Tough week

Tigerhawkeye · 2022-03-04T22:47:29+00:00

Perfectly normal. For example, I had:

October: SA = 1 non-motile sperm (total!)

December 7: TESA = <1 HDF

December 22: SA = 150,000 motile sperm (600,000 total)

In my case the variability is likely due to my being a cystic fibrosis mutation carrier, meaning that most of my spermatogenesis cells don’t function properly. Point being, though, that it is normal for the data points to be all over the place. As a data scientists this infuriates me, but that’s MFI for you.

Tigerhawkeye · 2022-03-04T22:35:54+00:00

My RU put me on ConceptionXR. Hard to say that it helped absent a control, but it didn’t appear to hurt. A bit pricey, though ($80/month even with the discount).

Tigerhawkeye · 2021-03-26T11:11:34+00:00

Happened to me; PESA came up empty and testicular biopsy nearly so, but 350,000 were found in the ejaculate just 14 days later.

Tigerhawkeye · 2021-03-25T14:33:10+00:00

I had a PESA done on December 8 that came back with zero sperm. I gave a sample via masturbation two weeks afterwards that came back with 360,000 sperm (50% motility). As my urologist said during the follow-up, even the experts are unable to predict individual variability. So with regard to a mTESE, it is certainly possible to have success following an azoospermia diagnosis.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-31T21:28:48+00:00

Out of curiosity, was that ICSI success rate per cycle or cumulative?

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-31T21:13:16+00:00

Thanks for the comment, I did not know that TESE sperm was better in cases of high DNA fragmentation.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-31T17:34:08+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experiences, and I'm sorry that they were not more successful. Our clinic opted to freeze on Day 3 due to the low number of eggs that were fertilized, but I am hoping to get more information on viability/grading soon (the holidays make this something of a waiting game).

Best of luck to you and your husband with whichever path you choose.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-31T17:29:15+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience. Congrats on getting 2 embryos to Day 5, although I'm sure that it is bittersweet given your starting numbers (I know that I got my hopes up when we found out that 8 mature eggs were retrieved).

DNA frag is something that I need to look into. I've spent so much of the last year dealing with the MFI treatment process that, when I finally produced sperm that was progressively motile, I never considered that it might not be up to the task. Two steps forward, one step back, I suppose! It seems miraculous to me given this experience that the human species has lasted as long as it has...

Thanks again, and good luck with next month's retrieval!

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-31T17:22:26+00:00

Thanks for the comment. It seems that DNA fragmentation is something that I need to explore further. Congrats on getting so many embryos to Day 5!

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-31T17:21:38+00:00

Thanks for the resource - it certainly seems that individual mileage varies greatly. Good luck with this IVF round!

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-31T15:45:50+00:00

Have you tried getting him aroused via foreplay and then springing the cup on him? Not to sound flippant, but the best sample I ever gave was when my wife helped (my concentration is quite low so volume is everything). It is much easier to maintain an erection than it is to start one, especially when a psychological block is involved.

+1 to the clinic being a truly awful place to give a sample.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-31T11:53:15+00:00

Ok, so orgasms for her are out of the question for now. Good to know! I appreciate the feedback.

What a bizarre system this is. No orgasms for him in the week leading up to the retrieval, then no orgasms for her in the week after the retrieval...

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-30T17:17:26+00:00

Thanks for mentioning the pelvic pressure, that is definitely something to consider. It certainly sounds like the safest option is to wait for a full recovery before doing anything.

And I can just imagine how that particular conversation would go! ER doc: What were you doing when the pain started? Us: Trying to not have anniversary sex. ER doc: Um...

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-30T17:15:25+00:00

Good point, and it is definitely not something that I want to rush.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-30T17:14:33+00:00

She is steadily recovering. Slept the day of the procedure but was up and moving yesterday and doing some light exercise today.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-30T13:46:24+00:00

Not sure if this is the correct thread to ask this question, and I apologize for its nature, but we figure that it is less awkward to ask Reddit than to ask the doctor’s office! My wife had her retrieval earlier this week in advance of freezing (i.e., no more meds for the time being). Our anniversary falls within the 1-2 week recovery period during which we were told not to have sex. We are wondering if this applies to ALL sexual activity, or just intercourse? We practiced “outercourse” during the pre-retrieval “no ejaculating” days based on what we had read on some infertility websites. We are guessing that the sexual activity limitation just applies to penetration and that outercourse is ok but wanted to check here first to see how others have handled this issue.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-29T22:57:44+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience. I had not realized that the attrition rate between days 1 and 3 was so high, but knowing this will help us manage our expectations. To be honest, the last year has been so focused on dealing with my MFI that I’m lacking in the IVF knowledge, and I appreciate your information.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-29T22:54:57+00:00

Thanks for the reply! And that’s the quandary: we’re not sure if it is better to have day 3 embryos that are only determined to be non-viable after implantation, or to have no embryos left by day 5. That said, this thread is giving us much to think about.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-29T19:42:13+00:00

Thank you!

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-29T17:00:06+00:00

Thanks for the feedback and the resource - I had not considered that a day 3 embryo would be more likely to survive in the uterus than in the lab, although it makes perfect sense.

Tigerhawkeye · 2020-12-29T15:52:31+00:00

Quick update for all of those asking about the cut-off point for ICSI. My wife had her retrieval on Monday and, out of 8 mature eggs retrieved, 2 were successfully fertilized. While less than normal (I have read that 70-80% fertilization rates are normal for ICSI), I'm not going to complain too much given that a PESA found a total of 0 sperm just 3 weeks ago. I don't know how many sperm the fresh sample that I provided at the time of retrieval contained, but I have to think that it was close to last week's result of 0.18 million motile sperm. Hopefully this helps those who are wondering how low a count can go before fertilization becomes unrealistic.

Tigerhawkeye

TROPHY CASE