Damn damn damn. I wrote this looooong post all about my RE visit. And my laptop crashed. Nothing was save. I'm so pissed. Now you'll get the short version.
It went well. There were looks of pity from all the support staff when we arrived. They'd given us the last appointment of the day to keep these bitter infertiles away from the starry-eyed newbies. That was fine with us. Easier to park. No need to pretend interest in the old magazines.
Here's the dealio:
- Cycling in January is easy. Cycling in October is nearly impossible. Much like y'all said what I wanted to hear, so did the good doc.
- The mister and I have both now had our infectious disease bloodwork done for this year. Let's not think about how many times this makes. Even Dr. Local agreed it was idiotic to have the mister retested at this point but we still did it.
- Next step is a review of the donors' records by the geneticist. If she approves the match, then we can meet with her and hear any concerns.
- Then the various appointments with the psychologist: them, us, and all together. I jokingly asked what would happen if we fail. Dr Local mentioned taking the MMPI. The mister happily informed Dr. Local that I know how to cheat on it. Probably not the best thing to say but it's true. And, btw, it's not easy so don't ask. Remember that five year stint in grad school? Wayyyyyyyyyyyy too much time was spent learning, administering and interpreting this test.
- Then we can cycle with one of the world's easiest protocols: 14 days of estrace, baseline ultrasound, if all is well begin PIO and transfer. No bcp. No lupron. Woo hoo!
- He doesn't believe in bedrest. They have a study coming out soon that shows no difference whatsover, in a double blind study. He does believe in valium. Both sound good to me.
- Dr Local was quite concerned we discuss how many embies to thaw and transfer. Turns out there are three day3 embies, all excellent (not blasts as the donor remembered). Still a no-brainer: thaw them all and transfer all that survive. Even if it were blasts I'd want them all. Hell, I want a few more but that's all I have. FETs have a much lower success rate so I want to maximize it where I can. If we had more than 5 or so there might be a decision but this one was easy.
- He didn't flinch when I said "Just one more thing, I guess." Clearly this man does not watch enough Law and Order and had never seen The Closer in his life. I even used my best Brenda Lee Johnson voice. (and of course I said 'thank you" just like her as well). What are my chances for another ectopic? Especially a cervical ectopic? Because, let's be honest, that's all I really give a shit about, right? He started to answer and I rudely interrupted. I said something to the effect of "The mister and I are headed across the street after this to visit a friend of ours in the hospital. She's been there for quite a while and perhaps you've heard of her case. I don't want you to commit any HIPAA violations but I'm talking about me. And I want a number." He didn't break HIPAA but we did discuss a few numbers. I suppose they were meant to comfort me. They really didn't. He says 2% of all ivf pregnancies are ectopic, no matter what kind of ectopic. Now that I don't have tubes my chances should be much much lower. And in 18 years he's never had a cervical ectopic patient and until this year his colleagues never had either. Then he said I could still have an interstitial ectopic. But it was also very rare. Yay. Another thing for me to google. Just what I hoped.
So, January it is. That gives me a few months to put all my ducks into very organized rows. And to have fun with Bebe when she comes to town in a month or so (yay!) not to mention Thailand.
I can hear the sighs of relief that the other post got eaten. Because this really is the short version.
Hey Millie - this is great news. I'm so glad that things are progressing. Not great news about even rare possibilities of ectopic but hoping that you are now on the other side of the odds - for God's sake, you already had 2... I'm hopeful that rare really means rare - and not yours.
I've been thinking about you and hoping that things would line up once you went to the RE. And Thailand sounds absolutley fantastic.
Say hi to Liana for me and hug each other - one from me for each of you!
Roni
Posted by: Roni | Wednesday, 27 September 2006 at 18:29
I am soooooooo excited to come see you and the Mister. Can't wait.
Have I mentioned that your RE is one smart dude? And we didn't even have to pay him off to get him to agree with us internets.
Posted by: Bebe | Wednesday, 27 September 2006 at 19:51
DON'T GOOGLE THAT OTHER ECTOPIC!!!! I did and its not good! We can't have THAT bad a luck after all we've been through, so just don't go there my friend!
I hate google.
Posted by: K&M | Wednesday, 27 September 2006 at 20:44
Good news!
Posted by: Suz | Thursday, 28 September 2006 at 05:26
Phew. That all sounds v good, particularly three excellent three-day embryos. And waiting til january sounds like a good option all round.
Re the ectopics, I'm not going there, and neither should you.
Posted by: thalia | Thursday, 28 September 2006 at 07:32
At some point you have to be on the right side of the odds, I chose to belive it will be this time. You have no tubes, there will be no ectopics. I hope you enjoy your visit and your trip to Thailand (my dream vacation) and I agree with you that you thaw and transfer everything that survives.
Posted by: Krista | Thursday, 28 September 2006 at 08:04
Whoo hoo for January! And Thailand!
Posted by: T | Thursday, 28 September 2006 at 08:28
Hooray for January. I'm also thinking of January as a good time to start cycling again.
I can't believe there is another type of ectopic pregnancy to worry about; I have learned a lot from your blog!
Posted by: Louise | Thursday, 28 September 2006 at 12:15
Millie,
I'm so excited to hear about your excellent 3 day embryos! That is fantastic news!
Ectopic talk is freaking me out though! Please don't even think about going there!
Let us just state firmly that YOU DESERVE A BREAK -- and surely you must land on the "good" side of the stats this time!
Crossing everything for you, AND knocking on wood!!! :)
Take care,
Nilla
P.S. I would have enjoyed the long version equally!
Posted by: 'Nilla @ Vanilla Dreams | Thursday, 28 September 2006 at 14:30
coolio a decent appoint, questions answered and a trip to thailand, ahhhh the stars are aligning, or some such perkyclaptrap. :o)
Posted by: Jen | Thursday, 28 September 2006 at 22:47
Millie-
I'm focusing on all the good news in this post - we aren't going there on the (possible) bad. Just not.
Things sound like they are flowing...
Love you,
Tracey
Posted by: tracey | Saturday, 30 September 2006 at 11:08
I hope that all goes well with your upcoming cycle. No ectopics please dear Lord...
My tubes are now gone too, so that's suppose to be a good thing with IVF. Who the hell knows?
Posted by: KIMMER | Monday, 02 October 2006 at 08:39
ack! i'm so behind. yay for january...it all sounds good.
Posted by: elana | Tuesday, 03 October 2006 at 18:24