The Story (this is long)

I am sorry I did not write this yesterday, but I was so exhausted last night I went to bed early.

Yesterday morning when I woke up there was a pit in my stomach. I knew what was ahead of me and I dreaded it, but there was some comfort in knowing that the wait would soon be over. It was thankfully a rather warm morning considering the early hour, and I was pleased that at least I was not chilly as I hoped started the min-van and opened the garage door.

The RE office is about a 30 minute trip from our home if the traffic is light. Thank goodness at 6:15 am that was indeed the case. I quickly calculated the time change, in GA it would be just after 9:00 am and my sister would be at work. I called her cell and got her message. I had hoped she would be available, but I knew she probably had clients to see. Thankfully, she called back moments later and chatted casually about the Super Tuesday results to keep me distracted. She was only partially successful. I would keep interjecting comments like, "I am scared." No, I was not as scared of the thought of having John McCain as the Republican nominee in the fall as I was of the blood test results that I would discover in a few hours.

I arrived at the clinic right at 7:00 am and checked in. I solemnly marched to the lab. Because of the early hour, I was the first patient. The young guy who took my blood was very pleasant, but the big picture of the fertilized eggs on the wall behind him was rather distracting. He had to stick me twice, but I did not even care. I just wanted to get on my way to work.

This was not my usual way to work. I had to go through the Caldecott Tunnel from San Ramon to Oakland and there is always a wait to go through. As I waited the most magical thing happened, a huge rainbow appeared in the sky over the road. I knew right then no matter what the results were, I was going to be ok. God has a plan for me.

I was met at work with problems as soon as I entered the door. The next 3 hour flew by, and when my pager went off at 10:00am I was so shocked. I said aloud to my office mates, this is it as I grabbed my cell with my shaking hands. I made my way to the break room to return the page. My hands were shaking so badly that I could not dial the phone, I could barely focus as I looked several times back and forth from my shaking pager to my shaking phone trying to make the call. Thankfully, the phone rang and I heard the voice of my RE on the other end of the line.

He said I paged you a few minutes ago, but had not heard back so I called the cell phone. I explained that I was holding the phone, but I was shaking so badly I could not complete the call. He said I am here with Susan and we have some good news for you, I am going to put you on speaker phone. I started saying, oh my God really. I heard the speaker phone engage and I was greeted by Susan as well. He had me tell her what I had just told him about trying to make the call. I knew by her joyful laugh that they indeed had good news.

He wet on to say the beta was 60, which was a good number for a first reading, and that I would need another test in a couple of days to make sure it was doubling appropriately. I was shaking and crying, I am not sure what exactly I said, but I think I professed my love for them at the conclusion of the call.

As soon as I rounded the corner to my office I gave the 2 thumbs up and the celebration started. Hugs, and cheers, and joyful calls began. We made so much noise that a nurse from the nearby pain clinic came over to see if we were ok!

What a wonderful and miraculous day! Thanks to all for hanging in there with me through all this. Your encouragement and support has carried me though. HUGS to all!

Theresa