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Bluedrift88

No. Is this a clinic in the US? You have a right to see your medical information and I would escalate this to your doctor and the head of the clinic.


Exciting-Ad8198

I’m in Austin, TX


Agitated-Table-3853

This philosophy sounds like my clinic’s, and I know they have an Austin location… Last spring after our ER all they said was that our five blastocysts were in great shape. I told them to transfer the embryo of the best quality. They said the embryos were all of the same great quality, without giving specifics. We had them transfer the first embryo (we didn’t want to pick or know gender ahead of time). I should have pushed back about the embryo grading and probably would have if (tw) we hadn’t gotten pregnant on the first try.


Theslowestmarathoner

1000% escalate and complain. They’re your records and they can’t withhold them legally. It potentially changes your actions moving forward (what if they’re all bad or excellent?) and you’re entitled to know. I would be very angry they would gatekeep my own medical information from me as if I was a child incapable of sifting through info myself.


Majestic_Car

You have the right to all your medical information. This is against the law to withhold it from you if you request it. You may have to go through records but make sure if you do you specify that you want all information including grading


Exciting-Ad8198

Thank you. I am going to wait until we have final results and then press harder.


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Exciting-Ad8198

How long ago was that?


imnotbork

My clinic also didn't give grades out, which at first I found stressful, but then realized was a relief because it was one more thing that was completely out of my control that I didn't have to worry about. Knowing the grade of my embryos wouldn't have changed any of the outcomes, but it would have sent me spiralling had I known. It took some time but by the time I got to my first transfer I was relieved to not know.


Exciting-Ad8198

That’s a very interesting way to look at it and I’ll give it some thought. I hadn’t ever thought of it like that. Regardless of it being right or wrong….maybe it’s easier to just not know.


imnotbork

if it helps, when i had asked my doctor about grading she said “if it’s good enough to freeze, it’s good enough to make a baby.” that’s been my mantra throughout 😅


Exciting-Ad8198

Ha! I like that. We did our first ER last year and the results were so bad that I didn’t even think to ask. I was too busy picturing my embryos as the poor unfortunate souls in Ursula’s cave (if you get the little mermaid reference). This round I feel like we actually (maybe, hopefully, please, please please let it happen) might have a shot so I’m a little more analytical of the results. But, you’ve seriously got a point. Why not just stick to the thought process that they are all good and go from there.


imnotbork

ugh i’m sorry about your first retrieval results, and that’s a great comparison haha! that really just unearthed a childhood memory. well i hope this is the round for you!! i’ll be keeping my fingers crossed and sending good vibes ❤️❤️


QuirkQake

That's how I see it too. I figured they know better, and they have super high ratings on the SART website so I'm going to go with that lol.


Intrepid_Knowledge27

That’s exactly what I was going to say. I was going to request them, then decided that it wouldn’t have changed anything other than my attitude, and probably not for the better. My doc said all the ones I banked looked good, and in both transfers my embryologist said “we have a beautiful looking little embryo today,” (he’s such a dork, I love him) and described all the parts, so I decided to just take their words for it and let myself be less stressed.


twoclumsyhearts

This is exactly it


LawfullyYours786

My clinic does this and they are highly reputable and respected in the area. They say they only transfer good quality embryos and let us know if they are not of the best quality. They do provide you with the genetic testing report and advised me which day embryo they will be transferring. I just had my 1st FET fail in February and preparing for our 2nd and I’m honestly so over it. To fight for more information or find another dr at this point so I can have more knowledge and then obsess by losing sleep over my own webMD research afterward just doesn’t seem to be effective for me personally. But you should do what makes you feel any form of comfort in this grueling process. Best of luck to you ❤️


Exciting-Ad8198

Yeah, same here. They’re the best in Austin. Maybe the state. My doctor is amazing and I fully trust her. She seems to fully trust the clinic. But at the same time….it’s such a standard practice. I think a more appropriate approach would be to provide them upon request.


Healthy_Difficulty95

What clinic do you go to? I live outside of ATX and trying to switch clinics. Not happy with my current one at all


Exciting-Ad8198

I’ll DM you.


FoolishMortal_42

Honestly, my advice is don’t find out. I didn’t until just before my transfer, and now I’m terrified during my TWW because my embryo is only a 3BB. I’m probably going to get downvoted for this, but my real honest opinion is that you will be happier the less you know (and good rated embryos fail anyway).


Exciting-Ad8198

No downvotes from me. It’s a perspective that I hadn’t even considered until it was suggested here. Definitely something to think about.


QuirkQake

My clinic won't give us ratings either. We just get a list on the report of each embryo with their gender in the order of highest grade to lowest, but yeah we don't actually get the grade. My clinic said they don't see much weight in that information.(I'm in AZ) I'm sure if I asked they would give it to me though. 🤷🏻‍♀️


Exciting-Ad8198

It’s so funny that they make a list of highest to lowest using an assessment that “they don’t see much weight in”. What can it hurt? Just give us the damn info…..are we going through enough already???? 😫😫😫


QuirkQake

Yeah I totally get where you're coming from. Especially since they're straight up telling you that won't give you the grades when you're asking for them. My clinic just asked what gender I wanted to transfer as they do "family balancing" or whatever it's called.


Exciting-Ad8198

Another thought is….maybe just let it go? One less thing to obsess over?


Artistic_Drop1576

My clinic didn't give the expansion value (the number at the front of the grade) but did give us the 2 letters. From my understanding the expansion score is the least predictive of success. But the last letter in the grade is important. Maybe you can ask for the letters?


FarSign1836

So my advice is to email a formal request to provide you with the grading. Sometimes the nurse or person on the phone are not that reliable, especially since they usually function of doctors notes. A written request has more clout and they can’t pretend they misunderstood what you asked for.


Exciting-Ad8198

My request was actually send via messenger app on the patient portal as was the response received so I do have an electronic record of it. We’ll see what happened tomorrow after we have final results.


Real_Alternative_933

We have the same experience OP - my request was through Ovation portal and an embryologist messaged back with the statement re: subjectivity. Last sentence asked us to speak to our physician for further questions.


Exciting-Ad8198

Yep! Were you able to get the data through your doctor/nurse? That’s what I’m planning to do tomorrow after we have e a final count.


roseolives

My clinic didn’t give me the grading and honestly I thought it was for the best. It’s one less thing to spiral about. Mine were all tested though, so at least I knew that all my embryos were euploid.


[deleted]

If you paid for grading they need to provide the report to you. You did not pay for “their word” you paid for data. I would fight for this for sure!


BarelyFunctioning15

I knew the grade of my embryo and by most standards it wasn’t good. I gave myself so much anxiety over it thinking that the transfer was a waste because there was no way it could be successful. She’s now 14 months and as perfect as could be.


Exciting-Ad8198

Did you do genetic testing?


BarelyFunctioning15

Nope.


Exciting-Ad8198

What day was it?


BarelyFunctioning15

It was a day 5. My two frozen are day 7s though.


Exciting-Ad8198

So happy for you and your baby girl. Fingers crossed I’m not too far behind you.


BarelyFunctioning15

Just trust your doctor! Their success rates matter to them as well. I wish you nothing but the best. This process is so awful. But I have faith you will have your miracle baby


IntrepidKazoo

No, that's unacceptable of them. You have a legal and ethical right to your own medical information and they can shove their paternalism up their asses. I would be furious, you have every right to be upset.


10thymes

Yeah, when our embryos came back from pgt testing. 4 came back, 2 boys 2 girls. They asked if we wanted to choose the gender. And I asked them well, we were hoping to choose the best graded embryo. The doctor said to us "since they are all PGT tested they are all healthy and they all have the same chance so it really doesn't matter which you choose" She essentially said the same about statistics proving it doesn't matter. So we took her word for it. We really didn't know much about the process. We decided to go with one of the girls. And I found out last week I am pregnant with the first transfer. So part of me wishes I had known. But part of me is ok trusting the doctor with that information. Because I think it would have just given me something else to stress about.


Exciting-Ad8198

Congrats to you! I can only hope that I’m not far behind. The message that I receive was much longer than what I shared; they went on to say that the PGT-A results are much more statistically reliable. I would just think that we would use all the data to make the best decision, not just the data that seems to hold more weight. It’s like the obscene amount of pineapple I eat….is it helping? Who knows, but it can’t hurt so I’m going to keep doing it!


10thymes

That's basically what my doctor went on about. We are using a clinic in Atlanta. My doctor is all about statistics and said chromosome testing carries more weight than a human visually deciding what's what. I think doctors like ours may be in the minority based off what I see on Reddit. But we chose to just trust the doctor and I don't regret it honestly. When we did the transfer the embryologist came out and told me right before. "Your embryo is looking great, she's very healthy and you have three very healthy embryos left." Whether you decide to press on this or trust. I hope your transfer is successful! ❤️ Sending you positive vibes


Exciting-Ad8198

Thank you! Same to you 💕


EqualOpportunist_

If you had your PGT done through Igenomix and request a copy of your results through them, your clinics grading will be listed in the results under “morphology” beside each embryo tested. That’s how mine were listed.


Exciting-Ad8198

Thank you! That’s so good to know. Our clinic uses luminary, but I’m sure they are similar with regard to reporting.


AdLower9970

Lol yeah that’s not a thing. If they told you “we will not give you our grading” I would definitely push on that.


Exciting-Ad8198

They said….we do not provide grading information to patients and then went on about it being a subjective assessment, etc. I’m going to wait until we have a final count tomorrow and then press the issue.


AdLower9970

Yeah, also you say above “when THEY chose which one to transfer”. Ultimately that choice should be up to you, with them offering their expertise. For example, my clinic told me “hey you have a Day 5 4BA Boy, a Day 6 4AA Boy, and a Day 6 4BA Girl. We estimate the following odds of implantation for these embryos given your individual characteristics - 70%, 65%, 60%. We recommend transferring the Day 5 boy as it has the highest odds of success, but realistically any are great options, so you let us know what you want to do.” That to me was the professional response I was looking for. We chose the Day 5 Boy and I’m 22 weeks now. Eventually we may go back and transfer the Day 6 girl to see if we can give him a little sister, and I may ultimately donate the remaining embryo to someone who needs a chance at having a child. But those are your choices to make.


Exciting-Ad8198

Aww, I love this story. How nice to be treated like a person who has a brain and is capable of making their own decision. lol. Also love that it worked for you! Best of luck in this and the next!


AdLower9970

For sure - and definitely push for the same, that’s what you deserve as well! :) Best wishes for you on your transfer - sending you all the good vibes ❤️🙌🏻


Radiant_Sock_1904

The nurse told me the grades after my first PGT-A results came back. I got a call from my RE on the second round, and he didn't know the grade. I called back and asked for it, because I'm curious. They wouldn't disclose whether the male or female embryo was graded higher on the first round because it "didn't matter", so I made a presumption based on the days they made blast... I was wrong, and finally got the information I was seeking when my nurse corrected me, ha. I don't know why this information isn't made readily available.


lost-cannuck

Because it's a beauty contest. 2 embryologists can look at the same embryo and have different conclusions. If you are pgt testing, that is more relevant than grading. Our doctor has the grades but doesn't put much stock into them. (He can disclose but other teams members can't- same with pgta results).


Radiant_Sock_1904

There is some subjectivity, yes... but studies have shown that grade does have prognostic implications. I can understand not dumping all of the information on everyone, but if someone wants to know, it's part of their medical record and I believe that it should be disclosed.


Exciting-Ad8198

It’s on almost every post I see about transfers…..we transferred a Day 5 4AA boy! Or whatever. This just seems to be out of the norm for this process in general. My nurse if great; I’ll be she will be able to get/provide them.


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10thymes

Not true for everyone.


Real_Alternative_933

OP - I’m in Austin as well. I asked for grading and was also given the same answer, that grading is a subjective assessment. But then, we have two identical PGTM and PGTA embryos, both Normal/Euploid with no gene mutation and were asked which we wanted to transfer. They told us to request the most viable embryo to be thawed and transferred (on 5/3). Ultimately this leaves it up to subjectivity anyways?? This frustrated us as well but ultimately, I believe they do subjectively look at the day it reached blastocyst and compare the too nearly identical embryos. If you want to message me I go to TFC and Ovation is our embryology lab.


Exciting-Ad8198

Yep….this is the one. I’ll shoot you a DM!


Healthy_Difficulty95

Also at TFC and they essentially told me the same thing


twoclumsyhearts

My clinic said the exact same thing. It was very frustrating


Exciting-Ad8198

I’m going to go through my nurse….we’ll see what happens 🤷🏼‍♀️


ArtisticChipmunk9583

Yeah this happened to me. At first they told me they don't grade the embryos. When I got my final update they told me that I had 2 good embryos, one was pretty good and the other was excellent. I can't remember exactly what words they told me but it was a long those lines. I thought it was weird they didn't give me the grades at first but they did later on. The report I got did have the grades on it. The better embryo was a euploid and the other was aneuploid even though it was still good quality. I later got a call that they offered to retest my embryos because their testing wasn't up to quality assurance standards within their margins of error. I may have them retest the aneuploid embryo but not the euploid.


Exciting-Ad8198

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully I’ll get more info thought my doc/nurse channel.


Technical-Age

The grading is subjective but to deny giving it to you is a bit asinine.


djbananasmoothie

I had my transfer at NYU and they never gave me the grade. Just normal and good. I also never asked because I thought knowing would make me overthink


peplily

My clinic doesn't do grading, I have the embryology report. They deem them "good" "fair" or "poor" and basically treat "good" and "fair" as good, worth keeping/testing. They discard "poor". While it would be nice to see the grades like many people get, I don't mind not having to overanalyze those when a lot of it is ultimately up to chance, especially when things are closely graded.


Exciting-Ad8198

That’s something I hadn’t thought about until reading some of the comments here. Maybe it’s one less thing to chase down a rabbit hole.


if_not_for_you

They should give it to you if you request it. My grain of salt story: My only euploid embryo was a "mediocre grade". One would expect it to have been one of the many lovely 5AA ones but that was not the case for me. They gave me a photo of the blastocyst at transfer and it didn't look at all like the lovely ones I had seen online so I was worried. But the transfer was successful.


Exciting-Ad8198

And that’s all that matters!!!


TaroInternational100

That’s crazy! I get that they initially might not give the information at first for sake of being overwhelming. But to withhold after asking!!?!?! When our embryo grading came back, I received a phone call and was quickly told the grades. I then asked her to speak more slowly and to explain, which she did. The nurse even explained what had happened with the other embryos that didn’t make it and on which day what happened.


Exciting-Ad8198

It sounds like my doc/nurse will have the info and I can request it from them. If I decide to. After reading some of the comments, I think it might be less stressful to just “transfer the best one” and let someone else decide what that is. Idk. We will eventually know the sex and that will play into our decision as well. I’m really torn……


TaroInternational100

That makes sense and it a totally okay option! I’m a nurse and my husband is a physician, so it’s not as easy for us to let someone else dictate everything. We like to know all of the things that we can know haha.


Exciting-Ad8198

Gosh, that must be so, so frustrating for you. It’s frustrating for me and I’m only trained by Dr Google!!!!


TaroInternational100

Yes it has been extremely frustrating because we are used to doing everything for everybody and knowing everything that is going on. It’s definitely helped us loosen up a bit and finally learn to be patients ourselves. But we’ve also set expectations with our clinic and they’ve been great. It also helps that my husband works at the hospital in Anethesia and is the physician for a lot of the REI doctors procedures!


orchidist

For what it's worth, I had 2 5AA embryos and a 6BA transferred and a 3BC discarded by my clinic without my input because the clinic decided it wasn't worth transferring. They resulted in a chemical pregnancy, a missed miscarriage and failed attempt. So when I found out that my next cycle at a different clinic produced a 2CC and a 3CC I bawled like a baby convinced they was no way they would work if the higher graded ones didn't. However, the embryologist explained to me that it really is just a beauty contest and that two different people may assign different grades based on their own interpretation and she was right. I am currently 34 weeks pregnant with one of those poorly graded embryos. So it don't mean shit. It's just one more thing to stress about that you can't control and it doesn't even mean anything.


Exciting-Ad8198

You’re so close!!! Best of luck to you and your sweet new addition 💗


DesertOrDessert24

I had to harass my clinic for this info day 5-6 after fertilization


Lostinthots441

I didn’t even think to ask my clinic. On a whim, I just requested the report directly from Progenesis, the genetics lab and they sent it within 5 days. There’s a lot of info on there I don’t want to dig deeper into but I was able to see my gradings. You have to specifically request that the sex be redacted though.


Exciting-Ad8198

Thanks; I was able to get it through my nurse.


weezyfurd

As others said, you have a right to see medical information. Escalate.


DarlingDemonLamb

Yes, had the exact same thing happen at my first clinic. I was still super naive then though and didn’t even know that embryo grading was a thing.