Looking for a good clinic in Sacramento area, please help!!!

[k-rose]

Thanks Alicia, is there a reason why you stopped after ET on the tea? I'm willing to try anything, so let me know. Did you get the tea at a regular grocery store? I love tea, but want to make sure I get the right kind.

I would love twins also, but worry about delivering early and having another child with medical issues. My DD was born with kidney problems and had a kidney transplant at 15months old. She's doing great, but theres frequent blood draws, medicines, risk of dehydration when getting sick. I also worry because I am only 4ft 11in worry about being able to carry them. So, it may not be the best for me.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas. I'm waiting for DD to wake up so she can see her Christmas presents. This is going to be a great Christmas for her as she just turned 4 in Oct and is soo excited!!!!

Kelly

[Enrico's Mommy]

Hi, Kelly. I stopped the tea b/c it's mainly for the uterus and by the time xfer comes, it should be good and ready, I hope. Most REs also don't want you taking any herbs past retrieval. I do understand about having twins; my sil had hers at 26 weeks and 1 day last Dec. 1st, and it's been a long journey for her and for the family, not to mention we have a 15 yo (my step-son) who has cp and has many medical issues himself. I'm happy to hear your little angel is doing well after her transplant. That had to have been really difficult for you. Merry Christmas!

Alicia

[cookholmes]

My DH and I are starting our 1st IVF in January (next week, eek), and we go through Dr. Zerengue in Davis (we live in Sacramento). I love going there and I do have to agree that the people there are caring and treat you like family rather than a payday. At the Roseville clinic, it took me about a month and a half to get an appointment after playing the phone game as well.

When I went in to have my uterus checked for pollups, I got really sick and eventhough I did not make it out of the restroom until an hour after their closing, no one rushed me, and everyone was kind and understanding. And did I mention that he and his wife are the nicest people you will ever meet. But I do not think Dr. Z, just says what I want to hear, I do have 100% confidence in what he has told me.

Denise- 25
DH-35
TTC 2 yrs 7 mo
IVF Cycle 1, Start Jan. 3/4

[amy]

Alicia ~
How are you feeling? Starting to get some symptoms? You must be on pins and needles waiting for your scan. I know I am. I am so excited to hear about the progress. I hear you on the need to "place an order". Don't you girls feel that at some point we have kind of earned that right?? How was your Christmas? How old is your son? Kelly is right - that age makes Christmas so much more magical as it all starts to come alive for them.

Kelly~
How is your lining coming? I too have been told by both clinics not to do the herbs after the transfer, but the tea and herbs before are fine - especially if your lining isn't thickening. We do have more in common as well. Our son has a double ureter coming off of his kidney, but so far has not needed surgery. We have seen so many doctors with varying opinions that I have decided to do nothing until he has an issue. The 16week u/s found it on him so they have been following it since then. Did you go to Sutter or Davis for that? What a blessing that she is doing well now. Are you getting excited with the upcoming events?? I can't wait to hear how it all goes. Keep us informed and enjoy your holidays!

Denise~
Welcome! I wish you all the best for your upcoming cycle. If you have any questions or concerns this is such a great place to gather information although most Drs will tell you to stay away from the internet. I have found this site to be very reassuring. I am also assuming you are referring to my statements about being told what you want to hear... I hope you don't have to do as many cycles and events as I have had - but with all those failures the Drs do tend to tell you a few things in comfort that might not necessarily be relevant. I also have confidence in Dr. Zeringues abilities but might have a few too many layers of pessimistic defense built up.. so ignore my negativity.

[cookholmes]

Thank you for the welcome, I will keep you updated, and speaking of updates...

Today I had a fit on the phone with the pharmacy. I have Blue Shield of California (also Blue Cross of CA), and OMG, I was told today (5 days before I start Lupron), that to have some of my meds paid for by Blue Shield, I would need to sign up with their online mail order service. I figured it would be no big deal. Well, of course I was wrong. The registration it self takes 3-5 days and for the first order to arrive in the mail, it takes 2-3 WEEKS!!!

Just be warned, that eventhough there are some meds that Blue Shield will cover even if you do not have infertility coverage, you will be forced to wait or prepare well in advanced. Since we are starting next week, we just paid the $2200, cash and the meds will get here tomorrow.

Ugh! I am going to start a health insurance company that cares about the clients. God forbid I was really sick and needed an emergency prescription that I could only get from the mail. I would be stuck

But on a good note, we will have significant tax deductions this year for medical expenses, it will be like we did not make any money...

Ah well,
Denise

[amy]

Denise~
I highly recommend submitting your online registration mumbo jumbo and then submitting them your bill. I am sure you are going to do that, but I just wanted to make sure you fight for it. My husband works for Sutter and we both used to work for Delta Dental and unfortunately it just seems that the squeaky wheel gets the cheese. Were they only going to cover the Lupron? Most wont cover much with the IVF drugs - but the Lupron can be used for other things and can have a pretty strong argument made to cover it. Its another 150 bucks in your pocket.... worth a small fight. And good to remember that at the end of the day you will have a 10,000 dollar write off which always helps.

Kelly and Alicia ~ How are you girls doing? Enjoying your weekend?

[Enrico's Mommy]

Denise: Welcome. I hope you continue to have a great experience in Davis and get a BFP for your first cycle. MEDCO SUCKS!!! I assume you're having to use them...the clinic would have actually given you a Lupron kit until you were able to get your meds, then you'd just give them yours...that's what we did, b/c we were in a time crunch, too. I've been so upset by having to use Medco, I can't even explain. It just doesn't seem fair to be forced to use a mail order co. if you'd rather not.

Amy: My ds is 18m and is my little angel. I'm so lucky to have him and can only hope to give him a healthy sibling. I'm feeling great, I'm jut going insane waiting for this u/s. I got them to bump me up from the 9th until the 5th of January!!! Very happy about those extra four days. Christmas was nice, dh had lots of time at home, so it made things more relaxed. I also have a 15yo step son who's quite a handful.

Kelly: How are things? Hopefully, you've got a great lining and are ready to roll! Keep us informed.

Alicia

[k-rose]

Denise,
Welcome and good luck with your first cycle. I have Kaiser and nothing is paid for, but am also looking forward to the big tax refund. I figure I'm getting one cycle for free with the refund. I'm sure your in great hands at Davis. From what I've heard they are great. I know one of the Dr's at Norhtern California and really trust him, so luckily I pretty much deal with him only and plan my cycle around his schedule.

Amy,
That's interesting about your son's double ureter. I don't know much about it, but would probably do the same thing about waiting. Why mess with things if they are still working. Kaitlyn had her transplant at Stanford. We had the choice of UCSF or Stanford with Kaiser. We will be going there in February for a kidney biopsy, but are finally down to every 6 month visits. Luckily Kaitlyn had only kidney problems and no other. There is a condition called PUV that have problems with their bladder and ureter system. Hope your Christmas went well.

Alicia,
Good luck with the ultrasound. I'm sure everything will be fine. I would have a hard time waiting. It seems like this whole process is a lot of waiting which I'm not good at. I also have a 17 year old step daughter that moved in with us full time 3 years ago. Luckily she is a pretty good kid and is great with Kaitlyn.

Well, went in for my ultrasound on Thursday and my lining was only 6.5. I thought going through the frozen transfer the lining was easier to get thicker, but maybe that's my problem? With all of my IVF, it's been at 8, which they say is fine, but we were hoping to get it to 10. So, we are going to go another week on the estrogen shots and suppositories. I'm already on the highest dose, so just hoping it will help. I'm going to be pretty bummed if it doesn't get any thicker. So, can anyone tell me specifically what tea to drink??? I am doing the acupuncture also, but that didn't seem to help last time, but at least I'm doing all I can do!!!

Take care.
Kelly

[Enrico's Mommy]

Hi, Kelly: The tea I used was Organic Rasberry Leaf tea made by "Traditional Medicinals." I bought it in the health food section at Raley's. It says you should drink it several times a day. I really hope it helps, but you should start NOW. I just put a little lemon juice and honey in it and it was pretty good. I hope you can get that lining nice and thick.

Alicia

[amy]

Kelly~ I know they have some other great tea options at Whole Foods too. I live right around the corner and browse their selection regularly. Our Raleys also carries some good options. I am sending you some positive thoughts and know it will all work out! I can't wait to hear how it goes!

Denise~ Call Katrina and explain the situation to her. She always has extra meds at the office and would be more than happy to lend them to you until yours ship. I used a Lupron kit from them and then brought them mine when it finally arrived. I had forgotten about that until Alicia brought that up. They are a great resource. How is everything else going??

Alicia~ Who is doing the U/S - is Dr Zeringue?? or your OB? I would be so tempted to use all my connections to get seen ANYWHERE!! You are being so patient. Keep it up. I can't wait to hear how it goes. Any feelings? Sick? Tired?? Have you even had another blood draw since the first one?? Can you tell I am living vicariously through your success?

Hope all is well with you all and can't wait to hear the good news!

A

[cookholmes]

We did the pay and pray method and Metro Drugs came through. Their meds were about $1000 less than Freedom and a Roseville Pharmacy (Sunrise Pharmacy, I believe), including shipping. They had the Lupron to me the next day (on the 30th) and they had everything else to us by today, (the 3rd).

I ended up ordering the meds at around 2pm on Friday (PST) and they are in New York, so that put their time at 5pm. So I guess you can really tell which pharmacies care and which care about your money.

So everything is on track!






Denise

[k-rose]

Alicia,
Thanks for the info. I went to Raleys and got it and started it a couple of days ago. Good luck on the ultrasound. It's this week, right? I'll be thinking positive thoughts. How are you feeling?

Well, just got back from Northern California and unfortunately my lining has not got any better. Still at 6.5. Dr Murray at first told me he would just go for it. He doesn't think it's going to get any better since it didn't get better at all this last week. It still has the triple lining and said he see's it work at 6.5. Actually, he said he has someone right now who did donor eggs with a lining of 5.5 and is now pregnant with twins. It's just so frustrating, I thought it was supposed to be easier to get my lining better (normally it's at 8 trying for 10) doing the frozen cycle!!! Mine seems worse. He has no answers either. Well, he then said that we could try these viagra suppositories in place of the estrogen suppositories ( has seen it work only 10% of the time), but it's worth a try. So, instead of cancelling and doing that, we are switching to them for the next week and I'm going to go back in next week. We will plan for the transfer the following week regardless, I think the 18th!!!

Denise, that's great that it worked out.

Amy, hope things are going well. Thanks for the info also.



Take care
Kelly

Hope all is going well.

[Enrico's Mommy]

Kelly: I'm sorry to hear the lining hasn't improved, but I'd trust in Dr. M and assume it can/will work. Try to stay positive, and hopefully you can fatten that lining up on your own...or at least make the embies stick!

Amy: I had to ask for my u/s to be pushed up, so we had it yesterday...I must say that the people in Davis are absolutely great! They were all standing outside the u/s room waiting for us to come out with good news. We got a hug from Alisa and everyone was very sweet....details below...

Denise: I can honestly say you're in great hands at Davis...I had an awesome experience there and would refer anyone to Davis or NCFMC. I just feel they're still new(er) and don't quite have the clientele, but they do deliver results and have great staff, which makes you feel very comfortable. They also really seem to care and "pull" for you to get a bfp.

MY UPDATE: We had our u/s yesterday and have one little strong heartbeat! I'm actually relieved to only have one, simply b/c I had such a great pgcy last time with no issues and would hate to add more fear/anxiety to my life for the next 8 months. We're also trying to go to Italy next Summer and wouldn't have been able to go with multiples. So, needless to say, I'm a happy mommy right now and still have a hard time believing there's a little person in there. WOW. The only kicker is were not finding out the sex, so if it's a boy, we just might have to do this one more time, against my dh's opinion:)

Have a great weekend!

Alicia

[amy]

Kelly - How are things going? I have been thinking of you and hoping for the best...

Cook - How is your treatment going? Are you getting used to becoming the human pincushion? Any upcoming visits to Davis?

Alicia - Still feeling okay? A trip to Italy would be fabulous! I am very jealous.

Just wanted to check in and see that everyone was well

all the best,

Amy

[cookholmes]

Amy, we have an appointment on the 18th to look at the follicles. We are currently in the Follistim sage (day 1 as of today the 10th). I am so happy to be doing the IVF and I have a positive feeling either way, but of course I want it to work. Thanks for asking.