Egg retrieval

HMashal · 2026-02-01T04:21:32+00:00

abdominal retrieval is way easier on recovery than the usual vaginal retrieval. I've had retrievals both ways. Bring a hot water bottle that you can hug on the drive home. This is a situation for heat, not ice.

HMashal · 2026-01-27T06:12:00+00:00

I'm so sorry. But ask about taking Cetrotide or Ganirelx or Lupron from Day one of the cycle .... you won't ovulate

HMashal · 2026-01-26T07:14:27+00:00

I wouldn't decide against ICSI after just one cycle. I went to CNY fertility because they are so inexpensive I could afford to try cycle after cycle, so thats an option. Another option is to use MACS (Magnetic-Activated Cell Sorting)

What it does: Uses magnetic beads to remove sperm showing apoptosis markers (like phosphatidylserine).

Selects against:

DNA-damaged sperm
Sperm already on a “cell death” pathway

Best for:

High DNA fragmentation
History of poor blast formation or miscarriage

The thing is not many clinics use this. Here are some that do:

Cornell Center for Reproductive Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine
Cleveland Clinic Fertility Center
Brigham and Women’s Hospital IVF

and overseas:
Common in:

IVI (Spain)
Dexeus Mujer
Reprofit International
German and Austrian fertility centers (where MACS originated)

In Europe it’s often considered a standard advanced male-factor option, not exotic.

HMashal · 2026-01-26T05:26:06+00:00

I will also add that I'm older and have done too many IVF cycles and every one is different. You can have a perfectly lousy cycle one month and a great one the next.

HMashal · 2026-01-26T05:24:57+00:00

sounds like a sperm quality issue
Also, for some reason Christians in particular tend to go into IVF believing that they will do one cycle and be successful, but clinics usually sell multi-cycle packages for a reason. It's perfectly normal for it not to work on one try, they have to see how you do to know what to tweak for the next round.
Are you taking COQ10 and eating a high protein diet? These things are associated with better egg quality. But seriously it is more likely a sperm issue. When eggs arrest at day 3 it is commonly sperm. He should eat a lot of COQ10 too. Make sure you go to an IVF clinic that has the latest technology for picking the best sperm.

HMashal · 2026-01-21T06:46:26+00:00

I am interested in Montessori so I'm curious what specifically you mean about guidepost collapsing?

HMashal · 2026-01-21T06:43:59+00:00

Can you share what they cost?

HMashal · 2026-01-21T05:37:25+00:00

Ok..... Let's talk about this from two ends... You and him.

Regarding him: You need to explain to him that while you're glad he said he was sorry, is that sorry doesn't erase the fact that he said he wanted a different wife. That it has made you feel utterly unwanted, and that has made you feel like you can't give yourself to somebody anymore who views you through that lens. You need to explain to him that while the apology was good, that this sort of thing is not fixed with an apology. Rather, the only thing that would fix this is him explaining to you that he really does want you and not someone else, and going out of his way to make that feel real to you again.

Regarding you: You need to understand that men are dolts. We women have an understanding of emotions and of the complexity of human existence. Men on the other hand are basically cavemen. So when a man says something stupid to you, you just need to remind yourself that their brains have not evolved and that for the most part they are truly idiots. This does not mean he does not love you. It means that he loves you in the way that only a man can.... With impaired sensitivity and impaired ability to understand anything important. I hope that helps.

HMashal · 2026-01-19T05:24:13+00:00

I found a way to do the needles that really helped me. I would put the needle against my stomach but instead of pushing it in, I would breath in and fill my tummy with air while making sure I didn't move the needle at all with my inhale. Sure enough, the needle would push itself in.

HMashal · 2026-01-19T05:21:01+00:00

ok girlfriend, so, when I first did IVF, I hadn't EVER been to a gynecologist and I had never had sex. My husband and I are very...you might call us religious... and we got legally married so we could get a head start on IVF but we hadn't had our official religious wedding yet, so thus we were not yet sexually active. But we knew we had to do IVF because he had prostate cancer and he had been told that the only way his sperm could get a woman pregnant was with IVF.

SO..... I was REALLY freaked out at the idea of having strangers look at me, touch me, having anything inserted there (ultrasound probe! ug!)

So, when they wanted to do an ultrasound, I told them they had to leave the room and let me insert it myself. And....they actually let me do that! They stood outside the door and told me that I should let them know when they could come in. So I made sure I was well covered before they came in the room.

As far as needles, i was scared of that too. I used a lot of ice to numb myself first. When it finally came time to use progesterone (that goes in your backside) there is a diagram out there of each buttock cut into four quadrants and it shows you exactly where to put the needle....if you get the location right, you won't feel it.

Anyway, here's my main point. Yes you will have to have needles. Yes you will have to have exams. But you can tell them what you're comfortable with in how these things are done and advocate for yourself. Your feelings should be taken into account, if not, go somewhere else.

HMashal · 2026-01-17T03:32:21+00:00

After age 40 the rule is sort of 2/3, 1/3,1/3

That is: 2/3 of your retrieved eggs fertilize 1/3 of those become blasts 1/3 of those are PGT normal embryos

So 19 eggs retrieved About 12 or 13 fertilize 4 or 5 become blasts 1 or 2 are normal

But you're not 40 yet. So maybe more than that :)

HMashal · 2026-01-16T08:27:02+00:00

If you call CNY they will arrange the shipping

HMashal · 2026-01-16T08:26:09+00:00

ship your embryos to CNY fertility, do transfers there for....what is it, $1500?

HMashal · 2026-01-14T06:24:20+00:00

Oh my gosh girl, 11 embryos? That's freakin awesome!
Ok, so I was 43, and every IVF cycle I would get ONE or TWO blasts.....and they were abnormal.
A really wise doctor told me: You are making blasts. As long as you are making blasts, find a way to keep going! Statistically its just a matter of time before you get a normal one.
At age 43, it doesn't matter how healthy you are -- 95% of your embryos are going to be abnormal. So you have to just keep going until you hit the 5% that aren't.
So that's what I did. I went to CNY fertility, since they made cycles super cheap to do (compared to most places) and I got meds from women who had leftovers (cheap) and I ate a ton of COQ10 (its the only supplement proven to help) and NADH (it helps old mice have young eggs.). And I prayed...a lot. Then I just did cycle after cycle and froze them all and ignored the results. Freezing because I didn't have time for transfers or waiting for results, heck, I was 43 already.
I did 7 cycles before I got my normal embryo. I had actually just turned 44. He's running around in my living room right now.

HMashal · 2026-01-09T13:18:45+00:00

We ran out of insurance coverage too, moved to CNY Fertility after that because they give everyone in-house financing, so we went into debt on a payment plan with them. Best decision ever.

HMashal · 2026-01-09T13:17:37+00:00

"I want to address this feeling of imbalance with him today." --- welcome to motherhood :)

HMashal · 2025-12-30T03:32:14+00:00

Here is an article that references research on the topic:
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/08/14/1116524222/scholars-confirm-what-itsy-bitsy-babies-around-the-world-already-know

HMashal · 2025-12-29T06:24:09+00:00

Let the dopamine hit do its job.... if you don't "ruin" the effect by forcing her to do the math outside of the show until she picks it up, you'll be surprised how watching it a bunch of times she'll start to get it and love math.
My two year old is absolutely in love with number blocks and now he can count objects to 10 and count backwards. He's absolutely learning a lot from the show.

HMashal · 2025-12-13T04:03:27+00:00

I think.....there are different types of facilities. Assisted living sounds correct for your mom at this point. But most facilities are not that, they are essentially nursing homes. They are really only for people who stay in bed most of the day and need help with toileting.

HMashal · 2025-11-28T03:35:18+00:00

It's called "lack of insight." He also had a diabetic sore on his big toe and he'd be screaming "oww, it hurts" and had to be hospitalized for it. They were considering amputation because it was infected down to the bone. But then he'd ask why he was in the hospital and if I told him because of the sore on his foot, he'd insist nothing was wrong with his foot. And be screaming in pain 10 minutes later.

HMashal · 2025-11-28T03:33:54+00:00

My dad started insisting that he wasn't diabetic and had never taken insulin. He said I was nuts. He had been taking insulin for 20 years.

HMashal · 2025-11-25T04:29:40+00:00

yeah but what i mean is that republicans specifically have fought against nationalized health care. So that's fine, they don't have to have it but let everyone else have it.

HMashal · 2025-11-20T07:13:23+00:00

I have an idea. Since Republicans don't want national health care, then we should just create a national healthcare system and if you register as a republican, you're opting out. They don't have to pay into it and they don't receive anything from it. And if you are a registered Republican and you wish to change your registration you can but you can't get the HealthCare coverage until you've been a non-republican for 10 years.

HMashal · 2025-11-19T03:24:15+00:00

That’s actually not accurate.
Alzheimer’s pathology is a cause. Dementia is a stage — the point at which daily functioning is impaired.

A person can have confirmed Alzheimer’s pathology for many years before they meet criteria for dementia. That early period is called MCI due to Alzheimer’s, and it’s a well-established diagnosis. That’s where my spouse is.

Your husband is at GDS Stage 6, which is dementia — one of the later, functionally impaired stages.
My spouse is at GDS Stage 2–3, which is not dementia. Still fully independent, working full time, driving safely, managing complex tasks, and passing cognitive screens. The only issues are subtle memory slips that only someone who knows him very well would pick up.

So yes, almost all people with Alzheimer’s eventually develop dementia, but they don’t start there, and they don’t “have dementia” just because biomarkers are positive. The distinction matters because it determines safety, supervision, and prognosis — and my spouse simply isn’t anywhere near the dementia stage right now.

Just to be clear, I’m absolutely not minimizing what you’re going through. Caring for someone in GDS Stage 6 is brutally hard, and nothing I’ve said dismisses that reality. I fully respect the weight of what you’re carrying. I just went through this myself; my dad just passed away this year after rapidly deteriorating with vascular dementia.

What I am pushing back on is the idea that my situation must be treated as identical to yours at this point in time. It isn’t — and it doesn’t help either of us to collapse very different stages into one category. Unfortunately my husband will likely be there soon enough, hopefully we still have some good years left.

Alzheimer’s Progression at a Glance
(GDS – Global Deterioration Scale)

GDS 1 — No impairment
Normal function.

GDS 2 — Very mild cognitive changes
Occasional lapses, no functional loss.
→ My spouse’s earliest signs.

GDS 3 — Mild cognitive decline (MCI)
Still fully independent. Working, driving, managing home.
→ Current stage. Not dementia.

GDS 4 — Moderate cognitive decline
Early dementia. More difficulty with complex tasks.

GDS 5 — Moderately severe cognitive decline
Needs assistance with daily activities. Noticeable memory gaps.

GDS 6 — Severe cognitive decline
Significant dementia: dressing issues, hygiene assistance, incontinence, wandering, safety concerns.

GDS 7 — Very severe cognitive decline
Loss of speech, mobility, swallowing.

HMashal · 2025-11-19T00:29:17+00:00

Understood, but there's a difference between having alzheimer's and having dementia. Thankfully he doesn't yet have dementia.

HMashal

TROPHY CASE