After speaking with RE and my future plan...

So my first IVF ended up negative. I had a follow-up appointment with RE today. He said he was really disappointed that I couldn't get pregnant. He probably had me on his "more likely success" list. Moreover, he was surprised that out of 26 eggs, only 4 made it to blastocysts despite the fact that I made good eggs. According to my age & my health with those eggs, he suspects that sperm might be the reason. Upon ICSI, they pick healthy looking sperm but they don't test if those are genetically competent (DNA wise). Well, I don't believe "everything" he said. I am sure that overstimulation, too, has something to do with it.  All that into consideration, BFN makes sense. I guess I have to keep at it as long as I have opportunities of IVF, hoping I will be hit with 100% competent embryo upon one of transfers. Oh, he also said he will try lowering meds dosage. That's probably when I have to go IVF#2 next year.

I have 2 frozen embryos. I decided to get on the cycle that starts Oct 24. So I think transfer will happen early November I'm guessing. And If nothing happens, then I will try again on Dec cycle. Either way, I want to try again using these frosties by the end of this year.

Day 5 Egg Transfer --- it happened!

First of all, nobody wasn't really sure if my ET was a GO today till RE checked my fluid level. If it was too much, I was told all the eggs had to be frozen for next time FET.  Today I went to my appointment time, bladder filled with water like I was instructed. In a procedure room, DH was looking nervous.

RE checked the fluid level. All the fluid was pretty much gone! He said that my ovaries are huge. I guess that was expected. My bladder was filled, uterus looks good, no more fluid in ovaries--- so I did Egg Transfer!! 

RE and embryologist gave me a picture of 2 best ones!

My nurse was pushing lower tummy with ultrasound devise and UGH it was SO uncomfortable. My bladder was hurting. Anyways, everything went perfect. The nurse told me to stay laying very still for 10 minutes and that she would be back with a bedpan for me to pee in. Ah I started to sweat after a few minutes, couldn't hold pee anymore. I tinkled a bit and told DH to go get the nurse.  I seriously think I have 1 main bladder, and 2 reserves. I had to call her 3 times for pee pan in 45 min. I wish I could pee like a horse at once and done with it. Oh no. It's kinda silly but I was dealing with bladder issue a lot more than feeling the happiness of reaching to the egg transfer and seeing this miracle science technology. 

I've been together almost 9 years and this is the FIRST TIME his sperm and my egg met! Isn't that something!??  Now I wait.  My first Beta is next Wed 9/7, 2nd is Fri 9/9. They said they would tell me the result on of after 2nd Beta.

Day 3 Fertilization Report

Recap of Egg Retrieval 8/25 : 26 retrieved, ended up 24 matured, 17 fertilized

Day 3

3 embryos @ 4 cells

5 @ 5 cells

4 @ 6 cells

2 @ 7 cells

3 @ 8 cells

My nurse said 14 are doing good. But the 3 embies with 4 cells are very slow, not looking that good. 

I have a "Tentative" Egg Transfer scheduled on Tuesday 8/30. I say "tentative" because RE needs to check my fluid level before okaying for the 5-day transfer.

Another issue I am having is that PIO shot is kicking my butt. So far I have 3 pokes on my butt and they are reddish and a little swollen. If I keep doing this everyday, sooner or later my butt cheek is going to be double in size!

Egg Retrieval

So on my 2nd Ultrasound on 8/23, I had 32 follicles, which is down from 39 on 8/22. Did the trigger shot at 10:30pm which is 36 hours prior to retrieval. RE said the timing is very important, especially me being over stimulated a bit. The cramping yesterday 8/24 was worse but not a whole day, just from time to time. I couldn't sit still all day so I was in the kitchen cooking! I prepared 5 different dishes! Anyways, today was the big day. Egg Retrieval. I got 26 eggs, 22 matured ones! Not so bad, right? My RE said the trigger shot timing seemed to be perfect. And I am so happy that we could save those eggs!! I am still bloated. Not as bad. At least I don't feel like I am a frog anymore,, all those eggs are out of me! Now I wait to see how many of those are going to survive to day 5 for transfer. Meantime, THE PIO shot starts tonight! Scary....   The nurse gave me sets of smaller needles for injection saying that I don't have enough meat on my butt for bigger ones. That was very nice of her! Dosage is 1cc a night. Is that a standard? Let's see how wimpy I really am on these shots.. 

Ultrasound #2

After I was told I don't have to be back for ultrasound until my blood test shows lower E2. This morning, I went in for blood test. The E2 was down to 5700 from 6400 yesterday, showing it went down. I guess stopping the stim shot was good. They called me while we were shopping in the AM saying that they wanted me back in the office for 2nd ultrasound. So I did. My follies are now up to 20mm. They want me to start suppositories tonight. Trigger tonight at 10:30p, ER on Thursday.

RE said I might be in pain or some kind of discomfort after ER since I have so many follies now. He said my ovaries have to calm down or I have to feel ok in order to do ET.  And of course, over-stimulation can compromise the quality of eggs, but he won't know until he pulls out those eggs. I understand, in short, that basically my body has to be good and embryo have to surviving on day 5. Skipping the fresh transfer and having have to freeze all my eggs are still a very possibility at this time. (sigh)

Ultrasound #1-- Over Stimulated?- Change of Protocol

Today, I had a very first ultrasound to see how I am responding to fertility drugs, and to count and measure follicles that are growing in my ovaries.

Before I signed up for the cycle, RE did say that I might respond to those fertility stimulation drugs easily so he had to be really careful of my dosage. Well, he was right. I think this is the result of over stimulation. I had 39 follicles today. When I left the office, my protocol for the drugs were the same,,, which I am to get Follistim and Luveris shots tonight as I have been doing. My nurse called me just now saying that they made changes on my protocol. From what I understood, my ovaries got so excited with all these stimulation drugs, responded really well. But having lots of follicles means lots of estrogen produced. As a result, my estrogen level is high and this is not good for egg transfer. The worst case, she said, is that I might have to freeze all the eggs and wait for the FET. Just disappointed. But I don't expect EVERYTHING to go perfect from the gekko anyways. I have to be OK with that.  My nurse said If that happens, this is the best for my health.She explained to me in a way I can calmly understand the situation.
So for now, I will go to blood test every morning to monitor my estrogen level. Then they will do u/s again. I am hoping I get to do at least ER as planned.

How am I doing with IVF drugs-- Lupron and Dexamethasone

These are the first two sets of medication I have been taking for a week or so, followed by Birth Control Pills. I took the last BCP on Monday 8/8 hoping to get period by next Tuesday 8/16. BCP is only to put my body on RE's IVF cycle schedule. They want us to have period on the certain week to do the procedures. 

The only time I took BCP was for my acne when I was in 20s, just for a few months. That was all. I had not taken BCP for SO LONG so I thought I would get a full effect,, like getting bloated, making me eat more which cause weight gain etc..  It turned out BCP was not bad at all.

For now, I am only taking 2 of several other medications. The nurse explained to us how to use needles, how much to take and so on. Very detailed instructions.  Anyways, Lupron and Dexamethasone are the two in the pictures I am currently on until next week. And there are more coming. 

The pill is Dexamethasone,,, steroid pill. I take this in the AM because it causes insomnia. Yes, I take it 4AM with breakfast. After all day working, it still wakes me up in the middle of the night. I have been getting broken sleep, but I am not tired. This pill makes me wired-up all day.If I want to have a good sleep, I have to run around the block or exercises or something that makes me tired, which I can not do everyday!

Lupron is to suppress hormones at the pituitary level. I understood in my own way that this is to calm our body, they don't want our own hormone start acting up. The Injections in the AM, can be done on my thighs or stomach, wherever the fat is. I can't do it. My husband has to poke me. I have no side effects from this medication whatsoever that I can feel. And needles are pretty tiny so injection isn't so bad either. One time we poke too close to the muscle on thigh, it gave me bruises! I am learning.  

More updates to come on how I am coping with these IVF drugs! 

Got my IVF Calender!!

• Signed my life away for IVF cycle,, but

Well Obviously, the IVF package I thought I would be signing up for is not quite what I thought it was. Well, our RE used to offer "OBP-- Outcome Base Plan" for 3 cycle IVF package. The most expensive one but we get the % of money back if no live birth. That % depends on your age. That OBP plan is no longer available!!! They say they haven't had that for a while now.. I was like huh?  The new plan is 1,2,3 cycles with no money back. I signed up for 3 cycle one, only because I wanted to have some "insurance" that I am getting most out of it. I would be super lucky if I hit BINGO after 1st try. But the life isn't always so easy. Never known what happens, so that's how I decided.  

• My Protocol

The nurse ordered all the meds and I paid. Unfortunately, my insurance (as primary) didn't pay anything but my DH's insurance (as my secondary) picked up most everything except $260. So that's all I paid for the first cycle. I was very lucky on this one. I still not quite sure what exactly the nurse ordered for me but I see some meds on my IVF calender I received. 

7/26 instruction on shots with nurse

~ 8/5 I will be on BCP

8/5~8/15 Lupron and Dexamethasone

8/16~8/17 Lupron, Dexamethasone, Follistim, Follic Acid

8/18~8/21 Lupron, Dexamethasone, Follistim, Follic Acid and Luveris

8/22 Lupron, Dexamethasone, Follic Acid and Cipro

RE thinks I will respond to meds well so he puts me on low dosage on most of them. That's a good news for me. :D

8/22 is the day my monitoring starts. I was told to receive another calender.  Looks like ER and ET happen around the end of Aug to early Sep.

I will post more updates soon!

Recent days,, update on IVF and my mom & hub's Lost in Translation

I haven't had time for anything these days including twitter and blogging.  I went camping at Infenion Raceway, Sonoma California last week and it was a blast. It was really the FIRST TIME camping in my life and I am surprised that I did good! I realized it's ok to use bathroom on the wheel! I have to blog about it soon.

Anyways, my mother who lives in Japan is now here for 3 months visiting! This is her 3rd time staying for that long. She is retired and lives alone so it is nice to have her here. The only sad part is that she is stuck at home all day everyday while I am at work, since she doesn't drive. I feel bad about it. She doesn't speak English and my husband doesn't speak Japanese. But somehow they seem to communicate just fine, or at least that's what they think. Listening to them, it is totally "lost in translation"!  When I hear them talking, it's funny because they are not communicating but they think they are having catch ball of conversation just fine. It's hard to explain. The other day, my husband told her to "stir" the pot on the stove so it doesn't burn, my mom says OK! But she just stands and watches it. My hub asks me "why is she just standing there, I told her to stir". I ask mom "what did he tell you?" She said "Oh, he told me not to touch it" LOL! hello~!? He didn't say that! Well basically they are a bit off whenever they talk. So I am in the middle, back and forth between them, explaining she said this, he said that,,,translating ALL THE TIME!!,,TV, jokes, conversation, EVERYTHING. Whew! Lots of work :)
My mother and I can be both hard-headed at times, so I am hoping not to have too much argument with my mother (you know how it is..!), and rather enjoy the time together! I am the only child so now I can see mom as if she is my big sister and enjoy each other's company I hope! She will be with me during this first IVF journey this summer!

As far as IVF goes, I spoke with nurse the other day. She briefly went over what is IVF and general idea of what my August IVF will look like. For now I am on BCP. She will order medications and have them ship directly to the office so when I pick it up, she can show me and explain everything about meds. I will know then WHAT meds I will be taking and HOW MUCH DOSAGE I will need. Good news is that RE put me on really low dosage of meds so it will help me $$$ wise. This meds instruction/consultation is at the end of July. I will start in the first week of Aug and monitoring starts on 8/22, and maybe egg transfer will happen around 9/2?
It sounds like my July will still be pretty peaceful. 

OH OH OH! Attention to all IF girls!!!!: We had a SA on my hub the other day. The count was 45mil, motility 3%. In 2008, it was 7mil, 53%. The nurse said it was a compromised result and we still need IVF. The thought of IUI went through my mind for a sec. I am still on the "GO" for IVF though. I thought it was interesting change in SA. 

Birth Control Pills

Finally, I was told by nurse to take BCP! I still can't see the whole picture of my protocol since my consultation for the Aug IVF cycle is not till 6/28. The nurse just told me to start BCP by CD5 on upcoming period. AF should starts any day now, so I am starting the pill TODAY! Let the bloated days started! Scary...

The nurse told me not to take the last row, which leaves me with only 3 weeks worth of BCP. Why is that? So after 3weeks with the pill, let the AF comes by itself and start taking another sets of BCP on CD1 in July?? The whole process is still unknown to me. I am so lost. !!?

Hyperparathyroidism and my concern with IVF

I have a health condition called HYPERPARATHYROIDISM. Only handful of my IRL friends know about it. I know most of you have never heard of such a condition. Calcium glands in my body is overacting and causing it to pump in too much calcium in my blood. Symptoms and complications of hyperparathyroidism includes osteoporosis, chronic fatigue and kidney stones. Hyperparathyroidism is really RARE, happens to 1% of total population, versus 10% for people with THYROID problem. You think lots of calcium is good right? Not for people with parathyroid disease.  Everyone have 4 parathyroid glands in your neck. Each acts like individual thermostats. So when calcium level gets low in your body, the gland detects it and pump more into the body. When the body has enough level of calcium, then it turns off.  For those with Hyperparathyroidism, most of them (over 85%) only have 1 bad gland that turn into tumor. BUT! I had 2 tumors, which is only 10% of all patients. After all, that make me 1/10 of 1% of total population!!
Anyways, I notice the problem 5 years ago, had the 2 tumor removed 1.5 years ago. Post-op blood test showed that I still have high calcium and that wasn't good news. My local Endocrinologist tells me that I need another surgery, but my surgeon in FL worries that it might create HYPO parathyroidism ( will be on meds for the rest of my life) and that will be more dangerous to me and will make my life miserable one. The surgeon said as long as I feel great everyday and have lots of energy, he wouldn't make me go through another unnecessary surgery.  He is a world leading parathyroid surgeon/researcher and I weigh more on his opinion than my local doctor. After my years of researching,  I think I have better knowledge of this parathyroid problem than many endocrinologists. Once time my local doctor was going to prescribe me calcium pills for "testing purpose" when I already have high level, which would have put me in a serious health condition! People can be hospitalized for that.

In Every May, I go to regular blood work as my annual check up. But I am hesitant to do that this month. I assume that calcium level is still slightly high but it might have gone down since last check up in Oct 2010. I really don't want to see the result in the report. I worry because people with hyperparathyroid have high rate of miscarriage rate. And their vitamin D is always LOW (and I am no different). Vit D is important when you are pregnant for baby's development. I can't necessarily take Vit D supplement just because I have Vit D deficiency. Vit D helps absorb calcium into your body, so taking the supplement will increase my calcium level even more to dangerous level.

I know that as we get older, we can't expect to be 100% healthy. All we can do is try to do GOOD to our body. There is no medicine to my hyperparathyroid. Unlike many of people who suffer from this, my symptoms are minimum, almost nothing. I am thankful for that. But as much as I want to get pregnant, and If I do, I will be a "high risk" because of this. I'm just living with it. There are things in life that I have absolutely no control of.  Hyperparathyroidism and Infertility.

Another failed attemp on free IVF cycle giveaway

Last night, we attended the IVF seminar hosted by our RE clinic. They do this yearly for 2 consecutive days. And each seminar, they do ruffles to give away 1 free IVF cycle. Last year, we went and the couple who had the winning ticket was the one who checked in right before us. We were soooo bummed. They were walking slow from the parking lot, we could have passed them! We concluded that it showed one step closer to our IVF dream.Well, so that was the last year. 

So that makes the yesterday's seminar a second attempt for us. It was a lot less couple than last year, which supposedly gave a higher chance of winning. This time, too, we weren't the winner. Also they had a deal that first 10 couples signed up for IVF cycle will receive $500 off of medication. However, I couldn't do that because I signed up for IVF 2 weeks ago and was told that it had to be signed up AT THE SEMINAR!!  We are just not one of those lucky people. Always end up realizing that we have to do everything in a hard way, more like, no shortcuts. We didn't win the ruffle but I learned more about IVF. Listening to RE's insights and knowledge was refreshing. We don't always get to hear about what professional has to say unless you go in the office paying the office visit. So this was my Monday night, 5/2/2011.

Finally step 1 to IVF!

Ok! Yesterday 4.19.11, I finally made a deposit for IVF to secure my spot for August cycle. My game plan now is 3 cycle Outcome Base Plan. The clinic raised the package price by $4K since last year but I was advised that it actually has gotten cheaper. The only difference is that they used to charge ICSI separately every cycle, versus new plan includes them all. If you get Bingo after the 1st cycle, it will be the most expensive IVF in the clinic. If I have to go all the way to the 3rd cycle, then it becomes the cheapest pkg. You know how it goes. But If I get BFP on the 1st cycle, it will be the Win-Win situation for both me and the clinic. Baby for me, and $$$ for RE. I guess I have no complain. Fair enough! ( If I never had to go through IVF, I would have bought a motorcycle for my husband. He deserves everything. He is my world! :D )

I was also advised that I won't need to be taking BCP till the end of June, since the monitoring doesn't start till August 19. What does that mean? I thought I have to take BCP as soon as possible to get my AF cycle regular..?? Any advise, fellow IVFers??

Double punch

Yesterday, I was exchanging emails back and forth with RE office manager. I was getting ready to pay deposit to secure my spot for this coming IVF cycle. The package I was interested in was 3-cycle Outcome Based Plan, which is to offer % of money back in case of no live birth after all the cycles. I was gearing myself to go for July cycle only because my RE was participating. Well I come to find out that not only they raised the package price $4K more but also he is only doing the June and August cycle.

It is just 4K more but for us, it is totally out of reach. So we now have no choice but to sign up for 2 cycle pkg, which does not offer any kind of money back no matter what happens at the end. Yeah.. 3 cycle with money back is a peace of mind deal for us, but I don't want to put ourselves in deeper financial hole than we already are. Also pushing back the cycle was another punch in our face.

DH and I discussed what we are going to do. The choice seems to be clear. We are going for 2 cycle IVF starting Aug 19. We have to find a positive aspect out of disappointments, that is,,, we have 1 and 1/2 extra month to save money and...maybe we don't need 3 cycles!?  I believe in "EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON".  Sometimes life can be easier when you have no other choice.