Period has arrived early before transfer

[BellaBellini]

Hi,
The best was to describe the treatment I'm about to start would be to call it a frozen embryo transfer (there's more to it involving egg thawing etc as I had to have my eggs frozen after egg collection in 2019 as we had a disaster with our IVF round) but the clinic said medication and timings wise it's very similar to a transfer. I was due to start my period next week, so would have gone to the clinic for a baseline scan and start the meds, however my period has literally just started and the clinic is now closed until Monday! Does anyone know whether I am now out for this month, or could the treatment still possibly go ahead if I can go in for a scan on Monday? I'm having a bit of a meltdown right now assuming the worst!

Hi @BellaBellini if you’re using a frozen embryo then I’d imagine you’re having a type of frozen embryo transfer (FET), there’s always thawing involved, I don’t really understand how it is different to this? My understanding is there are three types, two with meds and one without called natural FET. Did they not tell you about the protocol in detail before? If you’re on a medicated cycle then you should know what you’re doing ahead of time. They may be able to convert to a natural FET though.

@Gardenlady543 sorry I wasn't very clear in my post (at all looking back! I think I'm in a bit of panic mode at the moment! ) I have frozen eggs which will be thawed in a couple of weeks and which could potentially fertilise and then the embryo transferred - the clinic said to me they do not have guidelines for this so tend to call it frozen embryo transfer (which it's not). I was due to have a baseline scan when my period arrived and then start taking Progynova and then the eggs thawed in two weeks ish, however my period has arrived early by about 5 days and the clinic is closed now until Monday so I'm really anxious that the delay in scan and meds will mean that the treatment will have to be postponed until next month, I'm really hoping that it won't make a difference and they can just pick up from Monday

@BellaBellini oh I see! You have frozen eggs not embryos! I don’t know about this process. Do they need a baseline scan in order to say go ahead with the meds? Were they definitely going to do the scan on day 1? Do you know the doses and times to take the medications?

@BellaBellini and are you sure the clinic isn’t open on a Saturday, mine doesn’t transfers in a Saturday so there are people around.

@Gardenlady543 yes sorry, it's a bit of a confusing situation, not helped by me muddling up my post! They said the process is a baseline scan on day 1, they will then give the go ahead with the meds (4 Progynova's a day) and then in two weeks thaw the eggs, mix with the sperm and if the eggs survive and fertilise it will go straight ahead to a normal embryo transfer, I'm just in a panic that my scan will now be on day 4 not 1 so worried they will not go ahead. That's a good point about clinics being open on a Saturday for transfers, they said scans were Monday to Friday so I just assumed they would be closed forgetting about transfers, I will give them a call tomorrow and see if anyone is about!

@BellaBellini what day are you supposed to start the medications? Day 1? If you need the scan to start and need the meds on day 1, then you need to talk to someone ASAP. They really should have given you a plan for this day falling on a weekend if they’re closed! Is there an out of hours number you can call?

Did your period come on tonight. My clinic only count it as day 1 if the period comes on before 5pm. So your day 1 may well be tomorrow anyway. I hope they are open tomo and you can talk to them first thing.

@Gardenlady543 it sounds really silly but I'm not sure on the meds, they were going to tell me when to start as a result of the scan, the clinic have been very chilled about the whole thing so I went along with it, and now really regretting not asking more questions. Thank you for saying about it only being classed as day 1 if before 5pm at your clinic, that has reassured me as it started about 6pm so I'm hoping I can get through to someone tomorrow and try and get things sorted, or at least ask some questions.

@BellaBellini fingers crossed that there’s someone there that can help, if they’re doing transfers then just make sure you explain to whoever answers that you don’t know what to do and you’re worried about the whole cycle getting cancelled and hopefully they’ll put a nurse on that can advise 🤞

How did you get on @BellaBellini did you manage to speak to someone?

Hi @Gardenlady543 I did, thanks so much for suggesting that they might be open still! I left a message and a nurse phoned straight back and booked me in -I have just had my baseline scan and fortunately all is fine and I can go ahead with treatment now, what a relief!

@BellaBellini oh that’s great news! I’m so glad it all worked out!!