Sunday, November 30, 2008

Yummy Show and Tell

If you read my post below you'll know the occassion for these yummy treats!

This first one is an Egytpian Classic, its called Farfaheena. Say it just like you see it, far-fa-heena.

You can get these at any juice store, which are plentiful here in Cairo. Every block has a store that sells fresh juice.

In the past I was too scared to drink from these stores, not being sure about the hygeine. Now this store where i live, is CLEAN and they serve their juices in plastic disposable cups. (some of the traditional juice shops serve you juice in a glass mug, not for me. People get their glass mug and hang out in front of the store or by their cars and drink up. They even drive up and beep their horn, the juice boy takes their irder and brings it to their car. I guess you could call it an Egyptian drive-thru but there are no "drive-thru's" here, no room , just drive ups, LOL)

Picture sucks sorry but its too late, I ate that whole damn thing already! I didn't know I took it blurry....



Anyway, this yummy concoction is filled with fruits, a touch of freshly squeezed mango juice and topped with vanilla ice cream. The fruits inside are pomegranate, bananas, apples, and melon. So delicious, and so refreshing even in cooler weather!

Now these yummy guys are gateaux and chocolate eclairs.

I haven't tried the eclairs yet, but they looked so good, I hope they taste as good as they look.



The gateaux are called Mille-feuille (say millfay) here. French name for this type of pastry. They are made with layers of puff pastry dough and alternating layers are filled with custard, or whipped cream or jams. Then dusted with powdered sugar, as one is or topped with jam and a chocolate design as the other one is. DH LOVES them.

So nothing too fancy but I thought why not eat some healthy snacks tonight. Egypt is grand in their pastries I must say, in French pastries and in traditional arabic sweets as well.

Be sure to check out the rest of the kids showing and telling today....

Anesthesia, oh but Just for Fun....

So we go to our appointment this morning, which was at 10AM. We left at 9:30AM, would have given us enough time to make into "town" (sounds funny as there are no "towns" here, but we live in a Cairo suburb, so we call "city" Cairo town)

Anyway...we got there after 11AM. Why? Well a particular stretch of a large road we take here is having a bridge built. They needed to build this 10 years ago, ok so they are building now, thats good, but my goodness, no regulation of traffic around this construction whatsoever! Even on our way home which was after 1PM same thing, gridlock and cars not moving at all going into "town". That is Cairo driving for you, its cRaZy everywhere, always!

Okay the good part....

At the center they got me ready, stripped changed into gown and into operating room, I was talking to anestheiologist (she was a trip by the way, cool, but a trip. The nurse who brought me in told her I do not speak Arabic so speak English to me. Then when she was talking to nurse I answered her in Arabic. She was laughing saying you speak and understand Arabic, I told her I do, but not 100% and this is medical stuff and I needed to understand everything, we had a good laugh) and then my doctor comes in. I told him last night I had some dis.char.ge that was like ov.ulati.ng dis.cha.rge, he said not to worry.

I woke up in my room.

Asked my husband how long I'd been here, 10 minutes. Man I thought, that was a fast wake up out of anesthesia....

DH told me I'd only been in operating room for 10 minutes. Ok.

In walks my doctor....he tells me the cysts were gone, and he didn't do anything other than check my follicles which looked good.

Um, I don't know, would it have been possible to save me the anesthesia and some money and checked BEFORE putting me under? Of course I was too out of it to ask at that time but I will be asking Tuesday when I see him. We had to pay half of what he quoted us, thats cool, I really dont even care about the money, but it would have been nice to not have to be under sedation.

Anyway, another one to add to the TIE (This Is Egypt) list.

So after my injections at the pharmacy this evening, I treated us to some yummy stuff.
I will post a Show and Tell about it in a few....be sure to check it out!

Friday, November 28, 2008

GREAT NEWS!

Read title of this post with sarcasism...

Went to doctor today, right ovary is very good for day 7 of injections, 8 large follicles woo hoo!
Left ovary has a few cysts 3 x 3.5cm and damn did it hurt when he probed em! Could be source of my back and my sometimes pain during 'you know what' too.

So I will go in Sunday to have cysts aspired. General anesthia, home the same day.

He said aspiration will not interfere with stim injections effectiveness, but did increase dosage for today and tomorrow. Will fast Saturday at midnight and go in Sunday AM for aspiration.

I am searching now for info on cyst aspiration during IVF cycle to see what doctors say...any experience with this?

Wish me luck...xoxoxoxoxo

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Does anyone know what this is called?

Can anyone tell me what this is called?

Its a stone my dad has, I don't have it here with me, its a scan from him, but we are trying to figure out its name.

It looks flat and shiny, no crystals so its not agate I don't think. (I so do not know about natural stones...)

Anyway, I thought, wait, what better a place to ask than here to you smart people...

If you know anything, let me know....thanks! xoxoxoxo

* Oh yeah, day 7 of injections, sucks! Seeing doctor tomorrow, will report back on my ovaries then. Have any of you ever suffered extreme back pain when stimming? I was even beginning to think Super Nice Doctor Gal hit a nerve in my beehind...oh no she said impossible! Its better now, but was excrutiating two days ago....




Sunday, November 23, 2008

Show and Tell: Beautiful Cairo Getaway

Today my Show and Tell with Mel takes you to a wonderful place to relax in this crazy sprawling city of Cairo Egypt.

It's a place called Al Azhar Park, located in the heart of old historic Cairo.

The park is totally covered in lush green gardens, (which are not usually easy to find here, not on such a grand scale anyway), and allows you to experience something other than the usual tourist attractions.

It has a historical component, as most places do here. The park is home to the 12th century Ayyubid wall, constructed by Salah El Din more than 800 years ago.

You can see Cairo in a 360 degree view from anywhere in the park, most days anyway, as the pollution here is thick. You can see the pyramids at Giza Plateau, the Cairo Tower, Khan el Khalili bazaar, the Citidel and much more of Cairo too.

I remember the first time we went there, I was impressed. It's such a large area, 74 acres, and here in Cairo where space is limited, there are no other public places as big and beautiful to visit.

Most days you can find locals and tourists alike, hanging out, picnicing and just kicking back on their blankets. The park has a bunch of cafes and restaraunts where you can relax and enjoy the amazing view.

A must see destination when you're in Cairo.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Does it have to be the butt?

Hey a question for you IVF vets... when you stimmed you gave yourself injections in the stomach right?

Well here, i go to pharmacy to have my butt injections (sometimes DH gives to me)

Anyway I asked doctor there about this point today.

Me: Do you ever give injections in the stomach. In the US many people do it that way...

Super Nice Doctor Gal : (in arabic first, then I clarified in English) Here in Egypt we always give them here (pointing to my behind)

Me: Okay thanks...I'll talk to my doctor ( and the mighty inferts who read my blog)

Super Nice Doctor Gal: (again in Arabic) May God Give you babies this time (she remembered me frm number 5, really sweet girl)

So what is the best way to take these intra-muscular injections...any thoughts?

Reason I ask is becuase I remember how sore my butt was last time and even 2-3 months after, which I can deal with.  But also, is there any benefit to taking in stomach rather than behind?

Stimulation nation station wayshion



* (yes i made up "wayshion" i know, its not a real word. its 1am here and I am off to bed so you get it...)

It's official, I am stimulating! Yes I started the wonderful process of follicle stimulation, making sure i produce lots of eggs, today ladies.

So every day, for next 17 days or so I get to have two shots a day, ooh yummy.

Hoping that this time, IVF (number 6 for me) will do what it was created to do.

Stay tuned folks....
_________________________________________________________________________________



Oh and Florenzo is sick. Been to the vet 4 times so far with him. He is alot better now, thank God. He fell on something and punctured his hind leg, its taking a while to heal up and he hates for us to clean it, making healing time even slower. As most of you know he is an outdoor cat, but these days spending lots of time indoors with us. He didn't tell us what happened, so we can only guess... there is some construction going on on our street and we think maybe he fell on a piece of wood that had a nail in it, or maybe a small piece of steel pipe, anyway wound is closed now and getting better. He has been very spoiled too, more so than usual. Guess what he LOVES, smoked roasted turkey!!! He ate some lentil soup the other day and last week roasted veal, too funny our little guy!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

One of those moments...

hey. it's a beautiful day here in Cairo, sunny, warm and perfect weather, a perfect November day really.

we went to the club for a walk. (have i told you about "clubs" here? i think i may have. so yes, they are member only country clubs, i guess you'd call them- a first for me, but it is very popular and almost everyone belongs to one. some more expensive/better amenities than others, they have sports, walking tracks, tennis, etc. )

anyway, we did a few rounds walking around the track, then went to the clubhouse for a rest. in front of us, oh about 10 feet or so, was the cutest little girl and her mom and dad. the parents were facing foward, their chair backs to us, and of course this little precious girl was facing us. smiling and waving her hand, yes right at me. i waved back and made some funny faces, she giggled.

i held back my tears....

i have had a few of these moments from time to time. this one today was strong. a feeling overcame me and i thought i may never have a son or daughter of my own. i did not let my husband see my feelings, i tried to think of something else, i just didn't want to talk about it.

you guys know me, mrs. positive, always thinking that the day will come, and it may come, God Willing, but today was one of those moments that i know so many of you have had and one of the moments i try so hard not to let happen as there are kids EVRYWHERE here.

so i'm ok again now, it passed.

but man, when i think it may just not be meant for us to have children of our own, its a thought that makes me shake. we have been trying for soooo long and we are thinking of ivf number 6 soon, i am damn scared. i am so scared it will not be a success, yet again.

but then, mrs, positive comes back (yes, she's here now) and all thoughts go to what is meant to be will be and there is nothing i can do to chnage that. i am okay with that. (i am really, just weakness of being a good old human being that gets the best of me sometimes.....)

so just felt like ventinmg thats why you guys are here right? love ya all so damn much man!

in other news...how excited are you for elec.ti.on night? i am so excited! the major coverage will start here like 11pm for us, so that would make it like 4pm on the east coast. we are going to stay up all night, well i am, not sure if dh will join me, but he may. we watch c.n.n international here and a.l j.aze.era english and b.b.c world, so combined it will be like we are back home won't it?

i voted a few weeks ago via email, how cool is that? i printed, signed and scanned my ba.llot and affivi.davit and sent off to my home state electronically.

do you know that i am so not into pol.itics at all really, never have been. but i, like so many i think, have really got interested in this elec.ti.on this time. its too important not to.

it is time for ch.an.ge indeed.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Season 7 of 24

Have I ever told you what a total freak I am for 24? (i have blogged about it before) You know the show 24 on Fox? Well we FINALLY got season 6 here, I am watching now and it is AWESOME!

On November 23rd you lucky people in the USA have a 2 hour premier for Season 7... 24: Redemption which starts in January 2009. I will try to find it online for sure.

There are so many series I know, but 24 and Prison Break are the only two I LOVE! The funny thing is I only got into them while here in Cairo.

Anyway the trailer is below, and if you haven't watched before and you don't know Jack Bauer, try it this season, it keeps you on the edge of your seat. But be careful it is super addicting.

Exhale...

My last day was Thursday, no mo teachin' fo me!

It was waaay too much for me, really it was. I have never had such a challenging job in all of my 30-something years!

I think my 'giving up', (although I hate to put i that way, cause I don't want to accept it as a failure solely on my part), is 50% my lack of experience (maybe) and 50% lack of support from them. ( lack of support, organization, communication could take up a whole page here, I spare you the details.)

Granted I have not taught before, ok.

But I really did have so many great lesson plans, activities, ideas... the thing is most days I could never get to all of them as the kids were OUT OF CONTROL! Is that my fault, yes, maybe, partially it is my inability to get them under control or at least to sit down for five damn minutes!

Every time I went to work I got a bad feeling in my stomach, I was kinda grouchy, whipped when I got home, that was not good. I'd rather not work and get back to my happy, corny ass self really.

So now I can! And will.

So back to travelling around Egypt, hopefully, and relaxing once again.

I look at it as a learning experience and what I have learned is that I will never work in a school again. Not here, and maybe not anywhere else.

My hat is off to you teachers, what a job you have. I wish the new president could increase your salaries to those of CEO's you SO DESERVE and earn it.