First timer ivf- consultation appt 😊

[Laura3101]

Hi ladies

I've been following all your posts for a little while now & they have been massively informative for me as to what to expect on this journey, we have our first appt 10th October with the consultant at sea croft hospital in leeds & I was wondering what questions if any should I be asking him?

I've read about the short protocol/long protocol and day 3/day5 blastocyst on here but Im none the wiser with what it all actually means and hoping he will explain all of this.

Im a little concerned about the injections and hormones that we will be given as I have recently in May been diagnosed with a rare cancer & of course don't want this to interfere with that either.

Thanks in advance

Laura

[Nat6]

Hi Laura,

First of all I'm so sorry to hear about your cancer & I hope u are getting all the treatment you need.

From what I have learnt from everyone's experiences is that every clinic varies with its information. My first IVF appointment was a run through of the process itself & the doctor explained what IVF is, how it works etc. Then my history was looked over & discussed. What investigations I had, what had been found, my other medical history etc (this would probably be where you can discuss your concerns about meds). I think I had an internal ultrasound but it was a while ago so can't fully remember if I had this. We were then put through to the nurse who ran through dates, medications & what month we would start IVF. We would have started right away but we had a genetics test that needed looking at first so therefore we began the following month.

I don't really know what short/long protocol is.

The 3/5 day blastocyst I do know! Basically after your eggs are collected they will hopefully fertilise with the sperm sample. Then you will be told if this has happened (I was told next morning) & u will be booked in for a Embryo transfer (ET) 3 days later. If you have some that look like they will then turn into Blastocysts then they will call u morning of original 3 dat ET & say they want to see u day 5 instead. I had 7 eggs fertilised of which 5 made it to day 3 & then 2 made it to day5.

Really hope this helps & if u have any more questions just ask xx

[Laura3101 in reply to Nat6]

Thank you for your reply, that has helped a lot, they are doing all they can to monitor the cancer cells and spread and the team who look after me are truly amazing, it's luckily been caught early stage so surgery intervention is not needed this year- thankfully! Im sure the consultant will have all these notes and yes I'll defo be asking about meds when I see him 😊 x

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK in reply to Laura3101]

Hi Laura3101. I do have a list of questions you might like to have a look through. It is too long to add here, but if you email me in confidence to [e-mail] I will send it to you. Diane