February 25, 2011

IVF It is, I think..

So, AF arrived today--even through the progesterone. Clearly this cycle was a bust even with the faint bfp internet cheapies. I called my clinic and set up an IVF consultation appointment for Tuesday. I asked for the appointment to be a combo questions for my RE/IVF appointment. I want to make sure that this is where the RE thinks we should go next. I wouldn't be surprised if she said to try one more IUI cycle.
I've been trying to think of questions to ask at the appointment. So, if anyone has anything they wish they would have asked or think is really important to ask, please let me know. So far, I want to make sure that going forward doesn't preclude us from moving backwards if the IVF fails. My insurance will only cover 1x IVF and then I'll have to switch providers to get coverage 1 more time. In the meantime, I want to make sure that I can go back to IUIs if I want to. I also want to ask if there is any possibility that I could have scar tissue, etc that is preventing implantation. I had a HSG months ago and it came back normal. However, Dr. Google tells me that an HSG doesn't pick up all abnormalities. Some REs have their patients do laps before IVF and I want to get my REs point of view on this. Anything else? Thanks so much everyone for your words of advice and support thus far. It is greatly appreciated!

9 comments:

  1. I don't have any advice as I never walked this path (too much of a chicken!). Best of luck...whatever you decide, we will be rooting for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. By any chance does your insurance cover Donor Eggs? Or heck, even donor embryos?

    I'm not sure of the questions you should ask, as we didn't do IVF w/ PGD.. but like C said, no matter what, we'll be here rooting for you.

    I hope this is it for you hon! I really do. I'm sending you all the sticky baby dust vibes I have. Being a BT carrier myself, please know I'm right beside you through this. It is tough, scary and I think the unknown is what scares me the most.

    I'm holding onto hope for you!!


    T

    ReplyDelete
  3. That just sucks. I'm so sorry.

    I'm glad you're able to get in to see your RE soon - and I hope that others have good suggestions for you on what to ask. I do know that you can go back to IUIs after IVF, I have several friends who have done just that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm sorry that this cycle is a bust. I wish I had some good suggestions of questions to ask, but we didn't go the IVF route.

    Sending prayers and good thoughts...
    ICLW

    ReplyDelete
  5. I might be at this crossroads too in the not-to-distant future, so I'll be anxious to read what you find out. I wish it was a simple solution. All we can do is the best we know how.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm so sorry this cycle was a bust. I wish I had some suggestions for you but I don't. I hope your RE has some ideas and answers for you and you have success soon.

    ICLW #19

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm sorry:(

    I also wondered about scar tissue (from my losses). Instead of a lap, I had planned to have a hysteroscopy with biopsy of endometrial tissue (I didn't because it ran into the holidays, and we were traveling, and and and). But it's something to think about? It seems like a happy medium, between a lap and doing nothing, and it still enables a doctor to take a look inside, and to test the tissue.

    In terms of the IVF, if you do PGD, you'll be referred to the lab that handles it and usually you have a separate (telephone) consultation with them. I found the genetic counselor I talked to extremely helpful. I guess my question re PGD (both for your doc AND during this consultaiton) would be the following: have any studies been done which very specifically assess its success on the take-home baby rate when balanced translocation is at issue?

    I also think that it's very smart to establish that, though you may go forward with IVF, you want the option to do more IUI's. This is what we did (though, for us, we didn't have insurance...just wanted to make sure that my doctor would be willing to do this). A single cycle can be fluke-y, and I truly believe that you can't base decisions about where to go in future on one shot. (Though, of course my hope is that a single time is all it takes for you to find that perfect, chromosomally-normal embryo).

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would ask your doctor what the clinic's success rate with PGD is and what they feel the likelihood of getting quality embroys to transfer is. One of the reasons we decided NOT to go the IVF/PGD route was because they said there was a 40% success rate, but also the chance that there would be zero embroys. We weren't willing to risk that, but we didn't have any insurance coverage for IVF, either. If you haven't already done so, it might be helpful to talk to a genetic counselor. Sometimes I think they are more familiar with the translocations than the doctors. Good luck!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I SWORE I provided a response to this post but yes, try and get your RE to line up a consult with an genetics counsellor for you. They can give you a better idea on the severity of your translocation and thus an idea on the success of PGD.

    ReplyDelete