The Vampires have spoken!

Great news! At least there is progress on a few fronts!

I got the report back from the vampires...they were interpreted and present by the doctors...and the verdict is....

1) I am no longer considered insulin resistant and therefore need not be on Metformin anymore...which was making me quite nauseus almost every morning (nothing like being constantly "morning sick" while you're trying to get pregnant to start your day off just "right")

2) I do not have any thyroid concerns.

Praise be to God! Looks like the weight loss, dietary changes, and surgery are making an impact.

I'm going to meet the Bishop!

As several of you know, I have had many nudgings on my heart lately to put together a conference on fertility and family life as promoted by the Catholic Church. As I spend time in prayer pieces are beginning to come...just not as fast as I would wish.

You see, when I get to a point where I'm stuck and can't figure out where to head next, I just sit back, wait and pray that God will reveal the next "piece" to me.

Well...recently, our associate pastor, Fr. Bob, gave an excellent homily on Lord of the Rings, Gandalf, Pope Paul VI, Humane Vitae, contraception and NFP! It was an incredible homily and I applaud him for giving it at a Sunday mass. As I was sitting in the pew listening to him, I couldn't help but think that perhaps he had the next "puzzle piece".

So long story short, we met this morning, and in fact, he DID have the next puzzle piece...or perhaps puzzle pieces. He is encouraged by the ministry we are developing with Hannah's Tears and believes that this is the key to accomplishing other things. Then, he asked me what I'm doing September 11th....my smiling response was, "I don't know Father, why don't you tell me what I'm doing on September 11th."

Anyway...what am I now doing on Friday, September 11th? I am headed to the Fort-Wayne/South Bend Diocesan Bioethics conference. And while there, Fr. Bob hopes to introduce me to Bishop D'Arcy so that I connect with him and hopefully follow up later regarding Hannah's Tears and the conference I hope to establish. I am totally psyched! This is right up my alley. I can't wait!

So, I'm off to "dish with the Bish" shortly and I thank you in advance for your prayers.

Learning not to be hard on myself - reflection 4 weeks post-surgery

Today marks four weeks since surgery. I'm trying not to be hard on myself.

I did go to Pilates today, fully prepared that I might not do anything more than lie on the mat and stare at the ceiling. It was a bit better than that, but not much. I have simply lost so much core/ab strength. I know that it will come back in time, but after having gone from nothing to fairly darned strong pre-surgery, and now back to this...it's just hard.

Weight-wise...let's just say that 4 weeks of lying around on the couch eating the 20 pounds of Austrian chocolates our friends brought us has NOT been kind to the waistline. Gotta get that back under control soon!

And finally, getting back in the swing of things for work has been pretty challenging. I feel like I should be able to resume my 20 hours of work...but that's not quite happening yet.

So, that's where I am...trying to resume my normal lifestyle but realizing that I really do have limitations still. (To a Type A who's used to accomplishing all she sets out to do that's a tough lesson! But I suppose it's good for me, right?) I'm trying not to be hard on myself for what I can't do but instead thank God for what I can....fostering a spirit of gratitude.

Things I'm thankful for (among many other unlisted things):
* that I was able to strengthen my body before surgery so that recovery will not take as long
* for the sheer blessing of having a NaPro doctor to guide us through this journey
* for Austrian chocolate!!!! they make even a dark day brighter! (even if they do add a few pounds. ha!)
* the encouragement of family and friends

Five Ways to Foster a Spirit of Gratitude:

(taken from the Women of Grace Study Guide)

1) Count your blessings literally - whether in a journal or mentally, count them all big and small
2) Serve others ungrudging - in and out of the home, never counting the cost
3) Look for God's intervention in your life - seek and you shall find
4) Fill your day with prayer - you will see God's greater plan
5) Share your blessings - don't keep them to yourself

Attack of the vampires!

As many of you have guessed by the fact that my posts have been fewer and far between, I am doing much better and seem to have the majority of the recovery behind me. Thanks be to God. Now it's a matter of getting back into the swing of things with work, trying to get back up to my normal working hours for IUPUI and preparing for the additional work load that my Penn State work will bring in a few weeks. So unfortunately, long gone are the days of seemingly endless hours to meditate and contemplate upon the Scriptures, God's plan and the meaning of life. :) I will miss that type of life, but am thankful that my recovery has gotten this far.

This morning I spent three and a half hours at the lab so that the "vampires" could suck my blood. We did a battery of tests including glucose tolerance (where you fast, get stuck, drink a sugary orange drink, get stuck 30 minutes later, get stuck 30 minutes after that, get stuck an hour later, and then one more stick an hour after that...insulin resistance seems to go hand-in-hand with PCOS), a thyroid panel (since this seems to be associated with PCOS at times) and a normal Peak + 7 progesterone/estradiol level (to see if ovulation has occured). Of course I have no results, but it should be interesting once we do. These tests (the glucose ones) will let us know whether I need to be back on Metformin to help with the Insulin Resistance or whether I can stop taking it. I really hope to be able to stop as I was so sick each morning and had no appetite when I was on it (I guess on the flip side, it did make weight loss easier!). The thyroid test will tell us if that could possibly be a factor anywhere in this picture and the progesterone/estradiol level will give us an indication if things are starting to change since surgery.

So anyway, that's the update from the vampire lab. We'll see what happens and take it from there.

All the best to each of you, especially those of you that are beginning a new school year! God's blessings!

Suzy

St. Gianna Berretta Molla - Love is a Choice (on EWTN Saturday)

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you probably know that St. Gianna Berretta Molla is someone whom I greatly admire and one of my favorite saints. (She is also the one whose first class relic my doctor had with him in his pocket during my surgery!)

There is a great program on her life that will air on EWTN television station this Saturday, August 22 at 8pm. (In case you can't catch it, it will repeat Sunday, August 23 at 2am and also Thursday, August 27 at 1pm).

This program offers a glimpse in the life of St. Gianna Berretta Molla through interviews with those who knew her, as well as the reciting of several of the letters she exchanged with her husband.

From what I heard it's really good! Just wanted to share the news!
Have a great day!

Watching nature take its course

So many times along this journey, we've been told to just relax and let "nature take it's course." Last night, we got to see first hand exactly what this looks like.

Dave and I and his parents had a wonderful meal in the beer garden at Fiddler's Hearth in downtown South Bend. The food was fantastic and we had front row seats to a wonderful display of nature. The rain came pouring down, the lighting flashed and thunder pounded around us, and yet there we were, dry for the most part, underneath a sheltered patio area wedged between two tall brick buildings. Normally I would probably have freaked out at this, but I figured if the lightening struck, it would hit the buildings, not us. And I was right. One stuck pretty much right above us. That was interesting. When we checked the radar on my mother-in-law's phone, we saw that we had a Tornado watch until 1am. Okay, well, we'll keep an eye out. Then the rains picked up and we weren't staying dry anymore in the beer garden so we went inside and Dave caught a ride with a friend I'd run into at the restaurant to go get our car. While waiting in front of the restaurant for him to bring the car around, I was enjoying watching the storm when I noticed that the clouds were moving quickly in two different directions. Then I noticed a part above downtown that was rotating in a circular motion. It was manifesting dark clouds, pulling them up, out of thin air where no clouds seemed to exist. What the heck? Was this a tor..??? A few seconds later, I had my answer. Yes, Suzy, this was in fact a funnel cloud...and it was big.

Why I didn't take a picture, I have no idea, we had "front row" seats and it would have been a great shot. But at the time, my only thought was to call Dave and get him to safety. It appeared that the funnel was moving away from us, but with those pesky things, whoever knows. Anyway, this was the fourth funnel cloud I've seen in my life and by far the biggest. To get an idea, take a Solo Cup plastic cup and hold it in your hand at arm's length. That gives you an idea of how big it was to the naked eye. It was truly impressive. It didn't touch down that I could see, but rather just moved Southeast over downtown.

I've looked all over the Internet and apparently no one else thought to photograph it either. The closest I can get is this. This person had a similar vantage point as us, and seems to have captured the end as the funnel lifted back into the clouds (since the caption says it was taken during the sirens and what we saw was at least 5 minutes before the sirens went off).

"Let nature take it's course." I've gotten tired of hearing that over the years, but I guess what I learned from this experience last night was, "Pray, do all you can to stay safe, and then just sit back and enjoy what unfolds. It might not be what you expected but it could powerful, awe-inspiring, and beautiful just the same."

Dumpster Diving vs. the True Banquet...where do you want to eat?

An interesting article was sent to me today and I think it's well worth the read and discussion.

Celine Dion's IVF Pregnancy:
http://www.ncregister.com/daily/celine_dions_ivf_pregnancy/#When:21:38:38Z

I get asked about IVF all the time and why on earth would the Catholic Church which is pro-life, be against the creation of life through IVF? Why would the Catholic Church teach that in-vitro fertilization is intrinsically immoral, even when utilized within a marriage to fertilize eggs harvested from the wife with the husband’s sperm? Why?

To cut to the chase, it is because "They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that ‘entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 2377).

Furthermore, as the article states, "Along with the moral unacceptability of disassociating the act of conception from the marital sexual act, IVF treatments routinely involve the creation of multiple human embryos, and either the freezing or killing of these so-called “surplus” embryos. The Church condemns both options as grave offenses against the dignity of the human person."

What many well-meaning IVF couples do not know, or in some cases refuse to consider, is that in IVF, multiple individual, unique human beings are created, and the "surplus" embryos are either frozen or discarded, or used for scientific research. This is horrifying.

In Celine's case either the second embryo has been frozen in the Manhattan clinic for NINE YEARS, or it is still frozen, or it was thrown away or used for science. And if this second pregnancy isn't from the original second embryo, then how many other frozen babies could Celine and Rene have at this very moment?

IVF is not all it's cracked up to be. It separates the act of procreation from the marital act of unity and self-gift between a man and a woman, and "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person." If we really knew what we were doing and what was really occurring in IVF, would we still engage in methods that froze or discarded our own children?

While children are certainly a blessing, they are not a right. "Right to life" doesn't mean that you have a "right" to have a little "life" in yours. How far are we willing to go for our selfish desires?

But on the flip side, people are "hungry" and when they know no better and there is no other "food" around, they will dig in the dumpster and devour whatever they can find. In this case, they have found IVF in the "dumpster" because very few people are out there pointing them in the direction of the "banquet" and there are numerous doctors standing by the dumpster, eager to make a profit. I don't condemn or hate IVF couples. I really don't. In most cases they truly do not know what they do and reality behind the process. But I do wish they they would have all the facts in hand and know where the "true banquet" lies.

Why do I blog? This is one reason. To point people in the direction of the true banquet. NaPro Technology. Morally acceptable. No frozen or discarded embryos. No separation of the creation of children from the marital embrace. No stripping of human dignity. Significantly less expensive. Corrects the underlying problems of infertility instead of masking them. And maybe best of all.......it is nearly three times MORE effective in achieving a pregnancy than IVF!

My friends, NaPro Technology is the banquet that so many hungry souls are looking for.
Pass it on.

Want to learn more? Find a teacher or medical consultant in your area. Can't find one? Email me at HangOnPossibilitiesExist@gmail.com and I'll help you.

God bless you!

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
~Deuteronomy 30:19,20