This and That

I've been a bad blogger, sorry.  I'm STILL behind in catching up on reading everyone's blogs.  I'm about 3 days behind.  Haven't been commenting much, and not feeling like posting much either.  So, here's a few going ons in my life right now.

• So thankful that our Karotype test results came back normal.  It means we can try for another round of IVF, and can skip the whole donor egg discussion.  For a while there, I thought maybe it would be a good thing if the result came back abnormal.  Then we can just say screw the whole IVF thing, quit trying, and move on to adoption.  Of course I'm truly happy that's not the case.  The whole IVF thing is hard.  It's hard when there are so many unknowns.  Not knowing if it is going to work this time, after yet another failure.  All the physical, emotional and financial strains it involves.  But yes, I'm thankful for the way it turned out.
• Earlier this week, my 2 1/2-year-old goddaughter L gave me a little pot of african violets.  Just because, and as a thank you for being a special part of her life.  I'm sure it was her mom, E's idea, a little something for mother's day.  So thank you, E!  I will probably plant it outside in a planter or in the garden transfer it into a permanent indoor pot (I was just notified by E that the plant is actually an indoor plant!  Let's hope my black thumb does not kill it!).
• We refinanced our house from a 30-year to a 15-year mortgage.  No refinancing fees and we actually will pay less every month, thanks to the stimulus package.  We still have to get the final approval in the mail.  The only possible bump is that I am now not working, but we've had a perfect history in the past of paying on time and extra.  Plus unlike many mortgages out there, we actually owe less than what the house is worth.  The refinancing guy doesn't think it would be an issue.
• I ovulated early this month.  It came as a bit of a surprise since I normally ovulate on day 16 or 17 on, but I think I actually ovulated on day 15 this month.  Luckily I was paying attention to the OPKs or I would have missed it!
• We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant a couple of nights ago, and my fortune cookie said "You will have a comfortable old age".  Hmm.... comfortable?  Hopefully that includes kids that will be taking good care of me!

It's Normal!!

Normal!!

The results of my Karotype test came back normal!  Everything looks good!  

Thank You God!!

The nurse has forwarded our file to Dr. Hopeful so she can put in an order (paperwork, financials, etc) for another round of IVF.  

Babe and I still need to decide how soon we want to start the next round.  I am so relieved!

No News Is Good News?

I called my RE's office today about the best way to send them my IVF lab report from my first IVF that was done overseas (I'm working on this post!).  At the same time, I checked on the status of my Karotype testing.

If the result is abnormal, someone (hopefully the RE) will call.  If the result is normal (praying that it is!) no one will call.   How can they not call if the results are normal?  Don't we IFers do enough waiting already?  Sigh...... I guess no news is good news.

Please don't call!  Please don't call!

I wanted to know if they had heard anything yet, but the receptionist assured me that it really does take a month for the result to come back.  It's only been 3 weeks.  Yeah, only (insert sarcastic tone).  I'll have to wait till after May 11th to call them back, if I still have not heard anything.  I want to make sure that I'm not sitting on my hands, wasting a cycle if the results are normal.

In the meantime, let's hope I don't get any calls from the clinic.

Tick Tock

We met up with Dr. Hopeful for our post-IVF conference yesterday.  Overall it was a good meeting.  There wasn't anything shockingly new that I didn't expect already.  Overall, Dr. Hopeful thinks the reason why this cycle failed was due to egg quality issue.

Surprise, surprise.... NOT.

(image from http://www.stupid.com/fun/BCLK.html)

Tick tock, tick tock ..... can you hear the biological clock ticking?

See this earlier post for a recap of this cycle, and some answers I was looking for at this post-IVF conference.

This is what I found out from Dr. Hopeful at our meeting:

• Dr. Hopeful was surprised that no one had mentioned about my right ovary being in a difficult position.  It is high and posterior (behind) my uterus, or other organ.  It would have required a needle to go through the uterine cavity to access it for egg retrieval.  She thinks the location of the ovary will remain and will not change in the future.
• It is possible to fix the ovary but it would require surgery to fix or retrieve eggs from it.  Did you know that in the past, laparoscopic surgery was used to retrieve eggs for IVF?  Dr. Hopeful does not recommend surgery to fix this.  She thinks that based on my body's response to the meds, I should be able to produce a decent amount of eggs in the left ovary.  However, this also means that I probably will only have ONE ovary to work with in the future.
• A day-3 transfer was not considered since my embryos were not at a 7 or 8 cell stage.  If there were, they would have a day-3 transfer.  My embryos arrested at 2-cells and 4-cells stage on day-5.
• Assisted hatching is only done for day-3 embryo transfers, and are not done for day-5 blastocyst transfers.
• There were no issues with my Babe's sperm numbers.
• There were an increased number of vacuoles (fluid or bubbles) in my eggs/embryos, indicating that they may not be healthy (signs of post maturity or degeneration).
• ICSI could be an option in the future.  However, ICSI does not help a compromised (low quality) egg.  She would rather not do ICSI if there is an egg issue.  Performing ICSI is performing surgery on an egg, so she would rather not do it.
• It is an option to do half ICSI and half natural fertilization, or all ICSI in the future, assuming egg quality is not a factor.
• I asked Dr. Hopeful if one year would make that much of a difference in the quality of eggs.  She said no one really knows, but she doubts it.
• If we did a future cycle (which we will), we will switch our protocol and do an Antagonist protocol, meaning I won't be using any Lu.pron.
• I asked about additional testing and Dr. Hopeful suggested doing Karotype testing for me to determine if there are any issues with chromosomes.  It will check for 46XX chromosomes, to see if there would be issues with chromosome imbalance in my embryos (not me).  I still have to research more about this.  She will test me first since she suspects the issue is with my eggs.  Karotype testing is not cheap, about $900 a pop!  I will have to find out if our insurance will cover at least part of it.  It will take about a month for the results to come back.
• According to Dr. Hopeful, there is an 8% chance of chromosomal imbalance.  The other 92% chance is egg quality, i.e. my biological clock is ticking.  If the test comes back and I fall into the 8% chromosome imbalance, then she would suggest donor eggs (my Babe and I have never even discussed DEs yet) since it would mean that our embryos would arrest, fail to implant or we would miscarry.  If we do not have chromosomal imbalance, then it is a matter of finding good quality eggs.  
• Based on my hormone levels this cycle, it looks like I do not have diminished ovarian reserve, i.e. I still have some eggs to work with.  We just have to find the good ones!
• Dr. Hopeful wants to try again. My uterus was "perfect".  I responded well to the meds.
• If I wish, Dr. Hopeful would consult with one of her other RE partners about my case and see if there is something else that she missed, or something different that could be done for the next cycle.
• I will be scheduling a phone consultation with the IVF lab director to go over the outcome of this cycle.  Hopefully this will give me an idea about what happened to my eggs/embryos.  

Overall, we had a good discussion at this meeting.  I think Dr. Hopeful was impressed with the questions  we had for her, and we had a good hour long discussion.  She took her time and read through my list of typed up questions to make sure we got everything answered (she did that the last time too).

She said when we were ready, we should take the Karotype test, and then come back for another try when the test results were in.  Before we left, Babe and I decided that we would take the test anyway, so I had my blood drawn for the Karotype test before I left the clinic.  Since the results won't come back for a month, it would probably be June before anything else happens.

So now we wait.  Again.

Obviously, we hope the Karotype test come back normal so we can try again.  If not, we will need to have a discussion about donor eggs. I don't think we will do donor eggs, but we have never even considered it or discussed it.  We'll have to at least talk about it.  We'll have to see how things go.

We've all heard the cliche of the biological clock ticking.  Well it's ticking REALLY LOUDLY for me.  With each tick, it feel like my eggs are getting crappier and crappier.  With less than 4 months to my 37th birthday, it feels like a time bomb!