January IVF abroad anyone else making plans...

[Pumpkin18]

We are planning IVF in Czech in January and will start meds around 2nd January! It's our first ever cycle so I am very nervous about the injections etc. Just wondering if anyone else in the same boat and where you are having treatment?

@maybe2019, that is really bad.

Went to see consultant today. Endometrial thickness is now 12.0mm after 12 days on the meds whic he’s happy with. Egg collection took plas today and DH gave his specimen while we were there, they will perform icsi this afternoon and then, tomorrow, will let me know how many eggs fertilised. They will also let me know the condition and grading of embryos on Monday (day 3) and I’m booked for embryo transfer on Wednesday (day 5).

The consultant has added in a synthetic progesterone injection every 3rd day on top of the crinone 8% gel I’m having twice a day from today. Also starting on clexane injections tonight and 5 days of antibiotics.

Now we’re going to relax and enjoy the next few days getting out and about - the centre of Kyrenia is a 20 minute walk from the hotel on a fairly straight road with one area of incline that is easily negotiated. Will update as and when we have any news.

@Pumpkin18 Good luck for the coming few weeks!

@Rememberallball, all sounds really good and heading in right direction! I have everything crossed for you!

@Maybe2019 It is really hard when the consultants at the Fertility Clinics say certain things for sure, In my city I would never visit and pay for private treatment due to initial investigations done there on NHS years ago, they made me feel like it was all my fault and I actually started to believe it!

You need to definitely feel at ease at your clinic and with te people you are putting your faith in!

Heard from clinic coordinator. 15 eggs were collected yesterday from donor. 13 have fertilised, are good quality and survived the first night!! Next update on Monday sometime.

In myself, I’ve a very sore throat and cough and th8nk I may have picked something up at home before we came out on Thursday as I was snuffly on Wednesday. DH and I are taking it easy, going to take a wander round the area we’re staying in today and see what is nearby. We’ll find somewhere for lunch and chill!!

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Just had my 2nd scan. On day 9 and it looks like we will probably have egg collection on Monday - just waiting for the update from the Dr before we leave for the airport for our flight to Brno. Follicles are really good size so all looks great so far fx

@letsdothis43 I was very low for several months after that conversation. It got me really down and made me feel like a failure. As you can imagine having friends and family getting pregnant/having babies around me constantly didnt help either. I have literally picked myself recently and started this whole IVF search again. It's not easy and it's also very scary at the same time.

I wish I never went all the way to Greece. We could have had some of the sperm DNA fragmentation tests here (which I didn't realise were available in the London. I know, I'm gullible to think only overseas have tests like that)! I wish I looked into investigating hubbys sperm further but was made to believe only IVF is the solution. Even though we will of course require IVF, I would like to ensure my hubby's sperm are in a good condition first before forking out thousands of pounds trialling on IVF cycles. So now we have to look into increasing the supplements for hubby as he need to add antioxidant increasing vitamins. Theres 2 additinal ones that's he'll have to have which means needing 3 months for new sperm to generate.

@rememberallball fingers crossed the embryos last through to day 5! Xx Keep hydrated and eating lots of fruits and veg. Hope you feel better soon! Xx

@pumpkin19 good luck on your egg collection! Xx

Sending baby dust to all the ladies xxx

@Pumpkin19 great! good luck with EC!

@Maybe2019 Yes its a horrible feeling to have when you are already feeling so crappy

@Rememberallball Sounds great too, good luck for EC have everything crossed for you all!

Egg collection has been decided for Wednesday instead to allow some of the other follicles to catch up and will hopefully get more eggs. Got a few days to relax once we get there. Just about to board plane now

Good luck for Wednesday, @Pumpkin19 xx

Latest news from the clinic is 10 eggs developing well, 3 others a little slower to develop but all 13 still listed as grade A. Full grading will happen on Wednesday before they do ET.

First self administered gestagen (synthetic progesterone) injection done this lunchtime and I found the needle was large, and the solution difficult to administer because it’s in an oil solution making it thick. I did bleed a little afterwards and it is stinging a bit - I’m very glad it’s only once every 3 days rather than daily like the clexane. So far, no massive bruising from the clexane, but I have a feeling that last time the bruises started appearing around day 4/5 so never say never and they might still appear!!

My sore throat has gone but I have an obvious cold and am sneezing a lot - hoping it will have cleared by Wednesday ready for ET and that it won’t jeopardise the transfer.

Hope everyone is ok this Monday morning!!

@rememberallball Sounds like it's going well. Hope the other eggs catch up, having 13 is an impressive number either way! Sorry to hear about the injection. Are you able to put an ice pack on the site?

Ladies, I wanted to know where you had all your initial blood tests and scans done prior going for treatment overseas? I've previously had all the blood tests done with my old GP surgery, but my new one is being difficult saying they're not supposed to do pre-fertility testing for their patients! I had part of it in April 2018 and the other part in July 2018. Most clinics want test results less than 6 months old which is leaving me to have to repeat it now. I'm trying to keep the costs down because my next cycle is going to involve having alot of medications which is going to bump up the costs so much. Also bearing in mind, we are more than likely need to have more cycles as I have a low ovarian reserve, so may not get many eggs each time. I am so stressed BTW I am based in London.

@Maybe2019, I had the same wit( my old GP surgery - they would do the bloods for me and organise scans I needed. Now we’ve moved, I don’t have the same relationship yet with my new surgery, they will do a private beta hCG test for me but can’t quote a price till I produce the letter from my clinic here saying what date I need it doing and exactly what test I need - apparently me saying I need beta hCG isn’t enough, it has to be on clinic paper!!

We had my day 2 scan and bloods done at a place called Uktrasound Direct. I used the Exeter branch as it was the nearest one with availability on the days I needed (which was difficult on the Saturday between Christmas and new year!!) they charged me £161 for the scan and both blood tests. I then paid to upgrade the postage to guaranteed by 1pm on New Year’s Eve and I had them back that afternoon. The scan report I was handed and I was also emailed a copy complete with images that I was then able to email to my clinic. I used the same clinic for my day 9 scan which cost me £79.

@rememberallball thanks for that. There's a clinic literally a walking distance from my house. I have an appt with one of the GP's on Wednesday so I am going to see if I can get him/her to sign off all the pre-fertility blood tests on the NHS. I don't mind paying for the 2 day scan & blood test with Ultrasound direct before my IVF treatment.

Where did you buy your medications from? Oversea clinics seem to recommend a pharmacy called fertility2you. I know I am probably reaching but I hope I can get some of my medications on the NHS... I've been recommended to be on quite a few medications prior and after IVF on top of the stimulation meds. It has really bumped up the costs.

@Maybe2019 I got all of my meds from fertility2u, it was £500 cheaper than anywhere else for what I needed and their delivery etc is great - I really couldn't fault them, so worth getting a few quotes once you have your prescription. I dont think you can get any of it on the nhs if you need private treatment. We had all of the initial blood tests etc on nhs apart from one which I had to pay for - I actually had it at Reprofit clinic when we came over for a consultation as it was only €25 and they wanted over £100 in the UK.

Some of the clinics have deals with companies for prescriptions so ask your clinic @Maybe2019. Asda pharmacy will supply them, supposedly at cost but they couldn’t get everything I needed last time roundas I tried forgetting an idea of cost in advance. Lloyd’s online also will do them privately as do a company called Stork (I think that’s it) definitely worth asking around.

We were very lucky that I’m on 2 of the medications any way for another condition so they are NHS prescriptions, I bought the aspirin in the supermarket and my previous GP wrote the prescriptions for me (on the NHS having asked me what theclinic wanted me to take) I did make enquiries about prices and the crinone 8% gel is approximately £45 for a box of 15 in the UK; I need extra of these and the clinic here are quoting me €23 for a box. The clexane injections are about £30 for a box of 10 in the UK.

@pumpkin19 I can't get over how expensive these meds are. So far one of the stimulation meds will be costing me £550. THAT'S ONE DRUG!!! And I have to be on multiple stimulation drugs at the same time.

@rememberallball you're so lucky you don't have to worry about stimulation drugs. They're so expensive!!! I'm also on 8 supplements to aid fertility and improve egg quality.

I will sit down one day and go through all the medications and get full quotes. Currently I am waiting for AF to start. Last 3 months it's been coming on between day 27 and day 28. I'm on CD30 now and even though I know I am not preganant, it's so frustrating when AF is late because it starts to give you a bit of hope and when AF does appear, you feel like a damn fool for even thinking it was possible to conceive naturally...

@Maybe2019, as one of my friends said - it’s the only month we’re willing af to put in an appearance!!

Hi Ladies,

How are you all getting on? CD32 and still no AF for me. Apparently I had an Endometrial scratch when I had my scan with Serum without my knowledge. After the transvaginal ultrasound the Dr had to insert a catheter into my uterus to fill it up with fluid for the Aquascan. When I tell you I was screaming in pain... I couldn't understand why it hurt so much, the Dr didn't even stop he said "just hold on" and continued on. Eventually i had to tell him to stop and he said "its done now, the catheter is in. Your cervix was difficult to get to". Now I am wondering if that was actual crap he fed me because the report said I had Endo scratch and it explains the pain. Since then I had pelvic pain and cramps. I had mild spotting that day which stopped. Then 2 days later I began spotting again (CD27 assuming period is coming but no flow) and from CD30 began having brown spotting. I continued to experience pelvic pain/back pain similar to being on my period but no flow still. I honestly don't know what's going on. I have period symptoms but no period.

Has anyone experienced anything similar?

On a positive note, the GP I saw today authorised my blood tests!

One last thing, when dealing with overseas clinics, has any of you made arrangement for treatment without visiting the clinic first? Some clinics seem to have a system where you organise everything online/via email then head over to the country for the IVF?

Thanking you in advance! Xx

Reprofit offer a Skype consultation first so you don't have to go out there before treatment.
We chose to as wanted to see the clinic and meet the Dr first. I had egg collection today and can't fault anything with Reprofit so far - They have come across like they are doing all they can to give us the best possible chances of success

@pumpkin19 & @rememberallball How was the EC?

Hope your cycle is going well!!! xx

@pumpkin19 Glad to hear your EC went well
The coordinator I've been communicating with said that I don't necessarily need to have a Skype consultation as everything can be organised "virtually" as she is in close contact with the doctors. I thought that was a weird thing to say considering I asked to be booked for a consultation, twice! Anyway I going to insist she books me an appointment. I'm not going to go all the way there by just having email communication. I need to get a feel of the doctors and how they treat people.
Who are you liaising with if you don't mind me asking?

@Maybe2019 my coordinator is Mihaela Parau and Dr is Marcela Pastorkakova- we met her when we went for consultation but Dr Tomas did egg collection today. Everyone I've met has been good. I think sometimes due to slight language barrier things can come across wrong. I know a lot of people who have been over without a Skype consultation - its just down to personal preference. I would say that when youre actually going through it the whole experience is much easier than I thought. I think the tough bit for me is just coming up with waiting to see if we have any viable embryos. We got 10 eggs - 4 of which were mature and the other 6 were halfway there and might catch up so hopefully we will have something to put back in.

I appreciate everyone's experience is different though

@pumpkin19 You're absolutely right. Everyone will have different experiences. Some will have strong preferences (ME! lol) of how they want their communications to be. I've filled in their questionnaire and I think she said once that's done she'll book me an appointment.

Hope all your eggs mature soon. 4 is still a good number. Quality over quantity. Remember it only takes 1 good egg! Fingers crossed all goes well xx

Sorry for not updating yesterday. My phone seems to have gone kaput (nothing to do with DH knocking it onto the floor while doing something he didn’t need to be doing!!) so we spent a lot of the afternoon with him trying to fix it and me resting.

Embryo transfer went well. We had 4 excellent 5 day blasts so 2 were transferred and 2 frozen for future use. I felt quite tired and so, after a room service dinner in our room, I had a relatively early night.

Now waiting till next Wednesday when I go back for an early blood test to check for hCG - might show by then, if not then it’s another blood test on the 28th once we’re home in Cornwall.

@Maybe2019, my pre care was all by phone/email/WhatsApp and we only visited the clinic for the actual ivf 15 months ago. This time round we’d obviously had last years experience behind us. I was ok with this but can see others would like the reassurance of meeting face to face before committing.