The beginning.

Hello everyone,
First off id like to share my story. It’s a hard, sad story, as are most, but I haven't been able to share it since it happened.
I noticed a problem with my cycle when I went off the pill in February of 2006, as my husband and I were set to be married in Oct 06. In November of 2006, I still hadn’t gotten my cycle, and decided to make an appointment with my OBGYN to find out what was wrong.
After many tests, I was diagnosed with PCOS. In December of 2006, i was put on 50mg Clomid, and went up to 200mg by February of 07. One histersalpingogram and many failed attempts later, I was referred to an RE. We didn't fit with this RE, so we decided to look elsewhere. I found the perfect Infertility specialist. I was put on Letrozole and Avandia, and over the few months we tried to conceive naturally(with the fertility drugs), with no avail.
I then continued to take the letrozole, but was also given a shot of HCG when i ovulated. After 4 IUI's (intra-uterine insemination) and no pregnancy, we decided to try IVF.
At the end May of 2008, i started Gonal f injections to stimulate my ovaries to produce multiple eggs. on June 8th (after many ultrasounds and blood work) we went in for the egg retrieval. They retrieved 23 follicles. At this point i believe my Dr's were thinking OHSS...but they didn't tell me any of this.

On June 9th at 9am i went into the doctors office for another Ultra sound and blood-work . I went home to rest as I was not feeling well. At 2:30pm on 6/9 i got the call that would forever change my life. My white blood count was elevated and I needed to be admitted overnight for evaluation. Except it wasn't just over night…

I remember checking into the hospital, and putting on my gown, but the rest of the details are shady. On June 12th, I went into complete organ system failure and needed to be put into a medically induced coma so they could help me breathe. I had respiratory failure, kidney failure, and my body was filling up with fluids fast. I was in the medically induced coma for 11 days. I was on dialysis for the full 11 days, and they did 3 different procedures to make me better. At this point i had Full blown OHSS x10......i was in the hospital for 18 days. After they were able to wake me up, my muscles had all atrophied. I could not walk, i could not feed myself, and i could not even brush my hair. After a few days out of the ICU, and on the heart floor, i was able to go home. I was so happy to be with my husband and my 3 dogs.
I was home for 2 days when i developed a blood clot in my right lung. which warranted another 2 days in the hospital.


After the blood clot, my Doctor's wanted me to be on the blood thinners for a year before trying to do an embryo transfer. I was SCARED out of my mind to do an embryo transfer…..what if it happens again? What if it doesn’t take.
Out of the 23 follicles, 14 fertilized, and 8were considered “grade A”, and one considered Grade B
On June 15th, 2009 We did our first embryo transfer. On June 23rd, we found out that it didn’t take. After all of the progesterone's, I should have gotten my cycle on time.
On July 17th I started progesterone to get my cycle, and on July 30th it came. Once again we began prepping my hormones and my body for another FET. On Monday August 10th I went in for my regular u/s, and found out that my lining wasn’t getting thick enough. I also found out that day that I didn’t ovulate last time or this time. Once again PCOS has failed me. My doctor was then reccomending that we either go on more estrogen and progesterone's. They didn't explain any of this process to me, they just told me that there was a chance that what happened to me in 6/08 could happen again, and recommended that we use a Gestational surrogate. (GS)
In researching all that was needed for a GS, we found that it was really expensive and opted for a 2nd opinion. At the end of August of 2009 we met with Dr. Katayama of Advanced Institute of Infertility. He had hope for me to carry my own children. He too wanted to use Hormone Replacement Therapy in order to do a Frozen Embryo Transfer. The difference between him telling us this , and our previous Doctor telling us this was the fact that he explained in detail the medicines, and exactly what he was going to do, whereas my other doctor didn't. He also wanted to run some tests before doing an FET to make sure that my lining was proper, and to make sure that I produced the “glue” needed to hold on to an embryo. As it turns out everything that they tested for came back normal!!! We were set to do our 2nd Frozen Embryo transfer with 2 of our 7 remaining embryos.