anyone over 35 going for fertility treatments this year? IUI, IVF etc

[DaisyQ]

Question for you ladies...

I'm considering embryo banking. Any of you know about this? You pay $$ upfront to freeze and ccs test your embryos. You then go through several retrievals to essentially stockpile normal embryos before transfer. As much as I want a fresh transfer, I'm anxious about the # of blasts we might get, and we are leaning strongly towards ccs testing anyway, so it might make sense for us to do this, especially as I'm not getting younger, my response to stims isn't ideal, and I may likely want more than one child.

I don't know where we'd get the $$ for multiple retrievals, but I think maybe our parents might help somewhat. What do you guys think? If I was younger or an awesome responder, or had better insurance coverage for ivf, I think I might just go cycle by cycle... But given my circumstances, I think I might feel better going into transfer knowing I have multiple normal embryos to work with.

 

[DaisyQ]

And here's the official follicle tally for today:
On the left:
1 at 19
2 at 18
1 at 17
1 at 15
3 at 11-13
3<10

On the right:
1 at 15
4 at 11-13
3 < 10.

 

[sarahincanada]

I remember thinking something similar before my IVF, but then I got so many blasts I didnt have to worry. I was thinking it because i thought if I got pregnant thats a good year and then i would be 40 and trying again for #2. So I understand why you are considering it. However wait and see how many you get from your first retrieval to decide.

I also was glad I only had to do one set of stimulation drugs, Im sure its safe to do multiple but I did worry....it was around the time guiliana ranic got breast cancer after 2 rounds and I didnt wonder if it can aggrevate (existing) conditions. Thats just something personally I thought about and to consider, so many people do multiple rounds of stimulation and Im sure will never get ill.

other things to consider are I wonder if its better to spread out stimulations, I know you might be worried how your eggs will be in a year but I wonder if doing a 3rd stimulation so soon is good or not.

also there are people who are more fertile after giving birth, even if they suffered from infertility before. my best friend had a MC and it took well over a year to get pregnant with her first, but her 2nd took 2 months!

just some things to think about!

 

[sarahincanada]

And here's the official follicle tally for today:
On the left:
1 at 19
2 at 18
1 at 17
1 at 15
3 at 11-13
3<10

On the right:
1 at 15
4 at 11-13
3 < 10.

you have a good chance of at least 6, but you may be surprised by some of the 13's by friday. come on lil eggies

 

[DaisyQ]

All good points Sarah!

I'm sure that the high estrogen levels from stimming would absolutely exacerbate pre-existing breast cancer, for sure...

If we do end up cycling again, I will have 1-2 months off because the lab is closing in July...

We will also have to decide about the banking program before we find out how many blasts, I think. I was told we would have to decide probably by Monday, and I won't find out about my blasts until Wednesday. But I will ask and see if we can wait for the blast report...

Another thing I forgot to mention - if we get 8+ mature eggs, we will be in a study where we will get free CCS testing, a $4500 value. If we have less than 8 mature, we will be booted from the study, and would have to decide to pay $4500 for testing and fresh transfer, pay 7K to biopsy, freeze and bank and test (up to 15 embryos total, so this covers multiple cycles), or pay forgo the CCS testing completely and just do a fresh transfer... those are the options. So if we want to do the CCS testing, it seems like 7K is actually a better deal, if you consider that we may need more than 1 fresh cycle, if less than 8 eggs are retrieved. In that case, best case scenario, we'd get 7 embies. Which would be fab.. but likely not all 7 would be normal.

It would be great to be able to wait for the blast report... Like if we only have 1-3 blasts, I think we'd want to do the banking, but if it's 5-7, maybe not?

 

[sarahincanada]

it would help to know the blast rate, but even how many mature eggs and how many fertilized might make you decide. people seem to lose an average of 50% by blast so what fertilizes on day 1 you can guessimate you will have half the amount of blasts ....some people definitely have a couple more but a lot of who Ive been following have about 50%.

I agree the 'pay 7K to biopsy, freeze and bank' is probably the best option. I do think the testing is a good idea, they dont do it here in Canada but I would have loved it. purely to weed out the good ones from the bad. I always prayed that if an embie was no good for it to please not survive the defrost, as I didnt want the pain of a bfp and later m/c. so if you can I would do one of the options with the testing.

 

[DaisyQ]

I agree.. I don't want to waste $$ on the transfer, or time (and pain) of potential MC with transfering abnormals... so I'm leaning toward testing. My MIL feels strongly we should do the testing (she is afraid of Downs or something), and I think she'd help us pay for it. So I guess I'll see how many are retrieved, how many are mature, and how many fertilize. If I get 8+, it's a moot point for now, since I'll get free testing with that clinical trial. If it's less than 8... strongly leaning towards banking. Not sure what the blast rate is... seems to vary widely from person to person. One lady on another thread had 28 eggs retrieved, 22 fertilize, and only 3 blasted. Of the three 2 were normal. She's 31. Another lady who is 36 just had a cycle with 18 eggs, 11 blasted, 5 were normal... Both of these women go to my clinic.

 

[drsquid]

had my egg retrieval today. went with a friend who is going to the same ivf doctor and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw us both (he knows we are friends but..) he saw her first and looked quite confused. all went smoothly. got 13 eggs, and 12 were mature so.. yay. already bummed about my 1 sad immature egg even though that is silly. tomorrow i find out how many fertilized (and i know i have to be ready to lose a bunch). of course doc for some reason decided to talk to me when i was still hammered. all i caught was 13 and had to call him later for more details. nurse said he looked really happy with the results (which is nice from dr doom and gloom)

 

[sarahincanada]

yay for 12 mature drsquid, thats great!

 

[drsquid]

thanks.. while i was waiting to find out how many i had a friend say.. dont expect too many given that it is you (as i refuse to grow up etc.. made me totally laugh). i was bummed cause i thought there were about 16, but bakers dozen rocks as does a dozen.. fingers crossed i get the 70-80% fert rate (or better given that im doing icsi)

 

[DaisyQ]

That's great squid! 11 is a great #!

 

[drsquid]

daisy- 12 =) heh im already bummed about the 1 not mature one.. im trying to steel myself against being too upset with the ones i lose from not fertilizing

 

[DaisyQ]

12! I meant 12! Sorry, don't want to take one away from you. Just set your expectations low so you won't be disappointed. It just takes one. Remind me of this advice in 2 days....

 

[hockey24]

had my egg retrieval today. went with a friend who is going to the same ivf doctor and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw us both (he knows we are friends but..) he saw her first and looked quite confused. all went smoothly. got 13 eggs, and 12 were mature so.. yay. already bummed about my 1 sad immature egg even though that is silly. tomorrow i find out how many fertilized (and i know i have to be ready to lose a bunch). of course doc for some reason decided to talk to me when i was still hammered. all i caught was 13 and had to call him later for more details. nurse said he looked really happy with the results (which is nice from dr doom and gloom)

Yeah Drsquid! That is a fantastic number!! Fx'd for great fertilization rate!

 

[drsquid]

at least ill be stuck in court so it will take my mind off it (as if..)

and daisy i will i promise =)

 

[Irish_eyes]

Daisy, good luck for tomorrow, I am sure things will be fine.

Squid, 12 is a fab number.

Well, I got my schedule this week. I start DR on 2nd July and injecting on 16th July with EC and ET by the end of July. I have my nurse led appt on the 29th June to pick up my meds etc.

 

[DaisyQ]

Thanks Irish! Exciting that you are gearing up to start!

 

[drsquid]

so doc calld this am and said 11 fertilized.. i said oh that is good and he corrected me and said it was fantastic. yay for dr negative being positive. i texted him later and thanked him. it was funny thought cause i made a joke on the phone about not counting my embryos until they hatch and he started getting all technical.. i was like.. dude.. joking (yes im aware that is a stage and that was kinda half the joke). court wasnt too bad today however getting there was crazy cause bart was shut down..

 

[Irish_eyes]

so doc calld this am and said 11 fertilized.. i said oh that is good and he corrected me and said it was fantastic. yay for dr negative being positive. i texted him later and thanked him. it was funny thought cause i made a joke on the phone about not counting my embryos until they hatch and he started getting all technical.. i was like.. dude.. joking (yes im aware that is a stage and that was kinda half the joke). court wasnt too bad today however getting there was crazy cause bart was shut down..

That IS fantastic news!

 

[sarahincanada]

drsquid thats great!

irisheyes good luck for your cycle next month

thinking about you daisy