It felt like forever since we received news that our first ICSI cycle was unsuccessful. It really has only been two weeks, it's gone fast, being back at work has been a good distraction.
Our RE was quite surprised that we had a negative result, everything looked good on paper when we started the cycle, I nearly over-responded to the meds, our embryo looked good, the transfer went well however as it was a Day 3 transfer there is no telling if the embryo made it to a Day 5 blasty, or just didnt stick.
Meds - they think I responded fine, we will keep the next treatment cycle the same. Same iu of Puregon and Orgalutran, another short protocol which is super good news!!
Sperm quality - We talked at length about DH's sperm samples and why there was a drastic change form his October 14 sample compared to his February/March 15 treatment sample. It sometimes happens. As he is not overweight, he doesn't smoke, doesn't drink too much and otherwise eats healthy we put it down to him having a virus that week and being possibly run-down. She gave his boys a quick once-over and confirmed there was nothing out of the ordinary that could contribute, so we have some reading to do on the techniques to improve sperm quality.
Egg quality - she thinks its fine, out of our 12 eggs only 8 were fit for fertilisation, the other 4 had issues. The 'ICSI' part of the fertilisation process went well as there were no notes to suggest otherwise, 6 of the 8 just didn't develop, we had 2 fertilised, but with a Day 3 transfer the odds are never really good, that's when miracles happen. She will meet with the Embryogist again to see if they have anything further to add but really its a chance thing.. more eggs, more embryo's ...more chances.
Elevit and Menevit. We didn't want to have to go there but we will now. We do eat healthy but feel its important to give our bodies all the little extra's it may need, its not proven it makes a difference but willing to give it a try. DH will do another sample after 4+ weeks on the Menevit and we will see if that has made a difference. If we are still looking at a poor sample they may look at performing a TESA (sperm is aspirated from the testicle via micro surgery) for our next cycle (DH sooo keen for that NOT to happen). This should be covered by our funding so would be an option at this stage.
Laproscopic egg retrieval from right ovary? Doing this privately would cost a minimum of $10k and even that isnt guaranteed to improve our chances, some woman get 24 eggs and still end up with 2 embryos. That would be the cost of a third IVF cycle so we have decided against that option. The pain I suffered from just letting the eggs release on their own was not as bad as I thought and totally bearable so we will be doing that again.
So...outcome?..we are booked in again for Cycle #2 early June 15! woop woop! I still have to confirm if that is when she's booked us for the transfer during that time (starting stims on May cycle) or she will wait for my June cycle to start stims, either way that's not far away! That gives us 12 weeks for me to have a couple of normal cycles, let the vitamins kick in, assess DH's follow up sample and to make some decisions about the options.
It has now been suggested that we try IMSI, its a fairly new procedure that will assist the embryologists to zoom in even further and select the very best sperm for fertilisation. Its not covered by public funding but we want it! so likely we will be doing IMSI next time, all will be confirmed in May.
I talked to her about all the 'whispers' you hear in the infertility community, all the things I worried about in my last cycle. Acupuncture is not proven to work so im opting for a relaxing massage instead. Exercise she said not a must, if I don't feel like it don't do it. I will be getting back into my prenatal yoga, stair-climbing, walking, biking in the meantime. One thing we will be changing is SLEEP! 8 hours a must this time round. As for eating pineapple core and drinking lemon water? I say don't believe everything you read. If they really thought that would help me, they would have told me.
We will have more idea of treatment time-frame once I track my April and May cycles, i'll let you know when the countdown begins!
No comments:
Post a Comment