21 days to go

Called in today for my IVF cycle. In 21 days I will start taking the nasal spray to down regulate my hormones. Until then: Merry Christmas everyone.

acupuncture at Oxford Fertility Clinic

My acupuncturist told me yesterday that the unit had employed their own acupuncturist now and that she and her colleagues from ACT are not allowed access to the unit any longer.  http://www.actoxford.co.uk/

On one hand I thinks it’s good to see that the Oxford Fertility Clinic believes enough in the benefits of acupuncture to make this available. One acupuncturist on site of course also opens the possibility of carrying out research and clinical studies, ensuring that the treatments is always the same. Strangely though, when I met with the nurse last week for the consent consultation she did not mention acupuncture at all! Mind you, she didn’t mentionion genetic screening either.

On the other hand I find it hard to understand that they would cease to allow the patients to be accompanied by their own practitioner. A lot of the patients have been seeing their acupuncturist for months and built a trusting relationship. Why destroying that?

Also, the acupuncturist at the clinic is charging £85 a session which is more than double the going rate with the ACT group. IVF is expensive enough as it is. Why putting that extra financial burden on the patient?

I also learned that the patients who fund their IVF cycle pay more for the drugs than the NHS pays for their IVF patients. Now, that I find scandalous. I understand that a large health care body such as the NHS can negotiate better pricing but why not letting patients benefit from it and ordering the drugs under NHS and let the patient refund the money to NHS? 

Maybe we need to form a union for self funded IVF patients to make our needs a bit clearer.

IVF step 2

Consent consultation. Lots of paperwork to go through. I had a moment of panic when I read that the sperm donor has to consent to the embryos being frozen. What if he didn’t? I was reassure he did but there is a tiny possibility that he might withdraw his consent in the future and the embryos would need to be destroyed. Imagine the heartbreak…..

I paid my £105 and was sent off with an approximate schedule for my treatments. My next period is due Dec 22nd. I will phone in and then receive a pack of information with dates for treatments etc. The prescription for the drugs will be sent directly to the manufacturer and I can order them while I am on holidays over Christmas. Too good to be true, by end of Feb I could be pregnant.

I asked about the benefits of screening the embryos for genetic diseases before transfer. It seems it does increase the chances of pregnancy. Women over 35 and those with a history of having babies with genetic defects are within the group of people who can access that diagnostic tool. It comes at a price of £2,200 on top of the nearly £5,000 for the IVF treatment. Who can afford that? And why bother offering treatments if nobody can afford it? Let’s be clear here. If the NHS deems it beneficial for women over 35 then why don’t they reimburse it? If the NHS deems women my age not worthy having IVF treatment then why bother developing a technology that aims at helping women my age? It makes no sense.

By the way my FSH level is 5.5. That is even lower than a year ago. Maybe I am getting younger?

seeing big bellies

A girl in my yoga class got pregnant around the same time as I did back in April. She will have her baby in January. It really hurts to see her every week, now with a really big belly.  That could have been me.

I am jealous and sad and feel it will never happen for me. Will that feeling ever go away?

step 1: mock embryo transfer

Sounds much more involved and exciting than it is.  They insert a thin catheter through the cervix into the uterus to make sure there isn’t any blockage. It took 15 seconds and did not hurt, although I felt a bit crampy. When they do the real embryo transfer they will monitor it by ultrasound for which I will need a full bladder. They will put pressure on my bladder to make sure the scan gives them the best possible view on the lining when placing the embryo……putting pressure on an already full bladder. So much fun to look forward to!

They would also have done what they call a baseline scan where they look at the uterus and the ovaries, checking for a smooth uterus wall and count the number of follicles. I had one done in March and it didn’t need repeating. Too bad, I always enjoy a close look at my reproductive organs!