PGS 2 week wait!

[Nats19]

Just sent off 2 good looking blastocysts and 1 borderline for PGS. Last time we sent off 4 and they were all abnormal. I am 35.
Stressing out a bit- anyone else waiting or has positive stories to share??

[Violet180]

Hi,
I don't have a positive story but just want to lend support.

I just finished my 2nd cycle with no Euploid embryos and 1 no result.
I am very stressed out 2 as I am confused if my results are really bad or are normal for my age? As I mentioned in another post, if I didn't use PGS testing I would have 7 embryos in the freezer and may seem like my results match others.

Hang in there! Please also share your results of your 2nd round

[Nats19]

Hi @Violet180,
I am sorry to hear that, I know how painful it is. May I ask how old you are?
At 35, the doctor told us it is very unexpected to have had 0 out of 4. As we had 3 losses before, he suspects I have low egg quality for my age. But he also said it could be that we are just very unlucky... he recommended that if we got to 10 embryos tested and no euploid we should consider egg donation. But my husband and I are not sure how we feel about that- part of me might want to still try with the embryos we have, if we got to that stage...
So tricky...
What are your next steps?

[Violet180]

I am 41 and egg donation is not something we feel comfortable with.

I have had 7 tested so far
The problem is if you want to try with the embryos you have.... then you can't get PGS testing as my clinic will destroy anything that isn't euploid. So would have to do a cycle with no testing.

We are thinking of maybe DNA sperm test and switching protocols....not sure if we will do PGS testing anymore

[Nats19]

Switching protocols makes sense to me- if we don’t get any good ones this time, we will look for another opinion somewhere else. I always produce quite a lot of eggs, but few end up making it- so I do wonder about quality vs quantity. At 35- I have the same number of embryos as you at 41- so from a number perspective it seems you are doing well. But it’s just so different for everyone. All quite frustrating

I am surprised you don’t have the option to keep your embryos- it feels like that should be your decision. But I guess each clinic has its rules. And yes, I am also thinking of ditching the pgs- but after 3 losses, I am also keen to avoid more as much as a can.

There just seems to be so little information... am sending good vibes your way and will let you know what ends up happening!

[AliceAbsolum]

Doesn't PGS testing offer 65% accuracy? That's quite low to throw embryos away...?

[LillyLeaf]

I'll be doing biopsies and pgs on my 3 remaining embryos next week, will hopefully get results back after 2 weeks. I've had 2 transfers and 2 miscarriages. I'm 36 (although my embryos are 35). Our doctor has said at my age roughly 50% of embryos are normal so I'm hoping we have transferred the abnormal ones and the rest are normal, wishful thinking. I'm terrified of them all being abnormal and if they are we'll be doing another retrieval cycle. All our 5 day blasts were top quality (from 8 eggs). I've had recurring MC tests. We've also had karyotyping tests for me and DP which were normal.

[Nats19]

@LillyLeaf I remember you hesitating about PGS on another thread. Am glad you were able to make a decision, not an easy one I imagine. Good luck- it seems like a never ending waiting game, but it’s nice to know there are others going through it.

@AliceAbsolum- our clinic said 95%- but I have heard different numbers. Who really knows

[LillyLeaf]

It's been hard to know what to do especially when it costs so such, but after researching it seems that pgs doesn't massively increase your chance of pregnancy but decreases your chance of miscarriage, so after 2 already I think it's worth reducing that risk. Yep more waiting, but as soon as we get the results we'll start the next cycle.

[BottomleyPottsSpots2]

I did it to try to reduce odds of miscarriage (5 losses but also successful pregnancies in the mix). Waiting for the results was absolute torture so you have my sympathy.
We got very lucky and 4 were euploid out of 6. My clinic said that they'd never had a result like that before with someone aged 35 so I think I was just on the right side of the stats for once.
Currently 28 weeks pregnant with a euploid 4aa, my first transfer after the PGS. I'll keep my fingers crossed for your 3 undergoing testing x

[Nats19]

@BottomleyPottsSpots2 wow that is indeed incredible- also getting to 6 blastocysts seems an excellent result!
It is such a numbers game isn’t it? Which is also why I was a little surprised at how quickly our clinic suggested poor egg quality after one try. Yes it was unlucky to have 4 abnormal- but that’s a sample of 4 out of thousands.

[LillyLeaf]

My embryos are getting biopsied today, I really hope they survive the thaw. I didn't think I'd be this nervous, it's going to be a long wait.

[Nats19]

Hi @LillyLeaf I have my fingers crossed for you! I hope it all goes really well. We have about a week to go before our results- trying to keep distracted. This really is a marathon

[LillyLeaf]

@Nats19 thanks. Fingers crossed we'll both get some 'normals'. Will you go straight into either a fet or fresh cycle when you get your results? Or will you wait a bit? I've already started taking norethisterone ready for either outcome.

[Nats19]

@LilyLeaf if we have a good one, I honestly think we will go for a FET. If there is nothing, we will get another opinion from another clinic, but yes, we will likely continue, probably with a small break.

[Violet180]

My clinic charges a set fee for up to 8 embryos that you can test from any cycle until you have used 8 spots.
I have one spot left and we have decided not to pay for PGS testing again as we want some embryos to try.

Just trying to decide if we get 3 embryos at day 5...should we send one good quality one off to test to fill that spot ? Just in the hoops that my DHEA and coQ10 supplements have kicked in and maybe by chance that one embryo could test as Euploid and give us some hope?

I have enough insurance for 2 more rounds and seem to get on average 3 embryos per round. I know that would mean destroying that 1 embryo if tested as Aneuploid. It could also possible give us some relief if it tests as Euploid.

So many decisions!!!

[LillyLeaf]

@Violet180 I think you might as well use the last spot and test one.

All 3 of my embryos survived the thaw and expanded and were biopsied, so in about 2 weeks I'll have the results. I feel like I spend my life waiting in chunks of time.

[Nats19]

@Violet180 I agree with @LillyLeaf- you might as well. If it’s aneuploid, you might have avoided a miscarriage and if it’s euploid it’s good news.

@LillyLeaf I hear you- the hardest part is continuing to enjoy life and all the nice things, despite these constant hurdles of waiting for results... keep us posted!

[LillyLeaf]

@Nats19 how's the waiting going? I'm on a work trip next week so hopefully my mind be will be occupied and the wait will go fast, finger's crossed.

[Nats19]

Hi @LillyLeaf, we got the results yesterday. Sadly 2 aneuploid and 1 mosaic... next step is genetic advice to see if we can do something with the mosaic and to understand more about why this might be happening to us. I struggle to understand if we are really that much of an odd case, or if we just know a lot more because we are doing pgs- it often takes several cycles for ivf to work- that must be often because of aneuploid eggs... any stories with mosaic embryos to share with us?

[LillyLeaf]

@Nats19 so sorry, that's so frustrating. Hopefully more info regarding the mosaic will help decide what to do next. I think I need to mentally prepare for bad news and focus on the possibility of doing a retrieval cycle next.

[Violet180]

@Nats19
I'm sorry the testing didn't give you the relief of a Euploid embryo. I know how you must feel as my results are similar with my 4 tested = 3 Aneuploid and one no result. We think we are just going ti they the no result and not retest it.

I wonder if we could get genetic advice it should tell us anything. I am in total agreement with you about having a hard time reconciling whether our results are typical or atypical ....if we hadn't tested we would be in the same boat as others.

I've never even tried a transfer and am wondering if I would jump straight into multiple embryos transferred or start with 1? We are definitely going to do 2 more collections. My doctor was pretty much advising us that we should just skip the PGS and try without testing. She is unsure why we're have had such bad luck and thinks we should just keep trying. But she also doesn't think there would be anything to change in regards to protocol and other tests as she doesn't think anything will affect Euploid or Aneuploid status.
Maybe just a numbers game?

[Nats19]

Thank you both @LillyLeaf and @Violet180 for your kind words. Will let you know if we learn anything interesting from the genetic expert. Same with me, the protocol seems pretty good as we get a lot of eggs but no overstimulation. This time we will also get the opinion of another clinic, just to see.
@Violet180 did they ever mention egg quality as an issue? That’s what our clinic says- I have low quality for my age.
But somehow I feel oddly reassured we had one mosaic this time. It is still better than the last time and I cannot at this point accept that we won’t eventually get lucky. I guess the question is what is the limit?

[Violet180]

@Nats19 Well she did mention its is likely to do with egg age.

More so than sperm. But the "quality" of the eggs in terms of grading, looks and how many make it to Blast are quite good. We have gotten 1-1 ratings that tested as Aneuploid.

In my previous post I meant to type that we will transfer the "no result" embryo. Perhaps at the end of our next 2 cycles. Currently taking a break for a month but not sure how long my nerves about ageing eggs will let me sit here doing nothing.

[Nats19]

@Violet180 I hear you about sitting and waiting! But I think we will skip a month this time- we have some travel planned and I am tired of cancelling things for IVF. Maybe also good to give the body a break...

No result seems better than mosaic- so I would probably do the same

[LillyLeaf]

I'll hopefully get our results this week, the waiting is killing me. I keep researching the percentage of normal embryos we're likely to get, it seems about half might be normal. I was even dreaming about getting the results.