Wednesday, March 19, 2008

What next?????

Well, still no call by afternoon, so I called myself. Another nurse I don't know called me saying Dr. S was in today and would call me later in the afternoon. He did! We discussed many things and here is a summary:
1) We stimulated well with fresh IVF on low dose and everything went smoothly with embies, gorwth, hormone levels, lining, etc - just ended up in tube. This tells us that we had a genetically normal embie (know this because it was biopsied when they removed the tube at surgery), we can produce embies, and hormones were not a overt factor.
2) Embies thawed well, lining and hormones again were perfect. This tells us that embie growth was good (although not sure of genetics) and my body allegedly cooperates.
3) Dr. S is very sad for us and somewhat shocked that we are not pregnant, since our only supposed factor was tubal factor (which is not anymore). He thinks we are just on bad side of luck or stats (whatever - can I have a break please) most likely, but will be a little proactive jsut incase.
4) I also like, Denise, will only have one nurse from now on who is BTW great - she called me after work to talk to me and console me for 45 minutes. She also gave me hope and encouragement.
5) Dr. wants us to do an uterine biopsy to test for integrin inadequecy - this protein is like a stick suction cups that helps the embie stick and begin to bury into uterus. Without it, no implantation. Since no embie has ever embedded that we know of in the uterus, he will be checking this before next fresh IVF. This is protocol if 6-8 embryos (no matter how many cycle it took) are transferred and viable pregnancy. He said since everything else is textbook for us he wants to test us early to save us the emotional and financial strain. If this protein is missing, then just add 2-3 months of meds and protein is built up artificially, and then normal IVF protocol. Dr. S just wants us to have that info prior to doing next IVf so if we need to tx, then it is not a wasted cycle.
6) If protein is normal (see #5 above) then he recommends genetic testing of embies at next ET. He said that if everything else is normal, this makes sense. Embies may grow and look good, but never implant or make it if genetically abnormal. He said they would implant genetically normal embies only if we had some, and we may have none or all of then may be fine. He felt since with IVF#1 we at least had one normal one (ectopic) then chance we can produce some at minimum, we just need to pin point and select those to make the odds better for us.

Bottomline, Dr. S feels that we have excellent chances of having a baby of our own soon - he would not encourage us to keep trying if he thought it was useless. He reiterated that every IVF cycle we learn more about our bodies/cycles that get us one step closer to a BFP. I am starting to see a faint glimmer at the end of the darkeness. We will wait for AF, then do biopsy 10 days after next ovulation - results take 2 weeks. Then, we will re-evaluate and make a plan from there. I am not sure when next fresh IVF will be, but I think it will be at least a few months- my body and mind are a bit lost and need to be found and returned. If anyone can point them in my general direction, please let me know!

5 comments:

Jen said...

I hate the bad luck reason! That does stink!

But I am so glad to hear that Dr. S is positive for you and you are postive about moving forward!

And what genetic testing is he considering? As you know, I am currently obsessed with it.

Good luck, and lots and lots of hugs!

Denise said...

I'm glad you finally got a phone call. It seems like sometimes the wires get crossed there with communication.

I'll have to ask about the protein testing. No one has ever brought this up before, but technically, we've only transferred 5 embryos so far. It just seems like if you have any failed cycles without an explanation, they should be doing everything they can to rule out any issues that haven't been explored.

Did they give you any info on the biopsy? Cost, intrusiveness, pain?

I bet these docs hate it when we talk to each other and then come in with questions like this. Thanks for posting this. I learn something new every day.

Jen said...

Just checking in on you. Hope you are doing ok!

Denise said...

Hey, Maryanne. Just checking to see what's going on with you. Haven't seen you post in awhile.

Denise said...

Hey, Maryanne. Just checking to see what's going on with you. Haven't seen you post in awhile.