WTF Appointment #3: Options

Today, I had my WTF appointment with Dr. W.. She went over some new details and options that I hadn’t previously known about.

I immediately asked her about my egg quality, since I was so worried that my previous doctor had told me that my egg quality may be bad. She said that my results for my past IVF were typical of a woman my age with PCOS, so that was good news to hear. Of the four embryos that I have frozen, three are rated “good” and one is rated “fair.” She told me about a former patient that she had that only ever had successes on her FET cycles. All of her children have come from her frozen embryos from one IVF attempt. She has a boy, a girl, and a set of twins. :)

Next, I asked her about intralipids again. I brought this up to Dr. Y. before, and he was sort of dismissive about it. I’ve later learned that Shady Grove in general is pretty dismissive about autoimmune issues. There is a growing theory that failed implantation and recurrent miscarriages are caused by the body’s NK cells to attack the embryo as if it was an invader, much like your body would attack germs, for instance. Some clinics offer intralipid infusions about a week before transfer to deactivate the NK cells and give time for the embryo to implant. My clinic does not offer this option, but, I can order intralipids online, if I can find a nurse who’d be willing to administer the infusion for me.

Dr. W. told me that Dr. Y. might give me a script if it would put my mind at ease, but they don’t do the infusions in the office. But then, she told me about another option that has been recently (within the last year) offered to women with implantation failure. She explained that their practice has been doing endometrial biopsies shortly before the transfer date. By causing minor trauma to the lining of the uterus, the body redirects its attention to the site of the trauma, so more blood flow enters the uterus, and the lining is nice and plush and thick. She said that although the study has only been done with thirty women, the practice is really starting to believe it to have some positive effect on the process, and most of their patients had met with success. She told me that it wouldn’t hurt to try, so if she talks with Dr. Y. and he thinks I qualify for the procedure, we will add that to my timeline.

Dr. W. sounded very positive about this and this outcome of my next attempt. She told me that women my age have the same change of success with a fresh IVF cycle as they do with a frozen embryo transfer, and that if I am putting back two this time, that my success rate will be higher.

I told her that I was getting frustrated, and sometimes I wish I would have had one confirmed pregnancy, just so I knew it wasn’t impossible. She knew where I was coming from and assured me that they are going to keep doing their best by me.

So, my next appointment is on 1/3. From 12/23 to 12/30  I’ll be on my honeymoon in the Bahamas. I’m going to allow myself to rest up and prepare for what will hopefully be my last time doing this. Yay!