After our last venture through IVF, I no longer have even a SHRED of modesty left in me (not that I had much to start with)...so begins all the gory details....
Here's where we are:
Round #2 was supposed to take place in March (meaning the egg harvesting & implantation would've happened mid-March). I was doing my mental preparation (aka: pure freaking out) of starting injections & procedures and 3 months of side effects - when the clinic called at the end of last week to let us know there was a problem and they were rescheduling all their IVF patients until April.
Which put me into a week of depression and anger (and yes, I admit - relief) knowing that I was just sitting on my rear wasting time....and still dreading getting started and already looking forward to it being over (a great attitude to begin, no?). Not to mention being more than a little annoyed at the last-minute notice from the clinic (I was originally supposed to start injections today!).
So I've been feeling really bummed out the last week. I got in a fight with both my health insurance company AND my prescription insurance company (it seems we used ALL our coverage last round), and I've been jerked around by the clinic the last few days - everything is very unorganized.
I finally had a long conversation with the nurse at the clinic today to figure out what the heck is going on:
Our doctor runs an office here in VA and another office in FL. So the way it works is, he schedules a group of women to do the IVF cycles all at once - so when it comes time for everybody's egg harvesting, fertilizations and implantations, they're all done within a day or two of each other. He spends a few months in VA, a few months in FL while women cycle.
The reason for all this confusion is - the fertility clinic is in its own building outside of the hospital and the hospital has apparently been a real pain in the a-s-s about giving the clinic the support staff they need - for instance an anesthesiologist. Last time we did the egg harvesting, we had to be there at 3am because the anesthesiologist had to come before her shift at the hospital, work at the clinic and then pull a full shift at the hospital. As did all the workers at the fertility clinic. So they were working 100+ hour weeks during the end of everybody's IVF cycles....it's apparently been this way for a few years and our doc has decided he's just had enough.
Now luckily he's not just packing his bags and heading for sunny Florida (as he's the ONLY doc within a 2+ hour radius that even does ICSI IVF and we'd just be SOL). So he's decided that since his FL office is better equipped (both with staff & equipment)....are you ready for this......
He has decided to fly every single one of his VA IVF patients to FL to do the egg harvesting and implantations!!! He is paying for every one of us (and even willing to fly our husbands back early/late should they have work conflicts) to fly down April 6th - harvesting on 7th or 8th...wait 3 days...and then do implantations...then fly us home the day after. Not only that...but he said he knows how stressful IVF is without adding the element of travel to it - he's getting us all BEACHFRONT rooms and trying to turn it into a vacation for us - everything will be covered.
At first I'm sitting there listening to him going "what the HELL are you doing to me man - getting me all hormonal, stressed out and then expecting me to TRAVEL so you can stick needles in me?!?" And then I got to thinking...holy crap, if I'm sitting on the beach chillin...I'm going to be calm, relaxed, happy...and that's a MAJOR determining factor for whether or not the implantation works. So approximately 10 seconds after the news - I was in. I will need to do some bikini shopping to find something that will cover up my injection bruises...haha.
The nurse at the clinic said the doc has a friend who owns a beachfront hotel - apparently a pretty swanky place - he's giving the doc super good deals for all of us. And apparently, this is the way they're going to do all future IVF cycles.
J will definitely be down there with me for the egg harvesting (that's the most mentally/physically draining part for me). We're not entirely sure he'll be able to stay through the implantation. I REALLY REALLY want him to be there for the whole thing...but if it's not possible, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Anyway - in preparation for all this madness...I started birth control today. Unlike the last time when we had pictures of J giving me the pill - him dropping it on the floor - and me finally taking it! This one was done with much less ceremony: me popping it in my mouth while on the phone with the doc mentally packing for FL.
Our next doc appointment is March 1st - they'll get an injection/surgery calendar set up for us, so we can keep track of what days I'm on what drugs...bloodwork, ultrasounds, procedures...etc.
Here we go again........
Here's where we are:
Round #2 was supposed to take place in March (meaning the egg harvesting & implantation would've happened mid-March). I was doing my mental preparation (aka: pure freaking out) of starting injections & procedures and 3 months of side effects - when the clinic called at the end of last week to let us know there was a problem and they were rescheduling all their IVF patients until April.
Which put me into a week of depression and anger (and yes, I admit - relief) knowing that I was just sitting on my rear wasting time....and still dreading getting started and already looking forward to it being over (a great attitude to begin, no?). Not to mention being more than a little annoyed at the last-minute notice from the clinic (I was originally supposed to start injections today!).
So I've been feeling really bummed out the last week. I got in a fight with both my health insurance company AND my prescription insurance company (it seems we used ALL our coverage last round), and I've been jerked around by the clinic the last few days - everything is very unorganized.
I finally had a long conversation with the nurse at the clinic today to figure out what the heck is going on:
Our doctor runs an office here in VA and another office in FL. So the way it works is, he schedules a group of women to do the IVF cycles all at once - so when it comes time for everybody's egg harvesting, fertilizations and implantations, they're all done within a day or two of each other. He spends a few months in VA, a few months in FL while women cycle.
The reason for all this confusion is - the fertility clinic is in its own building outside of the hospital and the hospital has apparently been a real pain in the a-s-s about giving the clinic the support staff they need - for instance an anesthesiologist. Last time we did the egg harvesting, we had to be there at 3am because the anesthesiologist had to come before her shift at the hospital, work at the clinic and then pull a full shift at the hospital. As did all the workers at the fertility clinic. So they were working 100+ hour weeks during the end of everybody's IVF cycles....it's apparently been this way for a few years and our doc has decided he's just had enough.
Now luckily he's not just packing his bags and heading for sunny Florida (as he's the ONLY doc within a 2+ hour radius that even does ICSI IVF and we'd just be SOL). So he's decided that since his FL office is better equipped (both with staff & equipment)....are you ready for this......
He has decided to fly every single one of his VA IVF patients to FL to do the egg harvesting and implantations!!! He is paying for every one of us (and even willing to fly our husbands back early/late should they have work conflicts) to fly down April 6th - harvesting on 7th or 8th...wait 3 days...and then do implantations...then fly us home the day after. Not only that...but he said he knows how stressful IVF is without adding the element of travel to it - he's getting us all BEACHFRONT rooms and trying to turn it into a vacation for us - everything will be covered.
At first I'm sitting there listening to him going "what the HELL are you doing to me man - getting me all hormonal, stressed out and then expecting me to TRAVEL so you can stick needles in me?!?" And then I got to thinking...holy crap, if I'm sitting on the beach chillin...I'm going to be calm, relaxed, happy...and that's a MAJOR determining factor for whether or not the implantation works. So approximately 10 seconds after the news - I was in. I will need to do some bikini shopping to find something that will cover up my injection bruises...haha.
The nurse at the clinic said the doc has a friend who owns a beachfront hotel - apparently a pretty swanky place - he's giving the doc super good deals for all of us. And apparently, this is the way they're going to do all future IVF cycles.
J will definitely be down there with me for the egg harvesting (that's the most mentally/physically draining part for me). We're not entirely sure he'll be able to stay through the implantation. I REALLY REALLY want him to be there for the whole thing...but if it's not possible, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Anyway - in preparation for all this madness...I started birth control today. Unlike the last time when we had pictures of J giving me the pill - him dropping it on the floor - and me finally taking it! This one was done with much less ceremony: me popping it in my mouth while on the phone with the doc mentally packing for FL.
Our next doc appointment is March 1st - they'll get an injection/surgery calendar set up for us, so we can keep track of what days I'm on what drugs...bloodwork, ultrasounds, procedures...etc.
Here we go again........
1 comment:
People should read this.
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