Early this afternoon my phone rang from an unlisted number. My phone was not supposed to ring today. I knew instantly that it was the clinic and something was wrong. The head embryologist whom I had spoken to in recovery immediately told me that while it wasn't catastrophic, it also wasn't a good call. Basically, out of my 6 frozen eggs, only 2 properly defrosted. 3 completely failed to reform, and 1 seemed to be okay, but then collapsed. The 2 that defrosted properly were completely fine and able to have ICSI on them. Out of the 9 fresh eggs collected, 8 were able to have ICSI on them. So in total, they were able to inject 10 eggs with sperm. Not catastrophic, but also not the best news. In particular because the younger eggs should have a higher chance of better quality. I'm still beyond thrilled to have had such a great fresh cycle, but the risks of chromosomal abnormalities is much greater, and increases every year.
So I'm not devastated or even particularly upset, but I'm now much more wary of the next hurdles that need to be passed. Tomorrow around 10am I will get a call to let me know how many have actually fertilized as they will check for the double nucleus and for the ejected waste material from the cells. I have no idea what the attrition rate will be for this next hurdle. Assuming that some make it past tomorrow's hurdle, they won't look at them again until Saturday and decide then if it will be a 3 day or 5 day transfer.
If I end up with nothing at all to transfer, I will absolutely be devastated. But we aren't there yet. The embryologist was still pleased that we have 10 injected eggs. To be fair, as I was only expecting a collection of 5, I've ended up with a similar number as I'd hoped, it's just that the majority are fresh instead of a 50/50 split.
It's also I suppose worrying for women who freeze their eggs as this is not a good outcome. I expected 5 out of the 6 to defrost properly and thought I'd lose 1, not 4. It's also interesting because I asked them to take 2 eggs from each of my 3 egg freezing cycles. Interesting because the 2 that defrosted well and were healthy came from the same cycle. 2 that completely failed came from the same cycle and the other 2 with the partial came from the same cycle. This could suggest there was a problem with the freezing. The embryologist mentioned that on one of them it was difficult to remove the eggs from the 'plate' that they are frozen to. I went to a very reputable clinic, so I don't think they intentionally screwed up, but it does go to show how tricky this process is. Also, it was 3 years ago, and you would hope that techniques continue to improve.
So okay. 10 injected healthy eggs. That's a good result so far - 8 fresh, 2 from frozen. Tomorrow is another day and another phone call.
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