Mike's First Post

Howdy to all you blogees. This is my first post. What has taken me so long? Well, I don’t know, but I will say that Lisa has had all doctor visits and examinations since we decided to go this route, and I have had zilch. An observer’s perspective is much less funny than a firsthand perspective, as I’m sure you’ve read.

But before we decided to go with IVF-ICSI, I was a firsthand participant. There were several “samples” given (interesting reading material they have at such clinics) to allow doctors to examine my guys / soldiers, and I even had an operation – first one of my life.

I was pretty well unable to move around freely for at least a week after the operation. Basically, they cut into my midsection (or slightly below there), so, as I understand it, the muscle they cut through had to heal. Such muscles were used in walking, getting up from a seated or laying position, etc. Consequently, Lisa had to help me a lot for that first week post-op. But I was determined to go to work on Monday after Friday afternoon surgery, and go I did. I moved slowly, and I did tell my co-workers that I’d undergone surgery—I just didn’t tell them what the surgery was. (Only one person was nosy enough that I finally had to say I had surgery on my “man parts,” and I left it at that.) But as I write to you today, there are no lingering effects from the surgery, except for the scars (two, and you probably don’t want me to show you).

My funniest “during recovery” story is probably when I went to the Rangers game with my law firm at the time – Strasburger & Price – on the Tuesday night after the surgery. First, there was a lot of walking, which made things pretty slow for everyone else. But they were very nice about it. I only got up once during the game, to use the restroom. That is, unless you count this…As you all know, I am quite the baseball fan. This probably explains why I wouldn’t miss the (free) game even so soon after my surgery. Perhaps you also know that catching a foul ball is a certain dream of a baseball fan like me. I’ve snagged a couple in my lifetime, and each time is memorable. So I’m always looking to add one more. On this particular evening, we were seated in the fifth row—right behind the visitor’s dugout on the third base side. Not very many foul balls shoot into this area; a righthanded batter would have to sky the ball almost directly above himself to get it into this area, while a lefthanded batter would have to swing way late on a pitch to spray on into the seats we were in. Anyway, about the middle of the game, I’m seated in the seat second from the aisle. Sure enough, a lefthanded batter swings way late and shoots one our way. Basically, it shot right through the aisle. Well, as I mentioned before, the doctors had cut right through the muscles that helped me lift myself from my seat. What they hadn’t cut through, however, were my natural reflexes. Remember, “Mike sees foul ball. Mike dives for foul ball.” So, I dove for the foul ball. Now there were a couple of problems with this. One, my Strasburger colleague reflexively dove away from the ball, toward me, blocking my path. And two, I HAD JUST HAD SURGERY FIVE DAYS AGO. So, right after I failed in my attempt to snag the foul ball, I had one of the most intense pains of the post-op period. The thing was, I basically had to grin and bear it, sitting, as I was, amongst a crowd of colleagues who didn’t know exactly what my surgery had been or how limited I was. Lo these months later, it’s a funny memory, even if it hurt like a biz-natch at the time.

I think Lisa has already discussed with most of you the current condition of my guys / soldiers. Though there is chance of improvement up until 10 months post-op, the likelihood of meaningful improvement is slim. And that is why we are where we are. I guess it sucks, but it’s just the way I’m made, so I’ve accepted it and moved on to see where we go, given that constraint. I suppose some guys might feel like “less of a man,” but I haven’t had that experience myself. All I am really concerned with is starting a family by having our first child. Fortunately, my guys / soldiers can still be involved in that process (thanks to ICSI). Had I not been able to be so involved, my perspective may have been different. There was a time where I thought maybe I would not be able to have genetic offspring. That would have been a bigger deal. I don’t know what I would have ultimately thought about that.