first clinic appointment

What a anti-climax! After all this waiting for an appointment I saw the doctor for about 5 minutes. He reiterated my medical history, told me that I neither have hepatitis C or B nor HIV, that I had a miscarriage four months ago and now wished to conceive via donor insemination.  He didn’t offer all too much encouragement about getting pregnant naturally (if one can call DI natural). My FSH value were normal at 7, I was ovulating but of course I was almost 40 and at that age fertility declines rapidly every 6 months. (Thanks for taking 3 months to get me to the first consultation!) His recommendation was to refer me to the fertility unit (hang on – I thought I was at the fertility unit?) for more tests and that we tried DI for 3-6 months and then immediately proceeded to IVF. If I didn’t get pregnant within 3 months with DI my chances of conceiving that way were really low and surely I wouldn’t want to waste the time window in which I could still  try IVF.  Of course this wouldn’t be done under NHS. DI is only paid for by the NHS if my partner had poor sperm (no partner – no NHS) and unfortunately NHS would only fund IVF to the age of 38. By the way, had I seen the price list? He handed me a sheet  of paper with prices and pointed out that IVF costs about 4,000 pounds per cycle. DI is bargain with 800 pounds per cycle.  Next I would have to have a hysterosalpingogram to see if my tubes are open. (Of course they are – I had just been pregnant!)  How I love that word, hysterosalpingogram, almost poetic in its complexity. And a consultation with the psychologist at the fertility unit. He gave me a sheet of paper with a phone number to schedule the hysterosalpingogram and said I’d get a call from the fertility unit to setup the appointment with the psychologist. My heart sank when I saw that the radiology unit only has 5 appointments per week, only on Tuesday mornings and that they apologised if this caused delays. Since the test can only be done before you ovulate but after you stopped bleeding  and you can only call when you are having your period and not in advance that makes finding a suitable appointment even more difficult. They reassured the patience that everyone would be seen within 3 months. Can you imagine. Three months! My fertility will be non-existent by then.

I looked up hysterosalpingogram as soon as I got home. Basically a dye is injected into your uterus (that’s the hystero part) and then flows through the tubes (salpingo!) and out the other end. The dye can be seen on an x-ray. It only takes a few minutes and isn’t painful and will reveal if you have any fibroids in your uterus and any blockages in the tubes. I also read that the likelihood of conceiving is higher after having a hysterosalpingogram.  Probably because any possible obstacle has been washed away. I also read that  is only the case when a lipophilic dye is used. Water based dyes don’t show that effect. Unfortunately most clinics use the less expensive water based dye.

bureaucracy

Haven’t heard anything from the fertility unit so decided to ring them and politely ask where the hang up is. It turned out they haven’t received the referral. Turned out my GP didn’t send the referral! She forgot and then left on holidays. I am ovulating for for the second time now since my miscarriage. Two months wasted because of bureaucracy!  The consultation date with the fertility clinic is on the 26th of January, they don’t have any earlier dates but offered I could call every week to check if anyone had cancelled their appointment. You bet I’ll call.

Happy Christmas. All I want next year is a baby.

the first step is done

I had a final meeting with my GP today to go through the results. All normal, the hormones, and no sign of HIV and hepatitis. She will refer me to the fertility clinic. Hopefully they will see me before Christmas!

What exactly does “normal” mean and why does one never actually see the results?