Thoughts from the RE

I talked with my RE today about the 3-day vs. 5-day transfer.

RE explained that the reason for going to 5 day was to have a declaration of the "best" embryos, but that it does seem to somewhat stress the embies.

So, we worked together to break it down a bit, so I could be in the loop on the decision. He said if we had embies tomorrow here would be the basic decision scenario:

90% A-grade & 10% B-grade or lower --> Five-day transfer of the best 2

50% A-grade & 50% B-grade or lower --> Three-day transfer of 2 A-grade

Just noticed I didn't ask him what if they were all grade B or lower... hmmm...

The trick is to have a clear separation of which embies are "best" - if it isn't clear they would push to day 5.

He said the success rates are not way,way better on day 3 or day 5, but the "winner" is clearer - I'm thinking maybe they would transfer more embies on day 3 than day 5 typically, but not on me, since I've gotten PG 2 out of 2 IVF cycles. RE has said I'm limited to 2 - no more. :)

** edited this a bit because the last part was even hard for me to read with so many grammar mistakes and missing. :)

8 is Great, right?

As of Sunday we had:

16 eggs were retrieved
14 were mature
8 fertilized (which is better than 50%, so the RE is happy)

Today I was told that they won't count them again until tomorrow. We have a tentative transfer time of 2 PM Tuesday, but they are expecting to push us to a 5-day transfer on Thursday.

I'm not exactly sure WHY we would be pushed to 5-day, because I've not been able to get a full answer, but it seems that the embry.ologists know best and will set me up for the date that makes the best chances for us.

Some thoughts on our retrieval:
It sucked. Last time was a breeze, but this time was painful (still is today). It feels more like I had abdominal surgery than just an ER.
Add to that, my IV took 4 tries, so both of my hands were numb& tingly until Sunday afternoon.
I don't want to have to do this part again, so I sure hope we get THE ONE with this cycle.
Sigh.

Nearlydawnology

Thanks to Stacie for this idea. I am a sucker for a fun meme. :-)

Hey you! Yes, you and you and you and, especially you! Any of you reading this. You're tagged. After you've gotten to learn more about me than you ever wanted to know, take a turn and play the game. It's fun! Let others know a little more about yourself, repost this as your name followed by "ology."

FOODOLOGY:

What is your salad dressing of choice? Ranch (or as I usually order it "wreeench")
What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Thai Spice --- mmmmmm Thai!
What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Wendy's
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Chocolate
What are your pizza toppings of choice? peperoni, mushroom, ham
How many televisions are in your house? one - yes really, only 1
What color cell phone do you have? blackberry - ha!

BIOLOGY:

Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right.
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? well, I've had stuff lifted out and then put back in for the c-section! Does that count? Oh, and I am missing a tube from an ectopic pregnancy
What is the last heavy item you lifted? two 30+ toddlers at the same time. Stacie and I have this in common, bu not for the same reason!
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Yes, once when I was rollerskating and I landed on my head while skating backwards.
Have you ever fainted? yes
Do you know what is causing your IF? Yes and no - we think it is a cocktail of PCOS, Thrombo.phelia, male-factor morphology, and old-fashioned bad tubes... nice mix, eh?

BULLCRAPOLOGY:

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? no, well, yes, but no, well yes, um no.... it might be a good thing, but you wouldn't know how you'd react until after you'd found out. Yikes. So, no thanks?  I think. hmmmm
If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Oh... I chose Cecile during French class - I still like it. Also, my Mom said the 2nd-runner-up name for me was Michelle Dawn - I kinda like that.
How many pairs of flip flops do you own? 2 - but I never wear them because I don't like the thingy between my toes - ouch!
Last person you talked to? Jim

FAVORITOLOGY:

Season? Fall or Spring - it is a toss up
Holiday? Christmas.
Day of the week? Friday
Month? October or December... it's a toss up
Color? Red
Drink? Coke - diet please
Alcoholic? Mike's Hard Lemonade

CURRENTOLOGY:

Missing someone? Yes ;(
What are you listening to? The television and Jim playing
What are you watching? Thomas the Train - Calling All Engines
Worrying about? the outcome of our IVF - did the Egg Retrieval today
What's the last movie you saw? no idea.... it was that memorable - last movie at the theater was Avatar
Do you smile often? Yes
If you could change your eye color what would it be? brilliant green
What's on your wish list for your birthday? a baby
Can you do a chin-up? Not unless someone is pushing me up! Ha!
Does the future make you more nervous or excited? I think it's both.
Have you been in a car wreck? Yes.
Have you caused a car wreck? Yes. I once backed into someone - it didn't cause damage though.
Do you have an accent? Yes - quite Southern I'm told, but I can't hear it myself :)
Last time you cried? yesterday - I was reading blogs of IF friends
Plans tonight? going to Cracker Barrel for dinner, hubby has a craving :)
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? more times than I'd like to admit to
Name three things you bought yesterday? Dinner, Elmo plates, Elmo Napkins
Have you met someone who has changed your life? Yes, quite a few, actually - many of them are bloggers
For the better or worse? Mostly better. :-)
How did you bring in the New Year? At a friends' home - kids, wine, and a plastic Dick Clark, good times!!
Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? I'm not sure. Would I still get to have my son?
What songs do you sing in the shower? I think it depends on my mood, and if anyone is home :)
Have you held hands with someone today? yes, I held hubby and Jim's hands
Who was the last person you took a picture of? Jim and hubby outside riding the new tricycle
Are most of the friends in your life new or old? Both
Do you like pulpy orange juice? Nope.
Last time you ate peanut butter and jelly? Last week
What were you doing at 12 a.m. last night? Thinking about not eating/drinking in prep for IVF ER today
What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? not eating/drinking in prep for IVF ER today - do you sense a trend?

Sweet 16

I made it through the egg retrieval and am home safe and mostly sound!

I was told they captured 16 eggs! Who knows how many are ripe, or will fertilize for that matter, but I'm really happy with those numbers.

Per our discharge paperwork we should get a call by 1 PM tomorrow to let us know the Fertilization report. As I understand it they will be doing full ICSI this time - hopefully reducing the egg attrition rate.

I'm very sore this time... it feels like I've had abdominal surgery vs. the mild cramping I had last time. I'm hanging out on the couch and taking it easy. Hubby is outside playing with the boy - he got a tricycle for his Birthday. He got a sandbox too, but we are planning to wait to use it when Mommy can play too.

Thanks for all the well wishes!

Birthday, Countdown and Irony

Please look over to your right... --->
Over there on the sidebar...
Do you see some major irony? No? Well... Let me explain.

I never took down the ticker I created for my little girl.

The ticker's current message is ironic, don't you think?

"Our appologies.

Due to a hardware failure this ticker has been lost.

It will need to be replaced with another ticker."

I'm working on it Lilliepad, I really am...



Luckily, through the blessing of the "hardware failure" I don't have to see just how many days I am from that due date. Sigh.



Trying again starting in 3, 2, 1...



My Egg Retrieval is tomorrow morning - 8 AM. We have a babysitter to come stay with Jim while we sneak off and retrieve some eggs.



I've been told that the 3 day/5 day transfer question will be decided based on how many embies we have and how well they are growing. I would like very much to transfer on day 3, but I expect I'll have to leave it up to the lab.



Egg count on Thursday was 14! YAY! Now I'm just hoping for some good fertilization rates and good growth.

Why is it that I feel like I'm in a marathon? A marathon that is scary win or loose.

Birthday? Whose Birthday? Oh, you mean that BIG boy, Jim! Yeah, turned 2 today... We had a party at school for him. His coolio Momma made Elmo cupcakes and bought plates, hats, and napkins to match.

Medication Blunders and Egg Count and Sacrifice

This morning started with some big fun! We received the much-needed For those that don't use this medication, let me fill you in on the storage of this med:

"Proper storage of Ganirelix :
Store Ganirelix at 77 degrees F (25 degrees C). Brief storage at temperatures between 59 and 86 degrees F (15 and 30 degrees C) is permitted. Store away from heat, moisture, and light. Do not store in the bathroom. Keep Ganirelix out of the reach of children and away from pets."

There were no bathrooms, children, or pets in the box - so can you guess what was amiss with it? Yep, we opened the Gani.relix Rx only to find it was packed on ice.

I then called the mail order pharmacy only to be told that it was "Fine". I asked to speak to the Pharmacist, again, she said it was fine to be shipped cold. To which I replied, "The manufacturer says "brief storage below 59 degrees, and 12 hours isn't brief. Would you gamble $20,000 on the CHANCE that this drug was still good after 12 hours on ice?".

They are shipping me 2 new cartridges. Luckily I have one for tomorrow morning from the original order. Sigh.

Egg Watch 2010:

Current count Left: 6 @ 1.3 to 1.7
Current count Right: 2 @ 1.2 to 1.5

So, we might get a wee bit more than 7 after all. Maybe.

It looks like they will have me trigger on Thursday night, which puts me doing our retrieval on Jim's Birthday. Hopefully Jim is wishing for a sibling for his Birthday!

Jim's Birthday, what are the chances of that?!?!?! I'm a bit sad though - I was hoping to be able to celebrate with him at school, and to setup a party for him at home over the weekend. Now I'll most likely be in surgery while he is celebrating at school, and I'll have to figure out when to have his party at home - maybe the next weekend. I'm not sure.

Sacrifice is something I have to live with because of IF. Who knew my 2 yr old would have to sacrifice for the sake of IF too.

Small Response - Big Money

As you can see from the title, We've not been getting the good response we'd hoped for...We only have 7 follies, and we were wanting more like 20. The idea was to do one BIG round and then coast for a few frozen cycles if need be.

I'm not sure if I'll even have anything to transfer - given that 2+ years ago with 13 eggs I only had a 20% fert rate... Makes me very sad, indeed.

I'm not sure when retrieval will be - I think they are going to give me some more time to "grow", since I had several 1.1 to 1.3 size on Sunday. The best guess is trigger Wed night or Thur night. Then I'm not really sure if we'll do a 3 day or 5 day turnaround.

Cycling makes planning for work REALLY fun, huh? I can hear it now, "Hey Boss. I might need Thursday or Friday off for a full day, or maybe work from home. Then I may need all day Monday or Wednesday off, but I'm not sure! Can I get back with you when my Dr. says what the plan is?"

Geesh.

OH - and the "Big Money" part of the title... I just found out that our prescription coverage ran out for fertility meds! YAY!!! I have Rx coverage, but this is considered a "speciality med" so it is under a different plan wherin I've hit the max. We are going to have to pay $ 740 per vial of the Folli.stim (I need 2 additional) and a couple hundred more for the Gani.relix. Trust me when I say I came near crying when I found out.

We have poured so much money down this fertility hole this cycle. I'd feel better if we were seeing a big response, but the low #'s of follies make me feel like I'm wasting money, and LOTS of it. We spent $4000 on the IVF deposit and $2000 on meds so far, now we are adding another $2000 to the meds cost.

$8000 to make 7eggs - and one of those eggs is going to overmature, due to it's large lead on the others. So... 6 eggs for $8000. I know some of you pay more, because you have NO coverage at all, but this is a first for me. I can't imagine how people come up with the $ for full-freight, which I'm guesstimating would have cost us $15000 for the procedure and another $6000+ for meds.

Tell me truly, how do you afford $21,000 for IVF? Really? I don't think we could, so I'm interested in what you've had to do to afford it, or if you have coverage.

Love and hugs to all of you for your support... I've loved getting your comments and the direct notes. Mwah!