A Haul of Eggs

Egg Collection Results

Despite having an objective of achieving less eggs of better quality, we ended up getting what I would consider a large collection of eggs - 19 in total. This makes this collection the second highest ever with the previous stimulated cycles achieving:

- #4: 22 eggs;
- #3: 12 eggs;
- #2: 18 eggs;
- #1: 15 eggs.

Given we had 19 today, I am not sure what this actually means in terms of quality. Maybe this is not a good sign. IVF is essentially a numbers game where hopefully you throw enough embryos out there one of them will stick.

In any case, I feel better today than what I have done in previous collections. I put this down to having lots of rest before and after the egg collection. The big test will come tomorrow. The big questions are:

- How many will actually fertilise?
- How many will make it to a day 5 blastocyst?

So far we have had pretty good fertilisation rates. Whilst there has been a few fragmented embryos, the majority have survived up to Day 3. However, the statistics are more telling by Day 5. Essentially, in all but one cycle we ended up with only 1 little blastocyst for transfer to my uterus. The last cycle was by far the most successful with 6 little blastocysts in total. So whilst I am anticipating fairly good fertilisation rates tomorrow, the big test will be 5 days from now and of course 11 days after that. Hopefully my number is up and it will be my turn to get pregnant.

The Final Jab

Triggering Ovulation

Tonight heralds the night where I will inject the final needle that will trigger ovulation. I got the call from my nurse and was instructed to use Ovidrel at 9.30pm (EST) tonight. Of course, this means I will be checking in at "Hotel M" (my affectionate term for the world famous IVF clinic) at 10.30am Friday for my egg collection at 11am.

Hubby will also need to produce some sperm when we check in at the "Hotel." It's funny but I never really thought about how he produced his sample but I now have it on good advice that the cubicle where he is to "produce" is well equipped with visual stimuli including videos and magazines. I assume the content is soft porn. Who knows - it remains unspoken as I am sure my husband will not want to divulge this information.

In any case, after an intense couple of days of multiple needles, I find myself strangely looking forward to this last jab. On a personal note, I am feeling fine and not overly bloated which is good. I recall that our objective was to have less eggs of better quality (not 22 of poor quality like last time).

I find myself wondering how many eggs they will retrieve, will they fertilise and will they survive to a day 5 blastocyst. But most importantly I wonder if all these conditions are met - will the little embryo finally implant. This is place where IVF has failed in my last 6 attempts. At yes, time to keep playing the waiting game.

Another Test, Another Dollar

IVF Tests, Scans and Costs

Today marks the third scan and blood test that I have had in less than a week. The good news is that my follicles are coming along nicely and there are now 10 reasonably large follicles (hopefully with some eggs inside of them).

It seems that at certain point, the ultrasound team don't measure the small follicles - just the larger ones. What I'd like to know is what happened to the other 20 plus follicles that were detected only a few days earlier!! I suppose they are still there in hiding.

In any case, that question goes unanswered as I learn that I am scheduled for egg collection this Friday 31st July. This means taking the day off on sick leave and not working at my part-time job on Saturday.

It also means two more injections tonight and two more tomorrow night and then a final one on Wednesday night to trigger ovulation. All good fun. My aversion to needles is back with a vengence. The veins in my arms have gone into hiding. My stomach is looking pretty bruised from all the needles. I am starting to feel bloated and uncomfortable again from my swollen ovaries. My purse is $166 lighter after paying for two more antagonist injections. Is it worth it? Definately if we get a positive result and a healthy baby at the end of it all.

Losing My Medicine

Losing IVF Medication

Oh dear! I am using a new injectable medicine called Orgalutran. This is an antagonist medication that prevents ovulation.

The medication comes in the form of a syringe rather than a nasal spray. The syringe is not adjustable like some of the pen style syringes where you can adjust the dosage. This little baby is all ready to go. In most cases, you are supposed to depress the syringe until the air comes out and there is a little droplet of the medicine at the end of the syringe.

The only trouble is that I pushed it too far and it seemed to me like a gush of medicine came out. At $83 per injection and the risk of ovaluating this is not good news.

Fortunately on closer inspection, it does not seem like I lost more than a third of the medication so I injected it anyway. What else could I do. Its the weekend. I rationalise that it is early days and I only had my scan today and only 2 follicles were 14mm while the other 28 were still pretty small. Since its the weekend and the clinic is closed on Sunday, I will tell me nurse tomorrow.

Annual Leave or Sick Leave

IVF and Managing Work

One of the difficulties in regularly undertaking IVF whilst working full-time is explaining why you are taking time off on sick leave. You know you are going to be in hospital - you just don't know when. This simple fact, can create a myriad of problems. Like for example when I was expected to fly to another state to oversee a TV commercial shoot when I might potentially be in a hospital bed having my eggs collected.

As it happened in that example, I told my manager about my dilemma. I think this may have been around IVF cycle #2. Naively, I thought this may make life a little easier. Bad assumption! Since I told her about my plight, she asked me if I was taking sick leave or annual leave. I told her I had intended on taking sick leave.

My manager's response was most interesting. I was questioned whether I should be taking annual leave or sick leave. The rationale being that she considered the treatment I was having as being "elective." She then proceeded to tell me about another staff member who had to take annual leave (not IVF) when having elective surgery.

Ignoring the ethics of her disclosure, I contemplated her comment for a while. To say I was speechless would be an understatement. I was totally amazed that she had the gall to ask me this. Especially since I know that she herself wants to have children one day. In any case, it highlights to me that we are all really very ignorant of our ability to get pregnant. We take it for granted that it will just happen. I know I did.

But back to my story on annual leave versus sick leave. It was bad enough being asked this the once. But I was seriously offended when this was thrown up in my face on no less than 3 occassions over the course of six months. In end, I had to tell my Manager that I was offended by her comments. I thought they indicated a complete lack of regard for my situation. I hoped that she would never have to face the situation I was in.

On reflection, I strongly believe that IVF treatment should be considered sick leave and not annual leave for the following reasons:

1. Most people I know don't choose to be infertile
2. Like any other illness, a person chooses to have treatment or not.
3. The condition may not be life threatening, but it is highly emotional and it is not uncommon for complications to occur as a result (e.g. Ovarian Hypostimulation, Depression)
4. A doctor issues a certificate for the procedure (I assume this is not issued when undertaking cosmetic surgery.
5. In Australia, the treatment is partially medicare refundable

In any case, I would love to hear the views of other people navigating their way through IVF and infertility. You all know my views but I am interested to hear other peoples opinions on the matter.

Antagonizing Cycle

IVF Antagonist Cycle

I am now commencing IVF cycle #7. This should be interesting. My Doctor has changed the treatment protocol and I will now be having an antagonist cycle???

An antagonist cycle essentially means that at a certain point of the cycle I will need to inject twice daily - the first injection being a follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and the second being a injection that apparently stops you from ovulating. For those familiar with IVF, the second injection is a substitute for the nasal spray.

The antagonist cycle is more intense but the benefit of this cycle is that it is quicker than a normal IVF cycle. I have been told that generally the aim is for less eggs but more quality. Given I produce a lot of eggs, this should be interesting.

In any case, I had an appointment at the IVF clinic to test my hormone levels and also how many follicles I had. My expectations weren't that high given it is only Day 6 of my cycle and I have been injecting FSH for the last 3 days (although tonight's dose makes it 4).

Fortunately I don't have to have the second injection just yet as the follicles are too small and immature. However, during my ultrasound visit I learnt that I had 18 follicles in one ovary and 9 in the other. Amazing! I only counted 5 of the 18 and expected a lot less at this early stage.

I am now hoping that they don't all mature because there will be hell to pay as I get nearer to egg collection. That many eggs = bloating and sore tummy. My highest number of eggs collected was 22 so with a bit of luck there won't be any more than that.

So my next visit to the clinic will be in two days time. Lucky me - I get to get up early on Saturday morning for an 8am appointment.

Lurking in Toilets

The Inconveniences of IVF

One of the most annoying aspects of IVF is organising your social life around the daily process of needles and injections.

This brings me to the events of last night which were just plain weird. For a start, I was in a library. Now this is not a place I would normally frequent. However, I happened to be at the library because I was attending an Internet marketing meeting on blogging! Yep - and this blog is the result.

In any case, I came to the library prepared with mini esky (ice box), ice pack, antiseptic swabs and syringe in tow. My plan was to escape my meeting at 8pm so I could duck off to the toilet and treat myself to another dose of Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH). Just want everyone wants to do. Not!

What was weird about the whole episode was that I felt like some druggie escaping off to get my next fix - especially since I have never been a user of illegal substances.

The location of the library certainly added to my overall feeling. For a start, the library was located in Fitzroy which is an inner city suburb of Melbourne. Fitzroy is quite eclectic and fashionable but I would also say it would probably have a higher than average proportion of druggies in the area. So it would be fair to say that this contributed to the overall weirdness of what I was doing.

It also felt strange injecting in such a public place away from the privacy of home. Fortunately, by the time I went to the toilet the library was closed to the public but I think that just added to the weirdness of my act.

In the back of my mind was the thought of being caught out in the random act of giving myself an injection. How would I handle it? What would I say? How would the person react? Would they think I was a user? I don't think I had a readily available answer.

And fortunately, my act was done undetected with no unwelcome intruders. Phew!!!