Cancelled.

Yesterday morning, I went into the doctor for my egg retrieval procedure.  I was so relieved to have the eggs taken out and some of the bloating and discomfort relieved.  When we arrived, they took my vital signs and placed the most painful IV ever into the back of my left hand.  The nurse who ran the IV was on her 2nd day.  Yay!  Love feeling like a guinea pig.  As she placed the IV needle, blood got absolutely everywhere.  I thought Ryan was going to pass out as he watched.  Honestly, I'm not sure how I held still as it was going in.  Today, there is a huge bruise on the back side of my hand and I believe it is the most painful side effect I have remaining from the surgery.

After they placed the IV, I was given Doxycycline which stung like crazy as it was going through the skin.  Finally, the nurse anesthetist came in to talk to me a little about the procedure.  He asked what was wrong and I told him that the medication was stinging, so he adjusted a few valves to dilute it and I could no longer feel it going in.  Where was he five minutes before?  Goodness.  Anyhow, we talked just a little about the anesthesia, then he went back to the treatment room to get ready for the procedure.

The last person to make an appearance was the embryologist.  She came to discuss her part of the procedure.  After the eggs are removed, it is her job to fertilize them and keep the embryos safe while they grow and divide.  She proceeded to tell me that because my estrogen levels were so high (8200), they would likely have to freeze all of the embryos at the five day mark.  What?  ALL of the embryos?  I told her that this was the first time I was informed about this.  She seemed a little confused about that, like she had expected me to know already.  As far as I knew, everything was going along swimmingly and I was going to have the embryos transferred back in on Friday or Sunday.  Not so much.  

After that, I moved down the hallway to the treatment room with a heavy heart, trying to push back tears the whole way.  I was then sedated and the eggs were removed.  As I was waking from the anesthesia, I heard Dr. Magarelli say something about fluid, lining, and freezing.  That's when I knew for sure that any hope of getting pregnant this month was lost.  

Turns out, I have mild Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) which is when the estrogen levels in the body are very high and it causes fluids to leak from the ovaries into the abdominal cavity.  This also effects the quality of the uterine lining, making it a less than ideal place for an embryo to implant.  Not to mention, OHSS is exacerbated by a pregnancy and if you get pregnant, you can end up hospitalized as a result.  

They were able to retrieve 19 eggs, but we don't know yet how many were mature and how many fertilized.  That sounds like a good number, but they have to be extremely high quality in order to be frozen as embryos and survive the thaw at the other side.  If you do a fresh cycle, you have the option of putting in average quality embryos and having them be successful.  Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) takes away this option.  The good news is, if you have embryos that are tough enough to make it to FET, your chances of success are very high.  But now, there's no room for error.  We have to pray hard that the embryos grow strong and make it to the freezer.  

So where does this leave things for Ryan and I?  At this point, I just have to recover from the soreness of the egg retrieval, continue taking the Lupron shot (so much for being done with injections), and drink tons of fluid to help keep OHSS from rearing it's ugly head.  At this point, I am fortunate that I do not really have any symptoms.  However, now I have to wait until I complete two natural menstrual cycles before we can attempt the Frozen Embryo Transfer.  So, we're looking at October.  That's assuming we have quality embryos to proceed with.  

This afternoon I will get a fertilization report that lets us know how many eggs were mature and how many fertilized.  Tomorrow, I go in for a follow-up appointment to make sure that I am recovering appropriately from the procedure and to discuss our next moves.  Needless to say, I am super nervous about this afternoon's phone call from the embryologist.  Just hoping for good news.