Cycle Review

We had our cycle review talk with Dr. Soothing. It went well. I didn’t cry. I had hoped he wouldn’t just jump right in and throw donor eggs right and left, and he didn’t. So, that was good.

I learned that our embryos were 2 8-celled and 2 9-celled ones on day 3. I was impressed. That sure was a good-looking cohort, small but exquisite. Unfortunately, they didn’t want to stay around. Or couldn’t, we just don’t know. But really, I am impressed that all of our 6 embryos were 8, 9, 10 cells on day 3. Makes me wonder, what wonderful embryos I could have produced as a 21 year old (but didn’t since I was on the pill)?

Dr. Soothing again told us that there was nothing observable wrong with our embryos. Nothing they could observe that would suggest “poor egg quality.” The main reason they suspect poor egg quality is that none of them implanted (and because I have severe endometriosis and so on and on and on).

He also told us that there are other variables that could impact implantation in my specific case, such as the functionality of the endometrium. Even though there’s nothing wrong with it structurally, Asherman’s may still impact its functionality.

In regard to what to do next, he advised against another IVF (with my own eggs), which is pretty much in line with what Mr H and I were thinking, too. Even though, clinically speaking my cycle was a “good” one (according to Dr. Soothing), it’s not worth the effort, money, emotions etc. After all, I only had three more eggs than I usually have during any given natural cycle. “As good as IVF has become, it’s not meeting your needs”, he declared. It’s true, it’s not. I am still not pregnant.

He briefly inquired about donor eggs and even mentioned surrogacy.

I was glad that he mentioned that another surgery may be possible. Surgery was the preferred treatment up until a couple of years ago, but it fell out of fashion with the coming and improving of IVF. But given that we exhausted IVF, we may as well give surgery another try. It’s not going to improve our chances a whole lot, but if successful, there may still be a slight chance of a pregnancy for us. I was afraid he’d say “no surgery”, but he didn’t. He thought some repair work could still be done. And if successful, the repair work could at least allow for fertilization.

That’s as good as it gets here in our household.