My after ER disaster. Thank goodness I'm alive.

Discussion forum for those particularly interested in IVF and embryo transfer including frozen embryo transfer.
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shoebox4
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Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 6:48 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

My after ER disaster. Thank goodness I'm alive.

Post by shoebox4 »

Here's a story that I will remember for the rest of my life....

I had my ER on 9/11, and the ER itself went really well, but everything else didnt quite go right after that. It was a hellish week last week. I didnt get a chance to post anything last week, so here's my story.
I dont even know where to start. So, I got back from the hospital last Thursday, and now recovering at home. Let's see... let's start with the IVF. Well, did my ER was on 9/11 (Lupron, Gonal F, HCG trigger). We got our eggs retrieved. They took 20 eggs out, 11 of them fertilized and divided. Everything looked good! We were supposed to get 2 of the best fertilized eggs transfered back into me on Monday, but that didnt happened. After the egg retrieval procedure, I came back home and felt drowsy and nauseated with cramps. Thought this was normal recovering from anesthesia and the RE said cramps was supposed to be like period cramps. I ended up puking and bloating up 5 pants size all weekend long. It was so miserable, I couldnt keep food down, and couldnt walk at all. I look like I was 5 months pregnant. I kinda knew it was OHSS, but I didnt know it would go on forever!!! So, on Monday morning, after not eating, sleeping, dehydrated and feeling like I was ran over by the train, I saw my RE doctor first thing in the morning. She has been communicating with me over the weekend to make sure I was okay. She did an ultrasound and said there was lots of fluids building up in my belly, and was OHSS. My ovaries went into hyper mode and continue to create cyst and enlarge the ovaries even after the egg retrieval probably due to the HCG in the bloodstream (you guys probably know this -folks who are diagnosed with PCOS-polycystic ovaries has a higher occurance of OHSS symptoms). One of the solution was to just drain the excess water out, and the bloating should come down. When she saw how big I was (seriously I couldnt find a pair of pants that fit me, my waist size increased about 8") and how much in pain I was, she sent me to the hospital to get some of the fluid out since she doesnt have the proper equipment and tools in the RE's office.
So we were at the hospital, they did a "tap" (sideway hole with a drain tube) on my belly to drain out liquid and instead of it coming out clear water, it came out with blood. That was a dangerous sign since they didnt know if the blood was internal bleeding or a cyst had ruptured or an organ had ruptured due to the expansion of the ovaries suppresing the rest of the organs. They had a GI doctor watching me just in case anything had ruptured and I was kept a close watch for 3 days. I had blood work done every 4 hours to make sure nothing was clotting and my hemoglobin level remained the same, a cathether was inserted in me (ouch and yikes!) and constant surveying of the belly. They said it was probably one or two of the cysts in the ovaries had ruptured and caused the blood to be slosh around in my belly since there wasnt any clotting of blood in all their testing. They kept for few days since they were also worried that my ovaries may twist into the intestines or block any kind of bowel movement.
Oh man, I look like I'm 8 months pregnant (still got that look!), I was up to 11" expansion on my waist, put on a total of 10lbs water weight, my skin is stretched, tauted and has a burning sensation, I cant even walk straight since my internal organs are compressed, and I have to take short breaths since everything is being pushed up on my lungs. All of this because the belly had to expand to hold the fluids and the super enlarged ovaries! Usually it takes 8 months for pregnant women to get to where I'm at, and it took me 3 days. No wonder my body has no clue how to handle the weight, the skin stretching and pretty much everything!
Anyway, I'm home now recovering slowly. Cant walk much, cant do anything, pretty much bedridden for at least two weeks until the swell goes down. And no big clothes to wear except for DHs! This was a nightmare to me, and if I knew I was the "targeted" 1 to 10,000 chance of it happening, I would have said "heck no" to IVF.
The good news though - the 11 fertilized eggs did progress, and we ended up with 4 super strong embryo cytoblast at day 5, and they have been frozen for future retrieval. We will be transferring the embryos into me probably in 2 to 3 months time after the recovery. It wont be as risky or adventerous as what had happened since all I need to do is to get my uterus ready for transplant, right? Nothing to do with pumping those ovaries. Phew!
So, that was my adventure for last week! Let's hope the frozen ET would go much easier....

Thanks,
Lynn
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Neffi211
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Posts: 974
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:35 am
Location: Lancaster, PA

Post by Neffi211 »

WOW! I am so sorry to hear this terrible ordeal! I too am having slight OHSS symtpoms but Re said its nothing to worry about yet. I just feel bloated and sore. But I never felt that with the last 5 cycles. At least you have wonderful embies waiting for you! Good luck!
Me 32 DH 31
DS 3rd try
8 failed cycles
No luck with adoption
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DS 7/23/14 IUI after Celiac diagnosis
shelbyrn0214
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Posts: 511
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:27 pm
Location: Georgia, USA

Post by shelbyrn0214 »

Again girl, I hate that you had to go thru that! So glad you are getting better. Please let us know how you are progressing and we are wishing you the best of luck!
me- 31 with no known issues
DH - 38 vasectomy 12 yrs
IVF#1 - 4/20/2009 - BFN
FET 5/20/2009 m/c due to blighted ovum
IVF#2 - 9/23/09. Betas-244, 592, & 3753
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Ghost
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Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 5:01 pm

Post by Ghost »

[Ghost shakes head.]

Glad to hear you are okay.
Avoid IVF and surrogacy in Ukraine. Ukrainian centers pay shills to post here under numerous sock accounts pretending to be patients in Ukraine. Centers using such deceptive advertising cannot be trusted and should be avoided.
jcvp
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Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:25 pm

Post by jcvp »

I'm so sorry! It's an absolutely horrible feeling, isn't it? The exact same thing happened to me back in 2006 - throwing up, draining of the fluid, looking 6-7 months pregnant, not being able to move from being in so much pain! They froze all of my embryos and I did get my 21 month old daughter from our 2nd FET.

What were your estradiol levels? Mine were over 7000 when we triggered, but I don't have PCOS. Getting ready to do IVF #2 for me and I am SO SCARED that I will get OHSS again. I will be ready to cancel the cycle if my levels are too high...

DeAnn
kiwi
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Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2009 5:30 pm

Post by kiwi »

glad to hear that you are feeling better and wish you a fast recovery. Luckily you have some nice frozen eggies. Hard to imagine what you have been going through these past days.
mally
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Post by mally »

This is terrible, but I am glad you are recovering, and have some frozen eggs to transfer, wishing you a speed recovery and baby dust and you finally transfer. Mally
Mally-Age 35 - ok
DH- 40 male factor
ICSI May 2008 - BFN
ICSI Nov 2008 - BFN
FET NOV2009- BFN
2010
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Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:26 pm

Post by 2010 »

im so so sorry to hear this but glad you are okay and that overall you had very good resuls! you have your embies which is great. good luck and wishing you speedy recovery. this ohss is something i am afraid of!
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