I feel like so much has happened since the last time that I
posted a new blog update! This post will take you through the week of IVF
Retrieval and the dreaded 6 day wait!
5/15 Monday,
Shots day 7: Half Dose Cetrotide, 75 ui Gonal F
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| Example of ovary filled w/follicles |
Today I went in for my ‘Cycle Day 9’ lab and ultrasound
appointment. This is the first time we got to see what the medication is doing to my ovaries!
Labs:
PROGESTERONE: 1.22 ng/ml
LH: 12.92 mIU/ml
ESTRADIOL: 4665 pg/ml
Ultrasound:
Left Ovary
Follicles: 17mm,
12mm, 14mm, 12mm, 15mm, 14mm, 16mm, 12mm, 20mm, 13mm
Right Ovary
Follicles: 14mm,
10mm, 19mm, 10mm, 17mm, 15mm, 15mm, 12mm, 15mm, 17mm
Endo Thickness 14.2
So the follicles looked great but my labs were a bit
alarming! The estrogen (Estradiol) was very high and the LH was showing signs
that my body was getting ready to ovulate…which isn’t supposed to happen!
Cetrotide is supposed to suppress ovulation, because if you ovulate early in
IVF, you could lose ALL of your eggs
before they are ready for retrieval. They told me to take an extra half dose of
Cetrotide right away and then to take another full dose in the evening and to
come back for another ultrasound and more blood work first thing tomorrow.
By this point I am terrified, I’m upset, I’m so bloated and
crampy and emotional that I’m sure that everything is going to go wrong. I’m
pretty sure I cried myself to sleep.
5/16 Tuesday,
Full dose of Cetrotide before exam
Today I went back to the clinic for more blood work and
another ultrasound to see if we stopped my body from ovulating. I got into the
ultrasound room and was so nervous. When my doctor looked at the ultrasound and
told me that I had NOT ovulated I about cried! I wasn’t completely out of the
woods since we needed to see if my blood work matched the ultrasound, but I was
very happy!
A few hours later my blood work came back:
LH: 0.847 mIU/ml
PROGESTERONE: 0.537 ng/ml
ESTRADIOL: 2750 pg/ml
Ultrasound:
Left Ovary
Follicles: 17mm,
12mm, 11mm, 20mm, 13mm, 15mm, 12mm, 16mm, 15mm, 19mm
Right Ovary
Follicles: 17mm,
14mm, 22mm, 16mm, 14mm, 11mm, 20mm, 18mm, 16mm, 21mm
General Observations
Endo Thickness 10.9
Even I could see that we were able to severely lower the
estradiol and the LH numbers! My doctor said she was very optimistic that we
caught it in time and that I would not ovulate before retrieval…which was now
officially scheduled for Thursday morning at 7:30am. 
My trigger shots were HCG 1500 units and Lupron 80 units.
5/17 Wednesday, Take
z-pack
Today I felt like my stomach was being pushed into my throat
and my stomach was swollen to the size of a basketball. The anesthesiologist
for tomorrow called to introduce himself and to get payment ($500). He also let
me know that today I was not allowed to eat or drink after midnight since you
are completely under anesthesia for the retrieval process. I went to bed early.
5/18 Thursday-
RETRIEVAL DAY!!!
Today I felt like CRAP! I was waddling, I slept like crap, I
had cramps! Honestly, I was glad I was not able to eat or drink that morning
because I’m not sure I would have been able to fit any food or drink in my
stomach. I’m pretty sure my stomach was literally in my throat because my
ovaries were taking up too much space!!!
 |
| Giant bruise after retrieval |
We arrived to the clinic at 7am (like we were supposed to).
Steven went into his little room to ‘do his business’ while I changed into a
hospital gown. We then go into the procedure room where I am met with the
anesthesiologist. The next 30 minutes is spent with two nurses and the
anesthesiologist trying to find a vein. I warned them that my veins hide if I
do not eat or drink, and boy did they hide. I was poked a totally of 5 times.
My left arm was so bruised from the past two times they took blood that they
didn’t want to risk it so they tried my right arm…no luck. They tried my right
wrist…no luck. They tried the middle of my left arm…no luck and OMG OUCH! They
tried my left wrist…no luck. Finally they decided to risk it and try the left
arm in the normal space and after some digging…luck! They finally got it!!!
As they were hooking me up to all the machines and fluids my
doctor came in to do one last ultrasound to make sure I had not ovulated…I
hadn’t! Then I slowly drifted to sleep.
When I woke up (all of this is me in a semi couscous state)
they told me that they had gotten 31 eggs! So 11 eggs were hiding from the
ultrasound each time I had come in. That’s a lot of eggs!! For that reason they
wanted me to come in again in a week to do a follow up to make sure I didn’t
overstimulate and develop Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome. Ovarian
hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a medical condition affecting the
ovaries of some women who take fertility medication to stimulate egg growth.
Most cases are mild, but rarely the condition is severe and can lead to serious
illness or death.
Once we were able to put my pants on…yes,
Steven literally had to help me pull my pants up because I felt like a drunk
person…they released us. They told us they would call tomorrow to let us know
how many fertilized and then one day 6 (day zero being retrieval day) to let us
know how many grew to Day 5!
When we got home, I had to do two full doses of Cetrotide. This helps to calm the ovaries after retrieval. I'm a little worried that even while 'drunk on meds' I was able to draw up and inject myself with medication.
5/19
Friday, Day 1 after Retrieval
Today I felt like crap. I’m swollen,
bloated, its hard to breath because ovaries are so large. I do nothing but
sleep. I do another two doses of Cetrotide in between naps.
We got the call that afternoon that out of the
31 retrieved, 29 were mature (this means they were full size eggs that could
potentially fertilize) and out of that 19 fertilized! I was very happy with
those numbers. Remember, based on the previous ultrasounds it only looked like
I had 20 eggs, so having 19 fertilize was great! Most of the time you lose
about 30-50% each step (retrieval, fertilization, grow to day 5, etc.)
5/20
Saturday, Day 2 after Retrieval
Ditto to yesterday. I e-mailed my
coordinator to tell her I was having trouble breathing and she asked me to come
in immediately for an ultrasound. I went in, and they saw everything looked
normal. I was just suffering from extremely swollen ovaries due to retrieving
so many eggs. I go home, I sleep.
5/21
Sunday, Day 3 after Retrieval
Ditto to the past two days. I stay in bed
and sleep.
5/22
Monday, Day 4 after Retrieval
Today is my first day back at work, since I
took Thursday and Friday as sick days, and I’m still not feeling great. I end
up taking a half sick day.
5/23
Tuesday, Day 5 after Retrieval
Today I wake up and feel a little
better…YAY! I go to my follow up appointment and the doctor says that it looks
good. My ovaries are still swollen, 8cm each (normal ovaries are 4cm each). But
that it is to be expected with the amount of eggs that we had. It will take the
next few weeks for them to slowly shrink down to normal. I have a little bit of
free standing fluid in my body but nothing to be concerned about. That should
go away on its own.
Today (a day early*) we received a call from the clinic to
let us know that as of right now 9 embryos have made it to day 5 blastocysts
and they are watching 2 more. They called early because they wanted to check to make sure we wanted all
genetically tested. This is because the package that we bought (for $2050) only
included 8 embryos. Since we had more than 8 to send they wanted to check to make
sure it was alright. (I'm assuming that if we wanted to only send 8 they would have sent the best 8 we already had.) It will be an additional $250 per embryo sent. Luckily
Steven and I had discussed it ahead of time and decided that we would send up
to 12 if we had that many make it.
Looks like will have at least 9 to send to
testing!We find out tomorrow if the other two made it or not.
*Can I just say how terrifying it is to get a call a day early?! I saw the number and I was sure it meant that none of them made it and they were calling early to tell me the bad news. No point in waiting the extra day to call if none made it...but whew, I'm glad I was wrong!
5/24 Wednesday, Day 6 after Retrieval
So we got the call this morning that the other 2 did not make it to full grown- but we have 9 that look great and have been biopsied, frozen, and the biopsy will be sent out for genetic testing. It will take 7-10 days to get back from testing!!! Keep your fingers crossed for some healthy embabies!
We also learned what grade the embryos were:
1 was 4bb
2 were 5bc
1 was 5bb
5 were 5ab
6AA would be highest grade, 1CC would be lowest grade. While it is nice to know the grades, it will really come down to the genetic testing. Sometimes the best quality embryos are abnormal where the lower quality ones are normal and the best option for implanting. We shall see!
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