The Over 40 Crowd

[robyn]

Thanks for the support. I will let you know the result tomorrow. If i can get any sleep tonight.....

Robyn

[Kat]

Hi everyone & welcome to Robyn - good luck with your test, look forward to seeing that positive result - we could do with a bit more good news over this side.

Anna - who did you shout at? (for those of you who haven't worked it out -Anna & I go to the same place for tmt, when I'm not in Spain obviously)
I am really sorry to see you got cancelled again. I don't know if cysts are made worse by the drugs - I never knew if I had one before I had tmt but I have had one found on a scan during tmt. I had 4 out of 6 cycles cancelled for various reasons but I did eventually get to ET. It is so frustrating especially when you have no answers.

The D&C thing - it may seem strange but I have kind of 'forgotten' about it all, it pops up in my head 'oh yeah I have to sort that out', like my car tax or something. I have left a message for the nurse to call me back today so will see what she says.

That girl who is pg at work does not look it in the slightest so if someone with a big mouth hadn't told me then I would probably have a couple more months where I didn't know....

Lisa - we only had 2 eggs to transfer on our donor cycle (another reason why they want to test DH) and I did have a +ve - you never know

Better go - people arriving at work now and can see over my shoulder!

Lots of love
Kat xx

[robyn]

Well just got my BFN result. We will have afollow up appt and see what to do next. Thanks for your support. Hoping for good news from the rest of you!

Robyn

[lara]

Sorry Robyn, rotten luck, what a drag. God I know how it feels! You seem pretty stoical about it - I've become more of a wreck as time's gone on. Good for you - and good luck with your next move, which you probably can't even think about properly yet.

Anna, what? I can't believe it, cancelled again - what rot. I don't know if the Lister just plough on regardless or whether they just wait til day 1 to test all these levels, but no one ever says anything to me about them, except for last time when my oestrogen was so much lower than usual. So what happens now, do you wait for another *** AF?

I can't bring myself to face that I get one more go and then the money is well and truly gone. That means there's so much hanging on the next go I just can't bear it! I've been working really hard to keep my mind off everything. Guess it will be Feb.
Kat sounds like you've stuck head in sand a bit as well but I hope you get D&C done soon because it's not really all that good for you to leave that stuff lying around in your uterus too long - it could get infected. Yes, everyone's pg - my next door neighbour, this person, that person. It's hard to be spiritual and glad for people when you wanna kill them. I'm nice really, honest.

Lara x

[teachertam]

Good morning All (afternoon to the UK gals!)

Robyn: I'm so sorry that your test was negative. I know exactly how you feel. Keep your chin up. We are thinking of you.

Lara/Anna: I always have cysts, after a cycle with gonal-f. My RE prescribes BC pills on my month off. It has always worked for me. So, since I had a failed IVF in December, I am on BC pills now to prepare for the next cycle. Do you do the BC Pills in the UK? It is very frustrating! I started fertily drugs in August and have only been able to do 3 rounds (2 with gonal-f and IUI, 1 IVF). It takes forever and I keep hearing my biological clock ticking.

Take care all!
Tammy

[Kat]

Hi all
Robyn - sorry to see your news - doesn't make it any easier however many times you go through it. Take the time to make sure you're ready to decide, that's what I say. Where are you having treatment?

Lara - you are absolutely right - I have had my head well and truly stuck in the sand. I did speak to the nurse today though and I am going for a scan on Monday afternoon and then most likely be booked in for a D&C. The nurse said I should only have left it 2 weeks (it's been 4 or 5 depending on where you count from) but they didn't tell me that at the time. Would I know if I had an infection? I haven't felt ill at all. Something new to worry about - hurrah!

Good news - I now have the appt confirmed for the testicular biopsy - 2nd March, flights booked as soon as I knew. Off we go again!
Has anyone else's DH had this? I have now read the notes they sent and he has to wear a truss afterwards!!! I'll have to pick my moment to tell him that one! So far I have told him it is painless and he'll be fine....not even sure what a truss looks like exactly - will have to investigate...

Kat xx

[lara]

Kat, no idea what a truss is either! Poor DH, but I'm sure you're going to get some feedback from others whose DH's have had it done.
Please don't worry about infection - the nurse would have said something, and you obviously feel fine - I'm pretty sure you'd feel rubbish if anything was wrong - and anyway you're going in Monday so it'll be all sorted out then and if there is anything the matter, which I'm absolutely sure there won't be, they'll just give you antibiotics. So please don't give it another thought and have a really fab weekend!

Tammy, I get cysts after gonal f but they just go down by themselves. BC pills sound good though - they probably speed things up. Last cycle didn't work in that I only got 3 follices so I didn't go ahead with IVF, just did IUI which didn't work. So I don't know whether I got cysts or not, because I haven't been in for a scan since then! Now it's me putting head in the sand!

Good weekend all,

Lara

[robyn]

Hi Kat
I've been going to London Fertility Centre, now I am having doubts about doing another cycle there...What is your experience with clinics you have been to for tx? A friend of mine told me about holly house which is nearby. I am in London so if you know of anyplace i'm all ears....Wondering whwat your experience was in Spain? Another friend of mine went to Geneva and had success. Anyway hopefully it will be our time soon.
All The best
Robyn

[erjumper]

Hi all,
Robyn-I'm so sorry about your negative. Everyone here knows that feeling. You sound much better than I after I had mine. I fell to pieces and only arose from bed everyday to seek support from the only people who could truly empathize. My message board buddies. Do you know your next step?

Kat-I hadn't realized so much time had passed with your missed ab. That really isn't good for you. I'd insist they get you in right away. My doctors gave me the choice all 3 times but said I could only wait a week and then they'd go in. Plus the clock is standing still for you. As for the testicular biopsy.....as I wrote before, we went right to the TESE which is just a bit more invasive than the standard biopsy and my DH had just a bit of soreness but went back to work the day after. Yes...wearing his truss, which is just a goofy name for a scrotal support. Just like a jock strap (athletic supporter) Not sure what the blokes in the UK call them. He found it more annoying so he took it off halfway through the day. He said an ice pack did help though. It seemed to keep down swelling. Afterward the worst of it was his hair growing back. He was itching so bad it looked like he had some insect infestation in there. All in all it's certainly MUCH less traumatic for them than those of us with the ovaries and uteruses? uteri? never really thought of a plural form for uterus Best of luck anyway...............

Anna & Tammy-I'm totally lost on this cyst thing too. I had a cycle cancelled as well because of one and then I thought this donor cycle was going to hell too when I had 1 last week but they did an aspiration instead and all seems to be well in there now. (typed with fingers crossed while knocking on wood) I have PCOS so I don't know if that is a factor or not because I was on Lupron when I got it and I thought the Lupron was supposed to keep me from getting them. Did they give you the option of aspiration? Mine was causing my estrogen to be too high but even after they removed it my level was still high so i'm lost. Sometimes I think I try to know too much about it all....i think it's the nurse thing.....and I think i'd be better if I was a bit more trusting of the process but does anyone else feel like you fall through the cracks sometimes? Two nights ago the girl from my clinic called me with my Estrogen dose. She told me to take 8 mg which she said was 0.3 cc's. But that's not right! 8 mg is 0.4 cc's. If I hadn't caught it and clarified the 8 mg I would have injected 2mg's too little!

Lara-I'm with you on the money thing. If we hadn't gotten extremely lucky and gotten into this donor egg study which requires us to buy only our meds and our flight/expenses to Vegas, we'd have been left with no further IVF attempts. I feel like everything is riding on this cycle because it is.

Our flight leaves at the butt-crack of dawn on the 20th and i'm less optimistic and more scared now than ever before. Guess I must prepare for the worst and hopefully be pleasantly surprised.

Tammy-What do you teach? Hope it's not grammar because I KNOW i've got a few run on sentences in here.

Have a great weekend

Lisa

[teachertam]

Hello All!

Thank God it is Friday ! We have a long weekend here in the states, due to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday and Tuesday is our appointment.

Lisa: My clinic never gave me an option with the cysts. They did mention however, that if the cysts were small, we could proceed. Of course mine were never small. I always just took the BC Pills and that did the trick.
I teach mathematics and business courses. Can't you tell by my grammar that I'm definitely not an English teacher .

DH and I are going to a wine bar with some colleagues of ours, so I will have to sign off now.

Take care All !! Have a wonderful weekend!

[BevT]

Afterward the worst of it was his hair growing back. He was itching so bad it looked like he had some insect infestation in there.
Lisa

Hi everyone,

Don't have time to reply to everyone, but am keeping up with all your posts and wish you all luck, and my sympathies and love to Robyn.

Just had to do a quick post Lisa, as you recounting your DH's story about his biopsy made me giggle. Not at all nice for him and I'm sure he was very uncomfortable, but the thought of him having an "insect infestation" made me picture his underpants being full of something like stag beatles. NOT funny at all, but on this grey January morning, it made me smile. Love to all, have to dash as I have an emergency with my old dad to see to.

LOL Bev xxx

[AMck]

Hi all

Big hug to Robyn, sorry to see your news. Hope you are OK and looking after yourself and dh. You sound positive and strong. Keep up the PMA!

Bev, hope your dad is OK. What stage of tmt are you at?

Jules, sorry if I missed a post, but how was your scan this week ? Hope you are Ok. Thinking of you!!

Amfy, haven't seen you post for a while. Hope you are OK sweetie.

Randa , how are you? Are you down regging now?

Kat, I shouted at dr Ebisham (don't know how to spell it, she's the consultant lady at QM) then spoke with Katie who helped me sort everything out for the drain, bless her. I think Katie is fed up seeing me and having to give me bad news!

Regarding bc pills to help with cysts. This has never been mentioned at my clinic, maybe I should ask at my next appointment. These cysts do seem to be causing lots of problems for me!! I spoke with clinic yesterday to discuss what had happened. I only had a voicemail for the news about the cyst. (I spoke with Nick, Kat) I was told that my E2 level was 800. They won't proceed with anything over 300 apparently. They are just numbers to me, don't really understand what is going on. Anyway he said that draining the cyst wouldn't help at this stage and that I should make an appt for 'just before my next AF' !!! Well, your guess is as good as mine for when that would be, so I made one as soon as poss to get more info! Watch this space

Good to see this thread is thriving, love to see all the news each day. Lots of PMA around at the mo..long may it continue.Thank you to all for your messages of support and info

Here's our list
BigJ (Jules) - BFP 9/12/05 praying every day, scan 10th Jan
Randa - EC Jan 31
Amfy-
Anna - appointment 24th Jan to discuss next step
Kat - Scan 16th Jan re d&c, to Spain 2nd March, testicular biopsy
Jen - meeting with consultant 27th Jan
Lisa - 20th Jan flight to Vegas to begin IVF cycle
Lara - planning IVF in Feb/March
Tammy- appointment 17th Jan to discuss next step
Bev -
Jane -

Have a good weekend all
Bye for now
Anna x

[taylorjools]

Hi Girls

have just read through two pages of posts, so you know you are all in my thoughts. I am praying hard for all of you that you can join me on the other side as I am the only 40+ there at the moment

Kat I am glad you are gtting on with D&C not least as the time to the next try will depend on how long they want you to "rest out" after that. I didn't konw you only had 2 embies, we only had 3 (from IM) also we found out a dh problem. Dh had his biopsy in germany, under local anasthaetic. He wore a truss like a "ball support" contraption and walked like John Wayne for about 3 or 4 days, but managed to tour Kiev by the fourth day as we were then there for our first consultation (he is very brave) so painless is not really true, it depends how much they bore around. In our case they took smaples from both testes. we had genetic tests (which IM do) and also electron microscopy sections for morphology (unique to Professor Schulze in Europe so IM don't do that). genetically dh is normal (I mean sperm evolution) but morphology in ejaculate crap but that could not be seen unde rnormal microsope, only with this special test. The sections then showed testest sperm wree fine. That's why we used TESE sperm, this was painless, micro surgery, and we got 8 good embies from 10 eggs this time (in Kiev obviously).

The other major thing we did is I had dh on Zitas man vits for 3-4 months before the TESE section< this improved the pserm count in the ejaculate enourmously, so although we didn't use ejaculate, we know that the TESE samples would have been much better quality than without the vits - so advice is hit the vits, NO coffeee, NO Tea, no fags , no baths (for dh of course)....

He's still taking them just in case we need to go again..

Makes you spit how much you go through and then it takes a go with donor eggs for someone to say doh maybe we sould look at the sperm more closely..

sorry to ramble.

Hugs to all the rest of you, especially the PIO injection girls with sore bums, dh does target practice on me every morning abd I cant wait to get the OK to stop, as my bum gets more tender the more they hurt, even with warming, special spray etc..using pessaries as well talk about belt and braces!!! He just loves "being involved"

Thank you for letting me stay with you, I need to be around girls my age right now.....hope it motivates you all to keep going too.

BigJ (Jules) - BFP 9/12/05 praying every day,scan 17/01 (10 weeks)
Randa - EC Jan 31
Amfy-
Anna - appointment 24th Jan to discuss next step
Kat - Scan 16th Jan re d&c, to Spain 2nd March, testicular biopsy
Jen - meeting with consultant 27th Jan
Lisa - 20th Jan flight to Vegas to begin IVF cycle
Lara - planning IVF in Feb/March
Tammy- appointment 17th Jan to discuss next step
Bev -
Jane -


Big Hugs

bigJ

[Kat]

Hello
I'm not going to mention the truss yet (and certainly not the stag beetles in the underpants - can you imagine with those pincers!!!)

What happens to sperm then between sitting around in the testes and ejaculation? is it just that they get 'younger' samples from the testes?

Lisa - I asked the clinic about what you said before about leaving it some time between biopsy and TESE but they said they had no reason to think they might need to surgically retrieve sperm from DH but will ask again anyway - if it is 'better' sperm ...?

Bev - hope your Dad is OK

Robyn - I had my tmts at Queen Mary's Roehampton (with transport to the Bridge) - I always liked them there and do tend to be cautious and stay where I feel comfortable rather than moving around a lot. So I don't have anyone to compare them to. If you're already going to Central London then there are so many places - Lara - aren't you at the Lister? (Can't scroll back to check at the moment). Supposed to be tip top. I think if I still worked in the West End I would have gone up to town for tmt but easier for me to go local now.
The clinic in Barcelona are lovely and despite the cost I am going to go back there rather than anywhere else.

Jules - you're right it seems a long time to have gone without them really investigating DH but then I always responded so badly to stims that seemed clear cut that the prob was on my side. Let's hope they find something and can sort it out and then we're on our way. I am still hopeful. Just want to know why it has been 'decided' that I (all of us here) have to go through all this and other people get pg without even trying. Grrr. I hate them. All.

Anna - naughty you shouting at Ebtisam! She's a funny one though and doesn't really tell you much so can understand how you could get easily frustrated at her.

Got up really late this morning and now have to go out and get b'day card for 18 yo nephew & really can't be arsed if I'm honest ....

Hi everyone else,
Speak later
Kat xx

[cmg]

Well hi girls, I'm back after a break off the boards. Just spent several hours reading through from November to now and can't believe how much has been happening to you all.

Big congrats to my namesake on her baby and to Big J on the BFP - I'm soooo pleased for you after all you've been through.

So sorry to all of you (Jen, Amfy, Lara, Tammy, Robyn) who have had negatives and especially Kat - it must be so much harder to have it all snatched away from you after the excitement of a positive.

And I can't believe how many cysts, no bleeding, perpetual bleeding and other complications some of you have had to cope with - I feel exhausted just reading about it all. Hope you're all doing ok, especially those jetting around the place for your fresh young eggs!

Hi to Tammy, Robyn and Bev, who weren't here when I was last around - this is an amazing forum and I'm sure you've already realised how much support is on offer here.

To recap, I was due to do unmedicated FET in November but then my Mum suddenly got really ill and sadly died. It's been completely awful and unexpected and I couldn't cope with the FET at the same time. I'm now planning to do it February - looks like it'll be about 4 weeks time. It was good to forget about fertility for a while and we had a very, very chilled out Christmas in a cottage by the sea, which held no memories of family Christmasses. I was sad at times, of course, but it all felt right and has helped me to start to move on.

Now that I'm facing FET again, I realise that I'm really scared about doing it. We have 2 frozen embryos left from our previous IVF last summer (I realise I have been VERY lucky at my age to have spare embryos) and if this doesn't work, we'll call it a day. It feels like such a pivotal moment in my life - in about 6 weeks time it could all be over or I could be facing the prospect of motherhood. I don't want to go through the end bit of the 2ww again. If I get a BFP I know the risks and the worry don't end there and it's like a long, long 2ww and I don't know if I can stand it. But I also know I have to go through it or I'll have absolutely no chance of motherhood, so I have to grit my teeth and get on with it. I'm also really worried about the impact of a BFN on top of my mother's death - it would be like a double bereavement. But then I read about what some of you have been through and realise that people do come through awful times and so can I.

Anyway, seems like I'm starting to a maudlin ramble, so I'll stop now.

Glad to be back

love Caroline

ps Kat, just a thougth re DH's regrowing hair itch problem. M&S do an "ingrowing hair minimiser" cream - it's very good after waxing. Maybe that would help?