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Hope2009 (no login)
Posted Apr 16, 2011 9:29 PM
who was a 22 year old unproven donor was very sick after the retrieval to the point that she was put in the hospital for the weekend to manage her pain.
I was with her during the retrieval...she is tall like me but small bone structure...my Dr. said she was a fragile patient which I think meant she didn't tolerate the ovarian stimulation well. She had problems even when she was on the BCP's for instance.
I knew ahead of time that she wasn't doing well at the end as we saw her a few days before the retrieval at the clinic and she said she felt so swollen and bloated...her ovaries were very sore. I was with her during the retrival where they got 19 eggs...of which 16 fertilized and 13 made it to 5 day blast.
At the end of the retrieval...and I think there may have been even more eggs but our donor's blood pressure crashed...she was talking one minute and then passing out the next and the blood pressure plummeted. I can't tell you how worried I was and guilty too. Our Dr. quickly worked with his nurses and they got her stabilized quickly but she was very out of it.
We drove her home, on the way picking up gatorade which she was instructed to drink over the course of the next few days...also some pain meds from the pharmacy...we left her with some lunch just as her friend was coming to be with her.
Later in the weekend we found out that she had been hospitalized the next morning since she was in so much pain....she was very close to being very sick with OHSS but I think they caught it quick enough and managed it.
I THOUGHT I WAS relaxed that cycle as we had been vacationing with our family very near the clinic...it is a distance from our home...we were right on the ocean and it was lovely...but thoughts of our donor being so ill lingered so when I went in 5 days later to have our 2 perfect blasts transferred...I WAS In the same room...I was feeling guilty still.
I don't know if that was part of the reason that our first fresh cycle ended with a chemical pgcy...the lining was excellent, and the blasts couldn't be more perfect..absolutely beautiful...but I think the whole stress of the sitation got to me.
So I guess there is something to be said for having an anon donor for that reason a lone but I think that OHss OCCURS far more in younger donors that we are told...or stats show. I know my good friend who also cycled at our clinic had a donor who was hyper stimmed as well.
My Dr. is soooo careful too..monitors blood work and has the donor's in regularly to check on the follicles...trying his best to avoid this situation..there is a fine line though and when you are young and healthy well that is just a side effect....also this can happen even when you are proven...we all have good and less cycles.
Anyway the good news is that for all the pain our dear donor went through our following FET worked and we have a beautiful little boy and twin girls on the way from our second FET...it took 8 embryos transferred to get our 3 babies but I think my donor now would say it was worth it...she saw a pic of our son as a baby and said he looked just like her...beautiful and he is the happiest baby.
How to avoid these things...I guess you just have to talk to the Dr. and make sure that they know you want a good result but not at the risk of your donor's health. We paid for our donor to see a naturopath throughout her cycle as I wanted her to stay balanced...even when you are young, being on fertility drugs is hard on your body.
Also...I think there is something to having too many eggs...I PERSONALLy think the quality can be compromised and in the end you probably end up with the same number of fertilized embryos as someone who is watched carefully for just the right balance of eggs being retrieved. wELL THAT IS MY TAKE ON IT ANYWAY FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH.
Blessings from Hope |
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