Pleae read, and give honest feed back, please ladies :-)

[singinglullabies]

OK here goes, I shall do my best to make long story short....

Started IVF Cycle with a Clinic that has some of the highest PG ratings, had my cycle canceled due to ling being to thick, one day I am told it was too thin, and there was a polyp that would require cycle being stopped, and having surgery to remove it -- BTW this was NOT my RE, or HIS nurse to give this info..

MY RE reviewed my BW and seen the numbers the nurse calls later that day, to tell me to continue on with injections that night, and my Ganirelex in the a.m, and be there at the clinic to see DR. X ant X time for another U/S and BW...

Went by orders as they were instructed, get there to clinic to be confused with another PT, that we both share same first name, I was in with her RE and she was in with mine -- they had us in wrong room -- wrong RE's, she IS PG, and I am to have a polyp, and may be talking surgery to remove it.

Well the mix up was called by me -- I see some face I have NEVER seen before, and in room I have NEVER been in b/f, I look at unknown face and ask -- "Is Dr X in today"? -- she the lady, standing there holding an HUGE, THICK chart, says -- "Why are YOU requesting that particular Doctor"???,

She had an odd look on her face -- I reply -- " he IS MY doctor" -- her face lost color, and opens the thick chart and says "what is your last name"? -- there I replied -- she said -- "I have the wrong ****" and closed the chart, and left the room quickly, but before leaving she made the statement to I and DH sitting there, after I ask for Dr. X and here seeing she had wrong PT, she says to us both -- 'I did not think I recognized you as my PT"!!!!

Now this other PT's chart was HUGE, THICK, she obviously has been her PT for quite sometime, yes?

Now in came MY RE, and he had already examined the other PT with same first name, and here I am waiting for him, he does my exam gives good news -- "That is NOT a polyp" good news -- NOW, sad news -- we ARE stopping your cycle, and placing you on the Climara Patch, and Provera pill 10 days worth to induce a heavy cycle to thin your lining, it's just to thick to continue on... I now totally understand why he had to make this call, my emebies would not have been able to stick with my ling in this condition.

DH, and I did have question to first nurse and Doc whom was not our RE, why are you just now seeing this polyp after we have started the injections, and I have had two other U/S, and they reply -- "YOUR LINING IS THIN N-O-W so it shows" - OK one day later after the first report that it is to thin, now with MY RE's findings, DH and I both hear "you lining is too THICK, we must stop the cycle, and induce a period all over again", at this point our head, and emotions are in an uproar, so after thinking, talking about it we decide to pull from this clinic, and another factor I was feeling NO connection there, I must feel that connection, I just MUST -- it is all in positive attitude, and thinking that can aid in positive out comes, this is my very strong belief...

Sorry did end up way too long and now none may answer due to it...

Here is the question -- tomorrow is my last day on the provera and no sing of AF at ALL, they did say I could end up taking all 10 pills and she arrive 2 to 3 days later, now I have applied my second Climara Patch.

My RE's nurse called Monday, and said he wants to see me again once my flow start to do an U/S and BW to see what my lining has done -- DH took the call and ask " He wants to see her even though we have withdrawn from YOUR program"?!?!?!

Can anyone make ANY sense of this at all???

Is it that he is just an excellent Doctor, and he started the meds so he wants to do a F/U????

Please I so ask you for feedback on this one.

I know this clinic like I said, has a very high success rate, but after doing research I have heard all the VERY same complaints about this clinic that DH and I both have.

Oh I am so confused!!!

H-E-L-P!!!

SL

[Michellyn8]

Hi Singinglullabies,

I took Provera for 10 day to bring on AF and it didn't come until 17 days after I took the last pill. The DR told me that it takes up to 2 weeks for AF to show following the last pill. You might need to give it another week. It sounds like you are doing the right thing by switching clinics. It has been said that clinics boost their numbers by excluding candidates so sometimes you can't always trust the #'s. You have to go with your gut feeling. I was torn going into my 3rd cycle of whether to switch clinics...but what I ended up doing was switching the DR that I saw. Good Luck!!!!

Take care,

Michelle

[Michellyn8]

Hi Singinglullabies,

I took Provera for 10 day to bring on AF and it didn't come until 17 days after I took the last pill. The DR told me that it takes up to 2 weeks for AF to show following the last pill. You might need to give it another week. It sounds like you are doing the right thing by switching clinics. It has been said that clinics boost their numbers by excluding candidates so sometimes you can't always trust the #'s. You have to go with your gut feeling. I was torn going into my 3rd cycle of whether to switch clinics...but what I ended up doing was switching the DR that I saw. Good Luck!!!!

Take care,

Michelle

[summerbaby]

Dear singinglullabies,
what a terribly crazy ordeal you've been through! I can imagine how you feel. Without going into details, we also had a stressful time at our first clinic and we regretted going through with the treatment (and spending so much $$) because we felt so uncomfortable there, but they had an excellent reputation and we thought it could still work --
We are now at another clinic and are so happy there. Although we still got a negative on our 2nd try, we completely feel that connection that you spoke about and are working closely with them on lucky #3.

Perhaps a follow-up isn't a bad idea so you can explain how you are feeling and your reluctance to stay with them after more than one mix-up, and see how he reacts and what he suggests. Then you can decide either to give it a go, or to try another doctor or another clinic. At least you'll get some closure to the current situation.

I wish you all the best as you and your DH make your decision about what to do. Best of luck to you!
xx Amy

[Kabillion]

Honest opinion? Go to a new clinic. This is way to important for them to mistake you for another patient. Good luck

[2ndtimer]

Singinglulabies,
I would definitely go to the f/u appt if for no other reason to express your frustration with the ordeal that you've been through. There's no reason to just let that MD & clinic off the hook without at least making them look you in the face & apologize for the confusion. And attempt to explain how the whole mess happened. Also, you may leave after talking with the MD with a better feeling about the whole thing( which in the long run will be better for your mental status) The MD may not even be aware of the whole story or the fact that you're looking to switch clinics. In some big practices there's no communication between MD, nurses, & office staff. And that's a very bad thing.
Then I would find a new clinic.
I had bad feelings about the 1st clinic I went to -no horror stories like you, but bad communication, etc. Even though I haven't had success yet at the new clinic I'm much more comfortable.
I don't know why they have to make this whole process as stressful as possible. I hope you have much better luck in the future.
2ndtimer

[singinglullabies]

Oh ladies thank you all so VERY much, I sit here holding back tears due to your compassion I feel through each and ever one of your post.

In my VERY long OP (original post) that is just the icing on the cake -- there was/has been more than this that has taken place, but I felt it to be minor so that is why I did not write in my OP as well.

We have still yet to see our refund check that they said they were mailing back to us, all but $1,000 for my 3 appts I had with them. They did send the anesthesia check back it had not been deposited yet, so they just mailed it back. Now as for the other check that we paid the entire cycle in full has been cashed, and it has cleared the bank -- so the DO have the money.

Should I be charged for the f/u that the nurse called and said he wants to see me, or should it be just that a "f/u" from the last appt with no charge? I do not mind paying it if that is normal protocol....

I went into this entire clinic being totally honest, gave more info than I'm sure they needed. I wanted to make sure I could/would be a candidate to go through with IVF, now I say that due to what one of the nurses there NOT mine, but the one that was part of saying I had an polyp, and I could be looking at canceling the cycle to have surgery.

When I spoke to her to let her know after DH and I talking about it, and the horrible PT mix up that had taken place, and getting so many different opinions such as have polyp, lining thin to less than 24 hrs later no polyp ling to thick, etc, no connection there at the IVF clinic -- she throws out -- "after all you do ONLY have one ovary" -- I reply "YES this is correct, and this what I was VERY clear about during my consult with MY RE, and MY nurse"...

And with my first consult MY RE was very pleased with my BW, and I guess what it had shown for egg supply??? So why the heck was she giving me this spill???

To be honest here -- I feel NO compassion from that clinic at all, NONE!!! And the defiantly do NOT want you asking questions, such as what do/did my numbers read in my BW, why a polyp yesterday with thin lining, and today NO polyp, and thick lining, etc...

Also I would NOT mind if they were reading this board, and know who I am speaking of their clinic -- due to it is all FACT, and they know it!!!

Maybe they would have a change of heart to step back take a look, have a meeting with the entire staff, and most of all remember they are dealing with PT's, N-O-T ROBOT'S, we do have feelings, we DO want/need clear answers, and we want. and deserve the best care, and compassion that one can receive....

And most of all PT mix up can be a very huge red flag!!!

I did offer them a suggestion on how that could NEVER happen again, to make sure that it NEVER happens again, not sure if they took my suggestion or not, but if I do return for that f/u I will be sure to mention to the RE as well.. And my suggestion would still keep PT confidentiality, mores so than the way they do it now, due to the mix up with me and the other PT with the same first name, I now know more info on her than I should -- such as her last name due to it being on the screen do to me being placed in the wrong room them thinking I was her, and I know she has had IVF to conceive, and that she is PG...

OK thanks again for all the feed back, you all are opening my eyes where I was starting to allow them to be blinded due to mine and DH's heart desire to have a child of our OWN...

Hugs, and ladies keep up the awesome work here sharing your hearts with one another, you all WILL be blessed.

Hugs,
SL

[kbat]

Just to put in my 2 cents worth... I was at one clinic w/ a doctor--no bedside manner, never really explained anything, etc. It was recommended to me by my OBGYN office. I was w/ them, & I was never really fond of the doctor & the nurse was ok--always felt that when I was asking questions it was an imposition, but I think it was her personality. In the beginning, I gave them my blood donor card to show my blood type and they took a copy of it. But then a week later, they called me to say that I forgot to take that test. When I told them about the card, she wanted to make sure they took a copy of it. But no really horror stories. The worst thing was the billing dept. I had a referral from the OBGYN gave it to them when I went for the appointment. The first IUI, the consultation appt. all went through the insurance fine. Out of the blue, I got this call from the billing dept saying that they were trying to reach me for months (I never got any messages, no messages on the cell nor did my husband get any calls at work) saying that we never gave them a referral. I told them that everything up to then had been covered--ie bloodwork, IUI's, office visits, etc. But then they said that I needed the referral from my PCP. Fine I had it sent, but then they could never process the claims correctly. So everytime I had to call the insurance and the office for them to fix it. One charge said that my insurance even lapsed. When I called the insurance they said it never lapsed and that they never even received the claim. They must have been sending this to someone elses???

We took a break because at the time our insurance covered all but 20%, but even that was too expensive for us to do IVF multiple times. OUt of luck, our insurance was switched and is out of Mass. now, which pretty much covers this at 100%...

The doctor we had at clinic #1 had left to go to the only other clinic in my state... We were just going to stay w/ clinic #1, but discovered that the re was waiting to be put on the list for our insurance.

So, we went to clinic #2 and stayed w/ our doctor. We still weren't crazy about her, but the nurses her seemed nicer on the whole. I think they were a little disorganized b/c it took forever to get my lapscopy surgery scheduled--like 3 weeks--after I was being told someone would call me, I was getting contradictory information for the nurses and doctors, financial, etc.

After IVF #3, I went back to clinic #1 since the doctor got approved. Overall, I do like the re much better than the first re I had. She does explain things, but I am not really happy w/ the clinic overall. They kind of forgot to call me the day before my E/T to let me know when to show up. So I had to try to page someone who finally called me at about 6:30 to say that it wasn't even going to go through. Since it wasn't even my doctor or nurse, all she said was that there was a note to say that it didn't work out--couldn't really give me an explanation. Next day, they just called me to apologize for the error.... On top of that, my insurance is supposed to cover IVF at 100%. I then get a bill for a $20 co-pay, which is better than I know what a lot of you have to pay. Come to find out from my insurance company that they billed it one way that triggered the co-pay. If they had just billed it differently the clinic would have gotten the full amount w/o me paying a cent. I am not even going to "fight" it since I am not sure I will be eligible for another IVF cycle... I am not even sure I would stay at this place either because although I like the re, I didn't like the way the clinic treated me... Only thing is that there are only 2 clinics in my state and it's too difficult to really travel even to the neighboring state due to my husband's job. So I am stuck w/ one of the 2 clinics.

So, what's my point to my overly long post? This is a very emotional & sensitive thing we are all going through. It's stressfull enough w/o the doctor, clinic, and/or nurses putting us through any added stress. There's no reason for any doctor/practice to put us through all this added aggrevation. If you are not happy w/ the way they are treating you or the treatment it may be worthwhile to at least get another opinion--another set of fresh eyes to give it a look. Maybe they will tell you the same thing the other clinic is saying. But even if you just feel more comofortable w/ another place, it would be worthwhile At least my 2nd re opened my eyes a little bit, and know I am wondering if I wasted a whole year w/ the other re. I had to say it, but today, we have to be our own advocates when it comes to health care--no matter what kind you are getting.

Good luck to you.

[singinglullabies]

Amen to that post!!! Well said from the heart, and well received!!!

I TOTALLY believe we MUST be our OWN advocates -- as well as advocates for our loved ones!!! if not -- "oh my to think what, and where we could be"??? But I know the answer, by the way my Mother was Killed!!!

[woodcliff]

What's the clinic's name? Do you have one contact there you've worked with? The nurses generally Run the Show, not the doctor...docs are too busy seeing patients...and are never your main source (unless you're a doc too, my hubby is and he called the doc directly on several occassions for clarification...)

I think IVF is VERY confusing...unless you push hard to have one contact there...

Initially, There were communication mishaps, and bad follow up by the nurses at my clinic, until I pushed and demanded one MAIN contact..

I got the #1 nurse's (Big Boss) name...if not for her, I think there would've been lots of screw ups. I Currently contact her at LEAST 4 - 5 times a week and talk to her every 7-10 days, at least...regarding my meds.
Since this clinic is a 3 hour plane ride from my home, and VERY EXPENSIVE, (frankly, we've spent an annual salary for an upper income level family for these twins I'm carrying!)...so, again NO ROOM FOR ERROR>

Before you dash from the clinic, go over with them what went wrong. Figure out what they could've done right, and where you and your husband could've pushed harder as well...

Good luck, and a BFP to you soon!