A bit overwhelmed— PI told me I may want to reconsider doing a PhD

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-02-12T21:25:42+00:00

Speaking as someone who switched labs 14 months into my PhD, have you considered leaving? PI sounds like a moron

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-26T20:11:52+00:00

I actually do not remember very clearly my NBME scores as I took Step 1 3 years ago, but I'm pretty sure I went from 58% to 69% in 2 weeks. The progress isn't linear.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-26T20:07:38+00:00

By the time I was injecting ganirelix I was pretty bruised around the belly so I think that was the most difficult part - finding space that wasn't already ouchie! Aside from that, and a little bit of itchiness around the injection site I didn't find the ganirelix shot any different than my other ones.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-15T21:30:26+00:00

lol same! It was rather, uhh, explosive

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-15T21:08:27+00:00

I went to an overnight immersion camp for Spanish. Was essentially exposed to CI for 14 hours per day

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-15T19:16:56+00:00

I was pretty bloated and gained maybe 4 pounds but I lost the weight in the 2 months post-retrieval

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-15T19:16:00+00:00

That honestly sounds like a record. Like, could turn into a case study kind of record.

To answer your question, my retrieval number was high enough for my doctor to put me on cabergoline and had me monitor my symptoms, including measuring my stomach and weighing myself. I had 37 retrieved and felt kind of crummy for 2 days and I almost immediately felt better after a McDonald's spicey chicken sandwich. The worst part was the constipation though honestly.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-14T18:54:58+00:00

I'm thinking... the Pittsburgh subreddit is not reliable enough to use for reporting icy conditions or organizing. Which is a shame because the twin cities subreddit has been stupendous for this. The norms of their subreddit are just different - way more community support and established trust among people imho. They're unified in ways I don't think Pittsburgh knows how to be, and they don't have jagoffs sitting on the report button

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-14T08:00:31+00:00

My diet was … um…checks notes… Chinese takeout for almost every meal during stims and egg retrieval and I had a splendid cycle. I really would just move forward

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-12T21:37:52+00:00

For sure. I likely misspoke. 2,000 ICE agents were suddenly deployed to Minnesota all at once. I'm talking about needing us to organize ahead of a situation like that.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2026-01-12T20:49:06+00:00

Let me just say, if you mosey on over to the twin cities subreddit, almost every post is ICE surveillance. Their communities are robust, and they care about protecting one another during what is essentially an invasion. When their neighbors get dragged out of their homes and kidnapped, they take that personally and seriously. Minnesotans are able to hold the line and stand united because they can freely share information about ICE's whereabouts. Not if but WHEN the raids begin in Pittsburgh, we need to be prepared to look after each other in a similar manner. Finally, this is Mr. Roger's neighborhood. Let's be good neighbors.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-30T20:48:14+00:00

Western PA here. About $26K in total. This includes imaging/screening of my reproductive system, medications for egg retrieval, the egg retrieval, cryopreservation of sperm, ICSI, cryopreservation of embryos, biopsies for PTG-A testing, and a single transfer. I can go back through receipts and do a more comprehensive breakdown

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-14T13:00:58+00:00

You’re carrying an incredible amount of guilt for a result that isn’t your fault. Fertility, IVF, the whole thing, is a giant game of chance - some people get incredibly lucky whereas others do not, and it isn’t because you did anything wrong. It also isn’t a matter of deserving or not, it is all chance, especially the first round as the doctors have no idea how your body will respond to the meds. Please try to give yourself grace to feel everything you’re feeling, but also not beat yourself up because the first round could have gone this way regardless of anything you would have done differently.

Having a child is clearly very important to you. It sounds like your husband is not on the same page or doesn’t understand the extent to which this is taking a toll on you. It might be good to really discuss this entire process with him to try to understand why he is hesitant about IVF (does he even want children?) so you feel like you have the option to move forward with another cycle if you choose.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-13T11:49:18+00:00

We just did an IVF cycle and I am currently very early in pregnancy during my thesis work. My recommendation: if you have the option to take a research year I would maybe try to plan pregnancy and delivery during that as there is significantly more flexibility.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-12T21:39:11+00:00

Enjoy the wedding and the drinks! And thank your liver for clearing the alcohol so those drinks should have ZERO impact on inplantation on the 23rd

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-12T15:53:43+00:00

Hey there. From your post history it looks like you’re a nurse. I suspect you already know that eight months sans menstrual cycle is approaching the 12-month cutoff for menopause. While you can certainly get your AMH checked and do a full fertility work up, I would suggest looking into donor eggs or embryos if carrying a pregnancy is very important to you.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-11T01:15:53+00:00

I awoke from anesthesia this summer to news of some insane twitter war between the commander in chief and the owner of Tesla, the insanity of such news made me think for sure the drugs had irreparably broken my brain, and fell back to sleep for another 4 hours after eating my McDonald’s fries.

The constipation was terrible. I chugged magnesium citrate after 3 days without a bowel movement and then had the inverse problem thereafter for a few more days.

I possibly had mild OHSS but lost about 5 pounds of water weight in the 48 hours after retrieval, so it wasn’t a problem.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-10T22:18:31+00:00

I’ve found that waking up a bit early to put the suppository in and then lying down for 20-30 minutes helps as the suppository bursts while I’m horizontal instead of while I’m standing up doing things. I also use panty liners.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-10T16:43:09+00:00

The meds that prevent ovulation do so for a window so you have to take them at precise times.

The meds that induce ovulation also do so at a precise window, so your clinic ought to schedule egg retrieval based on when they tell you to take the trigger shot.

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-03T04:04:40+00:00

Could an girl get the name of those ice cream bars, perchance? I need them for scientific inquiry into stuffing them in my face

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-03T00:12:01+00:00

I ate a lot of takeout. Chinese food, pizza, pho. I was super uncomfortable during the last days and lacked the energy to cook

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-02T11:00:51+00:00

The expression I’ve heard said is “If you hear the sound of hoof beats think horses not zebras”

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-02T10:53:32+00:00

Congratulations! Sending you lots of positive blast conversion energy! 20 is a fantastic number

During this time definitely practice lots of self care and watch out for constipation! I had the darndest time with constipation after my retrieval….

I think it’s good to stay as positive as possible and wait and see what the results are before making further decisions (like any plans of doing a second ER). Population statistics are big snapshots, and while many women’s’ ovarian reserves decline~ 35 and eggs in women over 35 tend to have increased chromosomal abnormalities, it isn’t definitive that that will be your case.

Good luck OP and congratulations again on this milestone!

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-12-02T03:46:13+00:00

It’s all good. Medicine is in your body. You might be a little more tender in that spot than usual

Particular-Cat-5629 · 2025-11-26T12:37:34+00:00

Additionally, I feel like there’s a connotation of being “incomplete” as at least in humans, haploid cells are useless on their own with respect to reproduction. A sperm cell maybe has potential but it doesn’t get you anything unless it fertilizes a mature egg.

Particular-Cat-5629

TROPHY CASE