The Wonders of Medical Menopause

For those of you unawares (and that can only mean some poor soul has wandered into this site from out in the void - welcome!), Wanda and I have been trying to make babies for many years now. We have always wanted a large family, at least 4 kids, but so far nothing. We've had all manner of medical intervention, including 3 failed rounds of in-vitro fertilization. As you might imagine, this has proven to be something of a downer.

We have now entered the world of chemical warfare on infertility. All of our treatments in the past have been positive treatments, that is, they were designed to encourage Wanda's body to produce eggs for fertilization and to then also make it a safe harbor for the fertilized zygotes in the hope that they will implant and become viable fetuses. Our current, and final, treatment can only be described as the nuclear option. She's taken 3 monthly injections now of Depot Lupron, a chemical designed to eradicate any trace of hormones in her body, effectively putting her into artificial menopause.  Yes, that menopause.  Hot flashes (power surges, Wanda calls them), headaches, and Wanda's new favorite conversational ice-breaker, vaginal dryness.  The hope is that 3 months of hormone starvation will kill off, at least temporarily, the endometriosis which has been the culprit in our infertility woes. Once this treatment is done, we wait for her to have her next cycle, and then we take one last stab at in-vitro, harvest as many eggs as we can, and then hope for the best.

It's not an easy road, and I must admit that I have mighty feelings of hero-worship for Wanda, who takes all of this in stride; the constant poking (depot lupron and progesterone (which is suspended in sesame oil, I swear to god!) are injected into the ass with a VERY long needle), while the egg-producing Follistim is injected into the abdomen or thigh with a micro-fine needle TWICE DAILY), and prodding (weekly and then daily ultrasounds as the treatment progresses), endless visits to the doctor, to the drug store, all of it in the name of making a baby that is half me, half her. If any of you people out there had the slightest bit of doubt before, let it be known throughout the land now :

Wanda is a stupendous badass. She's more of a badass than you, more of a badass than me (and I'm a pretty stupendous badass myself), than all of us.    

Like Sands of the Hourglass...

For those of you familiar with the Chronicles as a whole it will not come as any surprise to you that many moons have passed since this the first posting. This is the way things tend to run with me, so learn to like it.

This blog serves two purposes - it lets me and Wanda vent about shit, and also it serves as a companion blog to our dear friend Megan, who recently moved to the west coast and who also happens to be a dramaturg of some note. Some of you know I harbor not-so-secret aspirations to someday finish a book (I have two in the works, but very, very dormant), and so the other thing this blog is intended to accomplish is to get me writing regularly again. You'll see more and more stuff crop up here as I put down on... er... bytes some of my favorite stories. Megan and I will also be giving each-other writing assignments, the manner and form of which has not yet been decided. Watch this space closely.