We recently underwent a round of egg collection and I’d like to share our experience.
Me: 33F. My partner is 36M. Living in Ireland.
January 2023. I was diagnosed with severe endometriosis and damaged left fallopian tube through laparoscopic surgery when I was living in Sydney.
August 2023: I relocated to Ireland with my partner.
November 2023: We got in touch with a fertility clinic to discuss egg freezing and IVF.
December 2023: I underwent scans and HyCoSy with the clinic to explore the extent of the damage to the left fallopian tube. I was told that there was no blockage or damage.
My partner also had his sperm tested by his GP and local hospital. His sperm results were assessed as “normal” by the GP (118M/ml and 33% progressive motility).
January 2024:
We decided to proceed with egg collection, beginning in February.
I had my AMH levels tested which were 2.38. I learned that this was low for my age (which should be around 4). The scans also showed that I had 11 follicles in one ovary and 13 in the other.
February 2024:
My medication was prescribed as follows:
Priming: Fematab 2mg tablets 3x daily, beginning day 16 of my cycle until directed to stop.
Stim:
Pergoveris 375iu daily from 01 March (first day of bleed) until 13 March.
Ganirelix - 0.25mg from 07 March until 13 March.
Trigger: Ovitrelle at 0030 on 14 March.
Egg Collection: scheduled for 15 March.
Due to a lot of competing priorities, I missed the opportunity to start priming with the 2mg Fematab. Upon realising this, I updated the clinic, who advised me to skip the priming and immediately start the Pergoveris on the 1st day of my period (375iu once per day for 2 weeks - as directed above) which I did.
(Note: The clinic communicates with us via an online web “portal” that we need to log in to. We find this very non-intuitive and generally quite hard to understand. For instance, we did not receive any hard-copy brochures or guides setting out our medication regimen, or even an outline of what to expect with a round of egg collection or IVF treatments. I also needed to “log in” to this portal to be notified of messages they were sending me. For instance, I did not get notification that I should start my priming medication in my email inbox. This could be normal for fertility clinics, but we both found this a bit odd and somewhat disorganised.)
08 March 2024: Had my first monitoring scan and was told that there were 3 visible follicles and that, given my AMH reserve, this was good.
The clinic did not contact my partner at all throughout this process. They communicate to each of us via our own online “portal” - but he did not receive any direct communications. In his previous GP sperm analysis in January, he was told to abstain from ejaculation 5-7 days prior to giving a sample. So he used this as his reference point for abstaining prior to giving his sample at egg collection.
11 March 2024: Had my second monitoring scan and was told that the follicles were getting bigger and that I was responding well to treatment.
Later this day I got a phone call from my consultant advising me to discontinue this round because of the poor response to treatment. However, he also advised me that if we went for another round of egg collection next month, there could be 0 follicles. My partner and I decided to go ahead with this round since there were 3 follicles and thus there was a chance of getting 3 eggs.
13 March 2024
Had my third monitoring scan. Was told that two of the follicles were within the mature size range and therefore could possibly yield eggs.
That afternoon at 3pm the clinic told me that my partner should attend with me on the morning of egg retrieval to produce a sample on-site around the time of my retrieval procedure. At this point, they informed me that an abstinence period of 2-3 days is advised prior to producing the sample on the day of egg collection, and that more than 3 days abstinence may affect the sperm quality.
15 March 2024
I attended the clinic for my egg retrieval. The procedure retrieved two eggs. My partner also delivered a sperm sample.
16 March 2024
The clinic lab contacted me with my results. They let me know that unfortunately it was not successful. Only one egg was mature and it did not fertilise.
My partner also got his sperm results. It isn’t clear but it says the “initial analysis” was 80M/ml and 37% motility and the “sample preparation” was 12M/ml and 96% motility. But we don’t understand these results.
THOUGHTS
We are disappointed with the outcome but we’re also wondering if we should change clinics due to poor communication and education around the process. However, we don’t really know whether or not this is normal procedure.
I understand this is a long post so really appreciate those who have read it. I would appreciate anyone else’s experiences and would love to hear your thoughts.