Would you try again?

[Anonymous]

Here is the situation. I've done 3 rounds of IVF unsuccessfully. My husband and I decided to go to donor egg rather than spend any more money for at best a 15-20% chance of success. We changed clinics to SG, so that we could do their donor egg/shared risk program.

My husband just changed jobs and the insurance plan has an infertility benefit that pays 90%. (drugs are covered too with a copay) We would be responsible for 10% of the costs which would be about 1000-1200 per round for us out of pocket which would be covered by our FSA.

I'm trying to decide whether we should try another round or two at SG. I did 3 rounds at CFA. I'm 42. We had MDIPA 50% last year, and each round cost us around 4200, including the drug copays. We decided not to do the third round we were covered for under MDIPA. (we had done one of those rounds out of pocket) We were going to put that money towards the DE plan. We have the money for the shared risk plan sitting in our investment accounts. The only difference is that instead of using the entire 5000 towards the shared risk plan in the beginning, we would have 5000-our part of the IVF copay. Probably like 3500, so down the road we would have to come up with a little extra money, which isn't really that big a deal for us.

I'm trying to decide whether we should continue on the donor course or try again on what is essentially someone else's dime.

[Anonymous]

OP here. 5000 is what we have in the FSA for 2011.

[Anonymous]

It depends on what your situation looks like. How are your numbers? Did you have a high rate of fertilization with your IVFs? I'm 41 and I feel like there is no hope for me at this point even though I don't have any issues except AMA. I'm in a different situation because I already have one child but if I didn't, I'd probably go with donor. Also, something to think about --if you have a successful donor cycle, you could freeze some eggs and then possibly have a 2nd child later from the same donor.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I didn't produce lots of eggs but all of my eggs fertilized and made it to transfer. My numbers are still pretty good. My estrogen is a little high at day 3, 85 and my FSH is 9. So in reality it is probably a bit higher, but not astronomical.

We would be doing SG's 3:1 shared risk, meaning we would be sharing eggs with two other couples and more than likely we wouldn't have any left over to freeze. Also, we are perfectly ok with an only child.

I'm thinking of giving it just one more try, not exhausting the entire benefit. I was thinking when my husband got the new job, what if their insurance has IF benefits at 100%? Well, 90% is pretty close, hence the dilemma.

[Anonymous]

I'd got for it. Benefits like that are very rare. You can always move on to egg donner later.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP. You are so fortunate to have great IVF benefits. So many of us are completely out-of-pocket. Personally, I would try again, particularly since your numbers are pretty good. You want to be able to tell yourself that you did everything you could.

[Anonymous]

i would do it in a heartbeat. SG is a better clinic than CFA and has better stats.

[Anonymous]

If you have the time and the emotional stamina to try it again, I would go for it. 90% is great! That said, your odds of success with your own eggs aren't that high, so you do need to be prepared to move on to donor egg if it doesn't work.

[Anonymous]

Have you checked whether the insurance has age or other cut offs? Generally when you get over 41 or 42, most insurance companies will try to cut you off by requiring a clomid challenge test. Have you done that yet? Will the new insurance require it?

[Anonymous]

Oh, 9:32 here. If the clomid challenge is required, you may want to think about faking it (not taking the clomid). That is the advice I see on most over-40 TTC boards, because the insurance companies are aiming to not provide coverage.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I did check about age cutoffs and it does cut off at 44, so I still have some time. I talked with the insurance person at the new insurance and she was able to look at the specific policy. The company self funds its insurance but it is administered through a big insurer. Right now I was waiting until my BCBS insurance kicked in (jan) to complete all the prereq exams for donor egg. Now, I am going to cancel BCBS because we signed up for my husband's plan, which appear to be better and cheaper for premiums than the fed BCBS. (DH's plan allows for employee and spouse coverage, rather than family only)

I will need to read the book when I get it, but when I talked to the representative that pulled up the plan she gave me the qualifications, which were minimal.

Even though I've been through 3 rounds of IVF, I feel like I've only had one "good" try at it. I don't feel like getting into the details of the mishaps with the first two rounds, but suffice it to say that even though we got to transfer all three times, I don't feel like we had quality embryos in the first two cases even though they were graded very high.

[Anonymous]

You have great IVF benefits which is rare. If you really want the best results you need to go out of state to CCRM, Cornell or SIRM. They are the best for AMA and if you really really want a baby, then the travel is worth it. The local clinics here are very good but they don't really take on the hard cases. The three I mentioned above have very good statistics for AMA and they get the cases that no one else would treat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have great IVF benefits which is rare. If you really want the best results you need to go out of state to CCRM, Cornell or SIRM. They are the best for AMA and if you really really want a baby, then the travel is worth it. The local clinics here are very good but they don't really take on the hard cases. The three I mentioned above have very good statistics for AMA and they get the cases that no one else would treat.

This is good advice. I'd probably give it one more try but I wouldn't waste time with Shady Grove at age 42. The success rates at the bigger name clinics are sooo much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: This is good advice. I'd probably give it one more try but I wouldn't waste time with Shady Grove at age 42. The success rates at the bigger name clinics are sooo much better.

I agree this.

I will be 41 in January, we are completely OOP and I am looking to cycle a second time before giving up. I would go to Shady Grove in a heartbeat for DE, but not for my eggs. It just doesn't seem as if their program is tailored for the AMA. I recently had a consult with SIRM in NJ and was very impressed with Dr. Peters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have great IVF benefits which is rare. If you really want the best results you need to go out of state to CCRM, Cornell or SIRM. They are the best for AMA and if you really really want a baby, then the travel is worth it. The local clinics here are very good but they don't really take on the hard cases. The three I mentioned above have very good statistics for AMA and they get the cases that no one else would treat.

This is good advice. I'd probably give it one more try but I wouldn't waste time with Shady Grove at age 42. The success rates at the bigger name clinics are sooo much better.

Agreed -SG isn't that much better than CFA. Go out-of-state to the big guns if you have another try in you.