IVF at Guy's & St. Thomas' & general process/timeline part 2

[HereToLearnAndShare]

This is a continuation from IVF at Guy's & St. Thomas' & general process/timeline discussion

Thanks @Etonmess20 very much appreciated. I emailed and asked for an appointment and got a response within 5 mina from Tamara - I imagine she was surprised as she spent the scan Tuesday telling me how amazing everything looked. They made one for 31 Aug, which is farther away than I would like but hoping I can get some answers. Thanks for the support ❤

Let us know about your other two!

@Vparisi I'm lost for words tbh, it's just so unexpected & makes it worse when everything so far has been positive then this happens.
I know it's easy for me to say but try not to write yourselves off until you've spoken to the experts, I'd be very surprised if they don't have any suggestions on a way forward.

Is the FET on hold for now or are they still advising you should carry on?

Always here whatever you need ❤️

@Vparisi I’m so sorry to hear about your experience 😔 There must be a reason why this has happened after such a good response to the stims. Hopefully you can get some more clarity and an action plan soon but for now just give yourself lots of love and rest ❤️

@Vparisi I am so sorry to hear about the outcome! That's really devastating. Especially with that many eggs, you cant be prepared for such news. Sending you love and positive thoughts. ❤️ As they say, you only need one to make it happen, so dont lose hope!

@Rj1988 how do you feel? Did you ask Guys about the bleeding?

@Vparisi - I totally feel for you... I too had a similar experience with Guys.. I had 20 eggs collected out of them only 1 made it to blastocyst

They said it's due to my egg quality and it could be true but I got another cycle done abroad in jan 2021 where I had again 20 eggs collected and all of them got fertilised by day 5 only 2 reached blastocyst rest were early blastocyst and morula

I don't know if the outcome also depends on the protocol they use but please don't feel disheartened and let's all 3 make it to beautiful blastos xx

@HereToLearnAndShare - sorry I am not having bleeding. I was just curious to know if ladies here had spotting after transfer

@Rj1988 sorry, I misunderstood. Hope you are feeling well. Xx

Thanks ladies @Etonmess20 @Rj1988 @HereToLearnAndShare @GJW2018 it's so wonderful to have all your support. We won't give up just yet and maybe one of these 3 could be a miracle. I have been trying to do some reading and it seems the most common reason for a high number of immature eggs is POCS so maybe I have that and it is undiagnosed. I'll look forward to speaking to the Dr on the 31st but I wish it was a bit earlier.

@etonmess20 did you hear about your other two?

@Vparisi 31st probably sounds further away than it is but it'll come round quick for you & they should have some answers. It's interesting it says may be related to PCOS, definitely something to ask them.

Not heard about the other two, he said they wouldn't let us know in advance of Wednesday so we'll just wait & see when we go

@Vparisi I’m really sorry to hear how your cycle went, but fingers firmly crossed you have some left. When do you hear?

I may/may not have PCOS too. High AMH/AFC and the doctors seem very confused by it tbh. Some think I do have it, some think I do not, some say borderline. I don’t have the hormone profile or classic signs of PCOS but I have a few of the less common symptoms (anxiety, thin hair, high cholesterol) and it’s all a bit of a minefield and all very individual. I’ve opted to call myself possibly PCO, I don’t seem to have the main syndrome part. There’s a few supplements and meds for PCOS like inofolic/myo-inositol and metformin, I’ve never taken either because I’m a little confused as to whether I need to or not really but there are definitely options for you to look into if you don’t have success this round. The first round is a bit of trial and error usually, hopefully you’ll get some good information from it.

Aug 31 is only a week away now, so it’ll come round quickly. I’m also in that day.

@Etonmess20 good news on your cycle!

@Vparisi - are they going to culture your embryos still day 5? And have they told you when you can go in for your FET?

Today is my 3dpo5dt.. My breasts are not tender anymore unlike yesterday and no cramping or any other symptom... I don't think the lil embryo has implanted this time

@Rj1988 to give you some comfort I had zero symptoms at all and was still ok xxx

That's exciting @Etonmess20 - fingers crossed!!

Thanks @thislittlebird @Rj1988 ❤ so sge said when your success rate is so low they freeze the fertilised eggs immediately rather rather waiting till day 5 because they have very slim chances of survival but would be better off growing in your womb. I'm pretty surprised I had to request an appointment honestly because my thoughts were that when they're saying this outcome is exceptionally unlikely they should want to follow up with you ASAP. The doctor who did my EC said I could start FET as soon as I have a period but I'm not sure if that has changed with the outcome. I don't want to play the blame game but I am disappointed when they say to me it is a 50% success rate and I don't even end up getting any embryos. I have to think something then has been missed in tests.

@thislittlebird definitely sounds like a minefield and i don't have any of those symptoms either so it is really unclear. Interesting on the supplements, I am looking forward to getting their opinion. Hope to see you Aug 31!

@rj1988 hope you're staying well and relaxing! I wouldn't stress too much about no symptoms. Crossing all my fingers ❤

@Vparisi it’s interesting because I was just listening to the bfn podcast talk about how fast one of their clinics were to reply to a positive outcome vs when they had a negative one. It’s so frustrating they don’t feel there’s any urgency. The freeze it now logic is strange, but they know what they’re doing, I suppose.

It’s annoying when they say it’s unlikely when it’s clearly still likely. We have the 50% success rate stat too but I’ve been prepping myself for this sort of scenario for a while, especially at my age and with my DH having iffy sperm.

What tests have you had between the two of you?

If you see a short person in glasses limping, that’s me 🥴. I sprained my ankle this week and it seems to be healing well, but remains very purple.

@Vparisi I would expect immediate follow up too. If they missed something before starting the treatment that would be unexceptionable. I am wondering if that happens that often why dont they do more blood tests before starting...
I am super concerned about my outcome now as I do have a some form of PCOS (some doctors say I do, so say I dont) and now that do research it seems very common.

@Etonmess20 I am so happy about you outcome! ❤️ Its annoying how they dont update you until the transfer day though. Is it booked for your Bday?

@HereToLearnAndShare thank you! Transfer is booked for Wednesday which will mean (by my calculations) that OTD will fall on my birthday!

How are you doing?

@Etonmess20 ah I see. Thats exciting!
I am doing well. Had my check up scan yesterday. Second scan is tomorrow morning, EC should be on Wed/Thu

@HereToLearnAndShare oh that's exciting, how did you scan go? Have they given you an indication on numbers?

@Etonmess20 the scan well. She counted 36 and she said there are few more to grow, so I had to continue with the stims till Monday. I was very optimistic by the figure given, but now I have mixed feeling as this may end up with a huge disappointment. 😳

@HereToLearnAndShare that sounds like it's all positive so far, such a horrible waiting game isn't it?
Got everything crossed for you, let us know how you get on x

@thislittlebird yeah I find the logic to be very strange and I have never heard about freezing at this early stage. The communication for me at the moment is more frustrating than ever! It is absolutely crazy to me they don't feel any urgency on negative outcomes particularly when the embryologist says they are shocked by the outcome.

So DP had a couple sperm tests this year and his morphology was low but improved with Proxeed Plus although still below average. His motility was average and then he got covid and straight after that his motility was terrible all of a sudden. One member here (can't remember exactly but I think @morganablue ?) recommended a specific zinc supplement and it had amazing results and his motility was way above average the other day so that was good. 50% fertilisation on ICSI is obviously below expectations but it is probably more likely that was due to the eggs.

I personally have not had any fertility testing as I have had both tubes removed due to cysts so I was accepted onto the NHS straight away. Particularly when you do only get the one free cycle, I am now wondering if they should have been doing some tests and maybe whatever has happened could have been picked up earlier and we could have had a better cycle. I'm not sure about paying 7.5k at the ACU for another cycle with ICSI if I have no clarity on the realistic chances of it being different next time around.

I will look out for the limp then! Hope you are feeling ok with the pain! You can listen out for the Aussie accent to spot me haha. I'm excited you FINALLY get your appointment!

@HereToLearnAndShare exactly, I don't understand it at all, the treatment should be more personalised. Congrats on your 36, that is amazing and I am sorry to have now made you stressed before it but I'm crossing all my fingers and toes for a positive outcome for you ❤

@etonmess20 can't believe it's on your birthday still!! Hope it is the best gift ever.

@Vparisi completely understandable you're frustrated with it all & I definitely think there's questions they need to be answering. I really hope that they've got some answers for you on what's gone wrong and why so that you can have some kind of idea on options going forward.

I genuinely don't know if it being my birthday is a bad thing or a good thing but we'll see

@HereToLearnAndShare @Vparisi It’s weird how it all works, but although I was initially pleased I had a high AFC I’m less excited now. I think it works out ok for some and others have less success. On bfn the woman with high AMH/AFC ended up with to fewer blasts than the one with average number of eggs collected. I’m going into all this in the frame of mind that if I can get a couple I’ll be over the moon because I’ve seen so many of these “unlikely” outcomes like Vparisi’s just had.

@Vparisi yeah it’s frustrating and I wish there was more consideration for how much this all impacts everyone but I guess it is what it is. I’ve never heard of the freezing thing but who knows, maybe they’ll be ok yet.

I just replied to you on that other thread too, didn’t realise your DP had any MF issues. If he has a normal count I would strongly recommmend the daily ejaculation. DH went from 2.5-8% morph and it was either the ejaculation or the impryl/ubiquinol. We had the in depth SA with Mr Ramsay and his dna frag was pretty good for his age too. The regular ejaculation is good for oxidative stress.

I’ll keep my ears 👂 peeled 👀

Just had the scan. They counted about 40 folicules, so I do hope there will be some matured eggs amongst them by Wed 🙏🥚 waiting for their call later today to confirm the time.

@thislittlebird it is kind of strange how that all works, like technically higher numbers should be better but if your numbers are "too good" it is a worse outcome! I was reading this morning about Amy Schumer who got 35 eggs out and was able to use one so gives some hope.

Thank you!! I will tell him and also about the impryl/ubiquinol as I haven't heard that before.

@HereToLearnAndShare congratulations! Exciting for your EC, crossing all my fingers for plenty of mature eggs!