Sooo, apparently I applied sunscreen really really well to 95% of my body. My shoulders are only just barely red (for me that’s a resounding success – super fair skin means that even with SPF 55 I’ll still burn) and my face actually doesn’t look bad at all! Unfortunatley I forgot the backs of my knees. :( I didn’t even notice a thing until we left the park entirely, then the back of my legs started getting itchy and I realized… oops… bright red spots. Well then. That was rather stupid of me.

The weather was gorgeous today… and warm. Very very warm. Mid-80s, I think. I had to keep paying the park’s extortionist prices for a bottle of water or poweraid or cup of soda, I felt so thirsty all day! But not really very hungry. Which is probably a good thing.

We did a lot of walking of the park, and rode all the big coasters at least once – our favorites (Superman and Batman) multiple times. It was a great time! We got a tiny bit snippy with each other a couple of times (like the time he was trying to yank down his restraint before the guy came by, and ended up elbowing me in the arm three times before I snarked loudly at him), but we had a great time together. We stayed past when he wanted to leave, but I was desperately trying to cram in all the fun I could into our one day at the park. We even went on the silly kiddy rides that I love, like the big swing and the scrambler. Silly? Sure. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely!

What I did not enjoy: all the freakin kids in the park. While I am really hoping for a baby of my own soon, most of the time other peoples kids tick me the heck off. Especially the ones running around the park being dumbasses. (I’m talking teenagers here.) Oh wouldn’t you just love to smack them sometimes and tell them to stop horsing around and acting like idiots? I sure would.

Another annoyance Den and I both muttered about: people pushing strollers. Surprizingly this had nothing to do with the fact that babies were involved, and everything to do with the fact that the people in the park today pushing strollers seemed to feel it was their devine right to walk wherever they wanted without looking where they were going. I cannot tell you the number of times we had to jump out of the way as some stroller-pushing spaceball careened right into where we were, because they were gawking at something or another. Just watch where you’re going – that’s all we ask!

The Six Flags has a whole new part of the park (Wiggles World – I don’t even know what the Wiggles are) just for little kids, in addition to the old kids part. We were watching some of the kiddie rides go and sighing about how fun it would be to bring our kids there. Granted little kids make it far more difficult to go on any of the fun adult rides, but how great would it be to watch your kid enjoy a “balloon” ride (that doesn’t go more than 3 feet off the ground)? Sigh.

At the end of the day we were feeling worn down and taking a break before hitting our last ride of the night. We walked up the main street and felt sorry for the poor smucks who have to stand there all day trying to tempt people into playing one of those stupid games that you lose money at. Well we went from booth to booth just shaking our heads until we hit a booth that was full of humongous stuffed kitty cats – panthers, tigers, jaguars. I collect stuffed cats. I have a large collection. And those big huge cats really caught my eye. Furthermore, the game was throwing a baseball at a stack of blocks.

Did I mention here that my husband played baseball for years and years? And he pitched? Granted he hasn’t played at all this year and he has bad shoulders, but if anyone could manage to win, he could. So I hinted to him that maybe we could afford him to try. He said he’d probably miss the blocks entirely and make a fool of himself. (I contend that he could not possibly make a better fool of himself than the large man who not only missed everything, but threw the ball like a 9 year old girl. It was really quite sad.) So we sat in silence for a moment. Then Den said he’d give it two tries, but that was it. (It cost $2 per throw.)

So he goes up there and pays, gets a ball. I’m holding the $2 for the next throw. I back up to give him space for his pitch. And before I really notice him throwing I see the ball crashing into the blocks. The bottom two went flying, but the third one dropped onto the table. I thought for sure it was going to just stay there, like we expected… but it rolled off! The girl starts ringing a cow bell and asks which prize he wanted. Den was giddy he actually did it; I was giddy that I got a huge cat! I will post photos tomorrow. It’s seriously huge and so awesome. :D He’s never won me anything before! (Never tried!)

I guess today really was what I needed. :) I’ll be itchy and sore tomorrow both from the localized sunburn and my very aching feet, but damn did it feel good to leave my cellphone at home, and my laptop, and not have to work all day. I did go into the cat sanctuary this morning to pick up and unload the order we got today, and had to deal with a minor situation regarding it (irritating I tell ya), but it was almost a whole day off.

In cycle news, today was my first lupron shot. I just don’t even know how I feel about that. So many things. Certainly only the tiniest, tiniest little sliver of excitement that I had the last time around… if it’s there at all. I honestly nearly forgot about the lupron shot today. The thought surfaced in my memory a couple of times today – not every five minutes.

The difference a cycle makes:

First cycle lupron shot: 8:45. 8:50. “Okay, I think I have everything ready. Let me check and count again. Okay. Right. So you pull back to the 10 unit mark… 10 units right? That’s what it says on my sheet. Double-check with the prescription… yeah, 10 units. Okay. So the needle… it’s this needle here.” Double-checks needle list and compares with instructions for lupron. “I think you pull back to the 10 unit mark before putting it in the vial. I better read the instructions for a third time. Just to make sure.” Reads instructions again. “Den, you have the vial? Right then. Roll it in your first.” He does. “Let me do it.” I do it too. “Okay, insert into rubber stopper on vial. Depress needle. Turn upside-down. Draw up 10 units. Yes. Shake the bubbles out. No let me do it, you’re doing it wrong. Seriously, Den!” Bickering ensues. “Nevermind then.” 8:57. 8:58. 8:59. Pinches my fat. “Okay go! No, wait a second.” Deep breath. “Let me count to 10. Okay, now.” … “It only hurt a little. No really. See? Not bad.” Den caps the syringe and ceremoniously drops it into the sharps box. We cheer and heave a sigh of relief. I go and write about the experience and mark it off in my little book.

Second cycle lupron shot: “Shit, it’s 9:30.” Grabs the vial and fishes a needle out of the big meds box. Draws up 10 units, gives it a flick. “Den you have a sec?” Walks over to Den, offer my stomach. “Right here.” Quick stab. “Thanks.” Tosses needle in sharps container and goes to eat dinner.

Oh my god, I almost forgot! Certainly the most unexpected part of my day today!

When I got home I had two voicemails. I thought for sure at least one of them would be either work or my client, but it was neither… it was the IVF pharmacy confirming our order and shipping. Last cycle we didn’t even ask what our total was before shipping; we knew insurance would cover all but a co-pay so we just had it shipped direct to us and found out from the receipts what we had paid via credit card. This time, since I never got around to finding out how much of our $1500 total we had left on our insurance, and sure it was going to be almost zilch, I asked that the pharmacy confirm the total with me before shipping so I could make sure the funds would be in the bank account one way or the other… or the total would go on Den’s credit card.

Unfortuantely they called today for shipping confirmation, and I was not here. (So they couldn’t ship it all. Doesn’t really matter to me, as I have enough lupron to last the cycle so I’m just waiting for my other meds I’ll need during stimming.) Then they got to our total… I kid you not, she said our co-pay was $93.98. :shock: I am stunned!! My first thought was that someone screwed up! But they must have confirmed with our insurance before getting a total… which means we will honestly have to pay only $93 for all our meds for our second cycle. Holy crap!! Between the truck tires that had to be replaced and Den’s significant dental bills and the upcoming IVF meds bill I was about ready to cry. This is such a huge relief, a crazy, unexpected, jump-for-joy relief! I have no idea how we managed to get all my meds under that limit, but thank you whoever wrangled that one… including the wonderful, amazing IVF nurses who have worked so hard to get us the cheapest options available to stay under our limits.

This will be our last insurance-covered cycle. They pay for 2 IVF cycles and that is it, total. Any FETs we do, or heaven forbid any more fresh cycles, will be completely out of pocket – and I have no idea how we’re going to pull that off. It puts a lot of pressure on this one cycle.