Wednesday, November 25, 2009

SA #5 (Updated!)

Update:  The DNA Fragmentation came back at 12%!  That's apparently "exceptional" according to both the RE and the resources many of your provided (thanks for those, by the way!).  Yay for something about the swimmers being a-ok!  So, that's the good news.  The bad news is that they ended up not running counts, motility or morphology, much to my dismay.  We had even specifically requested it after the confusion at the lab that morning.  They still decided not to run them.  Not too happy about that miscommunication/misunderstanding.  But, very pleased about the DNA Fragmentation results.  RE f/u in 4 days!

I hate SA days.  Hate is a strong word, but I think it fits.  DH prefers to do his "collection" at home rather than at "the room."  And, he prefers to do it without help.  Only once have we had "technical difficulties" that required a reschedule.  Nonetheless, I head off to work on the morning of SAs full of anxiety about misjudged distances and the like.  Then, there's the waiting for results...

I'm happy to say that there were not any technical difficulties.  The sample is safely at the RE's office this morning.  I expected for Hubby to call with count and motility numbers like last time (the DNA fragmentation and morphology will take longer).  No dice.  They didn't give him the numbers and it was Hubby's understanding that they were really just focusing on the morphology and DNA fragmentation.  The sample intake form clearly states that we're paying for DNA fragmentation with full sperm analysis.  We had to pay $25 extra for the morphology.  Though I don't understand what part of "full sperm analysis" doesn't include morphology, I'm fine with the extra $25.  It's worth it to know if we're sticking near 2%, or if 2% was a fluke.  Hubby made a good decision there.

Then, the RE's office called back to say that we already had morphology done, so we didn't need another one.  WTF?  Thankfully, Hubby made another good decision by saying that we'd like to go ahead and have it run anyway.  Whew!  Point for the Hubby; Fumble for the RE!  Seriously...

So, I'm not sure if we'll be getting count and motility later in the day when they call with the DNA fragmentation results...or not.  And, I'm not sure if morphology will come then or seven days later, like last time.  I'm confused.  And, I don't like being confused on SA days (or in general, really); they're crappy enough as it is.  Yep, I still hate SA days!

Request: Can anyone point me in the direction of good information on this DNA fragmentation test?  I want to have an idea of what to expect when they call with the results.  Thanks!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lin,
I hate SA days too. My DH also does his collections at home and "without help". It's always very awkward. I don't have any great resources for you. However, I am sure a google search will turn up several places for you to head.

Good luck and keep us updated!

Mugsy said...

This might help. This is the doc that did our fragmentation test.

http://www.theafa.org/pubs/resourcedir/Sperm_Banks.pdf

Hoping for good results.

ICLW

Emmy said...

I don't know much about DNA fragmentation or where to find information on it. I hope that it goes well, though. I'm glad step one went well. I hope that the results are promising.

Anonymous said...

Wishing you lots of luck!

Priscilla said...

SA days suck! Poor guys! Hope the results are incouraging!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for commenting! Glad to find your blog, SA's totally blow, they are always so stressful. The RE should have the info for you on morphology and count by the next day, I would call the RE and bug them, but probably closed until Monday tho?

Will check back, ICLW

'Murgdan' said...

http://murgdan.blogspot.com/2009/06/special-edition-scsa.html

I did a post on this awhile back--it has some info plus some links for more info. Hope that helps....and that you get good news this time!

Anonymous said...

Hope your SA days start getting better!

(ICLW)

C said...

It might not be helpful, but my RE said that a DNA frag coming back at under 30% is decent, under 15% is excellent. We're Americans living in Ireland and the DNA frag test was sent to Belgium, so I'm not sure if they use the same levels as the U.S. or not.

Wishing you the best!

ICLW

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