Today was an interesting day. We landed in Delhi at 1:30 this morning. We got to our hotel about 2:30 this morning and finally got to bed around 3:30 this morning.
The ride from the Airport to the hotel was very interesting. The drivers in India honk at each other, A LOT. We found out that it is part impatience, part courtesy warning when you are passing people. Since they drive on the left side of the road they pass on the right - everything seems backwards from the US. We pass a lot of what seem like tents and abandoned buildings - that is what a large portion of the population lives in. The cab drivers all seem to live in their carts as we pass a lot of them sleeping in them on the side of the road. We see people sleeping on blankets on the median of the road and dogs everywhere. No cows yet, but lots of dogs.
The hotel was almost out of place in that it looked nice and somewhat western. After that adventure we were ready for sleep.
I got to get up at 8:30 this morning to give myself my IVF shot. It was pretty much impossible to get back to sleep after that, so we decided to tough it out today and try to get ourselves on New Delhi time.
The hotel had breakfast until 10 everyday so Mark and I rolled down to the restaurant. It was an interesting mix of Indian and Americanish food. We were trying to be safe in our food and drink choices, so a lot of stuff got ruled out very quickly. I had masala, vegetables, and sausage (it was chicken?) and Mark had an egg. The cook seemed very confused by his request for a fried egg. I am sure this will be the first of many.
We were wondering what we were going to do today when we saw that we had an email from the clinic. They wanted us there at noon and were sending someone to get us at 11:30. Luckily we had time to shower and get ready before "Mr. Joy" arrived. Seriously, that is how he introduced himself. Thankfully we have Mr. Joy to show us around because I don't think we'll do well on our own.
We were told that many people in Delhi wear western clothing. Apparently that is just the men and a handful of young women. I was hoping that so long as I had my legs and shoulders covered that I wouldn't look too far out of place. Silly, silly me. I was also trying to keep my head covered with my scarf but think that just makes it worse. Mark and I are white as white can be and American to boot. We are just going to stick out.
Despite the clinic being within walking distance we quickly decided that we were not going to attempt to walk there. Now that we know where it is and what the going rates on the "tuk-tuk" is I think we could make it there on our own. Mr. Joy tells us to expect to be swindled often due to the color of our skin.
The clinic was also an experience. We arrived at a run down looking building on which I see the clinic sign. We go up a flight of stairs to the waiting area. It is packed. The receptionist quickly shoos two Indian women outside to wait so that we can have their spots. We started trying to say that we were OK but that seemed to make things worse. We are obviously "VIPS", Mark and I are asked if we would like a beverage - no one else is. I start to feel uncomfortable for a variety of reasons, the state of the clinic only being one of them.
Mark and I get called back finally. We get to meet the doctor in person finally. She seems pretty nice and trys to make some small talk while making sure that we have all of our paper work in order. It is then down to business. After we both have blood drawn, Mark gets to go make a deposit and I get to have an ultrasound. After an uncomfortable amount of poking the doctor and the nurse start making notes on my ovaries so I assume that they are seeing some follicles. I can't tell if it's a good reaction or not yet.
Mark gets called into the room and the doctor goes over the results. Only six follicles :( Of the eight that were on my baseline only six seem to be growing. Maybe more will pop up. I hope more will pop up. The cycle that worked I had nine follicles at the first ultrasound, the one that got cancelled I had five. I don't like that this is looking more like the cancelled cycle than the "successful" cycle. She gives us a prescription for antibiotics and changes my Gonal F dosage. In a surprise move she changes it down. Interesting. My last cycles I kept getting upped instead of decreased. Maybe they are hoping some more will catch up. I hope some more catch up. I left feeling discouraged instead of encouraged.
After the pharmacy, Mr. Joy asks us what we would like to do. We were hungry so he recommends a restaurant and sends us off. He had to run an errand and met us at the restaurant. We soon figure out that he is our liason. It feels weird to have a person assigned to us, but it is also REALLY nice. We have no idea about ANYTHING here. Just from our short excursion to the clinic and the ride to the hotel from the airport we quickly see that we need the help. I honestly don't think we would have even found the clinic today on our own. I didn't even stop to try to take any pictures today - I was just overwhelmed by the experience.
We decide that tomorrow we will go to the Taj Mahal since I am due back at the clinic on Monday and know that I will start to get increasingly uncomfortable as the days lead up to my retrieval. For the rest of today we are just going to relax at the hotel. I like that idea. Relax, get some sleep, and get ready for an early start tomorrow. Plus, Mr. Joy said today that I need to try to be happy, it helps with the IVF results. I will try, Mr. Joy, I will try.
No comments:
Post a Comment