FISH results are back: IVF #7

We received a call with the FISH results yesterday, which is the extra test we're having done just to look at the sex chromosomes in each of our blasts. We added this step at the advice of CCRM's genetic counselor who expressed concern that given our history of polyploidy and my history of cancer treatment, we might be more prone to a repeat polyploidy than the general population (usually there's a 1 in 1,000 chance). Since microarray doesn't show polyploidies, just trisomies and monosomies, we forked out some more cash to add this test to the mix.

Last time, this one pesky chromosome knocked out half of our sample. It was really disheartening, although things ended up ok and we got three normals.

And this time?

Well, so far we've got four with normal sex chromosomes!! And the other three? They only had one cell to test for each of the other three and they got no result. So We've got four with normal XY or XX and three wild cards, which will have their fates revealed with microarray. But we haven't lost a single blast yet! Unbelievable.

I felt my breath hitch in my throat when the genetic counselor Danielle identified herself on the phone. I had heard that the policy has changed since our first CCRM cycle and they are now typically sharing FISH and microarray news together once the microarray news comes in. So hearing her voice, I was worried that she was calling this soon because our embryos were ALL ABNORMAL and we could just begin grieving early.

I shared that fear with her and she said, "You know, this may be hard to believe, but maybe this time there won't be a lot of grief. Given your history, that is probably hard to imagine, but I'm really optimistic."

Huh. Not a lot of grief? Really optimistic? About us? Weird.

Here's the detailed rundown of our FISH results:

Embryo #05: 6BA NORMAL!!

Emrbyo #11: 4BB NORMAL!!

Embryo #14: 4BB NORMAL!!

Embryo #15: 3BB NORMAL!!

Embryo #17: 3BB No diagnosis

Embryo #20: 3BC No diagnosis

Embryo #21: 3AB No diagnosis

Three cheers for good news!!!

Only 22 more pairs of chromosomes to go!

The microarray result wait time of late has been 4.5 to 5 weeks...so...we should hear the final word on those results around the end of July. Right now that seems just fine. I can wait.

I pray the news is good.

Mo

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