The IVF Club

A Personal Blog About IVF Treatment & Infertility

Blood Tests Gone Wrong

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Despite being in the waiting zone while we gather all out test results one thing is clear, my veins have decided to stop giving blood.  On Tuesday, I went to two pathology clinics so they could collect 9 vials of blood. I came prepared as I had drunk a litre of water prior to arriving as I know my veins can sometimes give them a bit of grief.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t get one vial of blood let alone none.  The first clinic I went to tried to put a needle in my left arm.  Unfortunately, my vein went into hiding so they tried again on the same arm. Still no good.  I now have a massive bruise on the inside of my left arm where they tried to get my blood. You can see a close up of it below.

The clinician then requested that I go to another clinic as they have 5 more staff on hand who could help me. So back into the waiting line I went.  Another 750ml of water was consumed which only had the effect of making me want to pee.  To add insult to injury, they missed my number so I had to go up to the counter to get my rightful place in line.  Anyway, the clinician could not find a vein on my right arm or wrist and so called for reinforcements.  So another clinician came in to help.  Since no vein was forthcoming, I had to run my hand under hot water in the hope of enticing my vein come out to play.  Two attempts later and no blood – actually one flashback but that was it.  So on their advice I was told to come back another day making sure I had drunk lots of water (like I hadn’t already) and also make sure I was warm (its the middle of winter).

So I now have to go back to the clinic so they can try and get some blood out of me.  Yikes – judging by the bruise on my arm I am not very keen. Even worse when they told me to leave I just started crying.  I know its not my fault if they can’t get my blood but it was just one more thing in the already frustrating journey of IVF.

If they can’t get one vial how are they doing to get nine vials. How are they going to go about even more vials later on when they need to test my hormone levels when I start my next cycle.

Why do they even need 9 vials? Firstly by law you are required to have HIV, Hep B and Hep C tests every couple of years when you do IVF. This probably helps them monitor their standards since you have a hell of a lot of blood tests when doing IVF.  Goodness, they wouldn’t want me to have an infection from them. The other tests are:

  • Anti DNA
  • Protein C&S
  • Anti Thrombin
  • Lupus Anticoagulant
  • FBE
  • Coag Screen

Goodness knows what these all mean.  However, I am required to fast for one of the tests so coming back later in the day when it is warmer is not ideal – I love my food and breakfast is my most favourite meal of the day.  My next appointment with my Doctor is 6 weeks away as he is going to a fertility conference in Italy.  So it looks like I will be taking a long enforced break.

New Doctor, New Outlook

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Yesterday, I finally had an appointment with a new IVF doctor.  I chose him because he does thing differently to other IVF doctors. After 13 cycles with no positive result, I decided it was about time to try something new.  Some of you may recall that I had decided to stick with my current doctor since he finally changed my treatment protocol and that I had seen another doctor at another clinic who also didn’t seem to have any other ideas.

I suppose I could have given up, but I made a third appointment with yet another doctor. The wait was long and arduous but well worth it.  My now new doctor asked me a whole stack of questions that had never been raised before:

  • Have you had a biopsy on day 21 to test for natural killer cells
  • Have you have blood tests for x, y & z ? Did you fast for the thyroid test that you had?
  • Has your husband had a blood test on his chromosomes?
  • Has your husband had the SCSA sperm test?

My answers were mostly negative.  So we are now all set for a fresh round of tests.  The SCSA test that my husband has to do is a test for sperm DNA fragmentation. I read somewhere that if sperm fragmentation is over 30% then the likelihood of getting pregnant is 1%.  If this is the case, then we may need to consider other options like a sperm donor.  the cost of $500 but I think it is money well spent given I have now spent over $50k on IVF.  It would have been better to assess this earlier – maybe I could have saved time and money. I guess I will soon find out.  Personally, I feel this could be our major issue. We have lost a lot of embryos due to fragmentation and there is some possibility that the antibodies in my husband sperm have had an impact on this. I feel sure that these things are connected in some way.

The biopsy that I have to do is a test to see if I have any natural killer cells that try and destroy my embryos. Charming.  There is heaps of information about this on the web but I recommend not reading the information unless you have a good understanding of biology. For me, reading about this stuff bores me to tears – it is far to technical for my liking.   The main point of interest about natural killer cells,  is the fact that my new doctor has helped 60% of women found with natural killer cells become pregnant.  Apparently the treatment is simple – just some medication to fix the issue.

The other tests are also important and essentially will help the doctor determine the right protocol for me – particularly if the there are no other likely issues revealed by the other tests.  So my next test is 2-3 weeks away.  Unfortunately we know the full extent of the problem until my Doctor returns back from the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) conference in Italy which is a massive annual event about all the latest findings on IVF.

So it seems my next steps won’t happen until July.  That’s exciting.  I hate the wait but hopefully we might know more than what we did before and be able to make some decisions from this point.  My husband is really annoyed though – he is angry that our other doctor hasn’t done these tests. I can understand that but it does seem that many doctors follow the tried and true path.  My advice for anyone in the same boat is to try different doctors – particularly if you feel you issues are not being investigated thoroughly.

Waiting for the Phone Call

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After a relaxed couple of weeks convincing myself that I am not pregnant, I am now finding myself sitting here anxiously waiting to hear the results back from my blood test. I mean what are the chances of a day 2 embryo making the cut when every other day 5 embryo I have had hasn’t.

Aunt Flo normally arrives before my blood test, however this time I have taken my blood test a day early.  Whilst it is not common for my period to be a day late, it is not uncommon.  It just doesn’t happen very often…. but it does happen.  The trouble is that the delay is killing me. It is all I can think of and I am finding it difficult to concentrate on what I doing.

Personally I don’t feel pregnant. My breasts are not sore – they stopped being sore about 4 days ago. I have acne on just to the left of my chin – just like the acne I get when I am pre-menstrual. And today I have broken into the lolly jar at work. My cravings for sweets are fairly normal but they do tend to be worse just before my period arrives.  So all things considered it is not looking hopeful.

But looking hopeful and being hopeful are two different things.  Although I expect the results to be negative, I am more hopeful that they are positive.  I think my husband is the same.  He even rang to find out the blood test results. He doesn’t normally do that – but then normally I know the outcome before I have the blood test.  Imagine if the clinic rings up and tells me that I have a positive result – I reckon I would find it difficult to hide at work. I think I would just scream.

On the other hand, I am going to be so disappointed if it is a negative again – even if that is the result I am expecting.  And if that happens, I am reaching out to the bottle. Seems like the longer Aunt Flo takes to come, the more hope you have and this just makes the waiting period more difficult.   Its actually killing me.  I mean how many times can I inspect the toilet paper in one day.  Every trip to the toilet has taken on greater significance. Every time I feel the progesterone cream, I wonder if that is the first sign of Aunt Flo.

How long will it take before the clinic call mes – 1 hour, 2 hours, maybe even 3 at most.  I wonder if they call all the people with the positive results first and then call all people with the negative results. I wonder if it was random. If it were me, I reckon I would call with the good news first and then deliver the bad news.  That rationale is not really helping me – maybe thats why they aren’t calling me. More bad news – just this time my body is keeping me in suspense.

The countdown continues….. rescue me.

The IVF Waiting Game

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Well I am officially in the 2 week waiting zone but the reality is, when you are doing IVF, every aspect of your life can become a waiting game.  And it’s a game that is not always fun.

The problem with IVF is that all one ever does is WAIT! Your life becomes measured in units of time.

You wait to get your period so you can start IVF.  You wait day after day to ovulate so the frozen embryo can be transferred.  Yout wait until it can be transferred. You wait for your next blood test. You wait for your next ultrasound appointment. You do the two week wait. You wait to get pregnant. You wait before you do the pregnancy test. You wait for the fertility clinic to call you back. You wait for those test results even though most times you already know the answer.

You wait to start the contraceptive pill. You wait to start the nasal spray. You wait to start injections. You wait to do the final injection.  You wait to have sex so the sperm is at it’s peak. You wait for Egg Retrieval. You wait for embryo transfer. You wait to hear news about the rest of your fertilization rates so you know how many you have left on ice. You wait to get your period.

You wait until you are in a better emotional state to tell your friends and family the outcome. You wait for the grief to disappear. You wait until you can get your next appointment. You wait another month before can start again. You wait for it to be your turn to be pregnant. You wait for your weight to return back to normal after all the weight gain from ferility medications. You wait for your skin to return back to normal because the fertility medications have made your nose look like Rudoph the Red nose reindeer. You wait in a job you no longer enjoy just in case you might be pregnant.

I don’t know about you, but I feel I’ve waited long enough! I just want a positive outcome. Four more days til my next blood test.  Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Fertilization Results Day 4

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Well the moment of truth has arrived.  As the clinic has not been accessible over the weekend, I learnt today that we have 8 remaining embryos.  Essentially, the development of one embryo was arrested (I think this means it stopped developing) and the other two were growing a bit slowly and were behind. As I well know, a lot can happen between day 4 and day 5.  Last time we had 13 day 3 embryos and only ended up with 1 by Day 5.

The funny thing is that I have this spreadsheet thing going on where I record all my IVF results – from egg collection – to how many is left at day 3 and day 5.  Based on our track record, I actually predicted that we would end up with 8 embryos by Day 3.  My next prediction is that we will only end up with 1 by the time we get down to it.  I’d prefer not to have to make this prediction and I could be wrong. It could be worse – we might end up with none or we might end up with more.  Having more would be a pleasant surprise.

This time, we had been thinking of having two embryos transferred.  However, I have not been feeling well the last few days.   I’ve still got a sore tummy and I have been waking up to go to the toilet to urinate about 3 times a night. This is not normal for me. Given this, I called the clinic and let them know. I didn’t want to risk transfer if I was unwell.  The end result was that I had to visit the clinic again today and have an ultrasound and blood test.  Everything came up normal even though I don’t really feel my normal self.  The ultrasound revealed that potentially I may have a spot on my gall bladder and this would be worth checking out, however, it shouldn’t impact the transfer and I am still good to go for tomorrow. So my dilemma now is whether to transfer one embryo or two?  Might have to sit on that one until I see how I feel tomorrow.