Tuesday morning we had our first visit to Cooper Center. Not at all what we had expected but the people were great and we felt at ease. After a round of blood work we made our way into the city to check out the sites.
We first went to South Street which is lined with shops... not really our scene. We then got back in the car and went over to find a place one of the ladies from the center recommended for lunch. Sabrinas. Again, not at all what we were expecting but the food was good!
Realizing the section of town we were in wasn't exactly where we "should" be, we headed to down town where we went to see the Liberty Bell and walked through the parks. Like Boston, Philly has a good amount of green space. However, unlike Boston the city wasn't nearly as clean and we weren't really impressed.
Heading back to the hotel for some much needed sleep we got a call from Cooper Center that we were not going to be able to have the retrieval on Wednesday as planned. The HCG injection I took the night before had only been saline - I had mixed up the bottles when preparing it. :(
Jonathan had to get up at mid-night to mix up another round and give it to me so that we could go back for another round of bloods the next day. We also found that my estrodile levels where very high: 4500+. Anything over 5000 would cause us to have to freeze. The hope was that with the day off from meds the level would drop before the actual HCG took effect which can cause the levels to spike.
Today we went in for another round of blood then decided to take it easy while we waited for the results and headed to Amish Country. The country side was beautiful! Corn fields as far as you could see. The surprises: They have a Wal-Mart! As we got further in it began to look like Pigeon Forge or Myrtle Beach - Tourist Traps EVERYWHERE! Hotels shaped like ships "Ship Shape Rooms"; an amusement park "Dutch Wonderland; and a dozen shops selling T-Shirts & Quilts.
Then the call came in. The levels had not gone down - actually went up over 5900 so transferring was not an option. We will still have the retrieval done tomorrow however afterward they will be frozen until we can come back during another cycle. The good thing is we do not have to do all the meds like we did preparing for this trip. I guess you could say the hard part will be over.
We managed to get our flights moved with some help so now we are heading back on Saturday. Having to come back up again later means we need to save as much as possible. A new date is up in the air. We'll keep everyone posted when more info is available.
