After our last unsuccessful cycle we decided to change the clinic. It felt like we didn't matter to them as people, only as a number on their system. Our 4 cycles were very similar to each other even though we all could see it's not really working for us.
In December I researched a few clinics around us, phoned a few of them and made an appointment with 'the winner'. It's only 30 to 35 minutes away from us so almost the same as the first clinic. I requested our medical notes and sent them to the new place.
The D Day was today. Yay! We got there late, there was a bit of traffic and also we got stuck behind some trucks on some country lanes. 😒 Welcome was very warm and after a few minutes a nurse Nicola called us through. We did all the paperwork, checked our blood pressure (both low) and took my height and weight and a blood sample. No samples from Rick as he can't provide a fresh sperm sample on the spot.
After that we waited a bit more with a hot chocolate and then we were called in by doctor Daniel. He was very nice and explained everything in detail. We found out a few things we weren't told at the first clinic. I have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) which to be honest is not that big of a problem for my husband and I because we can't try to get pregnant naturally anyway so I don't need to be ovulating every month. It also means I will have higher dose of Gonal F when stimulating so I can produce more eggs to be collected. Another news for us was that Rick's frozen sperm might be the problem why we haven't gotten pregnant yet. It is because he had his sperm extracted straight from testicles which apparently is easier and quicker rather than try to aspire it from epididymis which is much less invasive procedure but not necessarily successful. So the plan is to still have our 2 leftover ampules transferred from clinic 1 to clinic 2 but just as a back-up plan because plan A is that Rick is going to have sperm aspiration from epididymis on the same day as my egg collection. So we can try with fresh sperm instead of frozen. Also because according to Rick's hormones checked from his blood he is still creating new sperm which takes 3 months to mature so the fresh sperm will only be 3 months old instead of 2 years when he had the first surgery.
Wow, this turned out to be a massive article. 😲😅 And I'm not finished yet. 🙈
I was given contraceptive pill to regulate my cycle length because for my next cycle's day 21 we are going away. After we come back I'm going to have a 3D scan of my uterus to check there is nothing that shouldn't be there like a polyp or so which could affect implantation of embryos. At the same time they are going to do an endometrial scratch. We both also need a new blood tests for hepatitis, HIV and other because they last for 2 years and we had them done in January 2016. Another change from last cycles will be progesterone support after embryo transfer. Instead of Crinone gel I'll be using injections and pills. I don't remember exact names, sorry.
I think that's it. So next time we are going there it's going to be Valentine's Day!
