Wednesday 21 May 2008

Trading blows with Doctor No

My Doctor is away for a couple of months and planning on retiring soon, so last night I met the Doctor who is taking over the practice. Camp as a row of tents but very blunt and to the point. The first thing he said was a comment on how big my file is. When I asked why we seem to be having trouble with implantation his first answer was "the biggest factor would be maternal age". Ouch. Nice right hook you have there mister.

I asked if we needed to look at my estrogen levels (no, they're fine), immune testing (no, don't trust the science) and PGD testing (no, waste of money). I forgot to ask about assisted hatching, but my guess is that he wouldn't like that either. Poor DH and the medical student just whistled and studied the ceiling while I threw all my DrGoogle questions at the Doctor and he hurled his blunt answers back at my head. They must hate patients who do their own research.

So our new plan of attack starts with more bloodwork and a investigative hystero.scopy and D&C. Tomorrow!

I'm scared. I hate the gas they fill you with during these things and all the feedback I've heard about this new Doctor is that he is very thorough and so his procedures are extra painful. I'm pretty sure, after all the procedures I've had in the last few years, if there was anything to find it would have been found already. But at this point I'm just happy that he's willing to cover all the bases with me, and if we rule everything else out and just leave "maternal age" then maybe I'll be more willing to accept that its time to stop.

6 comments:

LL said...

fuck... when are you gonna catch a break?

I hope this new guy does right by you, sorry about the procedure... It sucks.

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's a really rough doctors appointment... that's why I'm afraid of the cycle review. While honesty is good, please spare me the brutal honesty! I completely understand how you're afraid of the procedure tomorrow. Good that you're getting it over with fast, though. I hope it goes well. xxxx

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the procedure -- I hope it's not too bad! Mine caused some minor cramping (did they tell you to take an OTC pain reliever before?), but it was much more pleasant (as pleasant as any of this nonsense can be) than, say, the SHG I had.

It's GREAT that he's doing a thorough investigation pronto. I hope it's a good sign of good things to come!

Anonymous said...

Good luck for tomorrow. You'll be OK.

Princesses in Muddy Puddles said...

Ouch, hope the procedure went well today. I can't believe he refused immune testing for recurrent implantation failure?!

sara said...

Crap, you've been through a lot! I'll keep you in my prayers during your procedure and be hoping for a speedy recovery. "advanced maternal age, " where the hell do they come up with these phrases...do they do it just to torture their poor patients? I wish that they hadn't thrown that at you, I'm sorry. Maybe we could tell physicians that they are of "advanced physician practice age?" We could see how they like that!