Sunday, January 2, 2011

Changing clinics???

I seem to be losing faith in Mt. Sinai... We were a bit taken aback with our doctor when she was pushing IVF during our initial appointment (without even telling us about IUI). We were both not ready emotionally for such a procedure at that time, and there were other options, including DHs surgery and IUI. Fast forward 1.5 years, and we still had some doubts about the clinic, as there was a feeling that someone screw up during one of our IUIs that was initially turning out to be like a perfect cycle. During our initial appointment re IVF, we were told that based on our test we are perfect candidates for an IVF with ICSI, at that point in the conversation the debate about single vs. two embryos transfer ensued. It turned out that the doctor is a great proponent of a single embryo transfer, and she was telling us about having many frozen embryos after the first cycle which we can later transfer at the fraction of the cost. So that was the prediction... the result - barely 4 follicles, 3 eggs, 2 mature, 1 fertilized - one 3 cell lowest grade embryo transferred on day 3. And during the whole process no one asked for our input. If I would have known what I know right now, I would have asked many more questions during the whole procedure. I know that the amount of medication prescribed to me was very very low. Since I had ovarian reserve count at 30, she was probably afraid of OHSS, but EVERYBODY who we talked to at ER and ET stages at the clinic had over 15 eggs, which begs the question, were we supposed to be consulted and given options with respect to the medication dosage, since going through an IVF cycle is hard physically, emotionally and not the least, financially? I was also concerned that the medication was not adjusted during the monitoring, and all decisions were made by fellows who were doing the u/s, and not by my RE. From what I understand, she only got involved when there was a threat of cancellation - and there is nothing they could have done at that point, my estrogen was rising, so more follicles were developing. I don't know why they decided to trigger when they did, instead of may be waiting for another day for others to catch up (as was mentioned at some point by a fellow). I also understand that Mt. Sinai is a teaching hospital, but with me only having 4 follicles, why was it a fellow doing ER? I am not blaming anybody, but could it have been that one egg was just lost or not collected. And I know that fertilization rate for ICSI is 75% and if out of 3 only 2 were mature, why only 1 fertilized and was of such a poor quality. I know, this rationalizing and blaming is probably part of my healing process, getting over the loss of my little embie who probably was transferred just because there was nothing else left. I am upset about the whole experience, and cannot call it by any other name but a TOTAL DISASTER! The cycle that was almost guaranteed to leave us with baby and a few frozen embies, left us with nothing - just 10K hole in the pocket. I actually liked all the nursing staff at Mt. Sinai they were great and very compassionate. I just think that may be it's too big and too institutionalized and not catered enough to deal with something that goes wrong during a planned cycle. I don't know.... I hate change, I really do and it's hard to know whether what we will get will be better or not. Although a few people I talked to do tell me that efficiency wise Mt. Sinai is at the bottom of their lists, especially during monitoring. Yes, it did suck waiting for an hour for an u/s and seeing people who were 30-60 minutes late taken first as they were first on the list. It also sucked waiting for 30-60 minutes to talk to a nurse, sometimes just to get a prescription. It did bother me somewhat when after allowing over an hour for b/w and u/s, I still had to make up excuses why I was coming in to the office later than usual, but I was prepared to let it go, if I didn't feel being let down by my doctor. May be it is still hormones from drugs and now AF, which is in full force for the third day (and me in a lot of pain and cramping), and that's why I feel like blaming someone, but can I trust them to do better the second time? Is it going to be better the second time around? DH and I are going to discuss it in more detail today and do some research on the other clinics that came highly recommended in Downtown Toronto, and start acting on Monday/Tuesday, as I want to have another cycle as soon as possible. I am soooo ready. We haven't decided yet whether or not we will be going to our follow up appointment with our current RE. Probably we will, but without committing to another cycle with the clinic.

3 comments:

  1. With my first RE and first IVF attempt, I feel that my RE did the wrong meds/protocol. I met with 2 other docs and chose a whole new clinic/RE to do IVF #2 with. I feel so much more comfortable, confident, and hopeful now. My new RE listens to me and is willing to be aggressive.

    I'm so sorry how things turned out. I hope that you will find some answers/solutions. It's important that you find a doc who listens. Best of luck to you!

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  2. It never hurts to get a second opinion! We changed clinics and then got this miracle! Definately move if you feel things aren't happening the way you think they should. One thing I realized in this journey, you HAVE to be your own self advocate!

    To answer your question... Twins would be lovely, but I am hoping for whatever God decides to bless us with :) If we had twins we probably would be done with IF treatments, so that would be nice. So, we shall see!

    Thanks for the lovely comments! I appreciate all the support :)

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  3. I would get a new RE. I've never waited more than a hour for a nurse to call me back no matter how small my problem. I've never waited more than 15 min to see the doctor. She'll stay in the room with us for an hour to go over every little thing and answer all our questions and we aren't even to IVF at this point so I think it's something to really think about.

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