The Lab From Hell

Ok, about that lab thing. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had bloodwork done at a lab at the beginning of last week to check for some blood clotting and immune issues. They stuck me three times, took 10 vials, then called me back to say oops, we need one more vial. Two more sticks later, and the 11th vial was produced.

Unfortunately, the bloodletting is not over.

My REs office received faxes last week with all of the test results. Except, of course, for the NK cells test that required me to go back in and produce vial number 11. Instead of receiving a fax for that one, they received a letter - via snail mail - that said I had failed to come back in to have my blood drawn for a third. time. Say what?

When they did the first blood draw, the lab where I went sent all of the blood to their main lab to be tested. One of those 10 vials needed to be coupled with the 11th vial in order for the final test to be run. So, the main lab set that vial aside. Then, when the 11th vial arrived two days later, somehow there was confusion and they didn’t realize the two vials went together.

So the vials sat there, and expired. Which means I needed to go back in to have yet more blood drawn. Except that no one bothered to call and tell me this. Instead, they simply sent the letter to my RE.

By the time we figured out what the heck was going on, it was Thursday night, after the lab had closed. I went in Friday morning and had the 12th and 13th vials drawn, and they swear to me that it will be the last time I will have to come in for this test.

However, the test takes two weeks to complete. And because of the holidays, that now means I won’t get the results until after my IVF cycle starts. I could start the cycle and, assuming the test results come back normal, just continue it. But if for any reason it doesn’t come back normal, that could throw a curve ball into the cycle. And that just feels like an awful lot of stress.

So, we’re postponing the cycle. Since the clinic does batch cycling, I won’t be able to cycle until the end of February.

But I’ve decided this is probably a good thing, because at least it will give my body time to build my blood levels back up. After all of the blood that’s been drained from me these past two weeks, I’m not sure there’s enough left to keep me going, much less a (hopefully) growing embryo!