My IF journey

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YOLO13
LIF Adolescent

Member since 12/08

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My IF journey

Ivf journey

This is my high level overview of my journey and "reviews/experiences". I will definitely leave out some detail bc I can't remember or I basically don't want to bore you. I can 98% say that this will be my last experience with ivf so whatever the outcome, I'm ready to enjoy whatever life brings us.

I married in 2011 and started trying right away. In 2012 we decided to get the basic ok from the gyno that we were in fact fine and it was just "not happening". From what he saw I was ok and DH should go take a semen analysis. Well that lead to us seeing an Re and having a MF and DH seeing a urologist (dr mellinger) who said that we may never be able to improve dh's sperm but we could try. He started with clomid and it did squat. Then HcG IM injections for at least 6 months before we could retest. Well after 6 months it had improved but not where we needed to be. At the 9 month mark Dr mellinger said we could go back to the RE and see if he would do ivf as that was our only option. So we did. And he agreed. I got the basic blood test and monitored for one cycle and we were off. We were at rsony in mineola with dr trivax. He has great bed side manner and he seemed to know what he was doing. I literally saw him once through my whole cycle. He didn't do my transfer or retrieval so that stressed me out a bit. The nurses were ok but my real problem was the wait time and lack of communication. I had "8" eggs retrieved and one embie on day 5.
Needless to say with that ivf I now have a 19 mo daughter.
In July we wanted to get the ball rolling so we went back to dr Trivax and had a consult. Told him I was still breast feeding and that I wanted to cycle while still bf. He was ok with it, said he would make a few calls and do some research. I did a ton of my own. Called my ob, LLL leader, read my own resources, called a midwife, etc. So November we decided to try again. Not one test was ran on me at this point.
Ok. I must be healthy. However the office was a disaster. So much that it gave me such anxiety even when I was just driving there or thinking about going. They got EVERYTHING wrong. From my husband must come in to give a sample(we were using frozen bc trivax said to-which we didn't question-stupid us), another dr prescribing me a med I was allergic too but never calling it in anyways and then 5 days later the nurses ask if I was on it, the girl who takes blood asked if she could use the needle on my arm after not getting the vein the first time around w out gloves or turnicate on, and the list goes on and on. I did however complain after each of these incidents and they just said it won't happen again. So I made sure I went to the hr woman and expressed my concerns. They basically chalked it up to new staff. Bye bye RSONY

I know stress has a lot to do with this so I chalked my bfn up to that.
I asked on this board about a new Re and someone recommended Dr palter. Whoever you were....thank you!!
I'm not going to lie. Waiting to see him for an appts sucks but at the end of the day I wanted the best treatment. He did more testing I could have ever thought. Simple stuff. He did another sa on my DH and what do you know....his sperm is actually "ok"! And me....I have eggs of a 45-50 yr old at 34....not once was this ever brought up by trivax. He just said "sometimes a cycle doesn't work". I begged him for more testing, supplements, acupuncture, SOMETHING!?
I asked palter about acupuncture and he said yes and recommends someone. I asked if his name is Andy. Andy Kaplan. The acupuncturist God all of you ladies speak of. Well what do you know. He recommended him too AND Andy works out of his office 1x a week. So we started. Started, blood, acupuncture and monitoring. I was on Lupron, dhea and some other prescriptions before my retrieval I've never been on. My hcg shot was done IM vs sub q and my progesterone the same.
I asked why and he gave me reasons. Real scientific, data driven reasons, for EVERYTHING. not just because or this is how it usually works. I saw the same nurses(except on the weekends who I didn't love but she just drew blood and was a tech) and the same SOno tech every time I went in. They told me what to do and I never had to question one thing. Everything was spelled out. I mean everything. A printed sheet. Their class on how to do the injections and why we're are using a certain protocol is initiate and detailed. I ended up only producing follicles on my left side (hence my reserve declining very quickly), but all fertilized(6) and all made it to day 5! The BEST results I've ever had ! We had two embies that were good so we transferred those and I'm waiting to see if any others made it to freezing.
Ok so I totally skipped Andy.
First time meeting I think I laughed so hard I peed myself. He kept things light and reassured me I was in the best care. He made me feel good about my new Re and path I was taking. He jumped right in and started treatment. I saw him 2x a week for about 6 weeks and then the week of my stims 3x and morning of my transfer. I can't say enough about him. He kept me sain. I would go in there balling and come out with a clear head and smiling. He has a wonderful bed side manner and has treated thousands of girls battling iF. I HIGHLY recommend him. He wants to help you and wants to see you get pregnant. Just to give you an idea he doesn't work mondays at his office but my transfer was on Monday, his only day w his kids...and he came and treated me. I was the only one there. He's fit me in a bunch of times. He texted me on my way to the retrieval and after to see how many eggs we got. Texted every day to see how they were doing...I mean, who does that? A dr who cares. I'm not really sure what else to say about him other that I'm so thankful I lived close enough to him I could see him as often as I did!

I will end this by saying this is all opinion and based off my experience. I know a lot of times we forget the good and tend to focus on the bad when things don't play out the way we want them, so that's why I'm writing this now vs after my pregnancy test.

Oh and just to edit/add none of our embies made it to freezing :-/

Message edited 5/6/2015 4:04:04 PM.

Posted 5/6/15 3:38 PM