Yesterday was the dreaded Failed Cycle Follow-Up appointment, also known in these here parts as the "Why Your Embryos Won't Get With The Fucking Program" meeting. Luckily, I didn't have to go alone, as Sean suddenly became "sick" (*cough, cough*) and took yesterday and today off.
So, there we were, again. Sitting on the same couch, waiting. It's like a fucking remake of "Groundhog Day", for God's sake.......and, did you ever notice how quiet it is in an RE's office in the afternoons? Like a morgue, I swear! And THEN...........
Oh, yeah. What was discussed-sorry. I digress.....
So, as we sat down, Dr. Pipsqueak apologized for keeping us waiting, but she was on the phone with the lab director going over our embryo thaw results. What they think is going on is not an egg quality or sperm quality problem, but that because I over-responded to the stims and was forced to do a freeze-all cycle. And, since embryos frozen tend to lose cells once thawed, it probably wasn't optimal for me to get pregnant, since they didn't cultivate the majority of them (they only took 6 to day three before freezing, and the rest were 2pn's). After consulting with all the RE's and the lab director, they all still "strongly feel" that this will work for us, and recommend doing another cycle whenever we're ready. They would obviously start me on lower doses of Follistim (she mentioned 125 IU to start) and I'd be monitored daily. They don't want my E2 levels to go over about 3,000, so the less eggs the better. She also felt that if we can make it to a fresh transfer we'd have the chance to have some blasts to work with, and they've been getting some great pregnancy results with them.
I did tell her that, since it's more than likely our last chance for doing IVF, due to insurance reasons, we want to make sure that every base was covered in terms of making this as successful as possible. So, since we've had repeated failures, she's sending both of us for karyotyping as a precaution (although she said that finding anything is "highly unlikely"), and we're having another saline sonogram to make sure everything is okay. I also brought up the whole tubal issue/surgery again, which she's still doesn't feel is necessary. But, since this whole hydro/non hydro thing has been going on for a bit (my very first RE diagnosed the hydro on my HSG, but Dr. Pipsqueak didn't find one on last year's SIS, and said that the diagnosis was made probably because the tube bulged when too much dye was forced through), I did question if the tubes were open at all. She did say that it was a possibility that either one or both were open, since the tubes could have been in spasm at the time of the test. So, for peace of mind (hey, you never know, right?), I'm going to have another HSG to see what the deal is (Dr. Pipsqueak is going to do it)-complete with the Holy Trinity of Pain Meds-Valium, Anaprox and Lidocaine. Woot! Who says infertility can't be fun? Pshaw!
So, we've decided that, once the SIS and the HSG is done next month, we'll take a month off, then start a fresh cycle the end of May/beginning of June, to coincide with the end of the school year, so I won't miss too much time. Plus, that way I can try to lose some of this blubber that I've put on since last year's cycle/FET fiasco, so I can look HOT in that backless gown. See-I knew that there was a reason to work my glutes in the gym yesterday! Did I mention that I my ass HURTS LIKE HELL TODAY?? No? Oh.........well, it does! It feels like I've had marathon sex......
Oh, wait a minute-we are talking about SEX, right? Come now-we infertiles don't have sex for pleasure (gasp!). Like, we could have fun doing that? NO WAY, MAN!
Okay, I digress again. Sorry.
So, have any of you out there done karyotyping; and, if so, can someone explain it to me? Is it the same as genetic testing? I've been trying to look information up, but I'm getting a bout of adult-ADD and can't focus on it all.
Right now, all I want to focus on is a nice glass of vino and perhaps a pizza, along with a movie tonight.
Oh, and maybe some sex........................
GOTCHA!! HAH!
10 comments:
We've had karyotyping done.
They look at your chromosomes and check for some errors in it. They look for a balanced translocation, fragile X syndrome and Y deletions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karyotype
All of these are rare.
sex? what is this word sex?
Ditto what Lut C. said about the karyotyping.
Good luck with the extra testing.
Double ditto karyotyping comments. If I remember correctly, the results take quite awhile to come back.
I'm a new lurker and don't know your history but have you had immunity and clotting disorder testings? If not, I would highly recommend it as long as your going to get a complete workup. I'll try to find a list of the tests.
TESTS
ATA- Antithyroglobulin / Thyroid
ANA-Anti-nuclear antibodies
APA-Antiphospholipid antibodies
Cardiolipin
Lupus anticoag
MTHFR
Protein C & S
Antithrombin 3
Factor XIII
Factor V Leiden
Prothrombin Factor II
NK Cells
CA-125 (tests for possible Endo)
Millenova labs are your best bet for the NK Cell test and the thrombosis panel (MTHFR, Factor V Leiden, etc)
Well, I don't know what you were expecting out of the meeting with Doc, but that sounds like a pretty good meeting to me. The whole plan sounds good too and I hope that the renewed sense of hope I hear in your words lasts all the way thru to a BFP and a boringly, uneventful pregnancy!!!!
hey you. I deleted my blog. I wish you well. I'm going to stop TTC soon I think. It's all so frustrating.
Have a lap if you really think you have hydros. Hydrosalpinx fluid can kill an embryo and needs to be treated. From the literature I saw 2 options:
-- Remove tubes, or
-- Doxicyclene after draining during egg retrieval
in order to raise the rates of pregnancy. Once hydros were treated in these studies there was a 70% increase in success rates for the women in the studies.
Why do I say "have a lap"? Because my first RE completely missed it. My second RE suspected it due to some odd medical history (it definitely was not an STD in my case). My DH wanted to delay surgery - something I regret since my gut told me to have the lap. Some hydros only show up during surgery. (Of course, I could not have the dye test due to allergies - but saline did spill from at least one tube during the salinohistogram.)
Most insurances will cover if you say you are having the lap to treat endometriosis - though not all. And, you can have endo with no symptoms other than not getting pregnant. Check with your insurance company.
Honestly, I wish I had done the lap a year ago, it would have saved me a whole lot of heartache.
Pax,
MLO
I had karyotyping done, other than the thrombophilia nothing was found. Bring snacks they take a lot of blood.
I'm here if you want to talk at all about any of it.
Sex and wine are essential now sweets... enjoy them both.
S, I cannot e-mail you through your blogger account. I was wanting to talk to you about your music education degree. I had to freaking audition to get into the music dept at the college nearby and was rejected based on my performance... I don't want to play, I want to teach! I didn't know if you had any insight.
Post a Comment