Changing follicle numbers on donor?

[Anonymous]

Yesterday my nurse told me two days ago that they'd "recruited" 26 follicles, and that she was having a great cycle, today the weekend nurse said there are 15 follicles between 15 and 22 and they are triggering tonight.

Why the drastic change in number?

It could be the difference between those visible and those between 15 and 22.

Oh well, there is nothing I can do but wait and see.

[Anonymous]

I'd assume she still has 26 follicles but only 15 of them are expected to be large enough to harvest by ER.

[Anonymous]

Since we're sharing, I had really hoped for more. There may be--I know at that level you can retrieve more than they count--I can hope. I know that I had viable eggs in smaller follicles so if she has some under 15mm they can catch up.

But really, at this point, I'm FINALLY, MAYBE willing to let go and let God (this sure tests my faith). All the angst that took me through OE IVF didn't work, it won't help here.

[Anonymous]

It will be OK, OP. we used a donor too and had similar numbers. Remember that even if you retrieve a relatively small # of eggs, they are MUCH more likely to be normal than yours. We did ESET and were successful on our first transfer. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Follicles change through the cycle which is extremely frustrating. But it happens all of the time. I went from 12 follicles to 20 follicles to 15 follicles right before trigger and ultimately they retrieved 13 eggs but all of them were mature. Your donor's egg and embryo quality is likely to be much better than ours (I was 38 and DH 42) and we got pregnant on the first go-round of IVF.

Good luck, OP. I'm sending positive thoughts your way!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for all the encouragement everyone. Apparently also having different people count them makes a big difference. Certainly there is follicle atresia but I think often it's the way they count them or can't count them, some hiding behind each other. So many have retrieved more eggs than the number of follicles, and so many, like me, retrieved less.

I am waiting for today's call to confirm that the trigger took. Then I get to start PIO.

It would be easier if I wasn't sharing her eggs with two other couples, but my ethnicity is hard to find in a donor so of course they put her in the 3:1 share.

[Anonymous]

Those nasty, thoughtless automatons at SG--they called today and I was able to answer, I asked the nurse about attrition from 26 to 15, she said that the weekends are very rushed and sometimes they don't count them all but that the donor had not lost follicles and her estrogen was looking good.

I told her that they should SAY that they didn't count them all, rather than leaving such incomplete information, she laughed (LAUGHED) and said that was the third time today she'd heard that--DUH, three couples sharing my donor. . .

I told her that while it may seem funny to her, it really, really isn't, this is hard enough and something like that UNNECESSARILY adds to the roller coaster. She said to relax, I told her that by the time you get to donor egg, you have been through too much to be told to "relax". I told her that I was imploring her to make sure that they make this SMALL change in practice, give full enough information (we didn't count them all but there are 15 good ones. . .), it is a simple thing and means a lot more to us than it would to them to NOT make this small change.

She AGAIN said she'd heard that three times today.

UMmm, if EVERYONE to whom you did this expresses the same dismay, maybe just take the extra step of saying 4-7 extra words so as not to freak us out?

Shady Grove has a particular lack of empathy. Most of the time I'm ok with it, and seek it elsewhere, but this time they CAUSED the angst. I was mentally preparing myself to for what looked like a decent chance at cancellation because I'm third in line--while all the while it is unlikely!

And, apparently, they had worried the others too.

Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those nasty, thoughtless automatons at SG--they called today and I was able to answer, I asked the nurse about attrition from 26 to 15, she said that the weekends are very rushed and sometimes they don't count them all but that the donor had not lost follicles and her estrogen was looking good.

I told her that they should SAY that they didn't count them all, rather than leaving such incomplete information, she laughed (LAUGHED) and said that was the third time today she'd heard that--DUH, three couples sharing my donor. . .

I told her that while it may seem funny to her, it really, really isn't, this is hard enough and something like that UNNECESSARILY adds to the roller coaster. She said to relax, I told her that by the time you get to donor egg, you have been through too much to be told to "relax". I told her that I was imploring her to make sure that they make this SMALL change in practice, give full enough information (we didn't count them all but there are 15 good ones. . .), it is a simple thing and means a lot more to us than it would to them to NOT make this small change.

She AGAIN said she'd heard that three times today.

UMmm, if EVERYONE to whom you did this expresses the same dismay, maybe just take the extra step of saying 4-7 extra words so as not to freak us out?

Shady Grove has a particular lack of empathy. Most of the time I'm ok with it, and seek it elsewhere, but this time they CAUSED the angst. I was mentally preparing myself to for what looked like a decent chance at cancellation because I'm third in line--while all the while it is unlikely!

And, apparently, they had worried the others too.

Ugh.

I'm sorry, OP. You've been through a lot and this process is such a roller coaster - you don't need added stress. I too have had experiences where either the nurse or the ultra sound tech said something really thoughtless and it sent me into a frenzy. It means so little to them because this is just their job, but we have so much invested of our lives, emotions, hopes, dreams, not to mention finances. They should know better. Some sensitivity awareness training could definitely help these folks. Anyways, try and shake it off and focus on your next steps. I'm wishing the best for this cycle. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

O.M.G.

OP here--retrieval was this morning and my share of the eggs, MY share, as the third recipient, is 13 eggs, 12 mature! And that last one looks like it will mature.

Wow.

I officially hate the weekend nurse, but I expressed my concern to my own nurse, who is quite good thus far, she understood.

[Anonymous]

Wow OP - great news! That is wonderful! Can you imagine how many you would have gotten had you not been sharing!!!!!!

Hope everything goes well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP - great news! That is wonderful! Can you imagine how many you would have gotten had you not been sharing!!!!!!

Hope everything goes well.

Well, since that would be $15K more or MORE, I am happy with the choice to share. I am probably not going to have another one unless my finances change or I decide that I am willing to be even OLDER vis-a-vis my kid (the second) so I would just have to have found homes for the embryos.

I already decided I am not destroying any leftover after I give birth, if I am lucky enough to have them.

[Anonymous]

So the donor had almost 40 eggs retrieved or did the first couples not take as many as you took?

I am very happy you are happy (and hopefully can let go of the initial scare)!

I do feel for that poor woman whose ovaries must be quite a sight right now!

[Anonymous]

That's a ton of eggs to get in a 1:3 with SG. Usually people are lucky to get 4-6, 8 being the most I have heard about in a while. I would say you definitely won the lottery with your donor. She's a rockstar donor.

[Anonymous]

Best of luck, OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a ton of eggs to get in a 1:3 with SG. Usually people are lucky to get 4-6, 8 being the most I have heard about in a while. I would say you definitely won the lottery with your donor. She's a rockstar donor.

She's definitely a rock star--and she's 30! I was hoping for 6, 8 was my shooting for the moon hope--and I have 50% more, and if that last one matures, even more.

I thought about how big her ovaries must be. I even asked my nurse how they trigger her, because a Lupron trigger pretty much prevents OHSS, whereas an HCG trigger, with that many eggs, could really have caused a problem. They use the Lupron trigger, so hopefully she'll recover quickly. My cousin had BAD OHSS when she froze her eggs, and I didn't want that to happen to a woman who is helping me.

My nurse said that she has seen many donors produce 40+ eggs--it's not common, but not unusual. I would guess they're usually in their 20s when they produce so many, but what do I know?

I feel lucky to have gotten so many, and so many mature!

To answer an earlier question, she said we ended up splitting the eggs almost evenly. I would have gotten the least as the third recipient, so they may have gotten 14 each, for a total of 39-41 eggs. I wonder if the others had a similar rate of maturity.

Fertilization report tomorrow!