Today we had our re-group appt with Dr. School.craft from CCRM. The only thing that came back abnormal in all of our testing (other than the sperm morphology issue, which we already knew) was that I have restricted blood flow to my uterus. He said that this is "not a black and white" answer as to why we are not conceiving. Dr. School.craft said electro-acupuncture and avoiding all caffeine will help with this, but of the eight embryos transferred one of them surely would have implanted regardless of my restricted blood flow. I am not sure how I feel about this. Back in my August cycle I did have a really low hCg and a faint positive on HPT so I feel (and knew in my heart) that I was just barely pregnant. It wasn't the trigger shot that I took before ER either...I had already tested on HPT and it had been negative just a couple days before the faint positive showed up.
Dr School.craft said that the "only stone left unturned" would be to do CGH. We asked a lot of questions about CGH and the chromosomes in my eggs. He said that even though we have the right number of chromosomes in our blood (shown through the karyotyping and sperm DNA fragmentation testing we had done), my eggs may have different chromosomes. He went into this long explanation of how chromosomes on eggs "work". I am not sure that I can coherently or eloquently explain this to someone else, so I won't attempt to. For some reason, as I was listening to him talk I got tears in my eyes. I mean, no one likes to hear that their eggs could be bad. Jeez! He said that he thinks that I have a higher percentage of eggs that are "bad" compared to the normal range of other 31-year-old females. I asked him if he thought the margin of error for CGH (which is currently at 10%) would be improved in the next six months or so and he said that he didn't think so. I also asked him what he would do if all of my embryos came back as "no result" (meaning that they could be chromosomally normal or abnormal) and he said that he would transfer them.
I told him that due to our work schedules and being busier in the spring- fall months I didn't know that we would be able to cycle at CCRM until late fall. We also told him that we have one more cycle to do locally, if we so choose, and asked him what his thoughts are about that. He said that he thinks that if it hasn't worked locally before, that it won't work at all. He said that instead of cycling locally, he would rather see us cycle with CCRM and that he would offer to us to come out on the day of trigger for ER rather than the normal requirement of flying out there on day 6 of stims. This would minimize the length of time we would have to be in CO greatly. He also said that we could to the FET on a Friday so that we would just have to fly out there on a Thursday, ET on Friday, bedrest on Saturday and Sunday and then fly home on Monday.
I am thinking that DH and I will still cycle locally in May and before we go to CO. Although, it all seems so tempting to skip this last cycle locally and go straight to CCRM, arguably one of the best fertility clinics in the nation. It would be really nice to know if we are making any chromosomally normal embryos through CGH, that is for sure. However, I am just not sure that I want to try to coordinate this last CCRM cycle during our busiest and most stressful time. And I am just not ready to be on my last cycle.
What would you do? Would you cycle locally since it is already paid for? Or would you cycle at CCRM to hopefully find answers and end this crazy roller coaster ride sooner rather than later?
Logan's Age
4 comments:
Hmmmm...this is a tough decision. I defintely would not go out to CCRM during your busy time/schedule. That will add more stress to your life. I also would say if you have the strength and if your local clinic is willing the follow Dr. Schoolie's protocol..then go for it. Though there is nothing in comparison to CCRM's lab. I just finally switched RE's after 4 failed cycles. I wish I did it sooner!
I'm just catching up with everyone's blog so sorry for the late reply. That is a tough decision. However, it is great that Dr. Sch is willing to be so flexible with you and accomodate your schedule since many of these REs are prima donas and insist that you bend to their clnic's schedules. I would be tempted to cycle locally since it has already been paid for and it gets you doing something rather than what feels like nothing until the fall. I would also second not cycling at CCRM during your busy time since cycling out of town is stressful as it is...you don't need to add your busy work time to that. Who knows...the local cycle may work and you may not end up having to go to CCRM but it is good to know that you have CCRM in your back pocket as Plan B.
I too am looking for another angel (my DD is 2) but I am old (42), unfortunately, and am considering whether to try another IVF cycle or DE. Fortunately I live in Denver and have been seeing Dr. Surrey at CCRM. I agree with the others, no point in spending all the money at CCRM if you're going to be stressed about it and you have the time. Try locally one more time. Knowing you have CCRM if it doesn't work (which I hope it does, it really is an odds game no matter how many tests they do) might make you less stressed about this next cycle. Good luck!
did ccrm say it was ok to travel after procedure?
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