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Any DEIVF cycle buddies at Shady Grove?

282K views 2K replies 36 participants last post by  tracyl247 
#1 ·
Hi Ladies

Are there any others about to embark on a DEIVF cycle at Shady Grove that I could chat to? We have been accepted by the clinic in the last couple of weeks having completed all the necessary criteria and have now selected our donor. Next step is to sync with our donor, is anyone else in the same position so we could start a cycle thread for SG.

^fairydust^ to all.

MM
x
 
#2 ·
Hi MillyMax

Congratulations on being accepted by Shadygrove!!  DH and I have just gone thru an unsuccessful first attempt at IVF (only 1 egg fertilised & v poor quality) and have now discovered that with an AHM of 0.7 I'm virtually menopausal at 38!!!  :'( Have been advised to go straight to DE and our clinic have recommended SG.

Have been looking at their website and their shared risk programme sounds amazing.  Like you we'd probably go for the 1:2 option and we are seriously thinking about using them - I would be on the plane tomorrow if I could!

Would be interested to hear your experiences so far with the clinic in terms of ease of use and their eligibility criteria.  Do you get your meds over here?  How many days did/have you set aside to spend out there?

Sending you lots of  ^hugme^ for your exciting journey
 
#3 ·
Hello Mrsveebee and Millymax,

Lovely to see some activity on this thread and just thought I would join in on the discussion. My partner and I went out to SG in March for an initial consultation and are now completing some of the preliminary tests to be considered for their shared risk programme. We had a very good experience whilst out there. Felt very greeted and supported. Staff were lovely, very knowledgeably and very attentive. We very much hope we will be accepted onto the shared risk programme. We bought meds when we were out there for the dummy cycle and actual cycle and had no problem bring them home on the plane. we went out on the a Saturday and came home on Wednesday and had appointments on Monday and Tuesday, but SG could have arranged these in one day. Milly max is further along in the process than I am, so I am sure she will be able to answer many more questions. Very good luck on your journey and do keep posting - of course only if it is right for you!
JJ
 
#4 ·
Hi Julia

Many thanks for all the information and really pleased for you that you have had such a good  experience.  I find it such as scary prospect considering DE abroad but from all the info I have read so far everything seems to be really positive.  I emailed Amanda today to arrange a telephone discussion - couldnt believe how efficient she was in replying back so quickly - so all arranged for tonight and feeling really really excited that I have got the ball rolling after so many weeks of being unsure whether to pursue DE here or abroad. 

Would love to know how both you and MillyMax are getting on in your journey.  Keeping all my fingers and toes crossed for you re acceptance onto the programme.

Sending  lots of  ^hugme^ to you.
xx
 
#5 ·
Dear Mrsveebee,

Delighted that you are pursuing SG - it is worth checking it out and seeing how it feels for you. I hope your telephone consultation went well! Would love to hear how it went. And hope you have a lovely weekend.

I saw the local  Dr who  will support me through treatment in SG. He seems very lovely, so  I have an HSG scheduled for next week. I hope you are doing and have a great weekend!

Julia x

 
#6 ·
Hi Julia

Have PM'd you  :)

mrsveebee
 
#7 ·
^hello^ Ladies

Delighted there has been some activity on this thread and sorry for my abscence I have been away on hollibobs, getting my Vit D levels up in the Spanish sunshine although I here it's been just as warm here :)

mrsveebee - please ask away any Q's you may have if I'm able to answer I gladly will.

Hi Julia - hope things are progressing well for you ^hugme^

Looking fwd to nattering ^gossip^

MM
x
 
#8 ·
Lovely to have you back Millymax! Glad to hear you had a hoolihob - sunshine is great. I finished work yesterday, soooooooooooooooo great to be off! Spent today pottering in th garden. All is well here and I am getting a polyp removed on Tuesday, again if any you have any experience of it, it would be great to know what to expect.
Hope you both have a lovely Easter weekend.

JJ
 
#9 ·
Hi from one J to another

Have Pm'd you :)

^hello^ any other folks reading this thread

MM
x
 
#10 ·
Hello Honeybee,

I am fairly new to SG so don't have a lot to share but am happy to answer any questions I can help with. I have gone over for the initial consultation and am hopefully due to start a dummy drugs cycle in May.When we were over we found them incredibly helpful, informed and supportive. We are very keen to be part of their shared risk programme and once we have completed the dummy cycle hopefully we will get the thumbs up! Do feel free to ask any questions and I am sure some other women will come back to you and share their experiences. Good luck on your journey!

Julia
 
#11 ·
Hello ladies

Sorry, have not gotten around to posting on here for a few days. 

Hello to Julia and MillyMax and welcome Honeybee.  Hope you are all enjoying the long weekend and all this lurveeeely weather!

MillyMax - I see that you are nearly on your way - wow, you must be so excited and counting the weeks.

Julia - I see you are starting on the next stage soon and must be glad to be ticking off the to-do list of pre-tests.

Honeybee I'm in the very early stages of the SG programme too having had an initial call with Amanda and then a call from the doctor.  From my interactions with them so far I have been very impressed and they seem so professional and efficient.

AFM I dont know if you ladies can help at all but I feel like I'm having a bit of a wobble.  After my last IVF (which was also my first) the consultant told me I had little chance with my own eggs due to low ovarian reserve and suggested DE.  I had a couple of extra tests done at a different clinic to try and get some 'closure' and indeed my AMH came back at  0.7 and FSH at 17.6, at which I thought OK, thats not good.  But the consultant at the Lister has urged me to have one more go with my own eggs as I managed to produce 4 last time (although v poor quality). So now having put myself thru all the angst of coming to terms with the idea of donor eggs I now have the seed of doubt planted in my mind.  I almost feel guilty that if I dont give it another go (quoted success rate 10%) then I'm giving up on my own eggs too quickly, yet with the cost of another cycle and all the emotional stuff that goes with it and the probability that if it doesnt work we will go with SG anyway, are we just prolonging the agony?  :-\ :-\ 

I have spoken to some personal friends about the whole thing and one suggested that I was taking the easy way out after one attempt and accused me of going to the States to buy a baby!!!  ^bigbad^ ^bigbad^ ( Needless to say I havnt spoken to her since). Sorry about my long rant I am just feeling in so much turmoil and so undecided about what to do now after having felt so positive about the whole donor route.  If you ladies have any advice  it would be most gratefully received.

Sending you all  ^hugme^
 
#13 ·
Good morning Ladies on this lovely sunny Sunday long w/end

Firstly Mrsveebee ^hugme^ for your ex-friends comment double ^bigbad^ ^bigbad^ am I right in guessing she has her own family and thankfully for her no comprehension of the IF pains and journeys.

Regarding your dilemma of one last go with OE really IMO although we could all give our opinions only you alone can decide on what is the best path for you personally. You shall see our very long fertility journey from my signature but I shall give you a little bit of our own decision making process to persue DE and why SG. (although I have said our it really when thinking of a non bio child on your side come down to your decision over all from my experience).

Having gone through 4 OEIVF (the last two at the amazing ARGC clinic - we could not have been in better hands than Mr Taranissi for OEIVF) all sadly resulting in miscarriages we had to access that although I responded to a higher % than my age group still only 10-11% chance coupled with the fact that the age of my eggs means that around 90% of my eggs would be chromosome effected plus I have a blood clotting issues. So with the clotting issues addressed with aspirin and clexane injections 3 wks before ET and if successful all the way through a pregnancy and 6 wks after a birth, I was still left with the issue of the quality of my own eggs, whilst as I say I responded at 42 like a younger patient we were still left with the chromosome issues which start to be a high issue from 37 onwards, we had a several consults with other clinics, firstly Care in Nottingham with a thought of having array CGH where chromosomes are tested and effected are destroyed and only the non effected are transfered, then we looked at using our one frostie and do a FET cycle and then more onto DE but again that embryo was created at 42 so for us we felt that we should persue DE first and maybe return with a babe in arms to have a try with our frostie or maybe not at all...with our the emotions together with costs for us DE was a much more positive approach to continuing our journey for a family and having found Shady Grove we have felt so supported in our decision.

Sorry if I have rambled but I hope you can understand what I am saying and I also hope you are able to make the decision that is right for you, all I would add is do not rush this decision, you will see I am now 44 and until last November when we met SG we still did not have a clear path on what was right for us ???

Take good care if I can answer any further questions please just ask away :)

^hello^ Julia & Honeybee and anyone else reading, I am starting the 'true cycle' on Tuesday so if anyone has any q's to this stage I shall be only to happy to answer if I can :) feels very scary but also exciting and so positive :)

Hope everyone is having a lovely bank hols w/end.

MillyMax
X

ps. for those unaware 'orange' is the colour of fertility, I always (plus DH on improtant cycle days) wear an element of orange during a cycle daliy, from underwear, handbags, tops and this cycle an orange accessories for my iphone ;D
 
#14 ·
Hi Honeybee

Just prepared a huge post reply to you and lost it ^bigbad^ so I shall try again ^idiot^

I can only advise on costs and timescales for us personally obviously others maybe longer or shorted, more or less costly.

(OCT)We initially met the team at The Fertility Show in London and subsequently the following day at The Grosvenor House Hotel for a seminar in October last yr, a few days later I had a telephone conversation with Amanda were she arranged for a skype call with our consultant Michael Levy a few days later, this was very thorough and lasted just shy of an hour.

(JAN)We then arranged our initial visit out to SG in early Jan where we met the rest of the team, had a face to face consult with Dr Levy and he performed a mock transfer & ultrasound and DH left a sperm freeze...this all went very well and we were able to go to the next stage.

Costs for this trip - flights/accom plus drugs (flights we did through Virgin and were around 600 pounds each rtn, accom we did through last minute.com and got a g8 deal a modern 5* hotel in DC for $100 a night) drugs $800 this is for mock and true cycle.

(FEB) Then because I have a blood clotting disorder I needed to see a high risk obstetrician privately to ascertain the level of blood thinners I would need. I needed two consults and these amounted to 600 pounds but as one of the consults was with one of the private consultants at the private wing of The Hammersmith (I am having my dual care with this hospital at the private clinic in Harley St) we had our counselling included which is usually about 200 pounds I believe. Once we had had our counselling we were advised then and there that we had passed the counselling session and a letter to that affect would be sent to Amanda.

(MARCH) We were then onto the final stage of the mock cycle and costs for this are travelling expenses (we live 30miles outside London so I needed to factor in costs for trains), plus scans bt's. My initial results were not were SG needed them to be ie lining after 2wks was only 7.4mm and SG like this to be over 8 at this stage, so I had a further week to medicate and then return were my levels were then 9.5mm so I had costs of 400 pounds for both scans and bt's.

We were accepted later this day :)

(APRIL)We then had the donor code for a 1:2 selection a few days later. Then once we had selected we had to wait until all participants were sync'd and today is day 1 of my true cycle ;D

(MAY/JUNE)From now costs to include are travelling expenses to the dual care clinic, flights and accom. SG advise that you do not book in advance as the cycle may not proceed for various reasons and only book a week before transfer when it is know that all is going well with you and the donor and to travel on embryo D4 (day 4) to be on US soil ready for a D5 or D6 transfer, and to travel home no later than D7 (with someone to carry your bags as you will have precious cargo on board ^reiki^ ^pray^ )

Ok think I have covered all but if you have any other q's feel free to ask away.

Hi to anyone else reading.

MillyMax
X
 
#15 ·
Ohhh Honeybee , my pleasure and thank you ^hugme^ :-* day one has been a breeze...had to do a small tummy subcutaneous jab 1st thing and first daily dose of anti-biotics with breakie, then a trip to the gym for an hours body attack class, ohh how 'he' worked us :eek: but hey all good for now anyway whilst I can do it! Trying to do 1-2hrs daily Monday to Friday, I had put nearly 2.5 stone on over the past few yrs with all the fertility treatments and comfort eating and have lost since Dec 1.5 stone and hoping the final 10lbs or near enough will be off before transfer date so back for more of the same 2mrw morning with a spinning class ^excercise3^ and body pump ^Exercise!1^ class :) the rest of the day was full of domesticity at home plus a small helping of FF on the side ;)

Good luck with your decision making and if I can help in anyway with any further queries or concerns please ask away.

MillyMax
X
 
#16 ·
Hello  Miilymax,

Glad day one has gone well and hope day 2 and 3 goes well too. Very impressive exercise regime, good for you.

Honeybee, I hope you are well on you way in making the right decision for you. And yes, Millymax you are so succinct and generous in your responses.


I am doing good. Waiting for AF, due Monday or Tuesday and will begin mock cycle. Fingers crossed.

Hope you both have a great weekend

 
#17 ·
Hello ladies

Firstly thank you so much for all your kind words, especially MillyMax for sharing your decision making process.  DH and I have just come back from a week in Scotland and managed to put all of this tortuous decision making to the back of our minds and having had some time out things do seem a lot clearer for us now.  We have decided to go down the DE route - mainly because of egg quality and my added cervical issue - we feel this is going to be a much more positive route for us given our circs. 

Julia - Wishing you lots and lots of luck with the mock cycle.

Honeybee - Hope that all went well re your call with Amanda and that this has helped with your decision making too.

MillyMax - Really pleased that the cycle is going well so far for you.

We've booked our flights to go out to SG on 21st May but not sure whether we'll need some sort of letter from SG to show at the airport in order to take home the cycle meds (and I presume syringes?).  Silly question I know but would all this need to go in hand luggage to declare at checkin?

Lots of  ^hugme^ to you all and have a great weekend.

xx
 
#18 ·
^hello^ gorgeous Ladies

Julia - sending lots of ^reiki^ vibes to you honey that AF doesn't muck you about and arrives on time so you can start the mock :)

Mrsvebee - I am so pleased for you that you & your DH have been able to have time to think things through regarding the right path for you both...you sound like we did once the decision had been made and felt huge positivity and like a weight had been lifted :)

Regarding travelling with your meds, SG (from my experience at 'a request', having had to travel with previous cycles I've know to make the requests to clinics) will give you a note stating that you are undergoing fertility treatment and are carrying sharps on you or in your luggage. I personally, as I didn't need to use any immediately packed everything in our hold luggage rather than carrying all as it's a very large pack (shoe box size of all drugs). I have travelled many a time with drugs over the years of fertility treatments having treatment in the UK and living abroad, travelling back and forth and unless actually on the meds at that time have always carried all on me in hand luggage (including sharps bin for fear of risk of losing luggage). So obviously when we return to SG next month on both inbound and return journeys I shall carry all that I shall need during our stay (plus a few extra incase of any delays ;) ) on my person with a letter from SG to show at check in and then at security) and will also mention to a stewardess as I shall possibly need to do a jab during the flight (only issue with that will be timing the emla cream (anesthetic cream if unaware of that I swear by as the intermuscular jabs are a little evil without) application!

Honeybee - hope all is ok with you :)

AFM all has gone really well with the jabs and tabs, was feeling very tired 3 days in am guessing it was the antibiotics ??? AF was due tomorrow but arrived yesterday so hoping that's a good sign and my hormones are working well to induce a few days earlier...have scan and bt's booked for Tuesday morning for 'evacuation scan' (for anyone that has done a SP OEIVF cycle this is a similar scan, to check lining reduction), for anyone that has not had this type of scan it's nothing to be alarmed about but just incase no one advises you it takes place whilst you are still having AF (not overly nice but remember the sonographer is very used to doing this and I am sure most of us have been through so much already this really is nothing to be embarassed about :-[

Take care all & hope everyone has had a lovely w/end.

MM
x
 
#19 ·
Hello ladies

MillyMax - thank you so much for your detailed reply re meds and also your earlier post about all the stages in the process.  I shall definitely take your advice and ask for a letter from SG.  Glad to hear that the mock is still going OK - I hadnt heard of an 'evacuation scan' before  :eek: so glad to be forewarned!  Also am amazed to meet a fellow Emla user - I thought I was the only one!!  the phlebotomists at the hospital are all well used to me coming into the waiting room with my arms covered in it  ;D

Julia - Hope that your AF has arrived on time for you to get started.

Honeybee - Hope all is well with you too.

AFM all my mixed up hormones have caused me to have two AFs in the space of 2 weeks! - Not quite sure how I managed that but hopefully everything will start to settle down now I am not stressing over our decision.

I guess this step is all so new (and a bit scary) for all of us so having such fantastic support on this thread from you lovely ladies is wonderful - thank you.

Lots of  ^hugme^ and  ^reiki^ to you all
xx
 
#20 ·
Mrsveebee - my absolute pleasure always happy to natter ^gossip^ and give any support/experience I can :)

I'm actually going through the 2nd week of the 'true cycle', an evacuaction scan is not done on the mock cycle only the true cycle once you have been on the bcp (birth control pill) whilst waiting to sync with the donor.

Wow Emla on 'your arms' not heard that before :) so definately have it ready during the mock for the intermuscular jabs (otherwise ouch unless you are very brave). Stress plays a big part on our hormones so I really wouldn't worry about having had two AF's in a short space of time but you may want to explain that to your SG cons when you have your visit out so they are aware.

Hello to everyone else ^bye^ for now

MM
x
 
#21 ·
Hi Ladies

Hope you are all doing OK.  Just a very quick question - did any of you take out any specialist travel insurance when you went to SG?  I know there are a few specialist policies there that cover you for medical emergency expenses if you are seeking treatment abroad.

xx
 
#23 ·
We have always had an annual travel insurance policy and this year looked into taking the highest level possible so we would be covered for all eventualities for any country.

Our policy is with Mondial
Cover details
Type of policy: Annual Gold With Ski
Area of cover: Great Britain (UK) - WORLDWIDE_INC_USA

Premium £102.10 Total Including Insurance Premium Tax

MM
x
 
#24 ·
Hello ladies - can I join you please? Not quite up to speed with you all yet, but I'll get there!

After many failed cycles using my own eggs it's time to move on to donor eggs. We've settled on Shady Grove and have had our phone consultation, so just trying to sort a date to go out there.

We were initially given a password to see the database but that has expired. Does anyone know if that was a true reflection of the databse for donors when you get given the live code?

Looking forward to sharing this new journey with you all  ^hugme^

Fruitgum x
 
#25 ·
Hi Fruitgum (love the name ;D )

Welcome to the fold :-*

If you contact Amanda I am sure you will be given another more up to date code and although the first database you will have access to will only show a selection of donors yes they are current donors although they will be a mix of 1:1, 1:2 or 1:3 donors shown. We were told at that stage of looking try not to get fixated on a certain donor as by the time you are through the sign off of acceptance stage that particular donor may have already been matched but the database will give you an idea of the amount of information that will be available to you to help with the selection process. When you have been fully accepted onto the SG shared risk program you will be given the relevant true up to date live 1:? that you have elected to partake.

So far I am the furthest along in the process at SG so please feel free to ask any q's that you may have either openly on this thread or by PM & I'll do my best to answer.

MM
x
 
#26 ·
Thanks MillyMax for the welcome. I've now got my appointment sorted and my flights are all booked for the beginning of June. Sorry to bang on about the database, but my DH is concerned about the amount of choice and thinks we should still keep our options open with Global Egg Donors. My issue with them is that it is a huge amount of money for just one go and feel we should be able to find a good donor with Shady Grove with the comfort of knowing we get 6 goes. He likes the idea of seeing adult photos which is what GED offers; but I'm not sure I want to see adult photos  ^idiot^

Also, did Amanda recommend any accomadation to you? We are going out on a Thursday and back on the Monday evening so we can do a bit of sight seeing as well. I seem to remember her saying something about it being best to stay near the clinic but wandered what you thought??

MrsVeeBee - looks like I'll be just a couple of weeks behind you!

Fruitgum x
 
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