Another Opinion

I had my acupuncture session yesterday, but I met with Jelena's business partner, Lisa Pool, since Jelena is still out of the country visiting family.

I liked Lisa a lot; she was warm and funny, and had a joyful bubbly sense about her that was different from the artificial cheer I experienced with Dr. Bruner. Lisa was down-to-earth while still being professional and I appreciated that. My appointment started just before 4pm and she took the needles out at 5:15pm: once again, I felt like I had been adequately seen and heard, and I left with some new ideas about my health.

I didn't have to fill out any new paperwork since Lisa had the forms I had filled out for Jelena in July. She looked at them and asked me questions about the symptoms I have been and am still experiencing. What jumped out at her was a possibility of food allergies, fructose malabsorption or a gluten sensitivity. A naturopath I was seeing several years ago did a blood test for food allergies and nothing significant really came up, but given the symptoms I continue to experience, Lisa thought it would be a good idea to get checked out again. When I mentioned that my half-sister had recently been diagnosed with a pretty high gluten sensitivity, she was even more convinced that gluten is playing a role in why I continue to feel sluggish and have gastrointestinal problems. She also wants a hormone panel done including a full thyroid check because I guess Dr. Bruner didn't have my T3 levels checked when she ordered blood work last March.

Lisa is referring me to a naturopath named Dr. Jessica Black at A Family Healing Center http://www.afamilyhealingcenter.com/ I haven't been to see a naturopath in about two years, so I suppose it's time to get myself back in there. And I'm excited to see someone who specializes in supporting women's health. She published a book in 2006 called The Anti-Inflammation Diet and I am curious to see how it is different from the Fertile Soul's Spleen Qi diet and from the endometriosis diet that I followed for awhile.

Lisa also gave me some more information about Oregon Reproductive Medicine, in case we decide to go there for an IUI (intrauterine insemination) in a few months. Four doctors comprise the practice and she told me a little about each of them; she has firsthand knowledge since they helped her and her partner conceive their son. It was nice to learn some more about the clinic and nice to know that Lisa recommends them above the other fertility clinics in Portland. She said they are pro-acupuncture and we agreed that that probably has much to do with their high rate of live births.

She thought it will be important to see the results of next week's ultrasound in order to determine how well my ovaries are functioning . . . and then getting Michael's sperm test too, of course. That last bit has been stressful for both of us--frustrating for him because he feels like his job responsibilities prevent him from taking time off now when they have a heavy workload (and no one knows when it will ease up) and frustrating for me because I sometimes feel like I am doing a lot of this work on my own.

I guess this is where patience really comes into play--patience for Michael, patience for myself, and patience for our baby who is out there somewhere, waiting for just the right time to come into our lives.