I saw my specialist today - to work out the next phase. He asked me if I wanted to start preparing for a transfer now - which took me by surprise. I am still super tired, and he must have seen I was not quite ready for it. I said I thought I would wait till I got my next period - and he was happy with that. Actually he was very happy for me to wait, and give my body some more time to calm down. I have already got AF since the Egg Collection, so I know it won't be a ridiculously long wait.
Now for the FET (frozen embryo transfer). He wants me on hormones, as my periods are so erratic. The minute he mentioned more medication I was reluctant. He reassured me that is was just an estrogen pill, and some progesterone suppositories (to thicken my lining). At about day 10 I will go in for a scan to see what is happening, and to prepare for the transfer timing. I am pretty nervous about this next step - which shows me I am really not ready yet - even for a FET. Hopefully I will be emotionally ready soon (and maybe I should get another counselling session.. something to think about). He did mention how much easier an IUI was - and I said I didn't think I could go another IVF again. He said he doubts I would have to, as he is pretty positive with these embryos we will get a result :)
So the results are..
2 A grade embabies
2 B grade embabies &
1 C grade embabies
Right across the board there in relation to the quality.
So I guess the plan is the first FET - 1 of the A grades will go in. If it fails, will put in an A and a B and see what happens...they each have a 33% chance of working :) odds for once are in my favour :)
Wednesday 20 August 2014
Thursday 7 August 2014
OHSS - what they don't tell you and day 5 freeze report
So unfortunately I have got Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome. It has made me quite ill and quite confused, as my symptoms were not what I expected. I mentioned the other day to my IVF nurse that I was still feeling pretty horrid, and had quite a bit of pain. I couldn't get to the clinic in time to see the doctor, and was told to go to hospital if I felt worse. That night I felt even worse, shakes, very hot, in pain and generally getting worse. To me it was the fact I kept feeling worse. So I went to Emergency. We were there until 4am. They ruled out anything major, but did a diagnosis of OHSS. They were able to speak with my specialist as well, and he was also able to give advice. The hospital were great, they gave me strong anti-nausea tablets, pain medication and put me on a slow drip. I know with OHSS you can't do heaps of fluid as it just pools in your body spaces. The gyno registrar saw me and allowed me to go home as long as I got checked at the IVF clinic. I went the next day and had my scan which showed very enlarged ovaries and some fluid in my spaces. I was told I do have OHSS.
What surprises me, is I just didn't expect my OHSS to be like this. The pain was bad, but mainly to the touch. My fluid retention was there, but not to the point I was expecting. What got me, was the fact I started to feel worse. And today I feel even worse (6 days after egg retrieval). I think I have been waiting for the big signs - massive overnight weight gain, vomiting (I do have terrible reflux, nausea but no actual over the toilet vomiting), diarrhoea etc. What I can say, is if you start to feel better (which I was) and then start to feel worse - don't leave it! Get checked out. Chances are you have mild/moderate OHSS, especially if like me you are at high risk.
I am a little disappointed with the freeze report. We have 14 embies make it to day 5, but only 4 were suitable for freezing. They may freeze some day 6 as well. As long as the embryo takes, 4 is heaps, I guess with everything that has happened, I just don't feel so positive right now. Hopefully some of you can make me feel better with this report!
What surprises me, is I just didn't expect my OHSS to be like this. The pain was bad, but mainly to the touch. My fluid retention was there, but not to the point I was expecting. What got me, was the fact I started to feel worse. And today I feel even worse (6 days after egg retrieval). I think I have been waiting for the big signs - massive overnight weight gain, vomiting (I do have terrible reflux, nausea but no actual over the toilet vomiting), diarrhoea etc. What I can say, is if you start to feel better (which I was) and then start to feel worse - don't leave it! Get checked out. Chances are you have mild/moderate OHSS, especially if like me you are at high risk.
I am a little disappointed with the freeze report. We have 14 embies make it to day 5, but only 4 were suitable for freezing. They may freeze some day 6 as well. As long as the embryo takes, 4 is heaps, I guess with everything that has happened, I just don't feel so positive right now. Hopefully some of you can make me feel better with this report!
Monday 4 August 2014
Egg Retrieval - not so simple after all!
So I am finally back at work (we will see how long I last), and at a computer. So during my break I thought I would update you all on what has been happening.
Last week, I came down with a cold (courtesy of Mr A.). That, along with my very bloated ovaries made me quite ill. I had the shakes, severe nausea and insomnia. I couldn't get to work, and ended up taking Thursday and Friday off. On Thursday I had my scan which told me I had just over 60 follicles between the two ovaries. They were thankfully still within an acceptable size, and I only had a small amount of fluid. My hormone levels were still good (low estrogen), and the decision was made by my specialist to still trigger with Ovidrel (HCG), but cancel a transfer back this week. I was however on 4 hour pain killers, as the pain was building up (in both my ovary and backs - I could actually feel the ovaries through my skin - that was weird). The reason they avoid using HCG - is pregnancy hormone makes OHSS worse. There is heaps on how OHSS works, and if anyone wants me to explain, let me know and I will post a hopefully easy to read explanation.
I triggered that night at 11pm, and by Friday night I was actually starting to feel better. I think not stimming anymore just helped my body relax a little. On Saturday I got my son ready (my wonderful mum came and took him for the day), got myself ready and then we went to the hospital. The pain was starting to build up again, and I was very uncomfortable. At the same time I was admitted, my husband did his thing. I never actually saw him again, and found out from the embryologist that they had a sample. I had to sign some documents, and was taken to a room to change. I then saw the embryologist - who checked all my paperwork. She was actually surprised they were not doing a fresh transfer based on my estrogen levels, but I am so happy we are doing a FET (frozen embryo transfer). The doctor doing the retrieval was not my doctor, and I got two seconds with him saying when did you trigger and running out the door again (not so impressed with his bedside manner, he may not have been my doctor, but he could have been a little nicer). My anaesthesiologist came in, checked me out (he is lovely, same guy who did my d&c last year) and was happy I could proceed even with the cold. I was taken into the surgical room, via the laboratory where I had to confirm who I was (a small part of me misses the lab - and it was cool to see it in action), and jumped onto the bed. There were two huge stirrups which was kind of intimidating. The anaesthesiologist put a line into my hand and started to inject fluids to put me to sleep. There were a lot of people in the OR, but the next minute I woke up in recovery.
This is where things didn't go as well for me (as usual). The first thing I asked for was some pain relief. The pain was that bad. I got some meds in my canular, but it didn't help much. I ended up getting the full dose, and oral pain relief, and it did help to a point but I was still in pain. I also found it very hard to open my eyes and wake up. It was a real struggle. When they finally sat me up, I started to shake all over - and once I ate something, that settled a little. In between all of this the doctor came and said they got 30 eggs. That was it (his patients he spoke to - would have been nice to have had something else from him) When I was ready to go home, they got me to sit in a chair for ten minutes. Within a few minutes I started feeling nauseous, shaky and faint, with tingling in my mouth. They took my blood pressure, which was fine, but I got worse and they had to lay me down. They then gave me an anti-nausea med and let me lay there for a few minutes. The nurse told me I had gone grey. I was then able to sit up and go home. I fell asleep the minute I got home and kept up the pain meds.
Pretty much everything hurt. It seems with ER you can either be absolutely fine, or be terrible. They don't quite warn you how bad it is. Or how much time you need to recover. Some of the things I found out:
- It hurts to pee. Firstly it was like a UTI feeling, but then it was just my poor swollen ovaries feeling it. It still hurts three days later.
- You won't poo for a few days. It took two days with me, and this hurt. You can not push at all without extreme pain.
- If you have IBS expect it to play up. I had one of the worst attacks I have ever had (and I rarely get them), so much so my husband was about to take me to the hospital. This was brought on by my lack of ability to go to the bathroom, combined with the pain I already had. Yeah. Not nice.
- The more eggs, the more pokes, the more pain. Heat packs are your friend.
- Two days to recover at least, lots of bed rest. Good thing is a good sleep normally worked wonders with my recovery.
- I still had spotting two days later.
- You will bloat! I don't think I have bloated as badly as some others, and I expect it to start disappearing either when the HCG from the trigger leaves my body or I get AF. My stomach did feel very hard.
- You will be gassy. This gas will hurt. This gas will not want to leave you.
- You will struggle to eat. All those inflamed organs, they don't want too much.food
There are some great sites on what they don't tell you about egg retrieval. I wish I had read them earlier. For now, three days post-op, I am still in pain (still on pain meds and heat packs - I bought it to work with me). Finding it hard to walk long distances without feeling ill, and generally better, but not great. So I am super happy we are holding off putting those babies back in. I will have one month off, to let everything settle down, and then we will do a transfer back. Not sure how that all works yet, but once I do will update you all.
Now is the waiting to see how many make it to freeze. Even if 50% make it, that is still 10 embabies we have. Still amazed by it all. I know that as hard as this cycle is, we have had an amazing outcome, and we are very lucky to have got this far with so many.
Last week, I came down with a cold (courtesy of Mr A.). That, along with my very bloated ovaries made me quite ill. I had the shakes, severe nausea and insomnia. I couldn't get to work, and ended up taking Thursday and Friday off. On Thursday I had my scan which told me I had just over 60 follicles between the two ovaries. They were thankfully still within an acceptable size, and I only had a small amount of fluid. My hormone levels were still good (low estrogen), and the decision was made by my specialist to still trigger with Ovidrel (HCG), but cancel a transfer back this week. I was however on 4 hour pain killers, as the pain was building up (in both my ovary and backs - I could actually feel the ovaries through my skin - that was weird). The reason they avoid using HCG - is pregnancy hormone makes OHSS worse. There is heaps on how OHSS works, and if anyone wants me to explain, let me know and I will post a hopefully easy to read explanation.
I triggered that night at 11pm, and by Friday night I was actually starting to feel better. I think not stimming anymore just helped my body relax a little. On Saturday I got my son ready (my wonderful mum came and took him for the day), got myself ready and then we went to the hospital. The pain was starting to build up again, and I was very uncomfortable. At the same time I was admitted, my husband did his thing. I never actually saw him again, and found out from the embryologist that they had a sample. I had to sign some documents, and was taken to a room to change. I then saw the embryologist - who checked all my paperwork. She was actually surprised they were not doing a fresh transfer based on my estrogen levels, but I am so happy we are doing a FET (frozen embryo transfer). The doctor doing the retrieval was not my doctor, and I got two seconds with him saying when did you trigger and running out the door again (not so impressed with his bedside manner, he may not have been my doctor, but he could have been a little nicer). My anaesthesiologist came in, checked me out (he is lovely, same guy who did my d&c last year) and was happy I could proceed even with the cold. I was taken into the surgical room, via the laboratory where I had to confirm who I was (a small part of me misses the lab - and it was cool to see it in action), and jumped onto the bed. There were two huge stirrups which was kind of intimidating. The anaesthesiologist put a line into my hand and started to inject fluids to put me to sleep. There were a lot of people in the OR, but the next minute I woke up in recovery.
This is where things didn't go as well for me (as usual). The first thing I asked for was some pain relief. The pain was that bad. I got some meds in my canular, but it didn't help much. I ended up getting the full dose, and oral pain relief, and it did help to a point but I was still in pain. I also found it very hard to open my eyes and wake up. It was a real struggle. When they finally sat me up, I started to shake all over - and once I ate something, that settled a little. In between all of this the doctor came and said they got 30 eggs. That was it (his patients he spoke to - would have been nice to have had something else from him) When I was ready to go home, they got me to sit in a chair for ten minutes. Within a few minutes I started feeling nauseous, shaky and faint, with tingling in my mouth. They took my blood pressure, which was fine, but I got worse and they had to lay me down. They then gave me an anti-nausea med and let me lay there for a few minutes. The nurse told me I had gone grey. I was then able to sit up and go home. I fell asleep the minute I got home and kept up the pain meds.
Pretty much everything hurt. It seems with ER you can either be absolutely fine, or be terrible. They don't quite warn you how bad it is. Or how much time you need to recover. Some of the things I found out:
- It hurts to pee. Firstly it was like a UTI feeling, but then it was just my poor swollen ovaries feeling it. It still hurts three days later.
- You won't poo for a few days. It took two days with me, and this hurt. You can not push at all without extreme pain.
- If you have IBS expect it to play up. I had one of the worst attacks I have ever had (and I rarely get them), so much so my husband was about to take me to the hospital. This was brought on by my lack of ability to go to the bathroom, combined with the pain I already had. Yeah. Not nice.
- The more eggs, the more pokes, the more pain. Heat packs are your friend.
- Two days to recover at least, lots of bed rest. Good thing is a good sleep normally worked wonders with my recovery.
- I still had spotting two days later.
- You will bloat! I don't think I have bloated as badly as some others, and I expect it to start disappearing either when the HCG from the trigger leaves my body or I get AF. My stomach did feel very hard.
- You will be gassy. This gas will hurt. This gas will not want to leave you.
- You will struggle to eat. All those inflamed organs, they don't want too much.food
There are some great sites on what they don't tell you about egg retrieval. I wish I had read them earlier. For now, three days post-op, I am still in pain (still on pain meds and heat packs - I bought it to work with me). Finding it hard to walk long distances without feeling ill, and generally better, but not great. So I am super happy we are holding off putting those babies back in. I will have one month off, to let everything settle down, and then we will do a transfer back. Not sure how that all works yet, but once I do will update you all.
Now is the waiting to see how many make it to freeze. Even if 50% make it, that is still 10 embabies we have. Still amazed by it all. I know that as hard as this cycle is, we have had an amazing outcome, and we are very lucky to have got this far with so many.
Sunday 3 August 2014
Fertilization report
I'm still recovering from the ER, so again a short post. Normally with a fert report, they will tell you how many fertilized the next day. As that was Sunday, I had to wait an extra day. Good news was -20 fertilized and still going strong!! I don't expect all will get to day 5 freeze, but I'm super amazed this 37 year old PCOS body did so well. Makes this process worthwhile (and hopefully something I won't have to ever do again!!). Will write all about the last few days when I'm up to it!
Friday 1 August 2014
All done.
This will be short and sweet. When I'm feeling up to it I'll post about it - but my egg retrieval went really well and they got 30 eggs. Crazy number. Not feeling so good, but wanted to let you all know! Will update on Monday about the procedure and fertilization report!
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