October-December 2012 Cyclers!

[LYD10]

Hi Ninde - I definitely know women over 40 that do estrogen priming on a regular basis. The protocols for challenging cases in US can be very sophisticated. You can call CCRM, one of the best clinics in US, and get a phone consult with them. I know they use lots of tricks to improve embryo quality for older women like us.

Best of luck!

[Ninde]

Thanks lyd. How are you doing?

Ninde

[Sunshine1576]

NInde- Annabelle is a true delight. I cried this morning as I was listening to Kenny Chesney "There Goes My Life" bawling thinking how could I ever possibly love another little girl the way I love Annabelle, honestly in a big way she has rescued me. When we were making plans to have a girls day out with her mom last Monday I suggested going to Justice, because what little girl doesn't love Justice? Annabelle said but Christy we can make "that stuff" at your house. I thought of goodness I can never live up to that, no seriously I cannot make the cute clothes Justice offers so I'm not going to even try to pretend. I told dh this and he asks me do you think Annabelle is going to take after you or her mom? (Her mom was never a girly girl played with skateboards etc, I told him Belles never really has liked dolls either but she's very crafty and goes online to pinterest and kid friendly websites to find crafts for us to make together. She's an only child who's somewhat independent-minded, her mom worked from home for several years before going back for her college degree. Her birthday is tomorrow but her mom has a out-of-town enternship that's going to require her to be gone all day, so when I get back from the clinic she gave me permission to check Belles out of school. I go back to the clinic tomorrow morning for my baseline and IF all clear I'll start Gonal-F shots tomorrow night. Looking at retrieval happening in less then two weeks, yikes it's really sneaking up on me and those needles for progesterone shots are something brand new to me!

[kynlee]

Ninde- Thinking of you, I will be praying your 1st clinic will do what the new clinic is asking I know this journey is not only tough it gets super expensive.. I hope you find all the answers you need to start up your new cycle... It is good you got a second opinion... Is it expensive for Donor Eggs were you are? Maybe you can look into a DE DS cycle, not sure of the cost but it may be cheaper then to do all the new test on you?

Christy- Have fun with Annabelle

[kynlee]

Waitingkay- Im thinking of you hope things are going better for you... Think of you and the twins often... Hugs

[Sunshine1576]

Kynlee- It was great chatting with you on my way home today, made the long commute seem not sooo long glad we got to catch up some! It was raining still when I picked up Annabelle and I asked her what she wanted to do on her birthday. Thought maybe she would like to go out for lunch, but she said no let's go make crafts at your house lol, so we did and we ended up making her something to wear tonight for her birthday dinner... She looked so pretty in her new dress and of course I took her shoe shopping in exchange her mom bought me dinner, lol we didn't go anywhere but my house and out for dinner but we eally enjoyed spending the day together.

Anyway on to the IVF stuff....My clinic appointment for baseline gave me the "green light" to start stimming tonight. I dropped down to 5cc of Lupron, with 150 units of gonal and 75 units of menupur, so does this mean I'm lucky? Maybe if I can see the end I'll see this all worthwhile.

[Pocos]

Ninde – Yes, the therapist hasn’t been that helpful, I thought she would give me some advice on how to reduce anxiety but she just listens most of the time. I was hoping she would maybe give me something, like the tracks you gave me, those were sooo helpful, I am so thankful you sent me those tracks.
I think the DNA fragmentation is a helpful test if you are considering donor sperm, my husband had the test done and it came back normal but borderline, so we decided not to use sperm donor. I think the idea of improving egg quality makes sense. My husband used Dhea and Coq10 and his sperm improved so much, he is normal now, now the doctors think there is something wrong with me! (but they can’t find anything wrong with me) so frustrating.

Sunshine – I love this name Annabelle! Never heard it before! And she is so pretty! She looks so happy in the picture! Glad you guys had a good time! Yay for starting the stims!! Super exciting!

[Ninde]

Hi ladies

Kynlee: donor egg cycle here is €12,000 here which is probably about us dollars 14,000.

Christy: go go go on stimms!!! I was 475 menopur so if you are on 75 then im thinking you dont have to mix? How are you feeling g?

Pocos: do you know what orientation/type of therapist your therapist is? By that I mean is she humanistic-rogerian? CBT?/ Solution-focussed? If you can find that out or know it I might be able to help. Also - you could ask her for some strategies - particularly around breathing exercises.

Afm: phoned my clinic to see if they would do some of the stuff the new clinic suggested. I only got to ask the nurse about 2 things and she was not happy. Told the doctor who then left me a Voicemail telling me she never suggested a hysteroscopy (of course - I must have made that up), that dna frag test is useless and to put my questions in an email as she didnt have time to talk to me!! I was livid but calmed down and wrote her a very upbeat email focusing on if these things dont hurt then why dont we do it - might not result in a pregnancy but as this will probably be our last cycle then we shpuld throw everything at it. Got a call to say she isnt back til tue. I asked for some of my clotting blood test results but nurse said doctor hadn't seen them and although they wernt all back she couldnt tell me til doctor saw them. That may be the case but im pretty sure from her tone and that of the doctor on the Voicemail that they are very pissed with me. This is crazy and considering they took such care of me im both disappointed and hurt by it as well as being angry.

Ninde/patricia

[Sunshine1576]

Ninde-
I'm completely taken away by how unprofessional this medical staff is treating you!!! I hope you get to chat with your RE soon to clear up some miscommunication with all them. If not, I suggest moving your charts to the new clinic and let them handle everything, just a thought but it's disgrumbling the way the staff handled your phone call and email. I would suggest calling back to schedule a consultation visit with your old RE to talk to him about your ideas on testing, definately need to get this discussed out in the open with him, helping you make a good judgement call and not rush into hasty decisions (like something I obviously tend to do.) So when you call back, set up the consultation appt to directly speak to the RE and let him know you want to give this your all going in and see if he's willing to work with you, most cases you will see that the RE will be glad to work and do whatever it takes to make this work just as long as the patient is willing and ready. As for shots, I'm happier this week then last week when I only did Lupron shots...for some reason with the Gonal and Menupur I feel more energetic and in a much better mood ha I really hope it lasts! I'm only having to mix saline solution to the powder but I'm glad I got the powder this time so much easier to me then the Q-cap stuff but my doses are low so it's not a problem whatsoever.


Pocos- I know the feeling, RE cannot figure out our diagnosis either, it's limbo but we're determined. How is stimming going for you?

AFM: Enjoyed Jazz On The Bay, no rain so it was perfect and I loved seeing an old friend- one who is also friends with dh's friend's, makes me realize even more we live in a small town. I brought grapes, cheese and crackers and sparkling cider, (hehe trying to be good) someone brought in a grill so we had a nice little picnic but overall what a fun night!

[Ninde]

Christy: its bad alright. I think what you say is right about a meeting but to be honest I dont really want to spend another €200 on a meeting to have my re (who is female actually - i dont know why that makes me feel worse but it does), tell me there is no evidence to suggest estrogen priming, dhea, coq10 or dna sperm fragmentation - this is her stock answer. I think if we do the same protocal as the last twice that the results will be different and this really has to be our last time. I want to stay with them but im pretty sure they wont go with the new suggestions. I'll wait for her mail though. That's great that you feel so good! Long may it last!!

Patricia

[Sunshine1576]

Ninde- I think waiting to see what she says will help determine your next step. I'm glad to hear you have been researching another clinic and getting some insight on all the bloodwork and testing that can be done. They shouldn't rule it out when you want every chance for this upcoming cycle to be your best one yet! Keep me updated for sure.

Pocos- Are you feeling the effects of the meds yet?

WaitingKay- Many of us have been thinking about you, please let us know you are doing girl.

Tawny- Any sign of AF yet?


AFM: Ha I spoke too soon on the "feeling good" part today I have been psycho-crazy! I say that because I cried my eyes out passing a dead animal on the side of the road!!! He/she looked like a black labrador cried my eyes out but on the way home in a different direction saw that the poor animal was a black pig NOT a labrador retriever totally had that wrong!
This morning I couldn't find enough syringes (seem to be going through the packs very fast with 3 injections a day) so after stressing I cleaned the most recent one with alcohol swap and used that for the gonal injection this morning. I absolutely hated that I had to do that, but I had no other choice. Menupur is given at night but gonal and lupron are my morning injections and ouch they are painful and of course dh stops in the middle and asks does that hurt? He pulls the skin up and then goes in like a dart, but if he goes in at a slight angle for some reason we've learned they aren't so bad. Crap I forgot my thyroid refill this morning, doesn't surprise me really. Couldn't find anything to wear to work and my shoes were hiding from the retriever playing with one the night before. Then my pant leg inseam came undone so had to break out the sewing machine to quickly fit it. The girls could tell I was on edge today at work and at one point I had a chat with my boss because little things were bothering me, talking about it helped very little. We talked about the baby shower tomorrow night and she said she'll leave it up to me to decide but then goes on and says but you'll later regret it and feel guilty if you don't come. I told her I didn't with my last coworker who I never even see anymore, idk what she's thinking it certainly is hard for to relate to what I'm going through. One of the other managers told me she took care of my shopping but I would have to get the card, I looked at her and said I'll think of something, maybe just sign the bag and not worry about the card. My mind is really preoccupied with IVF then worrying about a shower. So when I got home I realized I had forgot to pick up the syringes on the way home thinking miraculously I might find some from my previous clinic in the linen closet, but nope. So I googled the medical clinics and found most were closed at this hour. I had my second meltdown of course and turned around and called the local hospital and told them what I was needing then syringes for and the girl told me she had been through IVF herself. I got caught up in a conversation with her, here I was talking to a complete stranger over the phone about IVF and she and I compared notes on the local fertility clinic here in town. Her first AND only IVF didn't work I told her I know the feeling so well...I referred her to my clinic and we chatted about the Attain program. She was so nice and helpful, and she really calmed my nerves down from the chaos, found out too I could pick up syringes at Walgreens pharmacy. So I called to make sure they had them and showed my ID and prescription and everything worked out, but grrrrrr today was really trying, now if we can just make it through tomorrow!

[annashope]

crashing

Sunshine I just wanted to drop by and wish you luck with the stimming...hang in there it will be worth it. I am here silently cheering you and sending you lots of prayers and positive energy. I can't wait to have you join us on the other board. Hugs

[Ninde]

Christy: oh you poor thing, what a horribly annoying day. And seriously im not sure what your boss is at - why would she think you will regret it? Your co-worker has been nothing other than difficult and i cant understand why she feels your feelings arnt at least equally important as this other lady. As for the hormones, that's such a pain. I found water helped and crying a lot!! Go as gently as you can

Patricia

[Sunshine1576]

Anna- I really appreciate that you are continuing to cheer me on I really need that more then anyone knows. Some days are harder then others but I hope it will someday be worth it. I will be catching up with the PAT board soon I hear it's been quiet over there just like here, I don't know where everyone is at these days?? But I know they are still reading and secretly cheering us on like you. x

Patricia- How are you, I know better once you talk with the RE this week, I hope everything comes together so you can stay with the clinic you are already have come to know but nothing is wrong with second opinions and you have to do what is in your best interest. Reading your post, yes water helps so does potato chips. After today, I just wanting to lock myself into my bedroom the rest of the night. I cannot physically deal with any more people I survived the baby shower but I sat at the end next to "Bosshog" it's her new name and I crack up with some of the girls whenever we call her that. Anyway I told her to skip me when passing the gifts around. It about killed me to see the tiniest baby shoes ever of course she ate up all the attention. I interacted very little, ate dinner paid bill and was the first one to leave the table. The pg coworker told me thank you as I was leaving but I was completely out of it and felt completely numb unable to speak. I was so thankful to have the support of the other assistant manager to get me through today but now I can finally put all of that behind me.


AFM: Off to bed, tomorrow heading to the clinic before working my long shift but all in all I'm making it.

[WeHaveHope]

Hi ladies,

Still lurking and cheering each of you on.

Ninde-it's nice to be able to message each other through Facebook The situation with your RE is extremely upsetting. I really hope they follow the new recomendations.

Sunshine-wishing all the best with your stimming. I am keeping you in my prayers for a successful cycle.

Pocos-how are you feeling?

Kynlee- & Annashope-so nice to hear from both of you. Glad your doing great

Anton & Greekchick-Hope you are doing well.

Leora-keeping you and David in my prayers.

Sorry if I missed anyone.

AFM-traded in my 2010 Dodege Journey giro a 2013 Chrysler Town & Country. Yes, a van . Never thought I would but we needed the extra room with the girls. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Sending you all my love.

Maria