Beta #2 Test Day

Another blood test and another excruciating wait.

I finally got the call to say that the hormone level has more than doubled. It has gone from 99 to 220! The clinic are happy with this and do not need to see me again until my 7 week scan.  Tears of relief!!! Still a long way to go, but it seems this scare is over.

Home Testing day

Words just can't describe how I feel. I won't even try.

The photo says it all .....

The 2ww is over

Finally, it's Saturday evening and my Two Week Wait ends tomorrow. Many women say this is the hardest part. I wasn't surprised to hear that, and now I have experienced it I can see why. It's a very emotional time and you feel so helpless just 'waiting' for your miracle to happen. The not knowing really challenges your sanity!

The Progesterone jabs in to the muscle didn't help, the sore muscle sensation lasts for days, and of course you have another shot before it has stopped hurting. This didn't help with the sleeping, because as soon as I roll over in bed, it hurts and wakes me up!

Overall I think I've done pretty well. Thursday was difficult, I felt a bit lonely. Hubby worked from home on the Friday so having someone around again made things easier. I'm not working at the moment, which physically is probably a really good thing, I must admit I have felt a bit exhausted at certain times of the day. It is a weird energy less fatigued feeling. Emotionally it would have been good to be working as I'd have to focus on something else and would have been around people more.

I have listened to a relaxing CD as I go to sleep and as I wake up, I've tried to stay as calm and relaxed as possible. I've already cut out alcohol completely and switched to decaff tea and coffee. I have eaten as I normally would, but tried to eat more fruit and never skip breakfast or lunch.

Most importantly I have tried to stay positive and believe that this can happen for me, and we can beat the odds. I have told myself I am pregnant, and hubby has given me three kisses instead of one every single time he has kissed me since we had the embryos implanted.

I have had no symptoms apart from a very slight sensation as if my period is due. That could just be because my uterus wall is really thick and full. I had a very slight queasy feeling whilst eating Friday night and then again at lunchtime today. I know the various drugs can have side effects, but seems a bit late for them to start now. As soon as I felt that slight queasiness I felt so happy as it helped my belief that this might just have worked. Overall though I feel very normal.

We have bought two home pregnancy tests. Hubby has hidden them so I don't have to struggle to fight temptation to test before tomorrow. I now feel very nervous ......

Friday 28th - Big news

I phoned and spoke to a nurse today, I seem to be reacting badly to the Crinone Gel. I've probably put up with the discomfort longer than I should have done. Looks like it's a side effect rather than something that is expected. The clinic faxed a prescription of an alternative Progesterone drug (Cyclogest) to my local pharmacy which I picked up to start using this evening. I hope the soreness wears off quickly. Very unpleasant!!

As we drove away from the pharmacy we then got the all important phonecall....

We have FIVE Embryos from our 13 which do not have Treacher Collins Syndrome. Hmmm so much for 50-50 odds, but hey, what a result! I was so scared the call would tell us they all had it. There were tears of joy, but got myself under control very quickly after Hubby reminded me there's still a heck of a hill to climb yet!

We have a chance!! ET tomorrow 10:30

Biopsy Day

We got a call yesterday to say we had 4 top quality and 3 good quality!

Today we had some good news, given that we are against the odds because we can lose embryos at each stage, we had our 7 'frosties' thawed, and only 1 has not survived. So add this to our 7 fresh ones, we have 13 to be biopsied.

I was so pleased when they told me that they were able to biopsy all 13 embryos, and all had survived. So tomorrow is the big day for PGD testing. Should hear Saturday, there's a small chance we might hear late in the day Friday.

Tomorrow is going to be tough!!!

Hubby knew I was feeling a bit 'lost' yesterday. Its a weird feeling, waiting for phonecalls with such important news and knowing the fate of your little embryos are in the hands of others. He arrived home with a lovely bunch of roses. :)

Cycle 3 begins

As I predicted, AF arrived yesterday so I had my baseline scan today. All is ok, and I start the drugs tonight. Protocol slightly different this time. Merional instead of Menopur, and instead of 225 & 225 split, I'll be taking 300 Merional and 150 Gonal F

Cetrotide will start later, at least after Cycle Day 7 and Zomacton growth hormone starts tonight and then alternate days.

The Strange thing about Merional is it comes as a powder vial and solution (just like menopur) but rather than mix up a batch and use it over 2-3 days, I need to mix 4 just to get enough to make up my 300 because it comes in such small quantities.

And we're off ...!

PGD Workup completed!!

An important phonecall today!

Found out our PGD TEST is now completed ! This is a major milestone. Total time from our blood being taken (Tuesday 12th Dec 2011) and this news is 7 1/2 months. Am pleased with that :)

The next step is to have my dummy embryo transfer and 3D SIS. this needs to be between day 6-14 of my next cycle. (Next cycle is due 15th August)

All being well I would then start Primolut again on CD14, and injections on the following cycle. We need to get another three embryos! This would be done as a fresh cycle, not freezing like the last two. Our 7 frosties will be thawed and tested along with any that we get in cycle three.

We still have a long way to go, but I now feel like we are at least at the startline....

Next stage of PGD testing

I have received some tubes for some more blood samples. The hospital is ready to move on to the next stage of the PGD test which is to test on single cells. They need the blood to be fresh to do this and have asked to receive the blood on 24th April. We can get the blood taken locally and post it.

We will hand deliver, rather than rely on the postal service! This is great news as it looks like things are moving forward! I'm not sure how long this stage takes, but I think it is less than what has been done so far.

Quality!

I just had a call from the clinic, once again all the fertilised eggs are top quality. All surviving, and the embryologist said "They couldn't be doing any better at this stage".

So pleased!

Below are the two IVF protocols together:  33 injections this cycle!

Round Two!

It has been a while since my last update, not down to lack of activity! I have just completed another IVF cycle. I don't want this blog to be cumbersome for anyone to read from the beginning, so I don't plan to repeat things I've already experienced and blogged before.

I had my egg collection yesterday. The main difference with my protocol on this cycle was taking the growth hormone from the start. I was also switched to a higher dose of Menopur and lower dose of Gonal F a couple of days earlier. My trigger drug was Pregnyl last time, but Ovitrelle this time. I preferred it because it was in a prefilled pen!

There was a slight concern again that the follicles were small. Perhaps mine just like to put on a spurt at the end! My last scan on Sunday showed 5 follicles on LHS (one was too small) and 2 very small follicles, maybe 3 on RHS.

Egg Collection was a breeze this time. I felt completely fine. I'm a little bloated/swollen, but no pain at all. We got 8 eggs collected, which was a wonderful surprise. I was hoping for more embryos this time. 4 have fertilised (last cycle was 3). We'll find out the quality tomorrow and they will be frozen Friday. Fingers crossed for 100% survival rate !

Until tomorrow ...

One more jab ....

It's Sunday, CD14, and the day before EC (Egg Collection) Are ya keeping up with the acronyms? I still see lots of them on twitter I don't know yet!

Pregnyl jab done 1 am this morning. My tummy is quite sore, feels a bit bruised. But other than that I'm feeling fine. I have been weighing myself nearly everyday, and my weight this morning was 1.7kg more than yesterday morning. I noticed last night when I put tights on getting ready to go out that my legs seemed larger. Wonder if there's a little water retention going on?

One more injection of Cetrotide tonight, and nil by mouth from midnight.

I have worked out that at the end of today I will have had 31 injections and 6 blood tests in 13 days!

Wish me luck!!

Some good news and some bad news

The good news is that my LH is back within the safe limits. The bad news is one follicle is out of the picture. It is still 10mm which means, I think, that it is empty. Either way it isn't counted, so we are left with five.

The largest is 17.5mm and I think the smallest two are 14.5mm. The doctor, Malini this time (yes, it does sound a bit like Melanie, we didn't hear wrong) told me they measure two ways, and take the average to give the overall size. Hubby took a picture of the screen while she was doing the measurements and you can see the measuring lines across the follicle.

When we then saw the nurse (Kiwi Kate today), we were told I needed to have an extra Menopur 375, Gonal F 75 and Zomacton (growth hormone) right away. Talk about pressure! I am used to being able to take my time, but I now had to do it there and then! Another blood test, and we were on our way. We'll get a call later, and it is likely I will be told to take the Pregnyl, and another dose of Cetrotide. The injections I had just done could not be done at the same time as the Pregnyl, hence doing them immediately.

I think there was some question about whether to continue, due to the low number of follicles. I am disappointed, yes, I know you only need one, but of course the lower the number at this stage, the lower the odds are of you having one at the last stage!

Its seems a lot to go through for just 5, but having done this much, I don't want to stop now.

Egg Retrieval likely to be Monday.

I think today is the first day I am feeling anxious. Not sure whether it is because egg retrieval is near ("Fear of the Unknown"), or if it is concern about the low number of follicles, or if it's excitement. Probably a mixture of all the above.

Physically I still feel fine, although my stomach is starting to get sore where I have had so many injections.

I have just had 'the phonecall' as I type this. Another Cetrotide shot today and tomorrow and I need to do the Pregnyl injection tonight (well, tomorrow morning) 1am. Egg Collection will be Monday between midday and 2pm, so I need to arrive at the hospital 10am. I will be 'put to sleep' (isn't that what you do to a sick animal?!). It is a deep drug induced sleep and I wont be aware or feel anything, but is not as deep as a general anaethetic.

Medication Arrives

My medication has arrived! Lots of little boxes, two sharps bins and a black zipper bag labelled 'Multi Dose'.

A delivery note itemised the contents, so I carefully checked this before putting the items needing refrigeration in our spare fridge (thank goodness we have one!).

Since then I have been checking the contents list against the notes I made on Tuesday to determine which medication is for each stage and when I start taking it.

I've managed to figure out most of it, not sure why we have two different sharps bins, and the bag labelled 'Multi Dose' is a mystery. Handy little bag though! :)

Some of the boxes state when the medicine should be taken, some don't. Those that do don't match what my notes say! There is also a box of 8 tablets I was not expecting

I am sure all will be confirmed as I go along, but I can imagine this might concern some people. I expected it to be much clearer than it is.

What I now know in addition to my previous post (http://tcspgd.blogspot.com/2011/12/ivf-consultation-day.html) ....

• Primolut is also known as Norethisterone, and is a progesterone tablet.
• The stimulation drugs I will be taking are Menopur & Gonal (both injections, both needing refrigeration). These are known as Gonadotrophins and should be taken in the evenings.
• Cetrotide (Cetrorelix) needs to be taken until the day after the one-off injection. Looks like this starts on day 6, not day 1 as I was told.
• The final one-off injection is Pregnyl. This is an injection of hGC and has arrived as two separate doses which must be taken together.
• The extra unexpected box is called Doxycycline, antibiotics to be taken during the stimulation injection phase to clear potential infection prior to egg collection. Once daily for 8 days starting 7th day of injections.

I'll need to book a lesson on the injections, so perhaps we'll find out more about the sharps bins then.

One thing that surprised me was how 'medical' it all looks. This may sound daft, but it looks like the kind of equipment you would find in a hospital, it hasn't been packaged as if for amateurs like me! I'll put pictures up as we start each medication. Hubby suggested that they should probably show patients the packaging and syringes etc whilst you are at the hospital so that it doesn't look quite so daunting when you receive it. We at least have had to deal with injections and sharps bins before because of our diabetic cat! I am slightly concerned that Hubby is going to try to grab me by the scruff of the neck to give me my jabs!! :))

Lots of reading ... and telling the parents!

I've been reading through some of the information we were given on Tuesday. There are consent forms for various things and they are also making sure we understand any risks, and of course that at each stage or procedure the results are not guaranteed. There is information about freezing (Cryopreservation), Dummy Embryo Transfer, Assisted Zona Hatching and Blastocyst Embryo Transfer. I'm going to sit down with Hubby Saturday and go through it all.

We've now brought my parents up to date now it's all going ahead. I feel better now they know. Being so close I didn't like keeping it from them. They are very pleased, they know it's been a very long wait getting the funding, but obviously a little worried for us too. I guess we have to get the balance between being positive and hopeful, yet remain realistic and accept chances of success are quite low.

When I told Mum she mentioned she had been thinking its been a while since she'd had the chance to hold a new baby. Still a long way off Mum, but I hope we can give you that pleasure !!

We haven't told Hubbys parents yet. I will let him decide when he wants to do that. They don't know much about my TCS, and have never really asked about that or us having children so I don't think they are aware (yet!) of what we will need to do. Lucky for us all our parents are already grandparents, so there's not too much pressure there ! :))

IVF Consultation Day

We had our appointment with Dr Paul Serhal today at 12. I deliberately made our blood test for the PGD workup earlier so we could get it out of the way. We arrived at 11am and had our blood taken at the same time by two nurses - 3 vials each by Nathalie and a name I didn't quite catch (Tahlia)? I was sitting up for the blood test and was fine.

We went over to the Alexandra Wing and sat in the waiting room filling out lots of forms and signing every page. I was so pleased that Karen Fordham popped in for a chat while we were there. I asked her the question that has been bugging me for a couple of days... Will I have 3 IVF cycles whilst waiting for the PGD workup to be completed (which can take 1 year) and have 3 lots of embryos (if we get any!) frozen. Usually I guess you would only go for another cycle if the first has failed. Karen understood where I was coming from completely and she had also be considering this. She suggested I mention to to Dr Serhal, but advised us to see how the first cycle goes. We'll have a better idea of chances and progress once the egg collection and fertilization is done.

Dr Serhal was friendly and reassuring, and I loved the fact that he had a montage of baby pictures 'successes' on his wall. I said it must be so rewarding when he can help couples fulfil their desire to become parents, he agreed strongly and added that it was equally frustrating when things didn't succeed.

He asked me a few medical history questions and when my next cycle was due to start. He then talked us through the medication I needed to take:

Next cycle:

Day 14: (should be about 4th Jan) - start taking Primolut tables twice a day morning and night up to and including day 25 (prevents ovarian cysts and regulates hormone levels)

New cycle:

Day 1-7: Cetrotide injections (Block ovaries, prevents egg release)
Day 1-3 Visit CRGH for a scan, to confirm ok to start stimulation drugs
Day 3: Injection to produce eggs (didn't say the name of these) for about 10-11 days
During this time I need to go in for regular scans and blood tests to check hormone levels and follicle development.
Day 14: (ish) Once scan determines all is ready I need to take 1 final (different) injection
40 hours precisely after the final injection, Eggs collection occurs. This piece therefore has to be carefully timed and coordinated.

We agreed the dummy embryo transfer which would normally occur before treatment would wait until we are just before the real transfer stage. No point in doing it now to determine everything is ok, because things may change in a years time.

We then saw Marion who talked us through the drugs in a little more detail, but she was not sure what stimulating drug I would be on. It could be a combination of two (this would mean 3 injections in total on some days!) We can go in for a lesson on the injections nearer the time. One of them would be a 'pen' style, the others would be syringes. (I wonder why the difference?!)

Our drugs would be delivered to our home address, we will get a phonecall soon.

They then took more blood!! This was for a health screen which must be done before any of the treatment.

I left feeling more excited than scared. Everyone was very nice and helpful, so I feel like we will be in safe hands :)

We now have lots of information to read and many more forms to fill in!

IVF consultation booked

Just a quick post today. I phoned the hospital to make an appointment for IVF consultation. We're booked in for midday next Tuesday (13th December). We'll have the blood tests beforehand. At least next Tuesday we will then have more of an idea what's coming. Am I now going to be an emotional wreck over Christmas and New Year!?

One step backwards, two steps forwards!

The meeting happened, and they have a plan.

Karen phoned me as promised even though it was late in her day. I'm sure it's more appealing to work late when you are giving more positive news than like the last phonecall she made to me!

They will start the IVF side of things as soon as possible, before my levels get any lower. The resulting embryos (assuming there are some) will then be frozen until the PGD test has been developed. We will have to fund this ourselves, and freezing embryos does reduce chances of success a little, but it's possibly better than to risk my Ovarian reserve being lower in a years time.

So the AMH level is still an issue, but at least we're getting a shot at it.

Feeling relieved and slightly unprepared! This bit wasn't supposed to be happening yet. No idea what to expect or what drugs are involved.

Next step is to speak to hubby, check we're happy to fund the extra (no brainer, he said as much too!) and then make an appointment to see an IVF consultant. I could start treatment on my next cycle, which would be around 23rd December.

Some success

Well I ended up being so nervous, mainly because I had little idea what to expect, apart from having a blood test, which is not something you'd really look forward to anyway!


We got to the unit on time, just before 4pm. We waited, there seed to be some confusion, although we gave our names when we arrived, the information had not been passed to the person who needed to know. I heard my mobile number being read out, then my bag started to vibrate. I looked up and saw the receptionist on the phone, she started to leave me a voicemail asking where my husband was as he had not turned up for his 4pm appointment!!

Hubby went off to 'produce' as they so nicely put it, so I realised as my appointment was now due, I'd be on my own. I was called soon after into a room which had what I could see was a screen from an ultrasound scan, and what looked like half a bed / stretcher. There appeared to be lots of gadgets, and something standing tall and proud and looked like something from an Anne Summers store! The internal scan turned out to be totally painless, but sadly inconclusive. Looks like I am too far into my cycle, so will have to come back next month. No blood test today.

I felt relieved, and won't have any worries about going back there next month. Hope to get results of Hubby's analysis on Monday or Tuesday.

A day out

Off to see a play tonight. Hubby took the day off so we could spend the day in London. I guess quite convenient really. We hadn't planned a hospital visit, we had in mind coffees, museums, galleries, lunch and dinner! Am now on the train on the way into town. Our appointment at CRGH is at 4pm.