Consultation re IVF - STATS AND RECOMMENDATIONS (Part 3)

STATISTICS
DrH said that normal (fertile) couples chances of getting pregnant are 20% in 1 month, 50% in 3 months, 75% in 6 months.

She said that an infertile couples chance of getting pregnant is still even less than that with IUI - which I have seen different numbers from various websites ranging for 6-17%.

DrH showed us national stats on live births, miscarriages, own vs donor egg  - all by age ranges. She believes though that 40 year old stats are closer to the next age range of 41-42 (than with 38 where it is in the same age range).

She said that their clinic’s stats are generally much higher than the national stats, except for the advanced maternal age where they are still higher than national stats but not much higher.

(I’ve actually seen their stats from SART so I knew what she meant when she made relative comparisons of their stats to the national stats.  Their clinic is by no means the highest in the US though…)

IT TAKES ONE GOOD EMBRYO
DrH mentioned 2 successful advanced maternal age cases.
- One was 45 years old with 20 retrieved eggs that resulted to 19 fertilized embryos. PGD on all embryos showed that only 1/19 was normal and that was transferred. Now that patient has a daughter.
- One was 40 years old who had 1 failed IVF (without PGD). She went for a second IVF and out of the retrieved eggs and fertilized embryos, there was one lone embryo that tested well in PGD and was transferred. The lady’s beta is now being monitored.

OTHERS
DrH echoed back that some studies showed acupuncture to help but she would stay away from herbs.

She said that the meds would have no effect on my breast cysts.  (I still am not 100% on that.)

POSTMORTEM ON RECENT IUI
DrH said that our recent IUI (second Follistim stimulation) was perfect according to her - but it still did not succeed.

Regarding the first Follistim stimulation which got cancelled due to OHSS (did not push through for IUI)… DrH said that it could not be converted into an IVF anymore since that decision should have been made in Day 8 so that antagonists are prescribed in order to convert into IVF. We were already past Day 8 when the impending OHSS was suspected.

DrH also clarified that they make calls until 6pm (only their incoming phones are turned off at 4pm so that they can do their housekeeping and return calls within 4-6pm). So I would have received a call re my results by 6pm.

She also said that she typically has post-mortems after failed cycles.

RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
I am on Day 50, so DrH said that when we are ready…. She would give me
- Provera to induce a period
- Skip the usual birth control pills (since I have irregular periods)
- Start me with Lupron
- Then proceed stimulate.

If IVF failed despite high fertilization rate, DrH said that she would not not recommend another cycle of IVF.
If IVF failed and there was low fertilization rate, she would say 2 things - 1) go for PGD or 2) go for donor eggs.

DrH recommended that we go through the IVF Seminar which is scheduled on Oct 8.

LASTLY…
DrH hugged me! I did not expect that but it felt good that she had no qualms on hugging.
DH thinks that mentioning the hug in this post is sooo trivial.  Man, are men clueless…

Well … that’s a lot for now… more data, getting a clearer picture, still need to dig more on specific topics.

Then need to digest info, step back, reflect and weigh, pray and decide.