Weird question about clinic and egg collection

[conceptionimpossible]

Hi all,

This is a bit of a niche question, for which I apologise. I had a tracking scan yesterday and was told that my left ovary had quite a few follicles but most weren't at the size we wanted but that my right ovary had a good number of good sized follicles, but was in an awkward position behind my uterus so would be hard to get to.

They said I would need general anaesthetic because of the right ovary issue and that they advised we push collection from this Friday as scheduled to Tuesday next week to give lefty a chance to catch up and all the follicles a bit more time to mature so we had good prospects even if we struggled getting to my right ovary. My husband and I discussed, agreed this was sensible and told the clinic we were happy to go ahead with Tuesday.

Then, when we got home, the clinic called and said they'd booked me in for this Friday (ie tomorrow!) as originally planned because I had been borderline anyway and they couldn't do transfers next week as their floor in the theatre was being relaid Thursday and Friday next week and the chemicals involved were toxic to embryos, so if we had a Tuesday collection we wouldn't be able to transfer at all as we'd have a day 3 on a day they were closed and the embryos would be in harms way and day 5 was a Sunday. My husband and I were a bit blindsided after all the changing around but were relieved we could still have a collection.

Later as we were preparing the trigger shot we started to worry as we don't know if this decision is really being led by what is medically best for us and for our chances or whether it's being led by the logistics of their renovation work! I wasn't told I was borderline in the scan, just that we needed more time, but suddenly when they couldn't fit me in later and give that time, they moved us up. As they called us 15 minutes before closing to book us for collection tomorrow and give us instructions on the trigger, we didn't have any way of collecting them to discuss again as they were closed and if we didn't do the trigger, we weren't sure if we'd have to abandon the round completely.

Basically, we feel a little bit unsure, like we can't trust that the clinic have made this decision because it's genuinely the best option and that we had no option but to go ahead with what they pushed us towards at the last minute because of the way the timings fell.

I know it's unlikely anyone's had a similar experience, but I'm just worrying a bit and would appreciate any thoughts on how to approach this discussion with the clinic as it is weird feeling like we can't trust the doctors' decisions as we know there's a non-medical factor at play.

[sun-and-rain]

I wouldn't be worried about it as your follicles in your right ovary were good. The medical reasons to change the plan to the initial one are valid, and you don't want the whole collection thingy to be in vain. So just do the trigger and trust. It's for sure unprofessional to first change and than change back, but as a health worker myself I know for sure that we sometimes think in terms of a normal situation not having present enough any uncommon situation. What I think has happened here is that under normal circumstances they'd want to postpone the collection to Tuesday. When they talked about that and scheduled you for Tuesday, they probably forgot for a moment that they'd have to put you under general anaesthetics to collect your eggs. And when planning the collections for coming Tuesday, they suddenly remembered... And called you so you shouldn't come in vain on Tuesday and spoil it all having triggered the day before. If you hadn't any good follicles they'd probably given it a shot for Tuesday anyway, hoping that they could retrieve some eggs from your left ovary the normal way on Tuesday, but as they have more faith in the ones on your right, they put their effort in collecting those eggs. So trigger and trust, that's my better advise ❤

[conceptionimpossible in reply to sun-and-rain]

Thank you; that's really helpful and encouraging. We did go ahead with the trigger last night, it was just the little niggle about this odd non-medical factor making us worry, but maybe we're just picking something to obsess over to stop worrying about the collection itself! x

[Hidden]

What a worrying time for you.

To be honest I have found that sometimes non medical factors do impact decisions in IVF, for example my clinic only did ECs Monday to Friday, so if you were looking to be peak on a Sunday for example you had to make a decision about going early or leaving it late and risking losing some follicles. Sometimes when you are borderline like that they prefer to go ahead early than go late and risk you losing the good follicles. It sounds a bit to me like they have had an end of day review or whatever and maybe changed their mind about what the right thing was to do and someone has provided you with a rather unconvincing answer and probably someone who wasn't 100% in the know about what had been discussed.

In my opinion I think you should park this discussion for now and focus on thinking positive on the collection etc and then post this round pick it up with your clinic. If you get your BFP from this cycle then this will be the best decision your clinic ever made! If you don't then you can discuss it in your review appointment and explain your concerns and maybe get the 'real story' (as that one does sound bit convoluted!) and it probably will make more sense once the panic has subsided. Heaps of luck xx

[conceptionimpossible in reply to Hidden]

Thank you, that's really heartening to hear - it all just felt a bit rushed and last minute so we were worried! Definitely trying to stay positive so will be following your excellent advice. 🙂 xx

[Sarakht]

Hi I would not worry about them getting to your ovaries for egg collection. I remember being told similar that my left ovary was further away during scans. Also i believe most ladies are under general anesthesia for egg collection as I would imagine it being very painful if not. Wishing you all the best!