bubble corals = enlarged follicles = easter eggs

Oh it was such a fabulous, fantastic, exhilarating holiday. Once I stepped on the plane, I felt as if I had a new body: no more heartburn, no more cramps, and as cliche as it may sound, there was also a light skip in my step. I was still feeling quite bloated since my period was due very soon but it was such a big relief to be almost 100% again. I sure needed it, seeing how many dives there were all planned for me.

So in 7 days, I did 23 dives and saw almost everything I wanted and expected to see - black-tip and white-tip reef sharks, giant chevron barracudas (and I was right in the middle of a swirling vortex of them!), schools of bumphead parrotfish, eagle ray, big-eye jack (I tried counting but lost count at 3602 - heehee), giant grouper, green and hawksbill turtles, frogfish, clown frogfish, cuttlefish, etc etc etc. At the end of the trip, some of my travelling buddies said they were pretty much "dived out" but I'm sure I can jump right back into the ocean and start all over again.

The only gripe I had about this trip was that my period came on Tuesday, right in the middle of my dive trip. It was a good 12 days after the egg retrieval and not 10 days as Dr C said. The awful cramps aside, I wasn't too concerned about the slight delay as I was actually hoping that it will come later which would have meant more days underwater without my period. But boy, when it came, it was a very, very heavy flow. It has now been a week since getting my period and I'm still spotting! I have to admit I was a little concerned as my period doesn't usually last more than 5 days but I know my body will need some time, maybe 1-3 menstrual cycles, before getting adjusted back to normalcy.

Anyway, whilst underwater I had the chance to come up close with some coral bubbles. They are common corals which I have seen since my very first dive nine years ago but because they've always been there, I never really noticed nor appreciated them. This time I definitely looked closer because they reminded me so much of my (then) enlarged follicles! Funny how nature replicate certain things in such vastly different organisms. Genetics sure is a fascinating field.



M has given me her blessings to go ahead and donate more eggs so now I'm waiting for T to return from her Easter holidays and speak to her doctor before deciding how to embark on the next egg donation journey. This time it will be different, since I will be doing it out of Hong Kong and most probably in London.

I have also been in contact with another lady (let's call her H) who is desperate for an egg donor to help her. She is already 43 and have been on all sorts of fertility treatment to get pregnant, but alas, to no avail. She asked me if T would like to share the donated eggs with her (and also split the cost of the treatment). Sigh! All I can do is ask T, but it is quite distressing for me to be in a position where I can give so much happiness or sorrow to someone else. If anything, my only desire in life is to see more joy in this forsaken world of ours but sometimes I can't help but feel it's a losing battle I'm waging...

Ah well. Back to the humdrum of life in the city. I was smiling when I got off the plane, filling my ears with true-blue Hong Kong Cantonese, but now it's only just one day later and already I can't wait to be back into the deep blue.