Yesterday was a pretty miserable day. My insides were in pain, it was difficult to move, and I hardly ate. I just felt full all day. Yuck! I powered through it by reading scary stories about OHSS. I slept in the couch so I could be a bit upright and woke up at 4AM feeling much better, so I crawled into bed for the next couple of hours.
Today has been better. I was actually hungry for breakfast (a feeling I haven't had for days) and the discomfort seems to be manageable again. I'm feeling full again at the moment, but maybe it's because I actually ate dinner! I must say that I am glad that I am not scheduled for a fresh transfer. The thought of OHSS hitting me again in another week does not sound appealing.
I spoke with the lab early this afternoon. My phone didn't ring when the embryologist first called and her voicemail said "I have a report of what your embryos look like today. If you are interested in a detailed report, please give us a call and let us know....." Seriously? IF? Aren't these phone calls what keeps us going in the few days after retrieval? It made me laugh.
So anyway, it looks like we have 5-7 good looking embryos. From what I understand, at this point, we want the embryos to have 7-9 cells. Anything less is lagging a bit behind and anything more is too fast and can indicate a problem.
The contenders are four 8-cell embryos, two of which are already starting to compact. Again, I haven't studied up on this, but it sounded good. And then there is a 9-cell one plus two good looking 6-cell ones that could catch up.
So here's the question I'm currently considering. It's probably jumping the gun a bit, but I like to have a plan...it makes me feel like I'm involved. The flat fee for the PGD (or is it PGS?) is for 8 embryos, and then it's $200 per embryo after that. During my last cycle, I had 8 that fertilized and the lab was able to biopsy all 8, even though only 4 looked good. All the poor quality ones had multiple issues, and then two of the great looking ones also had a problem. So now if I have 12, 5 of which are not looking so hot, should I just ask them to pick the 8 best to biopsy? Or is it worth the extra $800 (assuming all are biopsy-able...Is that even a word?) just in case? I'm all in for this cycle, but if I can save several hundred dollars here or there without sacrificing the result, I'd like to take that option. I sent an email to get her thoughts, but am interested to hear your perspectives as well.... Thoughts?
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Glad you are starting to feel better! I'm not totally familiar with the biopsy, is it possible to do that after freezing/thawing? If you don't have to do it now then it makes sense to just do the best eight. If you can't do it later, maybe only do the ones that look like they'll be freezable.
ReplyDeleteSo so happy to hear that you are feeling better!! I agree with your logic. I think it makes sense to only biopsy the best 8...especially since the other already look like they aren't doing as well. I laughed out loud about your phone comment. IF is right? I lived for those phone calls those first several days after the ER. Still thinking of you!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about PGD but it sounds like a good idea to have them pick the best 8.
ReplyDeleteIs the embryologist new? I mean, seriously? IF you want to hear about your embryos??
Glad to hear that you are starting to feel better!
I know $200 is not a small sum to throw around, but I attended a conference last fall that featured a presentation on PGD. The speaker showed a picture of 5 embryos and asked the audience (many REs and embryologists) which ones they would select. Some of the good looking ones had chromosomal abnormalities and less appealing ones were normal. As with real life, looks aren't everything. I'd be tempted to bx all. borrowing my father's favourite saying "The more [stuff] you throw against the wall, the more that's bound to stick"
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad you are not doing a fresh transfer. OHSS is serious business.
ReplyDeleteI say if any embryo survives to day 5 it should be considered a contender. On the other hand, 8 embryos should give you a good 1 or 2 to transfer, right? But it is always reassuring to have as many leftover embryos as possible just in case. Sorry, I'm no help.
I'm way behind in my reading and just trying to catch up. I'm sorry you weren't feeling well following retrieval. Sounds like a good choice to wait on the transfer. I look forward to finding out what you decided to do with the embryos. It's a good problem to have, to decide what to so with the "extras".
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