Recycling: A History Lesson

In the spirit of clarity, here is the requisite listing of the ugly IVF stats…

#1 IVF/ICSI/PGD 7 retrieved, 4 ferts, all chromosomally complex abnl per PGD, all stopped growing… NO ET!
So, as I am neurotic, and at this point was already good and hooked on IVF (love those needles!!!), jumped right back on the horse…

#2 IVF/ICSI 6 retrieved, 5 ferts, two “not so hot blasts” transferred….. BFN
Uh, yeah…. so egg quality lookin’ a bit on the… uh… rotten side. Need I say more? Ah, but there is more! Now, I don’t scare easily, I love a challenge, and as I was by this point FULLY enthralled in my addiction, but had not yet managed to completely drain the bank accounts…

#3 IVF/ICSI 16 retrieved (yippee for mdl flare!), 12 ferts all frozen at 2pn. Only ONE embryo grew past 8 cell… “ok” quality on transfer… BFFreakin’N
So at this point, I picked myself (and my rotten eggs) up by the bootstraps and walked back into RE’s office for a review. Dr. D is so nice… never calls my ovaries old, OR rotten (but you know he must be thinking it!). Now what does every desperate addict need? A plan to get more. More of whatever it is… and for me it is IVF. But I am no normal run-of-the-mill IVF addict here. Oh, no. We are going for the big time here… the extended heroin binge of the IVF world…. the MEGA-CYCLE. Three fresh cycles in a row (that would be #4, 5 and 6), freezing all 2pns as I go. Then one big cliffhanger of a thaw at the end. Salivating just thinking about it.

So, having been through 21 embryos so far, with no chromosomally normal ones to show for it... what are the chances, ya' think, that one of my bloody rotten eggs would turn into a viable embryo??? I'll let you do the math. (oooo, jaded, i am)

#4 IVF/ICSI 11 retrieved, only 3 fertilized :-(-- both put on ice.

Not exactly what we were hoping for to kick of the Mega Cycle. Had a mini-nervous breakdown. Ate tons of fab chocolate and sushi... washed down with massive amounts of Diet Coke. Eventually started acupuncture and eating an all-healthy diet. Became excited about cycling again and walked my rotten eggs back into Dr. Da Man's office and jumped up in the stirrups...

#5 IVF/ICSI canceled on stims day 7 for poor (read: almost no) response.

Ummm. Yeah. Never even close to having this problem before. Strangely not so upset by the time word came, as I was expecting it... E2 levels were in the toilet.

#6 IVF/ICSI 18 retrieved, 15 mature and ALL 15 FERTILIZED! Added to the 3 from IVF #4-- total of 18 2pns on ice.

Super stim for sure. I am very pleased with my rotten ovaries (pleased enough to consider no longer calling them rotten). This makes up in small measure for the bad results from #4. Not sure if it is the acupuncture, the supplements or Matt's vitamins that account for the change in fortune... so we will just continue all of it. Time is ovary, so we went straight into #7 (aka IVF Number Last) to see how many more of the little buggers we can freeze.

#7 IVF/ICSI (aka IVF Number LAST) 18 retrieved, 14 fertilized. Added to the 18 from #4 and #6--- we had a grand total of 32 of the buggers on ice.

For whatever reason... on my LAST IVF... my ovaries seemed to have kicked it into gear. By retrieval I had a total of 40 develping follicles in my ovaries (my NON-PCOS ovaries!). I suppose I can no longer call the little things "rotten" anymore. Now taking a few months off to train with (i.e., be beaten half to death by) a personal trainer in attempt to shed as much of the IVF hormone-induced weight as possible prior to a transfer.