All my eggs in one basket

In the suburbs of Denver, with beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains, set back from any major roads, is CCRM. There is a garage entrance for the surgery center, or for the famous patients who enter only at night. Here, you give your name and they buzz you into the garage where a few other cars are parked- on Tuesday that included a new Acura, Lexus SUV, and Cadillac SUV- pretty sure at least one of these was a Dr.'s car. We rolled in with Matt’s company car- a maroon Subaru Forester. Not bad- there was another Forester in the garage, so we didn’t feel too out of place. From there, you take an elevator (lined with mahogany walls, a travertine tiled floor and shiny stainless steel buttons), up to the second floor where comfy loveseats await you. Here you wait until someone calls your name. The inside of the building looks like a spa. There are marble floors, huge windows to take in the views, that same beautiful mahogany wood everywhere, and sleek trendy lighting fixtures. I’m envious of the bathrooms- there is a the most gorgeous pale blue glass subway tiles on the walls, and a sink/vanity area right out of House Beautiful magazine. If you happen to just be coming in for a regular appointment, you enter the front door and think for a second that maybe you’re in the lobby of a posh little spa (they do have massage therapy, acupuncture, and a counselor available for patients!) The whole place is calming, serene, comfortable, and just a tad bit intimidating. The staff is a little unbelievable as well. First of all you notice how attractive everyone is- in a very natural, Colorado kind of way: thin, fit, faces fresh from mountain air. Next, you can’t help but be impressed with just how extremely nice and accommodating staff is with all of the patients. From the front desk to the phlebotomists, and don’t even get me started on the nurses, genetic counselor or my doctor!

Jenny was my nurse on Tuesday for the egg retrieval- a tall, thin, young blonde who is probably a runner (that conclusion based completely on my prejudices!). She was darling in every sense of the word. Before she started my IV, she gave me a courtesy shot of lidocaine so the IV wouldn’t hurt as much (I have never even had this offered before)! When she had trouble getting the IV started (apparently while I have “big juicy” veins, they roll around)- she told me it was totally her fault and she was going to go get help so I wouldn’t have to suffer. Very considerate. The next nurse, equally adorable, got the IV started on the opposite hand on the first try. It really didn’t hurt much at all, with the numbing shot first- it was the best IV experience I’ve ever had. Jenny was complimentary (“wow you have such pretty hair”), chatty (in that friendly “I’m gonna try to help take your mind off of all of this” kind of way), and helpful (“do you need to sit up? Are you comfortable? Do you prefer graham or club crackers for when you wake up?”). Who wouldn’t love this girl? When I woke up from surgery, she was the first face I saw- smiling at me asking how she could be of assistance and telling me how great I did in surgery (I just laid there really, but I wasn’t going to argue with her). Nice. The anesthesiologist (Dr. Wilson) came in to check on me after surgery and to check to see how my throat felt. The last surgery I had, the hysteroscopy, I had a sore throat afterwards due to a device they had to put in my mouth/throat that helps hold my airways open and prevent my tongue from rolling back. He said he was extra gentle and gave me more numbing medicine this time to prevent that because he was so sorry it was a little scratchy last time. Seriously? He even cared? He is a little weird looking though- I couldn’t help but think he looked like a slightly heavier Johnny Depp version of Willy Wonka. Maybe he has dentures- but there’s something just a little off. Dr. Gustafson performed the retrieval- he’s our little nerdy hero who found my fibroid on my first visit to CCRM. He is a small, thin, very pale YOUNG guy with thin reddish hair (in a sort of dorky, 5th grade kind of haircut). Seriously, if he is one day over 35 I’d be shocked. But he is so nice! Apparently his wife also did IVF, so he’s a little more sensitive and understanding to the situation.

Finally, after I was awake for about 30-45 minutes and Matt had been in my room with me for a while, they brought in the embryologist to discuss the results of the retrieval. Matt and I were praying that they had recovered more than 12 eggs (the number they retrieved in KC). Amy, our very young embryologist walked in. She must be a genius- I think she is about 28, a pretty little brunette, sadly with a personality of a flea. That’s ok- she is obviously smart and she tried hard to talk to normal humans. 20 eggs! Wow- they got 20 eggs!! We were stunned, excited, and now- a little more hopeful. She told us that she’d call us in the morning (Wednesday) as well as on Day 3 (Friday) and Day 6 (Monday) to give us updates on the number of mature eggs, the number fertilized, and reports of growth for the embryos. Day 6 would be to tell us how many made it to Day 5 (the magic day when they would normally transfer fresh embryos back into the uterus) and how many they were able to freeze for genetic testing.

Wednesday morning I had my phone turned up to the highest volume and had it in my sight all morning. Amy finally called at 10:30 (agonizing wait!). Again, in a very forced tone (must be tough to talk to folks of average intelligence) she let us know that 16 of the 20 eggs were mature (better than we thought!) and 14 of those fertilized normally. That is a great starting point! She informed us that the lab used a special PICSI dish for the sperm- to initially sort to find the very best, then used a method called MSI (high powered microscope magnifying 400 times) to choose the right sperm from that sorted batch, and finally a method called ICSI- where they manually inject the sperm into the egg. So high tech! This is definitely not what they teach you about getting pregnant in 7th grade health class!

Now we wait. Wait for the call on Friday, then the one on Monday- that is really the only one that matters. How many embryos made it to Day 5 and they are freezing to send a single cell for testing. It will be a long weekend waiting for that call!