Probably will edit/add on later. It was a good, hour-long conversation with Dr. P, with me opening with my familiarity with him from IG.
He wants me to re-test all my hormone levels, in part because my doc did not test for estradiol, to see on how viable a candidate I am. He also wants to check my insulin levels because I am overweight (and I don't mean by 15 lbs) and to do an ultrasound to check the uterine cavity in general and specifically for fibroids, which are more common in women of African ancestry--and totally fixable given enough time before one cycles.
I asked about what kind of drug protocol he would look at given the numbers from my Nov tests, assuming nothing changes. He said we'd look at a long protocol with 1 Menapur and four Gonal F (300). (I think my notes are a little rough there, sorry!)
He said I should stay on my current BC ("Absolutely!"), if only because he feared that going off it would result in my conceiving Boy #4 before we travel this fall, lol. ;-)
Best way to get high-quality eggs and sperm? He thought my Type I diabetic husband should try Cyvita supplements (three pills two times a day), that I could try 400mg of Co-enzyme Q10, and that he's more interested in me going low carb, cutting out white flour and refined sugars. He'd really like me to cut out any foods that come in a package. He wants good, low insulin numbers. He's more interested in my going low carb and avoiding sugar than he is in my losing pounds, per se. (I told him that I eat plenty of fruits and veggies, but am fat chiefly due to sugar and fat in the form of CHOCOLATE.) But I know if I cut sugar, weight will fall off.
He also would rather have me cycle at the end of our monster 17-day vacation that will include Disneyland (Cars Land!) and Legoland, meaning doing the egg retrieval and transfer just before going home, rather than doing it and then running after three kids in amusement parks all day.
Dr. P was very positive on the idea of a single egg transfer (SET). He said that the Natera 24 screening has improved the pregnancy rates over IVF/MS rates. "If you transfer truly healthy embryos into fertile women, IVF actually works really well." The trick is getting normal embryos of the desired gender. He said transferring one hatching blast that is 24-screen approved can have 80% pregnancy rates, while SETs for compacting stage are only 30%.
I finished with a twist on one of GZ's questions: What is the best advice you give that too many people ignore? "Be focused, but don't worry about things that are out of your control...[I said some stuff here to which he responded and then he finished] Be positive, and don't stress."