An interesting encounter

A few days after my procedure I had an interesting encounter on a London bus. After a 12 hour day and still feeling a bit sore I was fortunate to find an aisle seat which allowed me to sit in a more relaxed position. Then a pregnant woman got on, walked up and asked me rather aggressively if I was pregnant. I assume this approach was to indicate that I should move to the empty window seat beside me, rather than her sitting there. I politely made room for her to pass but the encounter made me think.

a) it hadn’t crossed her mind that someone without any obvious signs of discomfort might be uncomfortable, b) I was getting off soon and it would have disturbed her more to have to get up to let me out and c) given my recent procedure it was a rather ironic question, and one that some women would possibly find insensitive.

Not a great experience.

Post procedure

I was a little sore for the first few days after the procedure, particularly when sitting down. On the second day I made it into work for a couple of hours but I certainly didn’t feel back to normal and was quite relieved to get back home. I also felt a little off my food for the first three days and had a little nausea, though I wasn’t actually sick. I was also still a bit swollen but all in all I got off fairly lightly. Day 3 was I think the worst for me, mainly due to not being able to eat a lot of food without feeling full and nauseous. I have no idea if that was due to the procedure, anaesthetic, the drugs still in my system or the tablets but it gradually got better. I would definitely recommend just taking some time to rest at home if at all possible.

The final result

In the afternoon after my collection procedure I received a phone call from the lab to let me know how many eggs had been successfully frozen. I had 12 retrieved, which is the average number and out of those 8 mature eggs were frozen. Three of the remaining eggs were immature and one was an empty shell. The numbers are apparently reasonable and within the expected limits.

I am not sure at the moment how I feel about the number that were frozen. I am obviously pleased that I have any frozen at all but I guess my initial thought is that more is better. Then I read all the information that says ‘quality over quantity’ and feel slightly reassured. One thing I do think is that I am potentially in a better situation than if i had decided not to go through the procedure at all. When I have taken some time to think about the whole process I will decide whether I want to repeat it in the future.

The day arrives

On the day of the collection procedure we got to the clinic by 7am; due to the fact you are likely to feel woozy after the procedure I was advised to bring someone with me and not to travel on public transport. After checking in, we were shown to my room and left to settle in. The nurse came around shortly afterwards to give me my gown, knickers and slippers, confirm my details/medical history and to attach my identification tags to my wrists. As I wear contact lenses, I had to remove them before the procedure. You are also asked not to wear any makeup, jewellery and to leave valuables at home.

As I would be put under a general anaesthetic I was not allowed to drink or eat anything from midnight. Fortunately I was scheduled to be the first one on the list that morning and given an estimated time. I had been told that I would be seen earlier in the day as they need time to perform the freezing procedure. Both the anaesthetist and the doctor performing the collection came round to introduce themselves before I was left to get into my (voluminous) gown and make a last trip to the loo.

The actual time came round very quickly. I walked down to the room where I was to be given the anaesthetic and made comfortable on a trolley bed. I had been a bit worried that I would need to elevate my legs but I was just covered with a warm blanket. The anaesthetist then inserted a needle into one of the veins in my inner elbow and attached the anaesthetic syringe. The only thing I remember about this part is her asking if I could taste anything and me answering no before I woke up from a lovely dream to hear a nurse saying I was coming round. My first thought was to wonder whether I had actually had the procedure done at all! At that point I was told that they had retrieved 12 eggs.

I was then wheeled up to my room and transferred to my bed. Apart from feeling a few twinges in the stomach area I didn’t feel at all sick or woozy, just a little tired. The nurse brought me some water and a cup of tea with biscuits before I was given the breakfast I had ordered earlier. They needed me to both eat something and pass urine before I was discharged. At this point I discovered that I had been provided with an absorbent pad, presumably for any discharge from the internal antibiotics they give you after the procedure.

I was discharged after a couple of hours. I was relieved that I had not had any pain on going to the loo and was feeling generally well (and enjoying daytime TV) by the time I was discharged. On getting home I just rested and took it easy. I was told that it would be ok to resume normal activities the next day though nothing strenuous.

A day of rest

Having stopped the nasal spray and taken the trigger injection, the day before egg collection felt strangely empty. I can’t deny that I was pleased not to have to think about anything other than taking the Cabergoline tablet that night, although I was a little nervous about the procedure. I mainly rested as I felt a bit uncomfortable and needed to wake early to get to the clinic by 7am.

Starting the process

My whole egg freezing process was estimated to take 3 weeks so I wanted to block out a month of time when I would not be under any stressful or difficult work commitments (easier said than done). Once I had decided on the best dates, I booked an appointment with the nurse to plan the way forward. At this stage I needed to complete all the remaining forms which gave consent to the procedure and my decisions regarding various other considerations.

Firstly I had another internal ultrasound to check my condition at the start of the process and I was pleased to learn that the same nurse would perform all my ultrasound examinations during 3 weeks. I then went for a consultation with the nurse which was quite an in depth talk and at which it was decided that I would stop the pill the next day and start taking a nasal spray. The nasal spray is to be taken morning and night (12 hours apart) and will continue until a couple of days before the egg collection. I will then start injections one week after starting the nasal spray and will have my next scan and blood test 6 days after starting injections. Egg collection is estimated to take place 2 weeks after starting injections.

At this appointment I also received my sharps box and was taken through the procedure for taking the nasal spray and performing the injections. While I had walked into the clinic with a few nerves, I left feeling reassured and in good hands.

Research

One of the first questions I considered was which clinic I would choose. I am based in south UK, so London was the logical option. As there are many clinics offering egg freezing in the London area, one of my first stops was the HFEA website, which gives a lot of information about the process, costs, success rates etc.

A few things I gleaned from my general research:

Egg freezing is not cheap. Most of the clinics I looked at quoted a cost of around the £3500 mark for the actual process, not including blood tests, scans, medicines etc.

General reading of forums/websites etc suggested that different clinics have different styles of operation. Some were considered more impersonal, others were thought to hold your hand more through the process.

Success rates should be taken under advice. Some clinics take on patients that have a lower probability of success initially due to their individual circumstances. Also there is a lower amount of data available regarding the success rates of egg freezing using vitrification. This procedure is considered to have higher success rates but is also relatively new. The women who have undergone egg freezing using this process have potentially decided not to use their frozen eggs yet.

The start…

In the summer of 2014 I started to seriously think about the possibility of egg freezing. In my mid-thirties and having gone through a traumatic break-up, I was aware that time was passing and with it my options of having children.

On my search for information I came across a lot of advice about IVF, which was very helpful, but there was less information available on egg freezing. I intend to document some of my experiences here in the hope that it might be useful to other women who are contemplating a similar process.