it was necessary to take the medicine during their listed timeframe as they will be doing blood draws, tests and other monitoring that needs these medications in my system.  So an early riser I will be.  Yipes.

I woke up Saturday morning (a beautiful, warm and clear day) at 7:50 a.m.  This time was like the crack of dawn for me.  I didn’t get to bed until about 3:00 a.m.  I stumbled into the bathroom and popped my teeny tiny estrace pill.  Check.  Then I took out my antagonist injection package (cetrotide .25ml).  I took out the step-by-step instructions (with pictures) my husband stood over me to supervise/provide quality assurance.  We swabbed, we mixed, we prepped, we checked and then double-checked.  Heads were nodding, smug smiles were displayed in the mirror.  I held the primed needle full of medicine and expertly pin-cushioned straight into my pinched belly (3 fingers down, 3 fingers over).  As I was just about to push the stopper down, a huge air bubble floated out from freaking nowhere to the back of the syringe.

“What the?” I said.
"Where did that bubble come from?” the Hub said.  “We checked for bubbles and there were none.”
I agreed with him, but yet there was still a bubble.  I’m talking big here folks, like the size of peanut.

So I had to pull the needle out.  A tiny little dot on my belly started to weep blood.  We tapped, we wiggled, we tilted the syringe up and down to check until we were finally positive the bubble was truly gone.  A new alcohol wiped area on opposite side of my belly, stick in needle and VOILA. 

Big bubble returns.  Arrrrgggghhhhhhhhh! 

Needle was removed a second time, a new little red dot starts to appear. The husband is pretty freaking pissed off at the quality of this syringe.  So this time we sucked IN extra air, shook it up a bit, pressed all the air out again, got the micro-droplet of medicine at the top of the needle (again), but this time tipped the needle sideways to make sure that no, really bubbles aren’t present.  It seemed fine so I jabbed myself one last time and up popped a big bubble. 

So we carefully just did the injection anyway and assumed the syringe was a bit wonky. 
What. The. Hell. 
My Sunday and Monday injections went fine without a hitch, no problems with bubbles.

Other than that nonsense, I had a fab weekend. I got a lot of video editing work done.  I attended a potluck party where I was the super-awesome bartendress (I brought the fixins for virgin + regular versions of strawberry margarita and mango daiquiri). 

My weekly checklist

My first Medication box arrived on Tuesday…check.

We went to injection training on Wednesday…check.

Bottle of Estrace has been placed next to the alarm clock on Thursday for a blasted 8am wake up call…check.

Friday is the day I take my first medication.

It’s on like Donkey Kong.

Show & Tell: OMG! You Rock! 2009

As I mentioned in earlier posts, I wiggled my way into the OMG You Rock Day 2009.  If you haven’t read about this great idea over on Liv’s blog, she suggested that May 10th (Mother’s Day) coming up would be a difficult day for us gals dealing with infertility.  Honestly, it is very hard to look at another Mother’s Day and wonder if it will happen for you this year (or ever).  It seems sometimes that the road I am walking is taking soooooo long. So Liv organized an exchange between the ladies who signed up.  You get an OMG! You Rock! partner’s address, name and their blog (if they have one).  The idea is to send along a card, a little gift, whatever you would like to tell a special person that today, they Totally Rock.  I sent an email asking to slide in under the deadline and Liv was so awesome, she partnered me up with the amazing JJ.  I read her blog, formulated some ideas, worked me little fingers to the bone (well, not really but I did get some craft glue in my hair) and posted her package on Wednesday.  I received her gift in the mailbox on Friday.  Now the cleverest part of this whole experiment was everyone was asked to wait opening their package until May 10th (Sunday) arrived, we were encouraged to meet in the Stirrup Queens Ballroom to enjoy a chat, post about what we received, and tell everyone who attend that Oh My God, they all totally rock!

This morning I woke up a little early (OK. Full disclosure: It was 10am -- but I was out at my bud Tiff’s house and in the hot tub until 3am, so it was technically early from my perspective.)  I grabbed my laptop, camera and my package from JJ, then I logged into the ballroom.  I opened up the package and…well…here’s how it went as a photo essay.

  
I grabbed my package and gently opened the top, then I peered inside.

   
Therein was a little box tied with a pretty bow and a card.  I opened up the card first. It was a really pretty card that had a very cool 3D effect.  There was also a picture of a little bee at the top (how did she know I love bees so much!) and said “just for you”.

I opened the card, started to read…and after a couple of sentences I began to cry.  What an awesome thing for JJ to do, taking time out of her busy schedule, reading about me on my blog and then writing such heartfelt and kind words of encouragement.  The part that especially made my waterworks start - she wrote me saying she was going to be out there cheering me on and said “I started IVF #2 in May of last year, and it was a lucky cycle – so I’m sending all that same May luck to you!”  She has a beautiful baby boy from that May cycle.  I finally felt like I was not alone.  Someone out there gets it and will be thinking of me in this tough time coming.  I really cherish those words JJ and I will keep that card always.  Oh…and also she let me know one very important thing:

 
JJ is so freaking cool.  I heart her big time today.

“Oooooh!” I said to myself, “What’s this now?  A little gift tied with a pretty bow?  Pour moi?”

Inside the pretty silver box was a gorgeous pair of dichroic glass earrings in a beautiful shade of tangerine.  I am going to call them my Tangerine Dream earrings. 

 
If I get to a magic day of an embryo transfer.  I promise I will wear my Tangerine Dreams earrings.

JJ was also really nice and mentioned my OMG You Rock! package in her blog entry today.  It is a great show and tell post on how little things can trigger big memories.  It was beautiful and profound.  Thank you so much for everything today JJ.  You Rock.

Many of the other ladies who participated in OMG You Rock 2009 posted their stories on Mel’s Show and Tell this week.  Click here to see what everyone is showing off.  I’m heading there right now.

Why the title IF Optimist, then…?

Recently, I decided it was important for me to start a blog about my journey to hopefully, one day have a family.  When I started to think about what I wanted to accomplish with it, I had two main goals.  The first was to provide a safe place where I could express my thoughts and emotions.  The second was to provide a few links and information on topics I found difficult to research on my own. 

Yes yes, but why specifically did I chose the title “IF Optimist, then…”

In computer programming, one basic rule is called a conditional programming.  You set a rule:

IF “x” happens, THEN do “y”.

I liked choosing “if, then” for both the computer geek connection and also because if = infertility.  Here is a little description from the wikipedia article link above.

If-Then(-Else)

The if-then construct (sometimes called if-then-else) is common across many programming languages. Although the syntax varies quite a bit from language to language, the basic structure (in pseudocode form) looks like this:

If (condition) Then
(statements)
Else
(statements)
End If

I also chose “IF Optimist, then…” because I needed to be optimistic about this journey.  I may be fortunate enough to be rewarded with a marvelous gift if I am lucky.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that mere optimism or happy thoughts will get you pregnant and the typical “just relax” advice is kind of bullshit.  No amount of relaxing was going to magically remove the tumor from my uterus. OK?  That being said, I still wanted to view this unfortunate process in an optimistic way to help keep me sane.  I find this a difficult and nerve-wracking time.  I think everything you can do to set your mind at ease is of great benefit.  I can’t change all of the negative statistics, frightening medicines with their side effects, or the costs that make me feel sick to my stomach.  I can, however, choose to keep my mind in a place of hope.

Resolved success.

This evening I went to a support group hosted by the kind folks at Resolve.  I wasn’t sure it would be my cup of tea, but I decided to give one meeting a try.  I am very glad that I got up the courage to attend.  The folks at the meeting were so intelligent, kind, and helpful.  The resolve member who organized and hosted the event has had her history with infertility and was very understanding and knowledgeable.  At the meeting you are free to discuss what you like, or just keep quiet and listen.  The attendees came from different RE offices so it was nice to find out how the other practices advise and operate.  I met a super nice couple who may be cycling very close to my IVF time.  I really hope everything works out well for them. 

I finished my first project for OMG! You Rock Day! to send off to my far away pal.  I had so much fun working on it.  It’s nice to get my mind into a more creative place and less in a computer-techno-geeky-too-much-information-clogging-up-my-addled-brain place.  I have craft glue in my hair and ink on my right cheek* and a grin from ear to ear. 

An. Excellent. Day.

*Not that cheek! On my face. Get your mind outta the gutter. Cheeky monkey.

Getting a bit nervous

I just looked at my protocol calendar from my RE’s office.  I will be on what they call “Luteal Estrace/Antagonist Protocol”.  DocO said this protocol has worked well for people who have developed cysts while on Clomid as I had in the past.  Has anyone ever heard of this protocol?  I couldn’t find anything by that name online.  First I’ll take estrace, then an antagonist before the end of this cycle and then the next cycle I will begin stimulation medication. I don’t know the exact meds or quantities just yet.  So much up in the air. Maybe I’ll be less nervous once I get the actual meds and can research. Yeah, probably not.  Soooo nervous.  Dates are looming.  In two weeks I will start taking estrace tablets.  Then it will all be “for realseys” not just talk about IVF, but the actual road taken.

OMG! Because You Rock! 2009

I just signed up for OMG! Because You Rock! at Liv's blog.  She said she may have someone for me to exchange a gift/card for on May 10.  I’m actually really excited and hope the exchange works out.  The thought of cheering someone up on May 10 fills me with joy and anticipation.  Funny how the little things can mean so much.

Updated Sunday May 3

I received an email with my “partner” for the OMGBYR2009 experiment.  She lives in a kingdom far, far away. My mind is whirling ‘round with ideas that must be acted upon quickly.  This makes me very happy indeed.