Friday, October 14, 2011

A plan

First, and most importantly - sending love and support to MissConception, who is suffering through a devastating loss.  So unfair that anyone should have to go through this.

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It looks like I'm down to my last two chances.  We met with our doctor (Dr. B) this week and it all comes down to the fact that my eggs are shite.  We ended up with twice as many eggs in IVF#2 but we still had the same result at transfer, and nothing made it to freeze.  He flat out said it would be irresponsible to keep trying the same way.  So we are going to do one more cycle with an antagonist protocol (no lupron! yaaa! PIO shots! boooo....) this year.  Because of some travel and an expiring insurance authorization, we're looking at a potential transfer the day before or the day of Thanksgiving.  Sorry to ruin your holiday nurses and doctors!  Score one for us for not driving anywhere for the holiday - just need some excuses to avoid family obligations.  The biggest change is that we are going to do a Day 2 transfer of up to SIX embryos.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous at all, but I also have faith in my doctor.  He's been doing this a lot of years and feels very strongly about avoiding multiples. Clearly we've tried everything else and aren't getting anywhere.  There is no way they would do this transfer if they thought I'd end up with triplets or more....
If this fails, our last chance is something called IVM.  This was completely new to me -- no stims at all.  They harvest the eggs while they are immature and mature them in the lab - then fertilize and (hopefully) transfer.  This would have to be done at a hospital in a different city (also affiliated with my same program) and with a different doctor.  The first article on IVM that was spit out by Dr. Google referenced the very program and quoted the very doctor that was recommended to us.  I take that as a good sign. Dr. B. would need to officially present my case to be approved in this program, but my insurance still should cover it.  If they don't, the costs are half of what is involved with IVF since there are no meds - so I think we'd try it.
Then he brought up donor eggs.  And I cried. 
I know it's a wonderful option and the statistics are so good - but I'm just not there yet. 
So that's where we are -- I've got my first acupuncture appointment set up, popping BCPs, baseline set for Nov 7th and a potential Thanksgiving on my couch - just the 10 of us -- one husband, one wife, two cats, and six embryos....  the classic American holiday.  Having a plan with something DIFFERENT makes me feel better.  I also think there is some relief in knowing that one way or another, this won't be dragging out for much longer.  Yes, we'll have some tough decisions to make - but I"m looking forward to being out of limbo.

3 comments:

  1. Wishing you the best of luck--and will be following along. 6 embryos sounds crazy but it sounds like you have faith in your doctor. We may be transferring around the same time.

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  2. stupid eggs. mine are accused of being shite too. hoping the new protocol makes all the difference, or at least gives you the satisfaction of having tried it. feeling that our time is running out both freaks the shit out of me and gives relief that all this will have to end sooner than later. so f*ed up, i totally get it.

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  3. It sounds like a good plan to me. Your doctor sounds realistic and responsible so you're in good hands.

    My BIL and SIL did IVM and it was the first I had heard of it too. Maybe that could help...

    November 7th is going to come so quickly. I'm really excited for you and will keep you in my prayers xo

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