Day 7 of Turkey--The Bosphorus Boat trip

Merhaba which is hello in Turkish!!


Today we saw the doctor.  Our eggs are growing well so he is going to keep me on the same dosage of 300 IU.   They measure the eggs in millimeters (mm).  When the eggs get to be around 18 mm they will retrieve them.  He went really fast as he measured so I wasn't able to keep count real well but I think we have around 13-16 eggs.


On the right ovary our totals were:
2  8 mm eggs
4-5  7 mm eggs
2-4 6 mm eggs


On the left we had:
3  8 mm eggs
4  7 mm eggs
2-4   6 mm eggs


On Friday I think I will know a better total of our eggs.   We will definitely have plenty of eggs and they are growing well.  So that's all great news!  Our egg retrieval will not be until at least the 16th.  


Seyhan, generously spent the afternoon and evening with us.  When I say "us", I am speaking of Staci and I, and the other two couples we mentioned in other blogs who are here for IVF.  She is a very sweet muslim, works all around the clock.  She is always on call, attending to all the logistics for the hospital.  She privately told us of her own personal physical challenges involving surgery with having one of her lungs removed, and coughing up blood.  She was in an ER in the UK, which meant waiting for 4 hours before being attended to (while she was coughing up blood)  and the doctor said, “you’re not dead” when he finally saw her.  They could not after several months identify the problem.  She finally arrived at this John Hopkins affiliated hospital and they diagnosed it in 2-3 days.  However, her ribs were broken, and they healed and broke in cycles multiple times during this time.  It is difficult to fully understand, but I think she is still facing some of these issues today.  This hospital is a hospital where all the worse cases come.  So there are a lot of tragic cases.  Seyhan is involved with a lot of them, because she handles travel arrangements and logistics of all kinds.  She personally gets involved and tries desperately to help families cope and resolve issues.  She is a very generous person and tries to help in many ways.  She has gained the respect of all her peers and everyone she works with.  When we have been with her, we have met some of the fine doctors and surgeons.  She mentioned, on a few occasions – “this is the best heart surgeon in the world”, and we met a chiropractor today. 

Seyhan also invited her cousin to be with us today.  So we spent the most of the day with them.  Seyhan, initiated our journey on a shuttle from the hospital and we were dropped off at a ferry.  The ferry was similar to the one before, but a little smaller.  It was better because we could feel the cool breeze as we crossed the Bosphorous.  It was a slower pace across the Bosphorous which is what we wanted, because it was intended to be a Bosphorous cruise.  It really pretty much covered the same area as the last SeaBus we mentioned yesterday.  However, it was slower, we could feel the open air and could see and enjoy the atmosphere.  There are two bridges over the Bosphorous - so this cruise we were on was south of the lower bridge - of course which I do not remember the name (as it was in Turkish).  At the conclusion of the cruise, we arrived on the European/west side of Istanbul (like last time).  

We walked down one of the streets (I don’t actually know the name) and enjoyed some of Seyhan’s favorite area of Istanbul.  We passed by several universities on the way.  On one of the universities, they had two huge posters/banners with names of graduates on each.  On the left banner it showed a list of all the graduates from college.  On the right banner it showed a list of all the graduates from high school.  So she said that there was some peer pressure, where friends would ask each other, “Is your name listed?”  LOL.  Kind of interesting.

We arrived at a mosque, named after the town, Ortakoy.  So it was named Ortakoy mosque.  Pictures are provided below (inside and out).  We took some pictures of it.  Right in front of it, there is a huge basketball.  They are into basketball here, but they admit they can never compare to the US.  Not sure why the basketball is there, but it is.  Has nothing to do with the mosque. 

This season is Ramazan (pronounced Raw-ma-dawn), which is ending tonight.  All the muslims fast which means no food or water until 7:30 at night (from sun-up to sun-down) - not a single thing can pass their lips - not drinks, not medicine, not gum, not cigarettes.  This period is for a month when they practice this.  They have different prayer calls during the day, if I remember correctly, 5 a day.  They must face Mecca and actually there is a strange sound of men singing throughout the city at different intervals at the time of prayer.  The singing, we were told is actually in Arabic and the meaning of it is essentially we believe that God is the highest and almighty.  So tomorrow, is when it is over and they have the first opportunity to eat breakfast.  And really, they are supposed to eat breakfast with their mothers.  They must kiss their mothers hands and grandparents hands to show respect and honor.  The men must go to the mosques to pray.   They must also go to “nursing homes” or wherever old people are, (complete strangers) to spend time with them.  The taxis, buses and public transportation are all free for 3 days because this is the time when all families get together to spend this time together so there is no excuse.  It is kind of like our Christmas.  

We went inside the mosque.  We took off our shoes prior to entering the mosque, and placed them in a locker.  We then walked inside.  The women were provided wraps or scarfs to wrap around their heads/necks before they entered.  The architecture was ornate, the lighting was very nice.  It was right next to the Bosphorous, so it was nice to see the water from inside.  The pictures will show the ceiling, and the chandelliers.  We watched as men were praying.  We stayed in the back and took a few pictures. 

I will describe this as Seyhan spoke to us.  (Please no comments about this as it can be a controversial topic and that is not my intent).  She wished that people did not lump her beliefs as a muslim with the Arabs.  Many people assume that they are all the same.  She mentioned her long wishes were to go to Mecca and to earn enough money to pay for her mother to go to Mecca.  It is their belief that they must go there at least once in their lifetime.  But she said, I hate Arabs and since Mecca is in Saudi Arabia, she said she didn’t want to waste her money, because she knows the money would go to them. 

She then proceeded to describe that she loves the mosque because it is peaceful.  She said that she is responsible to know all her neighbors.  When people go to visit each other, it is kind of like the islanders.  They are provided food and you must eat all the food placed in front of you, which usually consists of several courses of food.  You cannot simply provide an excuse such as “I’m full”.  That will not be tolerated.  You must eat, and eat and eat.  Another part of this, is she said she must be very familiar with her neighbors.  If they do not have sufficient food and such, she must share hers.  She is in effect required to share her food, or invite her neighbors over for meals so that they have enough to eat.  If she fails to do this it is rude.    She also mentioned her experience reading from the Koran.  The words she used to express reading from the Koran were almost the same words and vocabulary used when (I myself in the past, and others I know have expressed while reading the Bible or scriptures).  She was sincere, and described the experience a Christian might say when they feel the Spirit while reading scriptures. 

After leaving the mosque, we went on a different ferry.  This time, the ferry covered the northern part of the Bosphorous (up until the next bridge – which was near the top of Istanbul).  It was beautiful, and we enjoyed the cool breeze.  We loved that it had cooled off a little.  It was nice and relaxing.

We then finished the day going to a large mall.  I think it was 4 of 5 stories tall and very long and wide.  It was the largest mall I have ever seen (anywhere).  It even had what looked to be a Home Depot (different name), and a wal mart (type of supermarket – not Walmart) with lots of groceries and so forth.  It was pretty cool.   We ate dinner at one of the places in the mall. 

There are always new things to learn.  I hope that the things we have written are interesting and not boring.  There is a lot of interesting things we see and learn each day.  Of course, we can’t mention all of them.

Thank you for everything.

Glen and Staci

On ferry crossing Bosphorous

The following pictures are of the lower bridge across the Bosphorous:

These are a couple pictures - it was a cool silhouette of the city underneath the bridge:

These are pictures of Ortokoy / Istanbul - near the mosque:

These pictures are of a basketball right in front of a mosque:

Vida on left - IVF patient,    Right - Seyhan (Hospital responsible for logistics)

All the IVF girls:    Susan, Vida, Seyhan and Staci

These are the pictures of the mosque we went inside - Ortokoy Mosque:

Bottom right - Vida's husband Ebenezer