Week of July 16

[msmerymac]

I had my retrieval on Saturday and got 30 (!!!) eggs.

To recap:
1st retrieval - 18 eggs, 3 embryos (2 normal, 1 non-concurrent)
2nd retrieval - 15 eggs, 0 embryos
3rd retrieval - 19 eggs, 1 embryo (non-concurrent)

19 of the 30 were mature and 12 of them fertilized. So I'm cautiously optimistic. Percentage-wise, it's not a TON better than it has been previously in terms of the amount that are mature and/or fertilize, but obviously, we started out with way more this time, so I hope the chances of something being good quality are better.

I used micro lupron this time (which I also did during the 15 egg cycle, weirdly) and human growth hormone for the last 6 days or so to try to mature the follicles better.

Day 3 update tomorrow.

[pooh8402]

Good luck to your embryos msmerymac. I hope one or more is absolutely perfect.

[msmerymac]

Jul 16, 2018 11:20:22 GMT -5 greengardener said:

Those numbers are great msmerymac ! When is your next update? Fx that the quality is great, and you end up with several great embryos to work with. It's so hard to not crunch the numbers and make conclusions, but each cycle seems to differ so much. Our first cycle, only 1/4 was normal. Our second cycle, only 2 made it to blast, and then both came back normal. It's such a mind f$ck.

3 day update tomorrow, and they "normally" expect 40% to make it to day 5 that were good on day 3. 

A woman in my support group did a retrieval the same day as me, got 5 eggs, and all 5 fertilized. But it just goes to show - it's all different. She has different challenges than I do.

With the first round we did, 11 of the 18 were mature and 8 fertilized, then we had 7 on day 3 and 3 on day 5. So I'm working with about the same percentages this time, even though the numbers are higher, which makes me scared because what if the quality is still poor? But it's out of my hands!

[fairfax]

Jul 16, 2018 11:12:06 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I had my retrieval on Saturday and got 30 (!!!) eggs.

To recap:
1st retrieval - 18 eggs, 3 embryos (2 normal, 1 non-concurrent)
2nd retrieval - 15 eggs, 0 embryos
3rd retrieval - 19 eggs, 1 embryo (non-concurrent)

19 of the 30 were mature and 12 of them fertilized. So I'm cautiously optimistic. Percentage-wise, it's not a TON better than it has been previously in terms of the amount that are mature and/or fertilize, but obviously, we started out with way more this time, so I hope the chances of something being good quality are better.

I used micro lupron this time (which I also did during the 15 egg cycle, weirdly) and human growth hormone for the last 6 days or so to try to mature the follicles better.

Day 3 update tomorrow.

That is awesome! Would you mind sharing more about using the human growth hormone? I want to talk with my Dr about my meeting protocol before my next cycle in Sept.

[woowoo]

Oh everything is all jacked up. I'm supposed to be on a mock cycle right now to do a uterine biopsy but my normally perfect 28 day cycle is now on day 30 and I haven't even ovulated yet. So my progesterone is still low. Went in for another test this morning, we'll see what the game plan is after that.

I do have an apt already scheduled with my new RE down in Florida after I move, so that's at least good. Now I have to decide whether we want to risk transferring our one perfect embryo there or coming back here for transfer. We aren't exactly driving distance.

So that's a question for all of you that have transferred several times - how often would a transfer date get pushed back? If I buy a flight for my transfer (with monitoring down in Florida), isn't there a good chance I might need to change that flight???

[msmerymac]

Jul 16, 2018 12:03:57 GMT -5 fairfax said:

Jul 16, 2018 11:12:06 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I had my retrieval on Saturday and got 30 (!!!) eggs.

To recap:
1st retrieval - 18 eggs, 3 embryos (2 normal, 1 non-concurrent)
2nd retrieval - 15 eggs, 0 embryos
3rd retrieval - 19 eggs, 1 embryo (non-concurrent)

19 of the 30 were mature and 12 of them fertilized. So I'm cautiously optimistic. Percentage-wise, it's not a TON better than it has been previously in terms of the amount that are mature and/or fertilize, but obviously, we started out with way more this time, so I hope the chances of something being good quality are better.

I used micro lupron this time (which I also did during the 15 egg cycle, weirdly) and human growth hormone for the last 6 days or so to try to mature the follicles better.

Day 3 update tomorrow.

That is awesome! Would you mind sharing more about using the human growth hormone? I want to talk with my Dr about my meeting protocol before my next cycle in Sept.

Sure! I actually found out about it from a close friend (it worked amazing for her), who heard about it from another friend. My friend was with my RE, but she went to another clinic to try to get into a clinical trial, since her insurance covers no IF. The new doctor has used HGH a bunch of times. 

For my friend, her first round of IVF with menopur and gonal f resulted in 9 or 10 eggs, and 2 embryos. One embryo was severely abnormal and the other didn't take. With her second round her doctor added 1 cc of HGH from day 1 or 2, for 10 days, and she ended up with 18 eggs, 15 mature, 12 fertilized and 6 embryos, one of which she transferred fresh and it worked. 

I don't think there have been clinical trials on HGH, and my doctor maintains that there's not much you can do for egg quality (although start taking co-Q-10 and DHEA if you're not already), but it seems like the HGH helps ripen the follicles and mature the eggs. I added mine in about a week after starting my protocol, so it didn't actually help with the number of follicles AFAIK (but since my friend and I both ended up with so many more... maybe?), but hopefully it will help with the "quality." My doctor had me add in 1/2 CC on day 8 or 9? It was after my third monitoring appt (incl baseline). I brought up the fact that I wanted to try HGH with my doctor, so he looked into it for me, even though some of the nurses at my clinic told me they had literally never placed an order for it before. I guess he figured he might as well!

Oh, and my friend's doctor used to work with my doctor before leaving for this other clinic, so they still talk with each other. The IF community is small, so if there are several clinics in your area, the doctors likely talk to each other about various cases and protocols. 

Let me know if you want to know anything else. 

My stim meds for this cycle were:
20 units micro-dose lupron (twice a day)
2 vials menopur (evening)
375 units gonal-f (evening)
1/2 CC HGH (evening, starting day 9)
Triggered with HCG

Also: pre-natal vitamin, DHEA and co-Q-10

I know my friend was at the max dose of gonal-f, which is 450, and I think also the 2 vials of menopur. 

[seeyalater52]

msmerymac, I'm so happy your retrieval was so successful! I hope the hgh really makes a difference in embryo quality.

woowoo, I'm sorry about your weird cycle. I'm also worried my cycle is going to go all wonky and screw up the timing of our next FET.

@slk4117, SO FRUSTRATING about your clinic. Ugh they are making me so mad for you. I'm sorry you're stuck in (more) waiting hell.


As for me, beta is officially at zero this morning, finally. So that's good, I guess? It's just so depressing. I have to sit out one cycle now and am planning to prep for an FET with the beginning of my next cycle (starting with oral estrogen on CD2) but I'm nervous about the timing of some work travel and whether it's going to delay us further and need to make decisions soon about whether to try to cancel the travel to reduce the possibility of interference (which is an option.) I am not very good at prioritizing myself over work but this feels too important to postpone.

[seeyalater52]

Jul 16, 2018 13:08:39 GMT -5 @slk4117 said:

Jul 16, 2018 13:02:47 GMT -5 greengardener said:

This is the place that is $$$$ not calling you back?  I would be raging. 
Waiting sucks so much.

YEP. They close at 3 on Fridays during the summer. I called at noon, 12:30, 1, 1:15, 1:30, 2, and 2:30. Nada. I needed to know how much the ultrasound was going to cost before I booked it. I got an email response this morning from their Finance office saying $450. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HELPFUL ON FRIDAY YOU ASSHAT. They only do ultrasounds/ labs on CD 1-3, and today is CD4. So now I have to wait another full month. 

I'm about to have a rage stroke. 

AND they wouldn't do it on CD4? WTF. I've done monitoring anywhere between CD1-4. It never seemed to be a big deal. I'm so annoyed for you Definitely time to explore other options if you're not already.

[compassrose]

I’m SO enraged for you @slk4117. That’s so frustrating.

That’s a great number msmerymac! I hope they all grow strong!

I am leaving for Denmark tonight! But it looks like me cycle will line up for a transfer in August, so that’s good.

[fairfax]

ept.[/quote]Sure! I actually found out about it from a close friend (it worked amazing for her), who heard about it from another friend. My friend was with my RE, but she went to another clinic to try to get into a clinical trial, since her insurance covers no IF. The new doctor has used HGH a bunch of times. 

For my friend, her first round of IVF with menopur and gonal f resulted in 9 or 10 eggs, and 2 embryos. One embryo was severely abnormal and the other didn't take. With her second round her doctor added 1 cc of HGH from day 1 or 2, for 10 days, and she ended up with 18 eggs, 15 mature, 12 fertilized and 6 embryos, one of which she transferred fresh and it worked. 

I don't think there have been clinical trials on HGH, and my doctor maintains that there's not much you can do for egg quality (although start taking co-Q-10 and DHEA if you're not already), but it seems like the HGH helps ripen the follicles and mature the eggs. I added mine in about a week after starting my protocol, so it didn't actually help with the number of follicles AFAIK (but since my friend and I both ended up with so many more... maybe?), but hopefully it will help with the "quality." My doctor had me add in 1/2 CC on day 8 or 9? It was after my third monitoring appt (incl baseline). I brought up the fact that I wanted to try HGH with my doctor, so he looked into it for me, even though some of the nurses at my clinic told me they had literally never placed an order for it before. I guess he figured he might as well!

Oh, and my friend's doctor used to work with my doctor before leaving for this other clinic, so they still talk with each other. The IF community is small, so if there are several clinics in your area, the doctors likely talk to each other about various cases and protocols. 

Let me know if you want to know anything else. 

My stim meds for this cycle were:
20 units micro-doze lupron (twice a day)
2 vials menopur (evening)
375 units gonal-f (evening)
1/2 CC HGH (evening, starting day 9)
Triggered with HCG

Also: pre-natal vitamin, DHEA and co-Q-10

I know my friend was at the max dose of gonal-f, which is 450, and I think also the 2 vials of menopur. [/quote]


Thank you so much! I will definitely ask my Dr her thoughts. I was on 10 IU microdose Lupron (am and pm), 300 Follistim (am) and 150 Menopur (pm) which my dr says is the max. So I want to get as many new ideas as possible!

I have been on CoQ10 and DHEA for about a year.

[fairfax]

Jul 16, 2018 13:15:47 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

msmerymac, I'm so happy your retrieval was so successful! I hope the hgh really makes a difference in embryo quality.

woowoo, I'm sorry about your weird cycle. I'm also worried my cycle is going to go all wonky and screw up the timing of our next FET.

@slk4117, SO FRUSTRATING about your clinic. Ugh they are making me so mad for you. I'm sorry you're stuck in (more) waiting hell.


As for me, beta is officially at zero this morning, finally. So that's good, I guess? It's just so depressing. I have to sit out one cycle now and am planning to prep for an FET with the beginning of my next cycle (starting with oral estrogen on CD2) but I'm nervous about the timing of some work travel and whether it's going to delay us further and need to make decisions soon about whether to try to cancel the travel to reduce the possibility of interference (which is an option.) I am not very good at prioritizing myself over work but this feels too important to postpone.

I lurk over on CE&P and have seen your posts over there. It is clear that you kick ass at work and have given it your all. You should definitely not feel guilty about prioritizing yourself here! You have earned and then some!

[msmerymac]

I'm so furious on your behalf, @slk4117.

After having to be monitored by 2 different clinics while on vacation this month, I really appreciate that mine is fairly competent, lol. I've seen some weird shit, and my clinic wasn't super happy about how other clinics were functioning. When I told the nurse at my clinic that my appointment at another place took two hours and fifteen minutes (basic blood and ultrasound monitoring) her response was literally, "Oh my god."

I don't know how some of these clinics actually get things done!

[seeyalater52]

Jul 16, 2018 13:48:33 GMT -5 fairfax said:

Jul 16, 2018 13:15:47 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

msmerymac , I'm so happy your retrieval was so successful! I hope the hgh really makes a difference in embryo quality.

woowoo , I'm sorry about your weird cycle. I'm also worried my cycle is going to go all wonky and screw up the timing of our next FET.

@slk4117 , SO FRUSTRATING about your clinic. Ugh they are making me so mad for you. I'm sorry you're stuck in (more) waiting hell.


As for me, beta is officially at zero this morning, finally. So that's good, I guess? It's just so depressing. I have to sit out one cycle now and am planning to prep for an FET with the beginning of my next cycle (starting with oral estrogen on CD2) but I'm nervous about the timing of some work travel and whether it's going to delay us further and need to make decisions soon about whether to try to cancel the travel to reduce the possibility of interference (which is an option.) I am not very good at prioritizing myself over work but this feels too important to postpone.

I lurk over on CE&P and have seen your posts over there. It is clear that you kick ass at work and have given it your all. You should definitely not feel guilty about prioritizing yourself here! You have earned and then some!

Thank you, that is so kind. My boss gave me permission to potentially skip out of this travel (it's for our big annual conference we put on so missing it is kind of a big deal) but it's so hard to make the decision when we don't exactly know when my next cycle will start. I will likely need to make a decision before that which makes me feel guilty because it may or may not end up being necessary. But I've prioritized work over life for literally years at this point and I can't stand the thought of postponing this FET any more.

[shoeless]

Follow up ultrasound today to confirm the miscarriage. Only positive is that I don’t have to stick myself tonight with PIO.

[woowoo]

Jul 16, 2018 14:11:26 GMT -5 shoeless said:

Follow up ultrasound today to confirm the miscarriage. Only positive is that I don’t have to stick myself tonight with PIO.

I'm still sorry.  Been thinking of you.....what is next? 

[seeyalater52]

I’m so sorry shoeless. That’s got to be so hard.

[compassrose]

Damn shoeless. I’m so sorry. Are you going to try to wait for your period to start then? Everything about this sucks.

[shoeless]

compassrose and woowoo- I’m going to try and wait for a natural miscarriage. I’m hoping it’s not as bad as last time. I have a follow up phone call in 2 weeks. He mentioned genetic testing for H and more uterine testing for me. I hoping we can do those quickly.

[fairfax]

Bad news - none of the embryos made it to the blast stage. I’m so upset and disappointed.

[seeyalater52]

Jul 16, 2018 19:30:36 GMT -5 fairfax said:

Bad news - none of the embryos made it to the blast stage. I’m so upset and disappointed.

Oh fairfax, I’m so sorry. Did they have any feedback about what might have gone wrong? Hang in there, I’m sending gentle hugs.

[shoeless]

Jul 16, 2018 19:30:36 GMT -5 fairfax said:

Bad news - none of the embryos made it to the blast stage. I’m so upset and disappointed.

I’m so very sorry. Do you have a follow up appointment setup?

[gerder3]

shoeless I'm so sorry. I understand hoping for a natural m/c.

We had our our first appointment post lab results. For some reason my prolactin levels were never processed, so I'll need to go for more labs in a couple of days. The resident who spoke to us first got us all amped about possibly trying IUI due to H's SA results.
Then the attending came in and she wants us to do the SA again because his sample was after 5 days of abstinence which is within their suggested range but "not optimal" in her opinion. This sets us back another month and a half due to scheduling and the wait list for IUI is 90 days, currently. I'm not sure if we should push to just move forward without a new SA.

[fairfax]

Jul 16, 2018 20:02:03 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Jul 16, 2018 19:30:36 GMT -5 fairfax said:

Bad news - none of the embryos made it to the blast stage. I’m so upset and disappointed.

Oh fairfax, I’m so sorry. Did they have any feedback about what might have gone wrong? Hang in there, I’m sending gentle hugs.

Nope. She gave me some speil about how they don’t biopsy in these cases. Which I get, it makes sense but at the same time if you’re not giving me useful information then just shut up. You know? Like I don’t care about anything other than how to get a better result next time, that’s the information I want from my doctor.

*Obviously I know they are not miracle workers. Though for what we are paying they should be!

[fairfax]

Jul 16, 2018 20:04:34 GMT -5 shoeless said:

Jul 16, 2018 19:30:36 GMT -5 fairfax said:

Bad news - none of the embryos made it to the blast stage. I’m so upset and disappointed.

I’m so very sorry. Do you have a follow up appointment setup?

Yes, for next week. I told them they need to schedule with my DH because I want him there. Mostly because I think I’ll just cry and not ask the questions I need to.

I’m honestly surprised at my reaction. I was expecting bad news, but I guess I had a litttle sliver of hope hiding somewhere.

[woowoo]

fairfax, I am sorry. Hope you guys can go in for follow up soon and they have a plan for next steps.

[seeyalater52]

Jul 16, 2018 22:14:47 GMT -5 fairfax said:

Jul 16, 2018 20:02:03 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Oh fairfax, I’m so sorry. Did they have any feedback about what might have gone wrong? Hang in there, I’m sending gentle hugs.

Nope. She gave me some speil about how they don’t biopsy in these cases. Which I get, it makes sense but at the same time if you’re not giving me useful information then just shut up. You know? Like I don’t care about anything other than how to get a better result next time, that’s the information I want from my doctor.

*Obviously I know they are not miracle workers. Though for what we are paying they should be!

I really hope when you meet with them again they’ll have some ideas for shifts in the protocol that could result in better quality embryos. The whole thing just absolutely sucks.

[msmerymac]

I'm so sorry fairfax

shoeless, did you previously have a natural m/c? I'm so sorry.

[msmerymac]

Day 3 update - the 12 that fertilized are all hanging in there. 

[shoeless]

Jul 17, 2018 7:18:59 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I'm so sorry fairfax

shoeless , did you previously have a natural m/c? I'm so sorry.

I did, it was more painful than a broken bone.  I'm not looking forward to it again but unfortunately my OB is very hesitant to do a D&C.

[shoeless]

Jul 17, 2018 7:23:37 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Day 3 update - the 12 that fertilized are all hanging in there. 

Great news!!!