TW: IVF Rant
My wife encouraged me to post here as I’ve been going through it to see if anyone can relate…
After 2 failed at home attempts, we saw a fertility doctor back in November. We did an SIS with them and discovered I had uterine polyps. In December, I had surgery to get those removed. It was a bit of a slower recovery, but I was feeling much better by January and we did 1 failed medicated IUI cycle. Due to my age (37) and cost of sperm, we went straight into IVF stims that next month.
My job is very demanding of my time/energy/emotions (education administration) and a lot of people depend on me. Thankfully it’s not physically demanding. Right towards the beginning of stims, I recognized how significant of an impact IVF was having on me and initiated intermittent FMLA. (I highly recommend this, btw).
All went well and normally during stims/monitoring and we expected a smallish retrieval. We are incredibly lucky (on St. Patty’s Day 3/17) that we had a huge response (38 retrieved, resulting in 8 euploid frozen, 4 frozen w/o PGT). This resulted in OHSS, mild to moderate w/o hospitalization. I was finally starting to feel back to normal activities this past weekend.
My doctor recommended I wait a cycle for transfer due to the OHSS. She did also require another SIS prior to transfer just to check if polyps have returned. I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and do that this month so it’s out of the way. I had the SIS Monday and when I tell you it hurt so bad! I don’t remember it being nearly as painful the first time. I took that day off FMLA and was feeling pretty much better that evening. The next day (yesterday) I started having so much pain I couldn’t drive, walk, move around in bed. And (TMI) this morning I started having some crazy discharge. I was diagnosed with an infection from the SIS. My doctor said to take it very easy for the next few weeks and we may need to delay the transfer another month.
I want to be here for my family (I already have older children) and my employees. Honestly, I expected typical IVF things but between the polypectomy, stims, OHSS, and now uterine infection, I feel like I have been down for the count since December…
If you read this far, thank you! I’m usually a very optimistic person, and still feel overall excited about our prospects. I also know some people have an even tougher time, so I don’t mean to diminish anyone else’s experience. I’m just feeling beat down by all the complications. Thanks for any advice you have.