Posted by debi on July 24, 19100 at 11:51:52:
I found Liz's beta thread thought provoking and although I may stir things up a bit - felt it important to show another side to this issue (which can be applied in MANY areas of IF treatment.)
First of all, I adore my RE ... she was nothing but supportive, encouraging and medically one of the finest MD's I've ever known. In a perfect world I would have liked her to have drawn every blood test I had, done every scan, done each of my retrievals and my transfers and I wished she would have never left my side. After a failed IVF I longed for her to be with me cause I really needed her to give me a hug and cry with me a little bit. But not one of these things happened. Instead, she never drew a blood test, was only around for a couple of my scans and only did one transfer ... and a nurse, who I had never even met - called me with my beta results. (My RE did give me an injection once when I was hospitalized because a nurse wasn't available at that moment and it hurt like hell -I wished I had waited for a nurse !!!)
I made the choice to go to one of the larger IVF programs to benefit from the volume of cases they saw in hopes of increasing my odds by working with a staff who was up to date at each moment with the latest and greatest in high tech medicine. Perhaps had I gone to a small practice I would have had a little more of my "perfect world" scenario BUT would have had to have given up the level of medical expertise which I believed, could make the difference.
Logistically it is impossible for our doctors to address the issues we wish they would. If we want our doctors to be the ones calling us with beta results we have to be willing to wait a couple days (perhaps longer) to get our results. Monitoring is being done seven days a week, doctors MUST rely on their well trained medical staff to make a program work and flow well.
An example of my RE's "typical" week is this ... Monday's she does retrievals all day, Tuesday's she's in surgery all day, Wednesday's she does transfers all day, Thursday's she has office hours all day, Friday's are the days she sees current patients, fills in for retrievals/transfers, fits in additional surgeries, works on cases, etc. She's in her office by 7:00 a.m. and is usually there until 7:00 p.m. AND has a family that needs her and periodically has something personal to attend to. One weekend each month she's on call. She has four partners and their schedules are identical to her's with different days being assigned to each task. Somewhere into this schedule she also has to fit professional seminars and responsibilities bestowed upon her by the hospital as a staff doctor. Not to mention emergency situations which need her immediate attention. Plus any requests made by the community i.e. AIA, Resolve, etc.
I know for a fact that nothing would make her happier than to personally call each patient with tests results, etc .... but which day should she eliminate to do this? (any ideas let me know and I'll pass it along to her - she'd love the down time.)
I don't know of many other experiences in life which are as stressful and emotional as IF treatments. We have very little control over our situation for the most part BUT by keeping our eyes open to the whole picture we can reduce some of the stress inflicted upon us. Our best interest IS in the forefront of our MD's intentions which is why they employ highly trained RN's as their support staff. Without those nurses ... these doctors would be screwed (any doctor without an ego will readily admit they could NEVER do their job well - some would say they just couldn't do it at all - without their nurses.)
If anyone ever decides they would like to make a special request of their RE and ask that a nurse doesn't call with test results but the RE him/herself does (which I'm sure you could get your RE to agree to do) ... please be sure to post your feedback from this experiment. My bet is ... you'll be extremely displeased.
Just maybe, by keeping the flip side of the coin in mind ... your expectations during treatment will be a bit more in line and you'll be a little less stressed out as you go through it. Even if it helps just a little bit ... something is better than nothing.
My two cents ...
Wishing everyone only the very best .... Debi
P.S. Liz ... waiting two months for a failed IVF follow up IS excessive ... this is a problem.