Awkward...

I’ve been working on scheduling everything for the additional testing that Dr. Sher requested. First, the blood work. This special lab is sending me a blood collection kit, and then I have to have a phlebotomist come out to my house to collect my blood, put it in the kit, and send it to the lab. Weird, but kind of cool. I have it scheduled for next Tuesday.

And then I needed to schedule the saline/fluid ultrasound. Talk about difficult! Dr. Sher said any OB/GYN can do it, so I called my regular OB/GYN, and his nurse called me back, telling me that he doesn’t do those, instead call this fertility clinic. Um, yeah, that’s the clinic I’ve been going to for a year… I didn’t want to call them, so I called the local hospital, the same place where I got my HSG last year. I left them two messages, they never called me back. Finally today I was able to get to a human on the phone – dumbest guy ever. I asked for a saline, or fluid ultrasound, or sonohysterogram, trying to get him to understand me. He didn’t know what I was talking about. He kept putting me on hold, asking me to wait while he asked someone else. He came back asking if I needed a pelvic ultrasound after drinking 32 ounces of water! Um no, they shoot water up my uterus. He then got all uncomfortable when I started talking about my uterus… He didn’t know what IVF was, “IBF?” “No, in-vitro fertilization.” “What are you fertilizing?” Finally he was able to tell me that I had the wrong department – I need to talk to surgery. “OK, please transfer me.” At least the lady there was able to tell me quickly that the hospital doesn’t do these. “OK, so where do I go?” “I don’t know.” Thanks, lady – you’re very helpful.

So finally I called my regular RE, and asked to speak with a nurse. I uncomfortably explained the situation to one of the younger nurses: I talked with another doctor, I may be doing IVF with someone else, but he wants me to do a fluid ultrasound. She said they do them in the office, but first I need to have a consult with the doctor to make sure that’s what he wants to do! I explained that I already have a next-step consult scheduled for Monday, and she was happy. The thing is the doc doesn’t like fluid ultrasounds, he generally recommends hysteroscopy instead, since while they’re up there with the scope, they can correct anything they find. I asked about timing, and she said it needs to be done between day 8 and 10. Yeah, I’m on day 7 today. Then she said, it’s going to be too late, UNLESS you’re on birth control pills! Uh yes, I just so happen to be on birth control pills…

And since it was already so awkward, I asked her, “So if I choose to go to another doctor for IVF, can I still come to you guys for betas and ultrasound after the IVF?” She asked another nurse, and the answer was yes! So awkward. I feel like I’m cheating on my doctor. It’s like switching hairdressers, but still asking the old hairdresser to keep cutting my bangs. Have any of you ladies done this? Especially those that have gone out of town for IVF? Now I have to go to the doctor consult on Monday and explain that we may go to another doctor for IVF, but please help me anyway. Should be fun…

In related news, I sent Dr. Sher an email asking if a hysteroscopy would be fine, instead of a fluid ultrasound. Within an hour, I received an email from his head nurse, saying it would be fine. She was very nice in her email, answered my question, and I was pleased, felt like I had the answer I needed. But then about an hour later, I received a voicemail from Dr. Sher himself, explaining that I can do a hysteroscopy, but make sure they don’t scrape the lining of the uterus. If they find a polyp, they can snip it off, but make sure there are instructions to not scrape the lining as there wouldn’t be sufficient lining the next month. I love the attention that I get from this guy. And that’s all we want, right? Just a little love and attention…

Oh, and just to clarify some of the comments – I’m not doing your typical “Mini-IVF”. The Micro-IVF, as described by Dr. Sher, differs from the Mini-IVF’s as Mini’s typically use clomid or some other kind of drug instead of injectibles. The Micro-IVF that I’m doing really only differs from a conventional IVF in that there’s a little less monitoring, and there’s no ICSI. The conventional IVF at SIRM includes ICSI. So based on what I understand, there’s really no difference, except it’s cheaper… And they’re not “hard” protocols because they expect that they will be able to get lots of eggs from the drugs they give me. Interesting stuff though!