Wednesday, July 25, 2007

"We've had a little snafu"

So began the voicemail I recieved about an hour ago.


It was the research coordinator from the OCP study (Oocyte Cryopreservation). She was told that I not only had to have consent signed by my 36th birthday but I also had to be doing fertility injections by then. Now, I turn 36 on September 19th. I will have to have all blood work done and BCP's finished and (I think) Lupron and be actually STIMMING by then. EEK!

The good news is that I have the best person on the job! I think I may name my child after her! She's plotted out all the dates and since AF should show August 1st or 2nd, we might be okay. I may have to drive up there to do CD3 blood work but I'm okay with that. She'll even come in on her vacation if needed to get consent signed early and blood drawn. (have I told you how great she is?)

This means we are full speed ahead. If you have any good vibes to send, please hope that I have AF around the 2nd so that I can combine appointments and hit the schedule right on.

I was freaked by the message, but she is awesome and had already done so much crisis management by the time I talked to her that we had a solution!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Tears

Yesterday, on the message board where I've made lots of friends...many whom I've met in real life, the latest of SIX new BFP's were announced.

I'll admit it. It stings. Some, but not all of them were "oops." Some were the first month trying. One though was from a loving woman who just had her first IUI.

I'm happy for all of them, but yes...jealous.


Today though, I have tears for a different reason.

Michelle from the Clinical trial called this morning to schedule our first appointment! She still doesn't have a firm answer on what has to be done before I turn 36 but we are proceeding anyway! The are currently producing the medium for freezing my eggs. I think she said it would be produced by July 24th.

We have an appointment for all the preliminary things on MONDAY AUGUST 6th at 9 am! DH will have to give a sample. I'll have a pap and exam. If all is going well with the medium, they will do all the blood work that day as well! This is good timing as AF should be just here or expected right about then.

I'm crying over this and I don't know why! I think it's because it seems more real now! We are actually doing it!

For a recap, this is a study where they will retrieve my eggs and freeze them unfertilized. As early as the next cycle, they will be thawed and ICSI will be used to fertlize them. They'll be transfered back to my uterus and we'll hope for the best.

Any that are fertilized and make it to refreezing can be used at a later time. If I am not PG the first try, we can use the frozen embryos for the following 6 months with no cost. (oh, the cost of the stims/egg retrieval/freezing/ICSI/all that? No charge!)

They will follow any resulting pregnancies and babies born from them for the first year.

So yes, tears...I'm a little scared and very excited.

**I'm also aware that there are still things that could prevent us from being fully accepted, but my fingers are SO crossed!**


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Update!
Michelle heard back from her supervisor,

"I have not heard anything to the contrary, as long as she meets qualifications UPON ENTRY of the study, she qualifies"

That means, as long as my consent is signed and blood work is done by my birthday (which should all be done on Aug 6th) I'm IN!

OMG...now I am really crying!!!!!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Hello again, hello

It's been a while and while not a lot has changed, it's time for an update, don't you think?

Since my last post, AF has come and gone twice. After her arrival June 5th, I called our RE's office. The nurse let me know that I could come to an IVF information meeting the next day. I couldn't go of course as it was two days before the end of the school year and I had a field trip to be in charge of. So she told me that I could pick up an IVF packet after school. She also mentioned a clinical trial but told me that she didn't think I'd qualify because I'm 35.

I picked up the packet that evening and immediately tried to read everything. In the packet was a copy of the letter she had received about the trial. I decided to call and just see if we could qualify.

The research coordinator called us back and explained the study. It's a study for Oocyte Cryopreservation. She gave me lots of information. I asked if we'd even qualify. She said that according to the paperwork as long as I'm 35, I qualify. I told her that my birthday is September 19th and she was okay with that. I sent our records. A few days later she called back and said that things look good but that theya re waiting for the medium for cryopreservation to be approved/manufactured and that if there was a problem I'd hear from her but that if I didn't, we were fine and they'd call with more info later.

I got a call from our RE's office about two weeks later asking for the date of my last AF. They called back twice to get the information. The second time they called, I was home. They said that they needed the info for the clinical trial as soon as they could. I took this as positive.

Then I didn't hear from anyone for a few weeks and AF came around again. Monday I called the research coordinator and left a message. I sure don't want to bug her, but time is running out if we are going to do the trial. I also don't want to be wasting all of this time if we won't be able to do it...KWIM? She called back the next day with news. Now, it's not bad news so I'm saying that it's good, sort of.

Michelle (the RC) said that they medium had been approved and is being manufactured. She has a call in to the company to see how long before they have it there. She is also checking on what has to be done for me to be able to participate. She looked up my birthdate and has a call in to see if I have to have the eggs retrieved by my birthday or if I just have to have consent signed and blood work done by then.

While we are still in limbo, I feel like I have someone in my corner. She seems to want us to participate. I want us to...this trial is about preserving women's eggs for future use. It would be free for us...and I won't deny that this is my main motivation to participate. BUT I do think that this could be really important to women in the future.

More on this later (a sooner later than last time, I swear!)

Linda