Sydney IVF - anyone been there?

DH and I are seriously looking into IVF as we're now (almost) onto cycle 13 which will be our 5th round of clomid (1 failed IUI).

I have heard that Sydney IVF are very good. We live in North Queensland so I'm keen to gather as much info as I can before we decide whether or not to travel down there.

I am seeing an FS here but they are quite limited with regards to opening hours and the days they can do procedures (eggs harvested on Mondays only and implanted on Fridays only for example).

Thanks in advance :grouphug:

Yup we were with SIVF this time last year :) What do you want to know?!

There were no time limitations on anything with them, if transfer had to be done on a Sunday at 5pm then it would happen on a Sunday at 5pm. Blood tests & ultrasounds throughout the cycle are done between 7am & 9am to allow people to go to work after & then you get the results & further instructions around 2pm the same day. We had our egg collection on a Wednesday morning & embryo transfer on Monday morning.

One thing that SIVF does that tends to be different to a lot of other clinics is that 95% of the time they will transfer blastocysts, where others will transfer earlier. A blastocyst is the embryo at five days, it has to many cells to count & to get to that point it has to be a "perfect" embryo & therefore is more likely to turn into a pregnancy. The only time that they will transfer before five days is if the embryos are not looking great & there aren't many of them, say there are only two and they aren't dividng as fast as they should be. In this case they'd do the transfer earlier as they'd have a better chance at survival within the body IYKWIM.

Sarah - thanks for the information. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what IVF involves and how we're going to be able to time it what with living so far away from Sydney.

DH has healthy swimmers (millions of them, plus he already has 3 children) and I am ovulating fine on clomid.

I guess what I'm really asking is how long do you think we'd need to spend in Sydney to have the IVF? I work full time and DH has his own business so our time away from home is slightly limited. Obviously we'll fit round it some how but I'm wondering if there's some way we can start the process up here then fly down for egg collection/implantation?

I have looked at their website and Dr Alison Gee looks nice. Do you know anything about her?

Thanks again for your help, it's good to be able to talk to someone

I don't know anything about Alison Gee, sorry, we were with Derek Lok as he speciailises more in MFI which is what our issues was (is).

If you could work it to get your cycle checks (BTs & ultrasounds) done in QLD and also your meds organised through someone locally then you'd really be able to get away with a week in Sydney max. Come down for the egg collection then stay & relax for the five days until the embryo transfer. Now if you can't organise to do things through a QLD clinic & then come down just for the final bits you'd be looking at roughly four to five weeks. It depends on how your body reacts to the meds which is a big unknown on your first cycle. If you respond really well, like I did, you can have egg collection fairly early (mine was on day 23) but a friend of mine had hers at around day 30 as she took longer to respond to her drugs. So for us it was a total of 28 days from the first injection to the day of embryo transfer, my friend's cycle was 35 days. After the embryo transfer there aren't anymore tests etc until the BT with a yes or no answer, this is done 12 days after the transfer.

Hi Lou Lou

There are clinics in Qld you may also want to look into. Monash have clinics in Nth, Central and Sth Qld, and Qld Fertility Group have them in Cairns, Townsville and Mackay. It pays to shop around a bit as costs can really vary. I can also understand it being limited in regional areas like you mentioned regarding dates for transfers etc. But they still may be worth considering.

In my experience SIVF is the most expensive in Australia. They also require a full up front payment which not all clinics do (that is you pay for the Medicare portion of the cycle as well as the out of pocket costs and then get that and your Safety Net out of pocket payment back up to 8 weeks later).

There can be other costs associated with day treatments which vary from clinic to clinic. If you have private health insurance you need to check if you will be covered for the procedure with the clinic/hospital you are going through. I went through SIVF in Canberra and got hit with a few unexpected costs that I haven't had to through Monash.

There are other clinics that do blastocyst transfer (eg Monash). There may be others on BB to give you good advice of other clinics around. Also if you need to do more than one cycle (a realistic possibility for everybody) you need to factor in costs associated with travel, accommodation more cycles etc. You may also be required to be available for tests etc in that town over a period of days/week. I have found doing a cycle near family (ie I cycle in Melbourne but live in canberra) to be helpful.

I hope that is helpful.
Wishing you all the best.
xx

What Dusty and Sarah said.

Can I also add that based on the info you've provided (duration of TTC, no sperm issues and you are now ovulating) I'd seriously consider to continue trying as you are for at least another 6 months. Don't go down the IVF route unless you have to. Just because it's been over 12 months doesn't mean all hope is lost. In fact I'd say in your situation you've got a lot of hope.

Sarah - thanks for your help. A week or 10 days in Sydney would be fine with work but 3 or 4 weeks would be a lot harder so it's good to know there are possibilities I can work around. I have ordered the SIVF info pack so I'll have a look at that with DH when it arrives.

Dusty - I am currently with Dr Miller at the QLD Fertility Group. He is very good but I'm just worried about the rigid timetable with IVF there. One of my colleagues had to go on the pill again for 6 weeks to get her cycles in line with their egg collection times. I'm not sure I could deal with that. Thanks for the info about other clinics too. I'll definitely be looking into other options with DH before we decide.

Slyder - I should have mentioned my time limit in my first post, sorry. I have bad arthritis and have been allowed 12 months off my tablets (not baby friendly ones) to TTC. I am now approaching cycle 13 which I guess is why I'm getting a feeling it more this cycle thank others. I think if I didn't have the arthritis then I'd be ok with another 6 or 12 months. My choices are therefore:

1. Give up on TTC (nooooo!!!)
2. Go back on BCPs for a year (so I can start my arthritis tablets) and try again later (I am 34 and not keen on this option)
3. Carry on doing everything I can to get UTD and hope I don't cause my body more damage simply exisiting on steroids alone

My spotting has stopped today but I still have AF cramps. I just feel very confused.

Thank you to everyone for helping me out - it's good to hear about your experiences and I really appreciate the time you've taken to reply to me :grouphug:

No worries Lou, I see where you're coming from. Good luck with whatever you both choose :)

hi lou we also go through sivf but we do our in newcastle as its a bit closer for us as we travel 4.5hours every time we go and i have to agree its totally worth the travel and everything else they are just wonderful and i would recomend
good luk to you

hi..we go through SIVF too, also in Newcastle (we leave three hours from there, and travel down). They've been very good and caring.

Smithy - thanks for the feedback, they do seem like a really good IVF centre from what I've read and what people have said here on BB. I'm waiting for the DVD to arrive so hopefully we'll gain more of an understanding of the process once we've watched it.

Possums - thanks also for the info, so far it's a thumbs up for SIVF :).

Update - I rang SIVF earlier and they said I can have the monitoring done in Cairns and the egg collection etc. done down there so that will probably work out well. I am going to make an appointment with my FS to discuss this asap. Hopefully he won't be offended - I just don't want to have to go on the pill again for 6 weeks to bring my cycle in line with their surgery days (impatient!).

Also, I got my progesterone results back today - they were 93 which is the highest I've ever had (plus I had it done 5DPO, CD20 so I was expecting a lower result) so at least I know the clomid is making me O. I am still spotting (4 days now) which clearly isn't normal (well I don't think it is).

Thanks again to everyone for your help :grouphug:

Hey Lou,

Did you make a decision about going with SIVF?

I am with Sydney IVF with Dr Lok. It is my first round and so far so good. I have found them to be:
? efficient without being cold
? available and approachable ? both Dr Lok and the nurses at the clinic

I have found that they are not too over the top with information??..to try to explain that better??. I have felt overwhelmed by the whole thing ? I never expected to have to take this path in order to conceive and I have since come to embrace it.

In terms of the nurses and Dr Lok not being OTT on the info - I mean that it seems to me that they are not trying to tell you every single thing in one session. Obviously they tell you what you need to know, but they are very welcoming to phone calls to ask a question or double check on dosage etc.

I have found all the staff to have a sense of humour, patience, genuine concern for my well-being and state of mind. I haven?t met with the counsellors for a full session there yet, but at our initial meeting (when I kind of lost the plot a bit) on of the counsellors came in to just say hi and introduce herself. She was lovely and I think just knowing that she is there is a comfort.

In terms of cost we just decided to go with what our GP thought would be the best chance for us to overcome our obstacles ? we were initially referred to IVF Australia for sperm tests and subsequently referred to SIVF after the results were in (anti-sperm antibodies @ 100% binding).

So far Dr Lok has been pretty accurate with predicting when things are going to happen ? down to the day I got my period after starting Lucrin. My timeline went and is continuing as follows:

09/07/2008 ? 25/07/2008 ? on the Pill
23/07/08 ? started Lucrin
01/08/2008 ? start FSH

04/08/2008 ? BT
06/08/2008 ? BT & US
08/08/2008 ? BT & US

Approx dates:

11/8/08 ? egg collection


I wish you all the best and I?m not sure how well you know Sydney, but if you need any recommendations on things to do and see in Sydney when you are here for collection/transfer ? let me know. I?d be happy to oblige.

Nixon - thanks so much for the information, I really have my fingers crossed for you :crossfingers:

Sadly since I first looked into IVF, DH and I have decided to stop TTC. It's a bit complicated but it's not the right time for us. I don't know when will be.

I am of course heart broken but to be fair, it was my decision as I can't bring a child into the world unless it has a happy household to live in and at the moment, DH and I can't provide that :(

Dr Lok sounds fantastic and if we do tread the TTC path again, I shall definitely be visiting Sydney IVF.

Thanks to everyone else for your support. I am a BB addict so will continue to lurk, even though I'm not TTC anymore :grouphug:

Lol im an addict too! Im so sorry you have to put your family on hold but im sure you have done it for all the right reasons. We did IVF thru Westmead ivf and it was so much more cheaper then anywhere else cause its a non profit organisation. Good luck in the future XX

Lou Lou, I am sorry to hear things are so rosy for you at the moment. Use BB if you need to, we are good for leaning on and providing support. Don't feel you have to stick to the LTTTC threads either, there are other support or vent threads that may help you too.
xx
BTW being a bit OT and girlie here but I love your avatar particularly the psychedelic background. One of my favs!