Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Which Clinic??

So after weighing our options,  E and I have definitely decided to go ahead with IVF. I'm on BCP right now in preparation and my next ultrasound is supposed to be the 22nd. I thought everything was decided, taken care of, done.

We were going to go with our current doctor who works both at Kaiser and another fertility clinic. We like her, she's really nice and we've enjoyed working with her. She laughs at my stupid jokes and takes her time during my appointments, I feel like she really hears me.  She allows me to participate in the cycles more than another doctor might, and takes what research I share into account. I was all ready to sign up with her when it was suggested to me that we might want to look at another clinic first.

The primary reasons for this suggestion were:
  • My doctor is fairly young, about my age. She just passed her boards and our case is fairly complex. Does she have enough experience?
  • My doctor is stretched really thin at Kaiser right now. Two doctors are currently out, one left for private practice so she isn't coming back, and my doctor is picking up all the slack. She's really, really busy.
  • Her clinic has no risk sharing programs or multi-cycle programs to purchase. It's just a straight cycle cost and if it doesn't work there's no refund program or guarantee.
The other doctor and clinic we were directed to look at:
  • The doctor is world renowned and has like 20 years experience. People come from all over the world to see him.
  • The clinic has multi-cycle options but I'd need to get confirmation that I can participate with my premutation. 1, 2, 3 cycle programs and a refund guarantee cycle are all available.
I set up a consultation with the new clinic because I was given a free first appointment card. Interestingly, the new clinic has some pretty crappy Yelp reviews (not that I would ever choose a clinic based on yelp reviews) but I suspect its because they give out many free first appointment cards. Most of them are people whining about it taking too long to schedule their free appointment or the billing department making mistakes. My doctor's clinic, on the other hand, has excellent yelp reviews, from actual patients. My doctor's practice is also smaller than the more experienced doctor, more personal attention? She knows how I respond to medication based on our two IUIs which I really like. Plus, the bigger clinic is a "chain" in that there's more than one location, which I don't love, but it has better statistics. According to their literature, the bigger clinic also does a lot of PGD cycles

I really don't know what to do here. I am going to the free appointment tomorrow so I'm hoping that will give me an idea of how this new doctor practices. Since getting my diagnosis I've lived and breathed fragile x premutations, I've read everything I can get my hands on and I need a doctor who is knowledgeable and committed.What if my younger doctor is more willing to think outside of the box? The older doctor might be less willing to explore new practices. I just don't know which one is a better fit for us.

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