Monday, March 19, 2012

Results limbo

I went in this morning to get my beta drawn. The tech couldn't find a req for it, so I had to go snag the IVF nurse  to get her to make one up quickly so they'd draw it. And then I went to work to wait on tenterhooks.
Unfortunately, the day passed, and I hadn't heard anything. I checked my phone to look for missed calls and to make sure the ringer was on. Nope and yes. And then I started thinking that maybe I hadn't been called because the results were negative and they wanted the RE to call me himself at the end of the day to give me the bad news.
I got home by 4:45pm, and still no call. The clinic stops answering calls at 3:30pm (I think), and the IVF nurse doesn't answer emails after 2:30pm. I waited and waited, and after our nanny went home at 5:45pm, I thought about emailing my RE. Shortly after 6pm, I sent DH out with a K screaming for Mama on a walk before dinner while I cooked. I also emailed my RE to ask if they'd forgotten about me.
Dr H called during dinner. Apparently they had so many blood tests to process today, the tests got divided into two batches, one run this morning, and the other to be run this afternoon. Unfortunately, my beta ended up in the afternoon batch, which was promised to be back by 4pm. By 4pm, the results weren't back, and the IVF nurse didn't remember to call me to let me know there was a delay. She supposedly felt really bad about that, and so did Dr H. He said she'll be calling me early in the morning to let me know the verdict.
Dr H was super sweet as always, and asked if I was interested in knowing what he found out from CC.RM last week when he was there visiting. I'd mentioned to him that I'd heard of this claritin/pepcid/prednisone protocol one a blog I follow, and asked him to find out what evidence they have behind it, because I hadn't found any when I searched for it. [One board said the "protocol" is used for some women with recurrent miscarriage, and is 10mg prednisone OD, 10mg Claritin OD, and 20mg Pepcid BID, starting 2 days before transfer.]
So Dr H said he asked them about it, and it apparently came to be because they had a patient who miscarried her first pregnancy at 12 weeks after having had symptoms of an allergic reaction (like flushing, feeling unwell) a day or two before. She then miscarried her second pregnancy at 9 weeks after similar symptoms. And the third one miscarried at 6 weeks. Because she kept having losses after having symptoms of an allergic reaction, they decided to try putting her on an immune suppressant and H1 and H2 (histamine) blockers. And it worked - the fourth pregnancy was successful. Dr H said that with the quick dissemination of information over the internet via blogs and bulletin boards these days, other patients started trying out the same protocol. He said that losses are often due to poor egg quality, and that it might have been dumb luck that she had a successful outcome when on the protocol, but that because people are trying it out, they're not able to study the treatment to see who it is helpful in etc. They're apparently thinking of submitting it as a case report so it gets into the medical literature, but haven't done so yet. Dr H said the treatment makes sense in certain cases, but that we also don't know if there are any downsides when used in a more widespread manner.
I was so glad to get the phone call from him. No news is better than negative news. So I'm just going to wait for the phone call tomorrow morning and pray for the best outcome. This waiting is agonizing, but I'm feeling a little superstitious because I didn't test with our successful IVF cycle, and I've tested on pretty much every other cycle I've ever done.
Please God let this work!


5 comments:

Lisa said...

Ugh, are you kidding?! I can't believe they didn't get your results today. God bless you for not peeing on every stick in sight! I really hope you get happy news tomorrow!

IF Optimist, then... said...

How absolutely frustrating. I shake my fist in the air on your behalf. I'll keep you in my thoughts for a great result tomorrow. Best wishes and a big hug!

Amanda said...

How unusual to wait so long. It sounds like they were really disorganized the yesterday.

I hope happy news comes your way today.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to K! What a big girl!

Janice said...

i was in yesterday, at Dr H's for my last BW and US for ER on wed.

Apparently EVERYONES estrogen went down yesterday..so me thinks that little screw up (the are thinking from the lab) is probably also part of why you may have not gotten a call. Actually I sure hope it was a screw up! Mine went down 500 points

Good luck!!

Mo said...

how frustrating!! hoping you have news by now...or soon!!! let us know! thinking of you.

Mo