IVF with PGD #2

BW: Thanks for the info on ICSI. I'll be interested to hear FS take on it knowing that.

WTH: Thank you for the luck! I'm on day five of FSH today, what about you? FS at QFG is FS3 (who I went to after a debacle with FS2 at Monash IVF/ACA, the long version of that story is on my webpage), and his preference is Gonal-F instead of Puregon (which was FS2's preference). I found a study yesterday that said the difference is that while the two are both recombinant FSH preparations, Gonal-F is FSH-A (FSH, or follitropin, alpha) and Puregon is FSH-B (follitropin beta); FSH-A consistently shows better pregnancy rates than FSH-B, and I'm assuming that that's why FS3 has chosen it as his preference. Either that or it's cheaper from their supplier. :D

WTH - glad your follie numbers are looking on track. It is interesting to see the spread between ovaries. My "dominant" side always changes from one side to the next. Guess its like a natural cycle when they ususally take it in turns.
Re flare cycle - I am not 100% but i am fairly sure a flare cycle is when FSH and and "agonist" eg Lucrin are started together rather than the agonist starting with the whole downregulation process so NOT quite the same as orgalutron/antagonist cycle.

Sara - hope today is a better day and you are looking after yourself. When do you see FS again?

Kel - I would have to agree with BW. Personally, i would go with the au natural fertilisation. YOu have had several pregnancies so obviously there is no natural fertilisation issues. ICSI may only increase the potential damage to your eggies and there is still PGD to put them through once theye become embies. My last PGD cycle we just went standard insemination and got very good results.
Will do the same this time. Interesting stuff about gonalF vs puregon. I may be synical but I wonder if the higher pg rate stats are put out by the makers of GonalF. Stats really can be twisted to suit whatever wants to be heard. I have always used puregon and had several pregnancies. Only one has been successful but obviously not the FSH fault.

Not much to report here. Day 2 of FSH and feels all a bit repetative already. Was signing some consent forms last night and noticed with some despair that this is our 9th cycle with Monash IVF.... never thought I'd be in that kind of "bracket"!

Meredith: The follitropin study was independent, but you can never be quite sure who it was requested by. Thanks for the input re: ICSI, too. I hope the injections don't keep feeling so cumbersome for you, it'll be over in a few days. :hug:

AFM, time is just continuing to drag by, which is making me feel a bit :angry::rofl::D:pray:, if that explains it :redface:. I'm an impatient control freak at the best of times, so the waiting is what kills me! I have some swelling and discomfort in the lower part of my pelvis (and, sorry for the TMI :tmi:, terrible constipation), but nothing as bad as last time. I can't get over how thirsty I am, though; I'm drinking anywhere up to six litres of water a day! :o

Hi girls,

My FS explained the flare cycle like Meredith did, you just do one day on Lucrin and then start FSH. I did the Cycle with Orgalutan (it's really expensive isn't it was quite chocked when I bough my first doas aas it was $90 and I used 8 altogether). In any case it worked for me and will probably do the same type of cycle next time.

WTH: Great news about follicle numbers!

Meredith: Good luck with jabbing.

Kel: Please dont answer if you don't wnat to but I am a bit confused. To me it was explained that we had to do ICSI as otherwise it is possible that a second sperm tries to fertilise an already fertilised egg which could cause a wrong diagnose for PGD. I am also wondering that you can only use 1 in 6 embryos :hug:
For me it's one in two as I have a dominant condition and my partner does not have it.
Good luck on Monday

:hello: BW & CP & Buliej

I am feeling pretty weird this morning. Going back to work was a bit traumatic. I think I was/am feeling much worse than I admit to myself. I told my male co-worker what was going on and he nearly started to cry. Then I had the mad idea to tell my manager. I thought previously it would be better not to tell as you never know to what conclusions they come if they know you might take maternity leave at some stage but I had taken four sick leave days in the last two weeks and thought it would be better for her to know as I'll have to do the same thing all over again. Anyway I told her it was IVF and she reacted okay to that, said one of her former collegeagues had done IVF etc and then started to ask about my condition, anyway I told her that I had had an abortion as the baby was affected, she said " thanks for sharing", got up and ended the meeting. I realise that it probably was inappropriate to tell her but I just felt awful at that moment and ever since :wall:
Now I am also scared that the whole thing will get around to my former partner who works at the same place ( I was with him during the time of the abortion), we have a good relationship but I don't want him to know about doing IVF now. If he had been a bit more open to IVF I would have children know, he absolutely didn't want to hear of IVF and so we tried naturally with the devastating result and broke up afterwards.

Sara

Sara: ICSI's an optional extra for us at our clinic. We've been told that we would only have to do it if there were sperm count and/or motility problems, but that it can increase your fertilisation rates. I don't know anything about the second sperm trying to fertilise an egg, I'm afraid, but I'll ask on Monday. The "rule of six" is a geneticists statistical way of looking at viable embryo rates in balanced translocation pregnancies; statistically, one in six embryos will be normal, viable embryos, one in six will have my balanced translocation and be viable, and the other four in six will be aneuploid (monosomy or trisomy) and will either be viable but affected and have Angelman, Prader-Willi, and Patau Syndrome (because the chromosomes involved are 13 and 15) or will not survive (always in the case of monosomy, and more likely with trisomy than live birth). This doesn't mean that if we get 12 eggs we're guaranteed to have two normal viable, two balanced viable, and eight unbalanced/affected embryos, it's just the statistical way of looking at it. With PGD they can't tell the difference between normal and balanced embryos, either, so we could have with a baby (God willing) with my translocation, but if we could avoid that I would (I wouldn't want my children going through what we're going through now). I hope you're feeling better soon, too. I'm sure that if your manager has any sense she won't discuss your situation with anyone within your office, especially not someone who may confide in your ex-partner. :comfort:

Hi ladies,

My next FS appointment is tomorrow morning at 0630, and it feels like forever away. I've been pretty uncomfortable (physically) for the weekend so I'm hoping that the positive spin on that is lots of follicles, not just that I am hypersensitive to anything going on with my ovaries. I'm actually really nervous. I don't want him to tell me to come back in a couple of days for another scan and then he can tell us what's going on then, IYKWIM; I want to know tomorrow when the EPU, PGD and ET are going to be, and I hope that's what happens. I feel a bit all over the place, actually, and I've not exactly been a peach this weekend (poor DH).

Kel - Such a tough journey to try a get that 1 or 2 "good" embies. Just think, you made it into the world with presumably no ART so there is great chance with all that you are doing. Just hope you get lots of eggies to choose from. Hoping tomorrow goes well.

Sara - Don't be to hard on yourself. You are entilted to be a mess right now. YOu need time to grieve over what could have been and get back on track to look towards the future. Don't rush things - it may catch up with you sooner rather than later.
As for your manager. I don't think it was inappropriate to tell her your circumstances. At least you are being honest about the need for time off. It would certainly be inappropriate of her to tell anyone else you story, however. I can understand your stress. Working with the father of your lost child must be very tough.
I am amazed about the 8 doses of orgalutron.I only had 2 so cost wasn't too excessive
My clinic also doesn't recc ICSI for PGD unless deemed necessary. I did have 2 embies fertilisied by 2 sperm but they can pick that at day 2 so they never got to PGD. NO worries about "odd" results.

WTH - is your next scan Monday? Have you started orgalutron yet?

CP and Buliej - hope all is ok

AFM - just done 4th dose of FSH and really been feeling it early this time. My ovaries are aching!
First scan and BT tomorrow at 7.45am so interested to see where we are at.

Hi,

Just dropping in quickly to send a hug :hug: to Kel - Hope there will be lots of eggies tomorrow.

Meredith: thanks for being so supportive, it really helps.

Lots of :bluedust: to all of you.

Sara

Hi everyone - we have company from the States, so I haven't had much time to spend on bellybelly as we've been playing tour guide (and haven't thought about TTC too much which has been great). I hope everyone is doing ok. Those growing follicles - I hope there are many (but not too many), those in the TWW (are there any at the moment??), I send sticky vibes, and those who are trying to recover from disappointment, that takes time and hope for the next cycle. I should be able to catch up a bit more after Friday when my friend heads back home....

PS - why am I being asked to answer a random question before posting?
Julie

I think that ICSI is a requirement for PGD to exclude a single bad gene. It should not be needed for PGD to screen for cell division problems though.

Meredith: Thanks for the luck! GL with your u/s this morning, I have my FX for you.

Sara: Thanks, hon. Are you feeling any better?

AFM, I have 12 to 15 follicles in each ovary between 7 mm and 13 mm, average size 12 mm. I?m still sniffing Synarel and will still be injecting (same dose) tomorrow and Wednesday, I have another scan on Wednesday morning (at 0630 again), and our egg pickup is going to be on Friday or on Monday depending on the hormones coming back today and the ones they?ll take on Wednesday. More good news, the lining is perfect. I really wanted to know today when everything was going to be, but knowing that there?s plenty of follicles has helped to ease my mind a little bit (though not as much as I would have liked). Now all we need is one good embryo from 24 to 30 follicles; I just hope that those numbers are actually as good as they sound. I'm still feeling really anxious, so hopefully Wednesday will bring the answers.

Kellie: that's great news! Grow follies grow.

A good start to the week to everyone.

Sara

weird, did a long post but its not there! Yeah, what's this random questions?

Hello everyone, I was busy exploring my artistic side over the weekend sorry didn't get much chance to be on BB, but now I have two little paintings hanging on the upstairs family room, they are so cute. :D

Wow, great result Kel, that's a lot of follies and I hope your EPU later week will find you many good quality eggs.

Meredith, good luck with the scan, I know what you mean by repititve. I got that feeling already even this cycle started. In SIVF, you need to sign on this form before going into procedure, and I can see that my list is getting long, damn it! :o

WTH, hope you are happily jabbing and scan went well...

Sara, I am so sorry to hear you've been feeling down but it is most understandable in the aftermath. I don't think telling your manager is inapproperiate. It might be just her way to react that way, some people don't know what to say even they are trying to be supportive. Now things are in the open, you might be able to get extra support ie. leave etc. It is hard to work in the same place with your ex, but chin up girl, I hope you soon will deserve what you should have and can show off your belly soon. :hug:

Sara - awwwww :hug: It is tough facing colleagues, even friends, when the last time you saw them you were filled with such hope. I do that "last time I was here" thing (in my head) all the time. But it is good you got that first-day-back over and done with. Also good that you have that great male colleague that you are close enough to to confide in. I find my male friends a great sounding board. They always tell it like it is. It is good you will have someone there in the trenches with you who will understand and hopefully support you. As for your boss, well, if they are professional then they should keep what you said to themselves. If they are aware of your loss in the past they should be sensitive enough to leave it in the past and not spread gossip with your ex.

Kel - that is a fantastic result - you must be thrilled :clap: I've had really nasty headaches since commencing the Gonal-F, which did not happen at all while on Puregon in the other two attempts. So, if the fertilisation/growth is no better than last time, shall request Puregon if we have to go ahead with another round.

Cuddlepie - I envy your ability to paint, you clever girl :D While handy with a camera I never graduated past stick figures :rofl:. I would love to be able to express myself with a paintbrush and fancy trying it someday.

Buliej :hello: It will be great to see where you are up to when you get more time to post on Friday.

Meredith - the early days of your cycle sound promising. Looking forward to hearing your first scan result. I commenced the Orgalutron on Saturday night (Day 8 FSH) which was one day later than last cycle.

Lisa - if you are out there, looking forward to hearing your overseas BT results soon (hope you don't have to wait too much longer)

AFM - scan this morning. While there were 11 follies all up, they are mostly small. Of the potentials, there are 6 between 10mm and 16mm. I do not seem to be responding as well on this cycle on the Gonal-F (had 8 between 12mm and 18mm at this point last cycle which amounted to 7 mature eggs). So, realistically, I think I may maybe 5 eggs at EPU? Great lining - already 9mm. Now I just need to have something to put in there! Got my third accupuncture session late this afternoon so :pray: that it gives my follies a little more oomph.

Sara/CP: Thank you. We need all the luck we can get!

WTH: I just hope they all keep growing and that most of them have eggs in them! I've had headaches, too, but had put it down to inhaling the Synarel like a little huffing junkie, but maybe it's the Gonal-F instead; I don't usually get headaches (maybe once or twice a year) and I never had them on Puregon, either. :think: Do you know what day you're going in for EPU yet?

Meredith: Are you back with your results yet?

Kate/Julie/BW/Lisa: :hello:

Sara - I am so sorry for you, I know exactly how you are feeling. The roller coaster sucks hey. :hug:

WTH - Phoned the clinic the other day and results not in yet, still just hanging in there and hoping with all my might that they tell me that they couldn't find the faulty gene in Brendan and that I am not a carrier. Then we can go back to the old fashioned way. I have 2 perfectly healthy girls so a little part of me is focusing on that and that it was just bad luck and was some sort of test????

Kel - We did ICSI to boost our chances of fertilisation but even with DH's healthy swimmers, we still didn't get 100%.

Have a great day lovely ladies

Just a quick one.

WTH - don't be too concerned about the numbers - I know it's little consolation at this point but the numbers are really not so important, with all you've been doing in the last weeks and months I think the quality should be very good, so hoping for a good number of blasties for you.

About Gonal _ F I also had bad headaches when my dosage was increased to 385, so possibly it's a side effect.

Sara