Back to the regular program

I'm calling my first full cycle after surgery my mulligan cycle. I'm going to ignore that it happened. I can do that, right? ;) I'm blaming the craziness on the fact that my body was recovering from minor major surgery and didn't know which end was up. It turned out to be super short, just 20 days long. The post-peak phase (PPP) was only 9 days and ended with four days of premenstrual spotting, which I never have. My PPP without HCG is normally 12-13 days, so this was unusual. I didn't do a P+7 blood draw because we weren't TTC, but if I had, my progesterone would have probably been abysmal. I thought the doctor's order to avoid during that cycle was just so my body could heal physically, but it appears I needed time to heal hormonally too. I hope my body got all this nonsense out of its system and is ready to get back on track.

Thankfully this cycle does seem like I am back to normal. I only had moderate pain on and off for a few hours on CD1, a big improvement from last cycle. Hopefully the pain will continue to decrease over time. After my surgery two years ago, my periods were completely pain free, so I know it's possible. I had a good mucus build-up, and I didn't even take any mucus enhancers to offset the potential drying effect of Clomid. I'm feeling maxed out with the number of pills I swallow everyday, so something had to give (the B6 and Mucinex). My peak day was also back where it belongs (CD15).

My old nemesis TEBB is still hanging around though. DH and I started taking a three-week course of Flagyl about a week before this cycle started, so I don't know whether there was even a chance of it affecting the TEBB this cycle with that timing. Although Flagyl is supposed to be effective at killing the type of bacteria that has invaded my uterus, I'm not holding my breath that it will work because it didn't eliminate the TEBB when we took it in the past. I suppose another theory is that last June when the IV antibiotics successfully knocked out the TEBB, a new and different bacteria took up residence which might be susceptible to the Flagyl? Maybe? I'm probably grasping at straws here. :)

Boy am I glad to be done with the Flagyl. The last time I took it I spent some quality time on my knees in the bathroom because I couldn't keep food down. At that time I was on a different medication which was likely interfering with the Flagyl, so I thought this time would be better and uneventful. While this time was better, it was a tough three weeks. Even taking the Flagyl with a meal (which was supposed to help), I still had a near-constant stomach ache, almost like nausea. My appetite was close to zero, mostly because my stomach hurt, but partially because of the metallic taste in my mouth. I would not be surprised if I lost weight (and I don't have weight to lose). With three days left--the end was in sight!--I found myself kneeling on the bathroom floor again. At least it was just one night. About a day after I took my last Flagyl my appetite came back in full force. I felt like I hadn't eaten in weeks. I don't think I made up completely for the previous three weeks, but I definitely made a dent in the calories I was missing. :)