angela - glad you still have a chance this cycle.
krissie - so so happy for you. seriously, you have a chance this cycle. fx.
aphy - it's not over till the
shows. so my fx for you.
afm - so we have not decided whether or not we are doing the implantation part of it (which is the transfer part that usually occurs 3 to 5 days after egg retrieval). Tomorrow is the egg retrieval, where i am given general anesthesia and the eggs are collected. the next process is to see how many fertilize, then to see how many develop. ideally we want them to reach day 5 (they call them blastocysts, this means they have roughly 100 cells, and are considered good embryos with a good chance of implanting). sometimes if the embryos don't seem to be developing they will transfer at day 3 (but if they had stopped developing, there is less of a chance of implantation), and some clinics just have the practice of transferring at day 3 believing that the embryos have a better chance of making it inside the womb. depends on the clinic.
But, b/c we used a lupron trigger instead of an hcg trigger, the chances of getting pregnant are a lot lower. the lupron does not stay in the body for very long like the hcg does, which lowers the chance of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which can be life-threatening, so that is the benefit of using lupron. but the downside is that in the process it does not create a suitable environment for implantation (the hormones needed to created a good environment are not present with this protocol). to counteract this, the clinic would need to put me on aggressive hormone therapy afterwards with progesterone and estrogen. and my doc does not seem to subscribe to this protocol and prefers to let the ovaries go back to normal and do a frozen transfer the next cycle. DH and I will only do a fresh transfer if she will do the aggressive hormone therapy. otherwise we are just wasting the embryo. either way its a lower chance, but we are only willing to gamble if the aggressive supplementation is used. we are hoping to talk with her tomorrow about all of this.
im disappointed that we may have to wait and even if we didn't that its a lower chance, but it is what it is.
the other issue that came up today is that i researched the lupron trigger and noticed that it does not induce ovulation for some people (its rare, but happens). whereas, with hcg it almost always works. anyway, to counteract this, many clinics have their patients go in for a blood test after trigger (which for me was last night at midnight) to check LH and progesterone levels. if the levels are not in the appropriate range, then they do another lupron trigger. but my clinic did not mention this to me, so its obviously not part of their protocol.
i was debating on whether or not to call the doc to ask her about this b/c i fear that we have already annoyed her this weekend. DH has called her twice to ask questions. as you all know i am terrified of asking questions b/c for some reason i become very weak with doctors. im just so scared of upseting them. anyway, i overcame my fear somewhat and left an message earlier today (still haven't heard back from her) inquiring about bloodwork post lupron trigger. i felt i needed to do this b/c i will be devastated if it does not work and could have been prevented by calling her and doing bloodwork. of course, its getting pretty late and i have not heard back from her so might be a moot point if i cant find a clinic open to do a blood test.
I'm so so sorry hun. That is horribly frustrating.
I can't believe it to be honest.
