Fertility Clinic Appointments and Beyond..

[dogmam]

New thread for us to continue our fertility clinic appointment progress...

Some of us are waiting for initial appointments, some are having tests and some are starting treatment!

@Kay00 good news you ovulated, I’m not convinced I did 🤨. How have your progesterone tests been in the past? How do they know you overstimulated?

I’ve emailed requesting a progesterone blood test on Monday. I’m working out what “day 21” is myself, roughly, the nurses were confused when I asked them about it.

@dogmam yeah I don’t think it’s a bad thought process. I agree, we have two rounds if we pay for a private one either way. But the frustration for me is not knowing when the Guys round will be. I’ve got a few weeks so I can chase them on their waiting list before we have to make a decision. The private clinic said they could fit us in in November.

@dogmam I keep tying this message it keeps vanishing :/

I think we might, your thought process is similar to mine, the frustrating part is not knowing when Guys will call. If it’s January then I’m not as worried but I’m not convinced it will be. I’ll keep chasing them, the private clinic said we can do a November cycle, so I have a few weeks to find out where the waiting list is before calling up too book.

@dogmam oh look there’s my message after all 🙃

@Kay00 sorry AF came but nice that you ovulated. It shows the medication is working.

So my MRI is on 9 December! I haven't had a confirmation of the hysterocopy appointment yet. I'm hoping that's before but not sure how it works.

I have private medical insurance and tempted to ask to be referred for the tests but I'm not sure if the hospital would take my referral if it's for fertility reasons?

@tillybabs my private insurance said no to anything fertility related. But I have to be honest, since going private I havent paid out much. Just once for the initial consultation and once for my hycosy. My OH's SA seems to have been free, as was my follow-up consultation, all the drugs I have taken and so far all my scans and blood tests for my Clomid cycles 🤷‍♀️ maybe I'll get a big bill at the end? 🤷‍♀️

@thislittlebird they said I overstimulated on 50mg because I had 3 x mature follicles. They want 2 x max. And I have never had a progesterone test done before, so it was great to get a positive result 😊

It's certainly difficult to know whether to hold out for NHS or pay private and get it sooner... I really don't know what I would choose!

@Kay00 I thought as much. Fertility issues is not what medical insurance is for.

I'm going to call the clinic to see if they have a date for my hysterocopy and then might try and sneak in a much needed holiday before

@Kay00 I’m joining the ovulation club 🥳

I went for a progesterone blood test today (organised by me because my clinic don’t do them as standard with medicated OI cycles 🤷‍♀️) and they emailed the results tonight. It was 108 nmol/l and I’m so pleased I could cry. It’s really stupid but my results have all been so low before, it’s just nice to see my body is likely responding appropriately.

I don’t think my clinic trigger if you have three, but they did trigger me with two. Let’s hope they both popped out 🤨

@thislittlebird that's fab news especially after you weren't sure. I'm so pleased for you

@Tillybabs thanks 🙏 I’m so relieved it worked. I was despondent thinking I bet I’m not even responding but it seems I am. Whether his sluggish sperm can get to those eggs is another matter, but baby steps.

My previous progesterone scores were 10 and 17.5

How are you getting on booking your hysterocopy?

@thislittlebird no news on an appointment yet but I have the MRI in early December! Nothing is happening until next year I guess 😕

@Tillybabs join me in the new year gang 😔

DH’s 40th birthday is the same time in November as the time we can do a pre-Christmas cycle with the private clinic, so I can’t work out if it’s practical since I would have to be back in London for a baseline scan on what, day one? Would have to have the meds before we leave London and so on. Haven’t decided to try letrozole some more yet either.

@thislittlebird yes day one or on a Monday if it's over the weekend although that might not apply if it's private.

I would wait if I were you otherwise you will have the stress of wondering if it will fall on that weekend

@Tillybabs I hate all the waiting but I’m thinking we’ll do one more cycle of Letrozole starting with my next AF, and I will have given it three months at that point, and then take December off and (hopefully) start IVF in January.

How is everyone doing?

I'm still waiting on an appointment for my hysterocopy. Have my MRI early December.

So my mum knows I'm doing IVF and I've had embryos frozen. Today she sent me a pic of a Moses basket for sale and it triggered me.

This is exactly why we don't tell people about our journeys, because of the insensitivity and stupid questions.

I know she means well but it really upset me.

@Tillybabs sorry that happened 😢 sometimes friends & family aren't great at navigating our fertility struggles.
My mum knows & it's been hard with her - she's either dismissive of full of toxic positivity, plus she hasn't respected our privacy.
Last week my aunt rang me out of the blue telling me she knows we're struggling because mum told her & wanted to know all about it. I'm really devastated that our privacy was disrespected like that and I still haven't confronted my mum because I know it'll cause drama that I don't need. 😑
x

@JeanieJ sorry to hear that! It's very frustrating isn't it.

So I called the hospital today and have been told I'm on a waiting list for the hysterocopy which is 3-6 months! I can't wait that long. I'm going to see if I'm covered by my medical insurance and if not, pay for it myself.

@Tillybabs @JeanieJ gosh I'd flip! My parents are crap about these things so I specifically haven't told them as I know I'd get a lot of stupid comments. In the meantime I have my dad making baby comments each time I see him anyway 🙄.

@tillybabs good idea about checking insurance!

So update from me - as I had my first IVF appointment this morning! It took 1h 45min in total. To summarise they're putting me on short protocol with the aim of starting in my Jan cycle. Next steps for me is having a trial embryo transfer next month to make sure my path is unobstructed after the LLETZ I had in 2017. Then in Dec we'll both have blood tests taken and I can pick up my meds from Boots in Dec too so I'm ready to go in Jan.

They did my first ever AFC scan as well and came up with 15 but did say I have a follicle about to pop so as it's 22mm it could be obscuring more follicles. She showed me all of this on screen which is a first for me!

It was all super organised and really nice actually. They were friendly, not rushed and I felt like I was in good hands.

Oh and I asked when they're closed over Christmas and they said purely the bank holidays

@Tillybabs ugh, that's very annoying. My mother doesn't do this stuff but then we are barely on speaking terms so it cuts out much of the nonsense. She did tell me to just get a surrogate a couple of months ago!

That waiting list is crap, not a shock. Is it expensive privately?

@JeanieJ I would be so annoyed with the telling other people thing, my mother would totally do that, it's horrendous.

@Juno231 I just replied to you on the other thread but you and tillybabs seem to have had a much better Kings experience than mine with Guys . It seems much quicker.

@Juno231 thats fab and glad it's moving quickly for you. Also good to hear that they are only closed on bank holidays.

@thislittlebird I've shopped around and it's about between £1600 - £1800.

I'm just waiting to hear back on my insurance and if not, I'm going to just pay for it.

@Tillybabs that's ok I guess, could be worse.

It's cd1 again tomorrow and I've emailed the private clinic about starting another monitored Letrozole cycle. I don't feel excited or keen, I feel quite low about doing a third round. I feel like I know it won't work, but at least we've tried, I guess.

@thislittlebird hugs xx I know how you feel. I'm trying to stay positive but I pretty much know cycle 2 Clomid hasn't worked for me (1 x 27mm follicle with a likely immature egg in it) so... on to cycle 3!

@kay00 why likely immature? Are you waiting for af/test? It really is disheartening when these interventions don’t work.

I have to start the Letrozole tonight, had a weird light period again and have a migraine. I got migraines every month for a good decade to greater or lesser degrees until last summer. I had very high progesterone this month, the progesterone drop off must be related. I also had the weird lighter period again, another thing that kicked in during ttc last year but went back to normal in February when I started acupuncture. I haven’t even this month, I’m going again next week.

*haven’t been

@dogmam what's the latest?

@thislittlebird I'm sorry about the migraines, it sounds terrible to get them that frequently. I'm not sure but I think I saw Kay00 mention elsewhere that when the follicle gets too big it's not a good sign of egg quality. Hers was 27mm already a couple of days before ovulation I think.