So Hello Ladies
I am back - where to start - where to start???
Fab birthday weekend with dh. He is so great. Really chilled out/lovely place - Babington House near Bath. Treatments were lovely. So proud of myself that I had no booze at all & did not really miss it. I am fizzy watered out. dh bought me a lovely single diamond on a necklace. He even bought it himself - unassisted. I was well impressed.
Thanks Lola and Vicki for the birthday wishes. Keep trying to tell myself that life begins at 4-0 but sticking a bit in my throat!
So stress levels started to rise early doors. We set off v early for 12 noon rendez vous. We therefore got there 40 mins early.
Good start - Mr Trew saw us 1/2 hour early. Wow - he got off on so the right foot that I nearly forgot all my questions. Clearly this was his tactic to throw me off balance.
He is very down to earth - realistic and practical from my perspective.
So below is a summary of Q&A in case it helps:
- How are Frosties thawed? - Frosties are thawed in singles. They would thaw 2 & then add in singles until we had 2 good ones for transfer. Only takes 40 mins to thaw. 60% likelihood of survival of thaw
- Best 2 back & BFN - why will others do any better? - he said that any of the 8 could be as good as any others or be the one - that is where it is a lottery
- What about 3 now I am over 40? - Not yet but it is not off limits for them. He said if he did now after just 1 cycle then more chance of multiples. If we did a couple more and were unsuccessful then would be considered - case by case basis
- Can Acupuncture help? - Very +ve. He said certainly before to help manage stress and although data sketchy he did believe that it had helped success rates in some cases
- How is my FSH level? - he said that this is an indicator of how you will respond to stimmies - once you have done a cycle then that tells them how you actually respond so FSH level no longer as relevant - although can alter every 3 months - so good cycle now is not a good indicator of whether the next cycle will be good
- Progesterone - injections or suppositories? - he said they are more painful & there is no evidence at all to suggest better results so they have stopped using
- Why 2 day? - He said that they had no evidence to suggest that 5 day would generate better results and that lots of embryos get lost along the way. Again he did not say never but he did say that his opinion was to freeze at day 2 and then use to do FET(s) over and above the 1st Fresh. He said that quoted stats are all for 1 single cycle. He said if you took a lady with say 8 eggs like me, he reckoned the % success would be slightly higher with Fresh + FET + FET than using all to have 1 go to just get say 1 Blast. Guess that this is where expression all ones eggs in one basket comes from.
He did not say that he would not let us thaw all 6 in one go and go to blast but he certainly did not seem keen - he would prefer to try to get 2 or 3 additional goes from this batch if he can. He was very dismissive of a 'central london clinic' and clinics in the US where he said that it is all about the 1st time stats and $
- Asked about impact of possible infection which I got post transfer? - Irrelevant - either these two were for sticking or not - no difference
- Bed Rest? - he was very much in the just carry on as normal camp
- What can you do to help? - He said - you don't smoke, you are not over weight (I loved him for saying that
) so other than being healthy general - absolutely nothing that you can really do to help your chances
- What is the FET protocol? - burselin to down reg, then patches, then ET followed by patches and suppositories - only difference to fresh is no stimmies, no EC & lower costs
So where we got too. He will not do either FET or Fresh until July for me. He does not know how my tubes are blocked so suggested that we use the 'down time' to do a laparoscopy to see the extent of the damage and if small whether he can dynarod me free or whether they are so badly damaged that this is not an option. So have been onto his office already. She offered me 3rd July. I have a half year to do as I am an accountant so pleaded and she gave me a week earlier. So tube clean up session booked for Mon 26th July. More costs but what the hell....................He will be able to tell me the extent of the damage on the day and then determine next steps from there. I would say that we are tending towards a FET
Hope that this is helpful. I plan to print off so at least I can remember what he said. He was quite positive but mainly on the basis that I responded well to the stimmies for my age and we got a good % fertilisation. He said that lifted my chances to like 26% when lower numbers of eggs and embies would make it more like 5% at my age.
Stay in touch ladies. Any info on laparoscopy appreciated?
At least sun is shining after all the dreary weather. If there is anything else that you ladies can think of then shout as I amy have asked and just forgotten.
Carolyn xxxx
Me 42, DH 52 IVF #1, #2, #3 ICSI #4 - 10.05.2006, 12.12.2006, 10.03.2007, 27.07.2007 ICSI/DE/TESA #5, #6 PGD/IVIG #7 - 24.11.2007, 27.02.2008, 23.05.2008 - 7 BFNs
Surrogacy/FET #8 - 15.10.2008 - BFP
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She looked at ARGC and thought that it was like factory farming and so decided against. She is at Harley St Fert Centre but she said that Hammersmith came very highly recommended to her. She is doing acupuncture and a quite extreme diet that a nutricianilist gave her. All fish and chicken - no other meats. No booze at all. No chocolate or processed sugar. All chick peas and nuts and the like. I'll on pass any advice I get. I guess anything is worth a try but I am going to become even more of a 
belated) Birthday Carolyn.