I went to the RE this morning and had another blood draw and ultrasound. They printed out the Greek clinic's email, and they're going to email the results to them for me.
In the meantime, I got an email back from the Greek clinic. They're quoting a price of 5500 Euros (about $7000) which does not include freezing of leftover embryos or my own meds. I was expecting that it wouldn't include my meds, but a little confused that it doesn't include the freezing. Their website says that an embryo donation IVF will cost 4800 Euros, so I was assuming the extra 700 was for freezing... if it isn't, and I have to pay an extra 1000 like they've quoted, then I'll have to adjust my budget by about $1000 in order to account for the freezing of leftovers. Eeep. Doesn't mean I'm not moving forward with it, but I did send her an email back asking where the extra 700 Euros came from. I wonder if the prices on their website aren't up to date?
In addition, she said that their success rate is that about 60% of patients get a positive pregnancy test, and the live birth rate is 46%. But I am wondering if that is with donor eggs, or if that's their overall clinic's success rate including ladies who do IVF with their own eggs. Their website specifies a 70% success rate with donor eggs, which leads me to believe that either they are inflating their rates for their website, or else the number she's quoting me includes both standard and donor egg IVF. Anyway... if the birth rate is 46%, then that would mean that 76% of their positive pregnancies result in a live birth, or just over 3/4 of them. That sounds about right. But it does leave some food for thought. If 60% of patients get a positive test, it stands to reason that many of those patients opted for a 2-embryo transfer rather than just one. I am curious to know what the success percentage is for those patients who opt for just one... is it about the same? And I am curious what percentage of those live births were twins?
I may ask her these questions later, or just save them for the discussion when we're actually in Greece, about how many embryos to put back. A lot of it will depend on the quality of the embryos that result, anyway. If we get at least one really high-quality one, then I think we'll just transfer that one. If they're all somewhat questionable quality, then I might risk 2.
Anyway, I've been keeping an eye on the exchange rate, too. It's 1.28 right now. If it drops to 1.26 or lower I may go ahead and try to change my USD into Euro while the rate is lower. They're predicting that it will be at 1.24 next month, and continue to decrease, so I figure I should probably wait as long as I can to make payments in the hopes that the rate will keep dropping in the next few months. For example, today 5500 Euro is $7040 USD. But if the rate were to drop to 1.24, it would be only $6820 USD - a $120 difference. And that $120 could cover nearly three of my ultrasound co-pay appointments here. :P So while I am waiting for test results and more information from the Greek clinic, I am entertaining myself with budget planning - LOL.
Kaitlin and I are looking through the Cryos International sperm bank now, to find the donor we want. So far the front-runner is a red-haired actor/comedian/gamer geek, whose profile is utterly charming and full of personality. Since both the names we have picked out are strongly Irish, it wouldn't hurt to have a red-headed kiddo. :P
Now to wait for the Greek clinic to get my test results so we can see what happens next...
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