Friday, July 17, 2009

My RE is driving me crazy!!

I picked my RE for what I consider to be a few very good reasons:
  1. She's a woman.
  2. She didn't poo-poo my desire to use my own eggs. She let me choose, and embraced that choice.
  3. She immediately saw what could be done differently (i.e. better) than what my last RE did.
  4. She's super knowledgeable
I'm still totally onboard with my decision—really I am. It's just that last reason that's got me a little frazzled. My RE could dazzle you with the amount of fertility knowledge she can rattle off in the matter of a few seconds of conversation. And she often does. But I've moved on from 'dazzled' and am now at 'fed-up'. Because that's just the problem—she won't shut the eff up!

Another reason I chose her which didn't make the above list, is because she recently broke away from a group of other doctors to start her own practice; meaning—she's hungry for new patients. Considering my last RE's office was more like Grand Central Station and I was lucky to get a decent nurse on the phone—let alone the doc himself—I saw her uber-availability and super-attentiveness as a huge plus. But now that positive has turned into a negative, and I feel like I'm drowning in her rhetoric and "medicalese"—a language I have yet to decipher.

Like yesterday, for example. I've taken to returning her calls during walks down the busy street my office is on. (My boss and cube-mates really do not need to know about my IVF). It's hard enough to hear her over the police car sirens and chattering tourists that are a constant in downtown San Francisco. But after listening to her rattle off my drug options auctioneer-style ("Can-I-get-a-down-regulated-cycle? Antagonist-protocol-going-once,-going-twice"), my ovaries are spinning. What the hell does it all mean, lady? And can I please get a frickin' word in edgewise??

It comes down to this—I need to be heard and understood by my doc because at the end of the day, this is my body and my decision. If she'd stop jabbering long enough to let me ask my questions, maybe—and this is a big maybe—I could get some answers. Preferably in English.

4 comments:

Kathryn said...

Forgive me for being bitter, but aren't they all . . . um . . . a little too into themselves? I've not had good experiences with M.D.s even when i like them personally a lot.

I hope this improves for you. Maybe (when you get a word in edgewise) simply saying, "I feel like i'm not being heard." And/or "I feel overwhelmed by the amount of info thrown at me."

Praying for you! :)

Deathstar said...

Does she have an email? Send her a list of questions and then call you back to get them answered or ask her to email you the answers. All that medical talk can be very overwhelming and you can hardly be expected to remember everything and take notes while you walk down a busy street.

darkblack said...

Our fertility doctor is awesome. I hate to rub salt in your wounds. It makes it so much easier, so I hope you get your answers.

Mo said...

Ugh. Sounds super frustrating.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and warning about CVS. Can you let me know who your sister used? my understanding is that complication rate has a huge amount to do with who does the procedure, which is why I'm going to one of the top experts in the country, someone who does CVS all day every day.

Can you email me more specifics about what happened in your sis's case? I'm at moandwill@gmail.com.

thanks!

Mo