Canceled IUI, now to IVF

[Phoenix725]

Morning all,

My husband and I have quite the unique situation. He was diagnosed with brain cancer just as we started undergoing fertility testing. (He is going to be absolutely fine... they removed as much of the tumor as they safely could and are confident the rest will respond to chemo. We are going forward with treatments at his say - so) Through freezing sperm we also found he has a very low sperm count and motility. They told us IVF would be our only option.

A few weeks ago someone got it in my head that I should try an IUI with Femara to see if I reacted like her friend (she got 12 mature follies from Femara alone) since we had enough time to get it done before hubby starts chemo. I asked him about it and he was all for it! Actually he cried when I asked him. When I asked why, he said, you know I want a baby just as much as you do. (Awww! Anyhoo)

My fertility center said that with his sperm doing Femara only isn't appropriate, they were coming at me with everything they had. So I used 75IU of Gonal-F for about a week, with Cetrotide for the last 3 days, then I triggered with Lupron once on Friday night and again Saturday morning. I had a dozen beautiful follies ready to go. Again, with hubby's sperm they had no problem being so aggressive even with the risk of multiples.

IUI day arrived and his fresh sample produced no motile sperm. Zip. Zero. Nothing they could use. There was no way to convert me to IVF at that point because I'd already triggered and they don't do retrieval at 5:00 on Sunday morning. I was heartbroken, but hubby took it like a champ and asked when do we start in vitro.

As soon as CD 1 arrives I call in for my next protocol. Long story aside I wanted to ask what I might expect coming up. They are going to keep me on the Gonal but bump me up to 300. Everything from there is a mystery. How long will I stim for? Will I need more cetrotide? Will I need estrogen and progesterone or just the progesterone? PIO or suppositories?

I know a lot of this is variable depending on the situation, but I would love to have some idea what I'm facing before it starts They found nothing of concern in my tests, my lining looked beautiful and all of my hormones looked good as of my last blood work.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Holly ttc]

My lovely dog chewed up part of my schedule from when I went through my retrieval cycle so I may be off by 3 days. Here's what I had to do though:
20th - 22nd: gonal and menopur (both shots)
23rd - 27th: gonal, menopur, and cetrotide (ovulation tests started the 23rd).

I went for followup scans every other day starting the 22nd. The last note I have for the doctor visits was on the 30th so retrieval was soon after that.

I know that every doctor is going to do things how they see fit and it really depends on how you react (my body was super slow to respond so I needed some extra time/higher doses) but I hope it gives you at least a general idea. I hope you get a ton on beautiful eggs and are first time lucky! Good luck to your husband during his treatment and recovery as well.

 

[Holly ttc]

Sorry, forgot the more important part... the actual transfer cycle!
Cd1-19 I was just on estrace (this could be because I did a frozen transfer instead of fresh so I had to build straighten my body back out)
Cd20 and 21 added in endometrin (progesterone suppository)
Cd22 to 25 added in medrol (steroid)
Cd24 added in an antibiotic
Cd25 transfer day!
The next two weeks I continued with the estrace and endometrin until I had a beta. When I got my positive I had to continue those until 10wks along.