sue and duggs ... ILs seem to be administered in the same dose for all clinics. My Serum prescription says 100ml 20% which INS then dilute with 500ml saline. Serum tend to do it without saline which is why their prescriptions don't specify the saline but everywhere else, including New Life, mix with saline solution, and that's what INS recommend so that's what I have. INS will provide the intralipids/saline if you have a prescription for them, and the total cost of providing the ILs and administering them is £103. I know, I just had it done this morning. I have to say my own experience with them is excellent - I've had them twice there and both times they got the drip into my arm with no problems at all and virtually no pain, which is a first for me. NL hurt the hell out of me the two times I had them done there, the first time I almost passed out because they put it in my hand and they had real problems getting the cannula in. (making me wince remembering!) Also INS were great today, I rang at half-nine and asked if there was any chance they could fit me in for an 'emergency' IL and they said just come along, we'll fit you in when you get here. And they did. They keep the ILs in stock; there were two other IVF ladies there from different clinics having them done while I was there.
Just my experience, you understand.
mel Best of luck for your Serum trip. If you're going to go to the hotel by taxi from the airport then you don't need my bus tips on where to get the ticket and bus :) Hand luggage will be fine - if you find you have too many toiletry-freebies from Yaia to take (some are too big millilitre-wise for hand luggage) you can just give them to the staff at Serum if you like, I don't know what they do with them but I know other ladies do this. If you want bottles of water, get them from the little cafe at the entrance of the Yaia clinic, they're only 50 cents! Take something to eat (and your bottle of water) with you for after the op; they want you to eat and drink something but they don't provide it. They're not that fussed though - I think I had something like half a packet of mini gingerbread biscuits and some water, and they were happy with that :)
You have Agate's map, yes? That will show you how to get to Serum from the Alex - don't worry that the side streets all look really run down and the building Serum is in looks very unprepossessing; it's much nicer on the inside. And when you try to push the front door of Serum open you can't, it's on a buzzer lock; the girls on reception will buzz the door open when they see you pushing it! :) Lots of luck, and let us know how you get on!
Yes brown that's exactly the issue. The embryos were already 5 day blasts - ie, just about to hatch - when they were transferred, so implantation should have been within the next few days; they don't need to travel down the fallopian tubes etc. So getting a faint FRER line this morning - bear in mind that FRER are sensitive to 12.5miu - is pretty rubbish; I had 3 'perfect' blasts, if even only one of them had implanted properly within the right sort of time frame I should have a hell of a lot more hCG in my system than 12miu! A faint line means ... well, I don't know what it means, but of my 6 failed pregnancies, the only ones that got further than 5 weeks I had a strong FRER at 12dpo. I would guess I'm the equivalent of 17dpo (egg collection plus 5 days getting to blastocyst and egg transfer plus 12 days to my test this morning). By anyone's standards a faint line cannot be a good thing.
Penny has told me to do 3 hCG 'rescue' shots 2 days apart - so, one today, one Thu, one Sat, and then see. She told me to get my hCG measured Thu before my next shot (and presumably can tell me how much to subtract for the hCG already in my system from the 'rescue' shot), but of course I then can't get the 48-hour follow-up one done on Saturday. My GP's lab will only turn these tests around in 48 hours, which is no use, so I'm having to go to a private path lab in Guildford to get them done (more kerching!) and they're not open Saturdays (as I believe nowhere is, actually).
Basically I'm not going to know for ... well, who knows? I don't believe my period WILL start while I'm taking oestrogen and progesterone supplements - I think I would only start bleeding if I stop these. So even that isn't an indicator.
I HATE this inconclusiveness - it's what did my head in before, and here we are all over again. I could almost take a clean BFN - at least that way we know it hasn't worked at all. But this faint line - it's an 'almost pregnant'. Is it implantation problems? Shouldn't be, with a 'clean' rejuvenated uterus after the hysto/implantation cuts. NK cell issues? Who knows!