We arrived at the clinic at 3.20pm in perfect time for our 3.30 appointments, after around 20minutes of sitting in the waiting room the nurse, Denise, called us through and apologised for our wait.
She opening the conversation with "...I'm going to put a cat in amongst the pigeons now" which immediately made me panic given the history of treatment and this infertility battle.
She sat down and explained that when she picked up my file she noticed I was a cardiac patient, and that always grabs peoples attention in the clinic. Then she opened my file and saw my AMH blood result was 32 (which means nothing to me...) and she panicked. Apparently normal AMH ranges are between 5-15 so my result of 32, without any signs of PCOS, shows I have 'optimal fertility' and some fab quality eggs, which is great news for us in the long run. However, given my AMH results the nurse thought that I would have absolutely no problem what so ever responding to the meds for IUI and they would easily get 2-3 eggs, HOWEVER, given my heart condition they do not, under any circumstances, want to be getting me pregnant with twins. As much as WE would love that, from the clinics stand point getting a woman with a heart condition pregnant with twins (or more!) would be very irresponsible and dangerous for all involved.
Then she uttered the words "I think you should go straight for IVF". I didn't know what to say, and at this point was quite close to tears as we had waited so so long for this and yet again we were getting nowhere. The nurse disappeared out of the room to call our FS, who was lecturing at the university at the time, and left us there to sit for 5 minutes. We discussed how we felt, how annoyed we were at the waiting, the pros and cons or not doing IUI etc...and when she returned she said that the FS had actually agreed with her point, and would also recommend we went straight for IVF (Why she didn't pick up on this before I don't know....)
Anyway...I asked the nurse "So, is this another 12 week wait to see Dr.Jivraj, and then take it from there?", to which she responded "Oh no! Definitely not, lets see what we can do"
Everything following from this was a bit of a blur, but the nurse was so lovely! She wrote down when my next AF was due, I mentioned this one was late so I didn't know for definite and she said she had fallen pregnant the cycle before her IVF with a little nudge (It feels better having a nurse who knows). She then explained we needed a mock egg transfer, a drugs consultation and to sign all of the consent forms. She clicked away on her computer and asked if we would like an appointment with the FS on Monday. 3 days time Monday. Of course we did! She booked us in for our mock ET on June 12th, and then looked for the next available drug consultation, which was July 3rd. Before she finished writing the appointment down she shouted "No! Your periods due before that we don't want you waiting, we need to squeeze you in somewhere earlier" and managed to 'sneak' (her words, not mine) a drug consultation in on the same day as my mock ET.
On the bottom of my appointment card is written "IVF treatment booked week beginning July 1st"
We've both come home shell shocked. I don't know what to think, what to worry about or what to start researching. My eggs are too well behaved for IUI, can you believe it?!
I'm thoroughly unprepared for everything that is about to happen over the next few weeks, I haven't prepared myself mentally for an IVF failure, but at the same time I haven't prepared myself mentally for IVF at all!!
What a weird, weird and yet wonderful day.
Wow!!
ReplyDeleteDon't research ANYTHING!!!!
It does make absolute sense to go straight for IVF, although I do understand, you feel you would have more 'shots' with the IUI and IVF. But remember, with eggs as well behaved as yours, you will have frosties to play with as well!
Your clinic seem very on the ball, and don't just push for treatment, they are very in depth.
Good Luck!! You know where I am if you need anything. xxx
If I research "IVF with high AMH" it's a good outcome, I daren't research anything else! Hopefully we'll have a few little frosties for another cycle. The clinic are fab, we can't fault them at all. It's no surprise that they're thought of really highly in our parts. Only 35% of their patients are NHS funded so I think we get the benefit of receiving the same treatment as the private patients!
ReplyDeleteI'm only terrified because I had no doubt that IUI would fail (whether rightly or not!) so it was just a process and failure was to be expected- now it's like "argh, big guns!"
Holy shit!!! I suppose all this torturous time waiting was really worth it? It's all very exciting but scary at the same time. Is it ok if I congratulate you in this feat?!! :)
ReplyDeleteHoly crap!!!! Eek, so exciting!!!
ReplyDeleteI can virtually see all the googling going on, lol!
If financially (and I think NHS pays for a few rounds?) IVF is feasible, I say that's the best way. When you look at the stats, IUI success isn't hugely greater than regular sex.
Aaah, soooo excited for you!!!
Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteI've been good, I've done no googling since the night we were told we'd be starting IVF. I would be lying if I haven't looked for some success stories...
Obviously, AF still hasn't showed just to be a giant pain in the arse, I need to have stopped bleeding before my mock ET on June 12th so she better get a move on!!!
Expect some frantic and worried, then excited, then depressed, then fantastic, then sobbing blog updates!! Here goes nothing!
I love success stories! I've been reading all the frozen transfer stories I can. When (not if) we're both successful, all of us will be within a year of each other which is really rather cool.
ReplyDelete