Try, try again!
Sorry I have been MIA for a couple of weeks. I have been trying to relax and focus on myself. Easier said than done when everyone around me is popping out babies or pregnancy announcements.
We had our follow-up appointment on Wednesday to discuss why our first IVF cycle had failed. My RE explained that there are often three reasons why a given cycle fails:
- Uterus environment
- Sperm quality
- Egg quality
All results seem to point to egg quality being our issue. Although, prior to our next transfer I will undergo a small surgery called a hysteroscopy where the doctor will examine the lining of my uterus using a ‘hysteroscope’. He will check for things like fibroids, polyps, scar tissue, etc. and remove anything right then and there. While the quality of my eggs transferred was decent, the lone ranger egg we have left frozen does not look so hot.
My RE has decided to up my meds and we will begin a second fresh IVF cycle later this month. I will also be put on an ‘implantation failure protocol’ during the transfer to help prevent possible implantation failure.
We have elected to be part of a clinical trial that would allow us to have Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) for free (this is normally a $7k cost and we did NOT have this done during the previous cycle). The goal of the trial is to prove that transferring ONE genetically screened, high quality embryo has better results than transferring ONE embryo without PGS (this would be the best quality embryo I produce during that cycle). We would be put into one of two groups:
Group 1: All embryos receive PGS and the best quality embryo will be transferred
Group 2: Transfer the highest quality embryo before PGS is done and send the remaining embryos (God willing there are some) for genetic testing.
We hope to fall into the first group obviously, but if we do not, all of our frozen embabies will have been tested and we can use those in a next cycle, or hopefully for a second child down the road. The only two downfalls that we can see of this trial are that we are limited to transferring only one egg (in future transfers we could transfer two) and because the eggs must be frozen and the upcoming holidays, we are looking at about a 9 week time frame from start to finish. So fingers crossed for an October 2016 baby (hard to believe that would be a year from my first procedure….all the waiting)!!
For more information on the Illumina study follow the links below.
Illumina Chooses IVF Michigan Fertility Center as New Location for Study
PRWEB; October 19, 2015
IVF Michigan
The Patient Mom 