Genetics

Things have moved along this week, but every day has been so busy that I haven't had a moment to blog.

I heard back from the genetics team on Monday. I think I can officially say I've been reviewed pretty thoroughly from a genetics standpoint. There was nothing from a cardiac standpoint that we need to look at going forward.

Interestingly, I had some weird things go on (deletions and additions on chromosome), but if you look at any one person's chromosomes as closely as they did mine, no one's is perfect. I had a tiny deletion or smaller section of a part of Chromosome 15, but was told they compared it to other people's and it is considered normal. I also had additional genetic info on Chromosomes 14, 16 and the X chromosome, but all of it was considered normal. Therefore, there's no need to do PGD on our embryos going forward. We can just do generic PGS in case there's something going on when our embryos are created.

I waited until Weds. and had to email Holly because I hadn't heard anything about us starting vs. not starting or the b/w we'd had taken last week. I know I'm anxious, but they should understand that, right? I don't know if they do, but if there's anything I've learned over the years, I have to be my best advocate.

She replied back to me about 5 minutes to 5pm telling me that bloodwork came back good for all of us EXCEPT for the fact that Gabby tested positive for CMV antibodies. CMV -cytomeglovirus- is some version of herpes that between 50-85% of people will have had an infection of by the time they are 40 years old. Mostly kids get it, then develop antibodies to it, but people around kids get it too. Considering Gabby is not only a mother of 3, but also a pediatric nurse, this came back as no surprise. In fact, she had even said she knew she had antibodies to us at the time.

But Holly emailed me and said that we needed to wait 3 weeks to retest to make sure this wasn't an active infection. Ugh! We definitely wouldn't be able to fit in the cycle before vacation then!

Well, Gabby is awesome. Even though she is on vacation in Mexico this week with her hubby and no kids, she literally emailed the nurse back right away. Because about 10 minutes later I got an email from Holly saying Gabby had emailed her and told her she'd had antibodies for 6 year, so Holly had emailed the doctor to ask if we could skip the retest. I was going to have to wait till Friday to find out whether we could or not though.

Waited till 3pm yesterday and no email. The thought of going all weekend without knowing made me email. Of course, Holly emails me back pretty quickly saying she had JUST spoken with the doctor. People always do stuff JUST when I call :) Apparently we don't have to wait 3 weeks for the retest! Sweet!! But the doctor wanted Holly to contact Dr. Mike (my cardiologist) to get his approval for IVF meds and to see if he wanted me to take lovenox.

You've got to be kidding me. I mean, I've done THREE cycles of IVF before and never gotten "his permission." Furthermore, while I've taken lovenox, it was always after retrieval, not before - and since no embryos are getting transferred back into me there's no need for me to take them. Finally, if this was mandatory, why didn't you ask him a MONTH ago - you wait till now to say this has to happen before you'll call in meds?

Of course, it was already 4pm on Friday so you know that wasn't going to happen quickly. Nonetheless, I have Dr. Mike's email and since Holly had said she had already emailed him on Weds. and still hadn't heard back, I decided to send him a quick email asking him to please respond ASAP so we could get this cycle on the road.

By 8pm he had emailed me and Holly, giving his permission and letting them know I could take any meds they wanted me to and lovenox wasn't needed.

I love that man.

So, I am now hoping that is the last hiccup we will have and they will call in the meds on Monday so Gabby can start taking them this coming week. Unless they come up with more stupid restrictions.

I am ready to get this show on the road!!