The first...

Let me tell you this, I never, ever thought I would start a Blog, for one thing, aren't most good Blogs already up and running, and been around for years?

Well, I have taken comfort of late by reading other peoples, but none are quite close enough to my own experiences, and I am half hoping this will help (ha) someone like me, or point me in the right direction.

Basically, my story, is the story of a 26 year old woman who has just been diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Failure. In laymans terms, early menopause.

I have been married for a year, and my husband (who is 28) and I were planning on starting our family. Now that looks like a task akin to climbing Everest, and believe me when I say this, altitude to me, is climbing the stairs.

I am still at the very early stages of the whole shebang, I have had 2 blood tests which confirm FSH levels of 41 apiece. Apparently FSH should range from 5 - 20 and over 30 is bad. Over 40 is POF. I am waiting (im)patiently to see a specialist on 24th July to see what the next steps are, but have been reading ferociously about this condition for the past month and it doesn't look promising.

I have found a lot of info by women with similar figures, but not so much by women my age (read 'none') and, harsh as it sounds, I find it difficult to empathise with a woman 10 or even 20 years older than me, or a woman who has had her family. So shoot me.

I have however, discovered, that I am not alone in my fertility status, or lack thereof, age notwithstanding, and more so, that whatever age you are, IF is life altering, debilitating, nauseating, heartbreaking, and so much more. What are the next steps? And why do I have to wait 2 more months to even find out?

I think the main point in my doing this whole blog thing, is to get it out, rather than bottle it up, or get it out to someone beside my H, or the dog, whose beautiful little ears are pretty much talked off now.

I may not be completely rational, I may even be unreasonable, verging on mean at times, and you may want to ignore me when I am venting, but hey, if this lets me keep some semblance of sanity, then carry on, I say.

Oh, how rude, nice to meet you, I'm Petunia.