IVF appointment - Qs to ask

[eurochick]

Hi all,

We have an appointment at the fertility clinic tomorrow at which I think (hope?) they are likely to move us forwardto IVF. We have both had a raft of tests, a "diagnosis" of unexplained infertility and a referral for IVF. The appointment is first thing in the morning (husband's choice ARGH) and I am not at all a morning person. I fact I usually barely function until I have been up for couple of hours, so I am making a list of questions now in the knowledge I won't be firing on all cylinders at the appointment! This is an NHS referral so we are not "interviewing" the clinic, we are there for treatment.

So far I have:
Are there any other tests we need? (They seem to have "forgotten" the HIV test unless they have dropped that now?)
Timing of IVF
Short vs long protocol
Sedation vs GA for egg collection
What stage do they usually put back embryos

What am I missing? What do you wish you had asked?

Thanks in advance ladies!

My clinic tested FSH levels each month, and decided whether or not to proceed with treatment that month based on results. If FSH was on the high side, they said success wasn't likely so better to wait for a more favourable number.

Now - that was 10 years ago, so things are likely different now. But, may be worth asking.

Good luck.

Hello Eurochick

I'm not really best placed to respond to your question as I'm currently impatiently waiting for our first appointment too following a referral for IVF earlier this month but a couple of extra areas I'd like to discuss are :

• What is the realistic impact going to be on work/what time would you recommend I take off ? (albeit that I have total work apathy at the moment ...... )

• What percentage chance of success would you give us as a couple ?

Whilst there are obvious questions about their live birth rates etc we too are having NHS funded treatment and only had a choice of two clinics (which, incidentallly, have almost identical results).

When we were told we were going to be referred my partner and I both had a HIV test - and myself a rubella (I'm sure there was a third test but I can't for the life of me remember what it was).

Also - I'm told that the day 21 & 3-5 test results have to be less than 6 month old when treatment begins. Depending when our appointment date is my tests will either just be in or out of this 6 month limit. I've therefore taken it upon myself to self refer to the nurse at my GP to have the tests done again this cycle (so that this isn't the thing to delay anything).

Best of luck to you.

Thanks both.

missbrightside time off isn't an option and the clinic's website says there is no need to take time off after embryo transfer. Slipping out for scans and appointments won't be a problem.

I'd wondered about getting retests but when I saw them for my scan in January, they said my tests (done in May last year) were fine but did want an up to date test from my husband (although he had had 2 SAs since my blood tests)!

I've had the rubella test. They seem to have forgotten the HIV test, but that can easily be remedied.

Time off work or rather, hiding it from work is my biggest concern at the moment ! I commute - so even the earliest and quickest of appointments means that I rock up hours late ... ! My clinic's website specifically says that you will need the day of egg collection - plus the following day off. And although I certainly won't take a full 2 weeks off after the ET I think I will take a couple of days off (and as far as I understand it a sympathetic GP will sign you off sick for this. I never ever take time off sick from work but, in this instance, have absolutely no qualms whatsoever in doing so !!)

(anyway - sorry - this is totally deviating from your original question !!)

That's unlucky.

I'm senior enough to work from home when I need to without justifying it to anyone (providing I don't have any meetings) so that helps.

I have an office job, so work isn't too physically demanding (although the short commute can be vile).

Might be worth finding out their Single / Double Embryo transfer policy.
Also think there is a new Hep B test (surface androgens?) that has come in in the last year that is now required.
Might sound obvious but the contact phone numbers when you are underway when you have those burning questions.
Where to get the drugs from - delivered to you or do you collect them?

Then again after the referral and before we got started we had a kind of orientation session with consultant, then nurse, then embryologist, plus a walk round the centre etc which answered most questions. Also they gave us quite a lot of written info to take away and digest.

Good luck. x

Hi euro
DH and I had our IVF consultation on Thursday with the gynae consultant. If I remember rightly- aren't you in my neck of the woods - we're at Kings?
Anyway, it was brilliant. He did such a good job explaining the process, the odds of success and PCT funding (1 x full round, 2 FETs and 2 yrs storage) that in the end we had very few questions left!
Within an hour of getting to the clinic we had signed the forms, had our pre-screening bloods taken and fixed up our nurse consultant appointment, which is where we'll be taught to self-inject. My last bloods and DH's SA were taken about 10 months ago- no need to repeat.
A couple of hrs later the Home Delivery people called to schedule my drug delivery- it happened that quickly! It all turns up on Wednesday.
I start microgynon mid March on cd1 (have just come on). Due to my age, antral follie count and pcos I won't be down-regging further- after 21 days I start stimming for 10-12 days.
Really good luck tomorrow

Thanks MrsHY1. We are at King's too so that is really helpful. Sounds like we are a few days behind you in the process!

Cool- we saw Mr Navekar (sp) he was fab. He's put our chances at 40-50%. I did talk to him about the prospect of putting two embies in but they're really not keen on anything other than SET if you're under 35 and it's your first go, which is fair enough really. Let me know what protocol they recommend for you- I'm being nosey now!

I'm 36 but want SET anyway. I've seen first hand what a friend went through with a twin pregnancy!

MrsHY1 I'm just reporting back. We had our appt this morning and it was with a different dr but was just as good as yours. I am v impressed with King's so far (I will be even more impressed if they actually get us up the duff!).

I'm skipping the micrgynon and starting drugs on day 21.

That's fab euro! I would love to do the same but we go on holiday towards the end of March which would preclude any scans/stimming. Am going to treat it as a nice pre-treatment experience though :-)

Let's stay 'in touch'- am keeping everything crossed for both of us :-)

That's day 21 next cycle as I am on Letrozole this cycle, so we will probably be starting the drugs in late March. We are also trying to fix up a pre-IVF holiday but for early March so we are back in time to start the drugs.

Yes, let's day in touch. I am regularly on the ttc 10 months + thread so you can always find me on there.

Hi euro, I always follow the TTC for 10 months board and have posted very occasionally- it just moves so fast and then I feel guilty for not properly name checking everyone!
So are you down-regging from day 21 of your next cycle then? How long for? I'm going straight to stimming, so if I've done my sums correctly, and assuming I respond appropriately to the drugs, this puts me in line for EC around 20 April. If you're down-regging first you may end up in EC around then too, I guess?
I'll be wearing a red carnation

Yep. Next AF due 7-10 March. Downregging from day 21. I'm not sure how long for. They didn't talk about that. I assume it will be explained when we go back for our drugs appointment with the nurse next month.