Friday, April 3, 2009

CCRM: New Hope?

We bit the bullet and went to Denver yesterday for a one day workup at the number one facility in the country, CCRM. Wow what a place! It's beautiful in there and everything is modern. We started the day with a consult with Dr. Schoolcraft. Here is a summary his main points:

1. He told us our best chance is using donor eggs. He was pretty convinced that my egg quality is poor. I told him we are not ready to make the move to donor eggs and he was ok with that.
2. He also brought up my genetic issue: inversion on chromosome 9. I have had 3 geneticists (2 at the same clinic) tell me it has nothing to do with my infertility. The geneticist there said there are 2 studies that show it may be related so she wants me to call her. I will do that today. However, I think I'm going to stick with the other 3's opinion.
3. He told me I have to have an HSG. I have never had one. My clinic only does a saline ultrasound. According to Dr. S, this is not sufficient. He said "IVF will not work if your tubes are blocked and a saline ultrasound can't tell if your tubes are blocked." This really pisses me off because I've asked about it over and over again.


Next, I had a doppler 3D ultrasound (or something like that) and that was very cool! It tests the blood flow to your uterus. There is even a flat screen so the patient can see what is going on. Call me a geek but I thought the technology was awesome. Everything looked good there.

We had a few other meetings, one with the nurse, one with the business office, took some blood, etc. One thing the nurse pointed out is that Dr. Schoolcraft doesn't think ovidrel gives you a 'good ovulation'. I wonder if that's why my last 2 cycles looked so good on paper but didn't work out too well. Another thing I had asked about and was told that HCG and ovidrel will work exactly the same.

Finally, I had a hysteroscopy administered by Dr. Schoolcraft. He said everything look good. He seemed a lot more optimistic at this point. He said my egg numbers look really good and so does everything else.



That was pretty much it. I feel good that we went to the best place there is. I have complete faith in Dr. Schoolcraft. While I think the nurses make all the decisions at my local clinic and the RE is barely involved, I think Dr. Schoolcraft looks at EVERYTHING and makes all of the decisions himself. I think it's worth it to do a cycle there and know that I'm with the best.

6 comments:

Amanda said...

CCRM's stats don't lie, you will probably have the best chance there if anywhere and it's awesome that you are getting some encouraging responses from Schoolcraft. If I was doing IVF, CCRM would be a top choice and I hope they make some magic there.

I read this blog post a while ago about blocked tubes and it seems relevant and I wanted to pass it on. http://100infertilityquestions.blogspot.com/2008/12/hydrosalpinx-hydrosalpinges-and-ivf.html

Nikki said...

Glad you had a good visit with Dr Sch and CCRM. Good luck - yes, you are in good hands!

Caroline said...

Darya - that is great news. I am so glad that you are now at CCRM. It sounds like the best place and I am hopeful for you. Dr S sounds awesome. I am tempted to sell the house to afford to go there myself! (I don't think DH would approve somehow!).
Any idea when you will cycle again?
Caroline x

Anonymous said...

so happy that you are out there and getting great care

xoxo

Josée Martens said...

Oh sweetie! I am so happy you had a good trip out there. I am not sure if at the end Schoolie was still saying donor... Can't wait to chat about it in person.

Erica said...

I'm happy that you are feeling a sense of hope again. It's surprising that your old RE never did an HSG, but it seems like this doc has his head on straight. I've got everything crossed for you.

Have a great week!