ARGCers nr 2

beckym · Post by **beckym** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 1:02 pm

Hi guys Thought I'd start a new thread. luce - hope you are pampering yourself. the life after IVFers are a really nice bunch so I know they will look after you. thank you for all your support on this thread. rachael - it was really good to see you yesterday. nice to have actually met you at last. hope you are ok - day 10 now? ec round the corner. sorry I couldn't have coffee yesterday cos of the scan - it was all a bit of a rush. they made me wait around again for a repeat BT which I did at 4pm and then got the go-ahead to do the Profasi injection last night so in for ec tomorrow. ovaries are twinging like mad this morning and have been drinking litres of water!! just nice to have a day at home without the trek up to London. we'll be getting up at 4am tomorrow morning to drive up for 7am!!! dh is worried he may not be able to "do the business" that early!!! alison - haven't heard from you for a while - how did your baseline scan go on Tuesday? are you stimming yet? beckym xx

clunas · Post by **clunas** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 7:01 pm

Hello, I've been reading the previous thread as I'm at ARGC too. Good luck tomorrow Becky. I'm in my 40s, and my FSH has been too high for anything other than 1 stim cycle. And now, instead of high FSH, I have high early E2 and early maturing follicles for the third month in a row. Does anyone else at ARGC have this problem, and what strategies might have been used? I hope you don't mind me intruding, but I'm REALLY worried at how time is passing. Best Wishes, Clunas.

luce · Post by **luce** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:36 am

Hi there Just popped in to wish Becky good luck for her EC today - I know I'm already too late, but hopefully you'll pick this up later. Am going to start posting on the Life After IVF thread rather than here as I don't think it's fair to you lot! I will however be back to give you encouragement! Love Lucy xxx

Amanda A · Post by **Amanda A** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:02 am

Hi Everyone, Did mean to get on here yesterday but had to wait around and have a repeat at 4.15. It was all a bit of a rush then as I had to get across London, then my train was late, a car hit a bridge on the line in front (typical!) and I didn't get in until 7pm to do an 8pm profasi stab! As I write this Becky, you will be having your EC, so I look forward to hearing how you got on! I know what you mean about not having to trek to London, I have been really looking forward to today, only things have slipped a bit of late and I should get on with some housework really! Luce, I will keep an eye on the other board for you, still thinking about you! Clunas, I can't help with your questions I am afraid but if you do a general post (if you haven't already) I am sure that you will find people who can, take care. Love RachX

beckym · Post by **beckym** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 2:27 pm

Hi guys Thanks for the good wishes. A bit of a bumper crop (again) this morning - 31 eggs. I knew it was probably going to be on the high side as my oestogen levels were over 22,000 a couple of days ago and I was coasting for 4/5 days before they started to go down and Mr T gave the go-head. Not that excited about this quantity as at my previous clinic I got 27 eggs but only 13 fertilised and they didn't do very well. Didn't get any frosties. Would much rather I had fewer eggs of better quality really as with this quantity I have to go through the whole ohss risk thing along with the drinking of gallons of water (6 litres yesterday) that goes with it!! Feel a bit of a freak as don't know why this always happens. Seems like my ovaries are ultra-sensitive to this. Felt sorry for Mr Gorgy - he must have been there ages hoiking them all out!! Rachael - wow, you are only one day behind me. We may even have et on the same day -they told me Sun/Mon for mine depending on results tomorrow. Best of luck for ec tomorrow. Will be thinking of you. all I wanted to do when I got up was have a pee but they said I didn't need to, it just felt like it. hurt quite a bit but that's probably the number of follies that they attacked. they have given me baby aspirin and heparin to take from tomorrow onwards. let me know if they give you anything like this. what's the heparin for? is it cos they're worried about blood clots? don't do too much housework. luce - thanks for coming to check on us all - I will come and see you on the other board to check up on you. clunas - not sure about all those results. what are early maturing follicles? I know I had a big follicle on my first mid-cycle scan and they made me wait 2 months before letting me start because my day 3 hormone profile wasn't right. extremely frustrating. Mr Gorky kept on going on about how it wasn't a race etc but it certainly feels like it at times!! hope the other girls are able to answer your question. have no idea what a high FSH level is. Mine was around 5 this cycle. alison - where r u??! beckym xxx

Amanda A · Post by **Amanda A** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:54 pm

Hi Everyone, Well done Becky, 31!!! Not expecting anything like that tomorrow, will be pleased if I get into double figures! Isn't it weird how we all respond so differently! Hope the soreness goes away soon, I know it can hurt, I usually take to my bed! One of my ovaries is under my womb and is a bit of a bugger to get to, so it makes it painful after EC. The heparine is just to thin your blood & help the supply to the womb. I am already on it, well apart from yesterday and today and need to start it up again after EC. It's nothing to worry about, nothing to do with clots I don't think. If you happen to hit yourself however you may notice that you bruise much more easily. Better go and get my things together, we have decided that we will drive into London tonight and stay at the Holiday Inn to take a bit of the stress off tomorrow morning. Have done this before, I hate it there, the rooms are really depressing and at London rates not cheap, oh well might find some nice biscuits on our coffee & tea tray if we are lucky! Love to everyone, Rach X

beckym · Post by **beckym** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 11:18 am

Hi everyone Rachael - hope your ec went well today and that you are not too sore. was thinking about you going down at 7:30 am this morning. you should be finished and almost home by now I would guess. take it easy today and get dh to pamper you. mine built me a fire and made me dinner. sweet!! We have 10 embies which survived the night - have had a bit of a rant on the OCBs thread about the low ratio as think I could have had more had my stimming regime been less aggressive but what do I know. bit of a shock that we are unlikely to get any to freeze again as they have just told me that they only freeze at blastocyst. felt that the embryologist who phone me this morning could have been a lot more forthcoming about reasons why eggs fail to fertilize, egg quality etc. she didn't seem to know, which wasn't very encouraging. still, fingers crossed that they perform better than the embies did on my last cycle. at least have no ohss symtoms so far - last time at this stage I could hardly get out of bed with the pain. instead am quite perky this morning. have managed to do the first dreaded heparin injection by myself. thought I was going to have to ask one of my next-door neighbours to do it - they are all nurses - which does come in handy!! the injection wasn't bad at all. you can't actually feel the needle going in which is amazing. have tracked Alison down on NCB thread - she has started stimming. LOL. let us know how you get on over the weekend. if you fancy a chat on the phone at any point email me on Menzieshunt@aol.com and I will send you my phone number. here's hoping we both get to 2ww without any probs. clunas - how are you? here's hoping you will get the go-ahead next cycle. I know it is so frustrating not being able to even get off the starting block but it is for the best that they don't start until your hormones are right. some less ehical clinics seem to go ahead at any old stage. you are secure in the knowledge that Mr T will not do that. phone me if you fancy a chat. becky xxx

Amanda A · Post by **Amanda A** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 5:26 pm

Hi All, Have just managed to drag myself out of bed (it's 5.30pm Sun), still feeling really sore. Is it normal to feel bad for so long?(my EC was 8am yesterday morning). I had 15 eggs which is the most I have ever had (although 3 were not mature)and this morning they called to say that we have 7 embryos which all look o.k. Today a little bit off each embryo that we don't need will go to Chicargo to have gentic testing. Now we just have to pray that enough don't have anything wrong with them and progress well enough to be put back. It is all really complicated but means that ET could be either Tuesday or Thursday. I really hope that it is Tues because I will get the daily updates on how they are looking and I find it the absolute worst! In fact I can't take the call and make my DH do it. Becky, I was going to say to you that I don't think the ARGC freeze embryos very often, certainly none of mine have ever been frozen. Wishing you all the best for your ET, which I guess may be tomorrow? Take Care, Rach X [Edited by Rachael on 02-Nov-03 09:30]

beckym · Post by **beckym** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 9:18 pm

dear rachael doesn't look like we're going to make it to et tomorrow - see my thread. but will keep you posted. they are ringing me t 7:00 am to let me know whether it is worth me coming up there or not. know what you mean about the phonecalls-it's horrible and they start off with telling you about the ones that didn't make it when all you want to know is whether any did make it!! hope your embies are ok. beckym xxx

beckym · Post by **beckym** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:20 pm

Hi rachael how are you doing? just popped on to wish you luck for tomorrow (if et is tomorrow). amazingly we made et today with 2, 4-cell grade 1 (no fragmentation) embies - still can't believe it. am on a real cocktail of drugs, you and Luce were right - plus he's upped me to two heparins a day - was just getting used to the one!! amazing that they are doing your genetic testing in Chicago!!! is there a reason why they can't do it here? is this testing routine with Mr T? dh has epilepsy but don't think that's genetic really - Mr T didn't mention about doing genetic testing. maybe I should have asked. too late now!! best of luck. hope you don't have to have et on a full bladder. I had to do mine half-full and still spent the time desperate for the loo. it's like having 15 smear tests all at once, isn't it? take care beckym xxx

Amanda A · Post by **Amanda A** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 5:15 pm

Hi Becky, So glad to hear from you and that you had your ET today, now you just have to really look after yourself, you have had such a stressful time. Grade 1 sounds really good (no-one has ever told me what grade my embies are). Can you remember which embryologist you spoke to? Ours is called Sue this time but I have also spoken to Claire and Angela as well. The only reason that we are having the genetic testing is because of the miscarriage last time, which was down to a chromosome problem. The clinic suggested it but the final decision was ours because they said that in their opinion we were just very unlucky last time. It's an extra £2,500 (!), but we just felt that we wanted that extra peace of mind after last time. Although I did miscarry, apparently the pregnancy (although chromosome abnormal) could have gone to term, and the baby would have died within a year and we just couldn't risk going through this. They don't do this sort of testing in this country and I get the impression that most clinics would just start you on another cycle and let you take your chances. So in short, don't worry, Mr T wouldn't need to speak to you about it as it wouldn't be relevant for you. Anyway, the clinic are going to call tomorrow morning to tell us if we will be doing ET tomorrow pm or if we need to wait until Thursday, it all depends on the results they get from Chicargo. I know what you mean about the ET! I am quite lucky because they need me to have my bladder empty and I am so nervous beforehand that I am constantly in the loo anyway. Keep taking the drugs & talk soon, Love Rach XX [Edited by Rachael on 03-Nov-03 09:18]

clunas · Post by **clunas** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 6:53 pm

Hi Becky, Rachel, Gosh, so much has been happening to you both since I checked the board! Rachael, I hope you get an A1 result from Chicago first thing tomorrow, to end the suspense, and that all goes well tomorrow evening. And Becky, I hope so much that your embies are settling in. You seem to get lots of good monitoring. How did Mr T know to give double heparin - did he give a BT? I'm just on baby asprin - I had IUI last week, but there was just one follicle, and as I'm older the chances aren't great. Still, I'm grateful that ARGC are trying. It's interesting that less ethical clinics aren't so careful about waiting for a good cycle. I expect that's one reason why ARGC has such a good success rate compared with other clinics, plus they are open at weekends and seem to react very quickly just when the time is right. Trouble with me is my hormones so rarely seem to be right! High FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) happens when egg quality / reserve declines as you get older (it's usually age-related). Over 12 is the level where clinics get wary of giving stims, because the ovaries just don't produce as many eggs in response to the medication. (E.g., I only produced 3 when I had clomid and Gonal-F, tho' I did have quite a low dose.) Apparently it's a bit like putting your accelerator foot flat on the floor, and not getting much response when driving. High E2 (estradiol) can be a sign of the same thing - although it can also be caused by cysts, and maybe other things too. High E2 can cause follicles to grow big very early in the cycle, and you can tend to surge earlier too (my understanding is that this isn't such a good thing, because the egg itself might not be properly mature when it gets released.) This happened to me on this cycle. Phew - you did ask, Becky!! Sorry to give such a long explanation, esp. because it's not relevant to you or Rachael. I seem to recall that someone had high prolactin one month - was it either of you? Were you given an explanation? Good luck good luck good luck to you both. Clunas xxx But it sounds like you both are responding very well, and hopefully

Amanda A · Post by **Amanda A** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:23 pm

HiEveryone, Well unfortunately I am not having ET today because the results have come back largely inconclusive. Out of the 7 embryo's, they could tell us that 1 was def abnormal but could not give results on the other 6, so they now have to take bits off them again and send them back to Chicago for a re-test, results to come back on Thursday. We are quite down because we had expected to get more news than this and we have also been told that out of the remaining 6, 1 is very fragmented and 1 has basically stopped, so I guess that we are really down to 4 now and we have to pray that there are some normal ones in that 4. I suppose that this is why we are doing the test and that we need to know one way or another if the embryo's are any good or not, but it is hard because on a normal cycle, I would be at the clinic today, having ET and thinking that I had a chance. Anyway, sorry to bring the mood down and I hope that today is a good day for you both. Love Rach X

luce · Post by **luce** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 3:16 pm

Hi there Just popped in to see how you're doing over here. Rachael, don't lose heart yet. This is what PGD is all about I'm afraid - try to remember that the % of abnormal embryos is approx 30-40%, so of the 4 you have left you should get some that are OK! We were going to go for PGD ourselves, as you know, but at the last minute we decided against it - as it was our last go, it was more important to us to feel like we had a chance than to know our embryos were 100% normal, so we just took them all to blast and took our chances with the 3 best on the day. I will keep everything crossed for you for Thursday. Will Sue call you tomorrow to let you know how your embies are doing? She's very good! This means that you'll also have ET at Weymouth St - have you been there before? It's very swish (and the ET room is much cosier than at Upper Wimpole) Take care Love Lucy xxx

beckym · Post by **beckym** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 5:13 pm

Hi there Rachael - so sorry to hear you are having such a rotten time. i am really crossing fingers for those 4 embies. I know exactly how difficult the wait is - I found it best to get out of the house doing stuff to keep my mind off it. Still, they only need two to hang in there. I think you are very brave having the testing done. not sure I would be as brave. here's hoping it all goes well for you. clunas - thanks for the info on the FSH. I always wondered what that was all about. I don't know which of my levels wasn't quite right in August. I guess I should ask more questions. I think my double heparin is because I got a lot of follices and am risk of ohss. good luck for your 2ww. when do you test? I test on Sat 15th Nov. beckym xxx

Advertisements