I Hope That This Is True For Us Someday Soon.....

Just sharing a quote that I saw today.  I hope that this will be true for us someday soon.

A New Clinic

 

There were four infertility clinics in the Twin Cities…..soon there will be three.

There is another clinic in Rochester – but that is an hour away.

There will be another clinic opening this summer – but that is this summer and rumor is that there is already a waiting list.

So, we have three clinic to choose from.

We quickly learn that one of the clinics will not accept embryos from other clinics.  Done.  End of story.

Another clinic doesn’t normally accept embryos from other clinics, but will make an exception for the patients from our clinic due to the special circumstances.

The third clinic will accept embryos from other clinics, is rated as high as if not higher than our current clinic, and can get us in next month.  We can also keep our mid-June transfer data.  Done.  End of story.

I am so thankful that our nurse called us.  The other clinics had heard that our clinic was closing, but had not yet received any calls from patients.

The early bird apparently does really get the worm……

We Just Can't Catch A Break

 

We were on the shuttle bus to the Las Vegas airport when my phone started ringing.  It was our clinic.

I was puzzled as to why the clinic would be calling.  We signed our consent last week, gave them a check for our payment (which has already cleared the bank) and have a date for our transfer.  GC has her pill prescription and doesn’t need to start any other drugs until May. 

Why are they calling?

It was our nurse and she said that she had some bad news.

What could it be?  Did GC decide that she didn’t want to be our GC?  Did something suddenly come up in the medical records that would make GC not eligible to be or GC?  Do the dates somehow not work?

None of those.  Possible much worse.

The three doctors in our clinic have gotten together and decided to go their separate ways – resulting in the closing of our clinic.

What?  Can they do that?  What about the hundreds (possibly thousands) of patients that they have?

What about us?

We have 4 embryos that are currently residing in their freezer.  How will we get those to a new clinic?  Will they pay for the shipping?  It is not cheap.

Can they help to get us into a new clinic?  Can they make a recommendation?  Will this new clinic accept all of our paperwork/tests or do we need to start all over again?

Will this push our transfer date back?  Will GC and her husband be OK with a change in timing?  With a new clinic?

What clinic is our nurse going to?  (We would totally follow her – she has been absolutely great to us which includes the fact that she is calling us right now.  Most of the other patients are just getting a letter in the mail next week.  At least we are ahead of the pack).

Right now we feel lost….and angry.  We are angry.  We sat across the table from our doctor last week who had us sign an agreement and pre-pay for services which he knew that he was never going to be able to render.  We think he’s a jerk right now.

In the end I thanked our nurse for calling us to let us know “in person” and thanked her for how good that she has been to us.

Our nurse found a way to get us samples to lower our drug costs on our second IVF after our first IVF was cancelled.  When our first IVF was cancelled she let us out the back door of the clinic so that we didn’t have to go through the lobby.  She soothed my fears and answered my emotional questions for the last three years.  She was hopeful for us when we didn’t have hope.

We will miss her.

Vegas!

One of my favorite people in the world just turned 40 and decided to celebrate her birthday by getting a group of people together in Las Vegas. 

Mark and I have both been to Las Vegas before, but not together.  So we thought it would be fun to experience Vegas as a couple.  Also, a weekend of drinking, gambling, shows, lounging by the pool and not thinking about infertility was just what the doctor ordered.

Our first day/night was comprised of lunch with the group, a trip along the strip to the Stratosphere to see the top and ride the rides (that was fun).  We broke off for a romantic evening together just the two us.  Mark and I had dinner at The Venetian followed by a gondola ride and “O” at the Bellagio.  Mark thought it was hilarious that I insisted on a gondola ride since I had “real” gondola ride in the “real” Venice.  I said that I didn’t care and I wanted the full Vegas experience.

The only bad part of the evening was that we walked instead of cabbing it and I (of course) was wearing heels.  Ouch, ouch, ouch.  My poor feet.

Our second day/night we met up with the group for some gambling, dinner and a show at The Flamingo.  We actually saw an Elvis impersonator in Vegas.  I now feel like I have had the full experience.

Our third day/night we hung out by the pool for a few hours.  The drinks were ungodly expensive but totally worth it considering how hot it was.  Well, hot by comparison to Minnesota.

That evening we went downtown.  Neither Mark nor I had been to downtown on our previous trips, so that was a new experience for both of us.  It was a completely difference experience from the strip.  It wasn’t bad though.  We had dinner at Oscar’s and the steak was fantastic.  All along Fremont there were bands and entertainers.  The drinks were cheap and the slots were loose (I actually won on a slot machine for a change).

Our last day we were on our own again until our afternoon flight.  Everyone else left in the morning.  Our first stop was to have a hangover omelet complete with Bloody Mary (remember that the drinks were cheap last night).  We then went to Paris where I insisted on going up the Eiffel Tower, even though I have been to the top of the “real” Eiffel Tower in the “real” Paris.  Again, the full Vegas experience.  Our last stop was to the Bellagio to check out the conservatory.

All in all it was a nice trip J