more logistical hurdles to clear

I certainly didn't expect the second donation to be this laborious to manage. First of all, because T is based in London I have to set up a phone call for both Dr C and her to speak. They managed to connect on Thursday evening and discussed the options for the procedure such as doing the entire treatment in Hong Kong or in the UK, or splitting it (injections/ultrasounds done in HK and egg retrieval done in the UK).

To complicate things, there is a law in Hong Kong which states that only three "live birth events" are allowed from one donor. A "live birth event" is defined as an event of birth in Hong Kong of one or more than one live child from a single pregnancy (so twins and multiples are still considered as one live birth). But according to Dr C, if the embryo transfer is done in Hong Kong it will be considered a "live birth event" regardless of where the baby is eventually born! So if T chooses to do the embryo transfer in Hong Kong, it will add to the number of "live birth events" that is allowed for my donated eggs. I suppose the implications of this isn't of any significant importance - yet. It will only affect my decision to donate for the third time but it's not looking likely at the moment, just because I want my body to have a break from the drugs.

Now, if the transfer happens in the UK I will be required by UK IVF law to have an assessment which means I will have to take a flight to London. It's not a biggie for me especially since I truly enjoy being in England but I doubt I have many leave days left this year to be off from work.

T managed to speak to the egg donation specialist at her clinic yesterday and established that to send the embryos from Hong Kong to the UK will not be the best idea when the alternative is a live transfer in either country. Also, T has certain issues that need to be addressed, e.g. she has high level of cytokines that make her womb hostile to embryos so she needs to be treated before the start of the IVF treatment.

Phew! That's the whole lot to digest for now. I'm just taking this one step at a time and besides, it's really up to T to decide what she wants - whether to do the transfer in Hong Kong or the UK. This is a critical decision as it will mean either one of us will have to spend a considerable time away from home. Like I said, I am definitely not closed to going to London (I was very prepared for it anyway!) but it may get difficult if I have to spend more than a week there.


I have updated on Twitter earlier that T declined to share the donated eggs with H. It was a difficult decision but one that I fully understood - with all these complex issues to clear, there really is no need for another hurdle to be thrown into the mix. T mentioned that Dr C will try to retrieve only 10-15 eggs this time which means there will only be a handful (if at all) which make it to the blastocyst stage. I was actually quite surprised as I thought 20+ eggs is a more decent number; after all, I really don't want to go through all the injections and proddings and blood tests to have no blastocyst at the end!

It has been pissing down with rain in Hong Kong all of Saturday and while it's all pretty glorious to me (I just love the shades of grey in this city), I think it's going to be an awful day for H to realize that she's back to square one with her search for donated eggs. If only there is a way to remove half of all my available eggs in my body all at once and give it to anyone who wants it.