Traveling for IVF

[Yellow]

We recently moved a little over 2 hours away from the clinic where I've had all my previous IVF work. I still have all my frozen babies there, and I'm inclined to do the next FET with them.

Anyone travel for IVF? How did it go? Did you travel for all of the scans and blood work or was some of it closer to home. Any advice on how to make it easier?

Any experiences you can share would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[beachbaby]

Hi My nearest clinic was 90 minutes away by car with no traffic, at rush hour it could take another hour. I had to travel for all tests/scans/ bloods etc, sometimes i would be in clinic for 5 minutes and would spend 4 hours in the car. It was all worth it though.
For FET's i only had to attend clinic 4 times in total inc ET.
Good luck

[DeeStar]

My clinic is an hour to hour 1/2 away...it is hard trying schedule visists especially if you working as well..I would always try for a first thing in the morning appt to not miss to much work. You just have to remember why your driving there hopefully with your FET cycle you won't have to make as many trips...Good Luck!!

[lynniecat]

I just flew to MD to stay with my clinic. I moved to CA, so quite far from my clinic. I did my day 1 work up at a clinic in CA. Some clinics will take you on as an outside "monitoring" patient. You then need to be at your actual clinic once the follies reach 14 mm...at least that way my deal!

[Yellow]

Thanks, everyone, for replying. It helps to hear your experiences -- and to know that there are many others traveling for this.

Lynniecat, you mentioned that some clinics will take you on as a monitoring patient. Did anyone else do this? Did anyone have the monitoring done at a local ob/gyn clinic rather than a local IVF clinic? We just moved and I'm trying to figure out how this will work. I don't even have a regular doctor here yet. I'm a little nervous about the scheduling.

Beachbaby, congratulations on your twins! You must be thrillled!

Thanks again and good luck to all of you!

[lynniecat]

I was in your shoes 2 weeks ago. Do not have any doctors in CA. Still do not. I just looked at the SART web page and called the nearest IVF clinic to ask about monitoring and if they took outside patients. They did, so I got my clinic to send me a request for what I needed (utlrasound, bloodwork) and brought it to the clinic, in person, in advance to make sure all was good so that when I actually showed up there would not be a snag. One snag I caught in advance was that they need the order to say the actual date. Since I did not know what day AF would show, the date on the initial order was wrong, so I has to have my clinic fax the monitoring folks a new order. They did it quickly, so I was all set when I walked in to get my BW and US.

I also thought about an OBGYN, but my clinic suggested using an fertility clinic. Your ob is not going to be used to measuring follicles, ovaries, etc. At least not to the level the clinics do it, so I think using another clinic is the best way to go if its possible.

Good luck!

[tburks]

I have to travel 2 1/2 hours. So far it hasn't been bad. I have gone up 3 times. I figure it will be a little more challenging when I have to go every other day or so for the measuring and all. There are a few clinics closer but one couldn't get me in until Dec. and the other hasn't been open very long. I would rather drive a few hours knowing that my Dr. knows what he is doing!!

They told me I will need to stay the night before the ER and again for the ET.

The drive allows for great conversations with the husband!!

[hrobinson]

For my first 3 treatments, I actually went to a clinic that was 6 hours away. Since I am a teacher, we scheduled my treatments during the summer. The first two times I actually went down and stayed with family for two full weeks. (They were the longest weeks of my life). However, that got me through the bloodwork, ultraounds, ER and ET.
With my first treatment I got a BFP, so we continued going down every other week on a Thursday night, and returning Friday afternoon. We did this through the first trimester, and then I graduated to my ogyn.
Anyhow, it really wasn't too bad.
Our next treatment will be in Colorado (I think) and that is actually 12 hours away. YIKEs!!! However, I am sure it will be worth it.

Good luck on your cycling.