This afternoon I met with the doctor's PA - Jamie for my post IVF failure review. It went great, she was really nice (way nicer than the doctor). We have a plan! Yippee!! We're going to start a new IVF cycle in January with different meds - no lupron this time, they think it suppressed me too much. Something called ganorilex or something - not sure if I got the spelling correct. Then the bravelle/menopur but they are probably going to let me stim longer this next time. Hopefully I'll respond better and get more eggs. If I'm a poor responder again, they are going to convert the cycle to an IUI rather than do IVF with only a couple of eggs. They are also going to find me a cheaper pharmacy - Kroger was way too expensive.
If that cycle doesn't work, then I want to go on the donor egg waiting list (although my hubby is not there yet, he'll need convincing if we have to go that step). Hopefully it won't come to that and I'll get pregnant on the January IVF or IUI with my own eggs. They also said I could start taking DHEA along with my vitamins. She was going to get me some prenatals with the Dhea already in them, but I walked out and forgot. So I'm going to go back tomorrow and get the samples, but since I already have some good vitamins, I'm also going to just go buy a small bottle of the 25mg Dhea tonight and take them.
That's the plan!
8 comments:
Yay for a plan!!! I always feel so much better when there is a plan in place. Ahhh.
Is the drug you mentioned Gonal-F? I haven't gone through IVF yet (most likely in February) but that's one I heard of a lot.
I did have a question about the donor eggs though. I know you are 39, but you said your tests all came back okay. Is it soley based on your age? I'm 35 myself and I have a very good FSH (what is your FSH?), so my RE says my eggs are fine. Was it due to the way your embryos matured with IVF#1? I ask all because of me going to the IVF route also, so I wanted to know more about egg health. Wanted to know if there is more to it than simple FSH numbers.
I apologize to barrage you with questions. Please feel free to not answer anything you think is too personal!
I use a mail order pharmacy, Schraft's. I haven't found anyone cheaper.
I've been following your blog as I go through my IVF cycle...which I think is on the verge of being a failure.
Good luck to you on this journey.
Great news! I highly recommend IVFmeds.com. Schrafts is slightly more expensive - frex, $3 per pill for progesterone pessaries. Your hospital pharmacy may have a better deal, be sure to check it out!
Nancy - in response to your comment - my FSH was tested only once back in June and it was a 7.9 - so a pretty good number. In my case it's the low number of eggs and the quality of those eggs that has the doctor's concerned. In my last IVF they got 4 eggs - but only 2 fertilized and then those embryos turned into Grade B and C embryos, both with fragmentation. So if that happens again next time, well it's an indication of low ovarian reserve and clearly the ones I have left may not be of good quality. However, I'm hopeful that the new drugs as well as the Dhea supplement will turn my ovaries around! Oh and it might be Gonal-F, I didn't hear her very well and so I just wrote down what I thought I heard!
That's exactly what they did for my second IVF. And actually, I responded better and quicker with the Ganirelix than the Lupron. Must be standard protocol for IVF Michigan.
I don't know if Nancy will check this or not, but they also talked to me about donor eggs, in spite of very low FSH. The thing is, all FSH tells you is how many eggs you have, not how good they are. And based on our fertilization report and subsequent growth of the embryos (or lack thereof), the doctor thinks it will be very difficult for us to get pregnant with my own eggs.
I'm not really interested in the long shot. I just want a baby, and according to Shamma, the success rate with donor eggs is well over 60%.
Exciting to have a plan!
good luck on your quest for a baby but i have to say the dr, fakih is a very bad practitioner and you should use another clinic he does not have a lot of quality control as he travels all over the world, and his standards should be looked at maybe by doing dna testing on his success;s as for sure, there will be some surprises in store for parents, all over the world,,
cheers gloria
Interesting comment. Do you have your blog open to google search? If so, it's probably somebody who did a search on Fakih. I'd change that setting...if you want.
I wouldn't worry about it. Unfortunately, with IVF, there's bound to be unhappy people out there.
Oh, and I forgot to mention. I have friends that work at the hospital in the surgical wing with Fakih, and they have all said his bedside manner is something to be desired but that he is an excellent doctor who really cares for his patients.
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