Friday, September 22, 2006

CityDoc Consult

So we had our consult with CityDoc.

As soon as we saw him, the first thing out of his mouth was "M, how is your throat?". He remembered that the last time we saw him, last February, M was about to undergo some pretty major throat surgery. Now, he may have remembered that on his own, or he may have had it written down, but either way, nice of him to ask. Dr. ButtMunch would NEVER have asked about it. Meeting was off to a good start.

So we start getting into it. I tell him that M had asked if I would do much of the talking, since she gets so upset and bursts into tears whenever she starts to speak about this. I liked that, because I think I do a good job of sticking to relevant facts and keeping our story concise. (I've talked before about my obsession with frugal speech). I wanted to make sure, at least at the beginning, that I gave him only facts - that I did not pass judgment on the care we were receiving by ButtMunch. I wanted HIM to pass the judgment on it.

I told him the reason we had not seen him all along was simply one of convenience, ButtMunch was 10 minutes from our house. It's the truth. Then I told him that we had a consultation with ButtMunch in April, and since that time, we had never even spoken with him, let alone seen him in person. Not once. (I like the fact that CityDoc's eyes grew a little wide and his jaw dropped a bit).

We then launched into a narrative about the IUI that became an IVF due to overstimulation, and some of the crappy things that were said to us during that process (fodder for another post) as well as the subsequent IUI that had to be cancelled due to understimulation. We gave him the whole story. M piped in occasionally, but every time she did, she burst into tears. Poor thing.

CityDoc listened attentively, asked good questions when appropriate, and let me finish. Then he told us how THEY do it.

First if all...The DOCTORS do the ultrasounds. That is just amazing to me. Being able to SEE the doctor! Have him actually BE there? Incredible.

At the ultrasound, the doctors talk with their patients about everything. This is what I'm seeing, this is what's good, this is what's bad, this is what I think we should do, etc.

At the end of every appointment (EVERY appointment), M will meet with the nurse briefly to see if she has any questions, concerns, drug issues, etc.

Get this - the doctor gave us his E-MAIL ADDRESS. He said that is the best way to get to him, he can usually answer any e-mail within an hour or two. Even on weekends. He accesses that e-mail at home. He reads that e-mail at his kids soccer games. M and I looked at eachother in shock. Is this guy for real?

We asked about 3 day vs. 5 day transfers. His practice tries to do 5 day blast transfers for everyone, unless there is some reason a 3 day is needed. That is HUGE.

He said their freezing and thawing rate is very high.

M wasted no time in telling him that we were transferring our care to him. He ushered us into a room with a nice little nurse who walked us through the insurance process, the medical records request, the schedules, etc. M is expecting her period literally any second, so we may miss this month due to the fact that we may not have everything done in time. But its worth it.

It's an 8 weeks IVF cycle, so that would put us at transfer around late Dec / early Jan. I was sad to hear it would take so long, but so happy to see my wife so happy.

So I immediately walked back to work (another benefit of CityDoc), got on the phone, called ButtMunch's office, got our nurse on the phone, and FIRED HER ASS. The conversation went like this:

"We are transferring our care to another facility"

"Ok. So you want to cancel the appt you have on Wednesday?"

"Um, Yeah."

"Ok. Bye"

Not quite the fight I had geared up for, but whatever.

So we're probably taking another month off, but it's ok, because we finally feel like we're in good hands. Thank you to all of you for your great advice, I read every single comment and they all helped a great deal.

Have a great weekend!

** I forgot to mention: The only semi-bad thing about the practice: In the Male Fantasy Room, the 10 dancing slutty virgins are NOT bi-sexual.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great news! Glad it went well! - Honstly, my hubby went to about 2 appointments with me the whole time and that was cuz he had to. You two are lucky to have each other. Maggie

Anonymous said...

I find it hard to believe that there are fertility clinics where you DON'T see your doc at every appointment, I have a fab RE (WonderDoc) who gives me his mobile phone number and his email address, and totally doesn't mind if I call him at any time with any neurotic question I may have for him.
Good on you both for taking the initiative and seeing CityDoc, like I say to so many others WE are the paying customers and deserve the best of care and attitude..... well done!

gaelen said...

I'm so glad you found a great doctor! He sounds like he has a much better bedside manner than your other RE.

Unknown said...

I am so glad you found an excellent doctor! They are few and far between it seems like. Congratulations in that aspect. Hope this is just the beginning of great news!

Lyrehca said...

Congrats on the consult and I do hope things are more satisfying for you with the new doc (and how couldn't they be?)

If you really want a final kiss-off to the last clinic, write the old doc and his staff a detailed letter exactly why you transferred care elsewhere and why you're taking your medical dollars elsewhere. Maybe you'll never hear from them again, but at least you'll know the satisfaction of telling them off entirely.

noela said...

Holy cr@p!!!! You mean your RE's haven't been performing the scans all along?!?! That is seriously fucked up!

I go to two clinics, one here in Calgary, and one near Seattle, and at both clinics the RE's ALWAYS scan the patients!!!

Wow, that is actually shocking to me. I'm so glad you have decided to change clinics!

Hope things go well for you guys with your next upcoming cycle!

All the best,
Nilla

Thalia said...

Sounds like you found a good one there. Nothing like being able to email the doc, it's saved my sanity a couple of times.

Southern Comfortable said...

Great news! Sounds like a much, much better place.

Alli and Frankie said...

hetero slutty virgin dancers?! Well, screw that place. The deal is OFF!

So happy for you guys - and it choked me up to think of your wife in tears just trying to talk about the care she received.

The email is a nice feature - we are able to do that but I haven't. I keep thinking I'll save it for something big. I can't even imagine what that would be - LMAO.

Oh! And one more thing - Eminem could kick Huey's ass in about 2 seconds. hee hee.

OHN said...

Yippee---this is exactly the kind of place you need to be! I have a really good feeling about this for you :)

Kellie said...

I second Alli, Eminem and Huey... not even in the same league.

GREAT news about City Doc. I think that's definetly the place for both of you. Sorry about the slutty virgins not being bi, but you've got to leave something to the imagination.

Krista said...

Sounds like an excellent clinic and an excellent choice to transfer immediately.

I hope your wife's period holds off a couple of days (can you believe I said that - on an infertility blog) so that you can get all the paperwork done and cycle next month. Regardless though, even with a month's wait, it still sounds like a damn good decision.

Anonymous said...

This is great- I'm glad for you. Its so hard to find a doctor that both knows their stuff and makes you comfortable.

Treggles said...

So sorry about the disappointment. Perhaps you could slip someone some cash to upgrade the virgins?

candy said...

great news about the doc being so nice. sucky news about the virgins. and i too am a fan of frugal speech. though you wouldn't know it from reading my blog.

seriously glad you found a good clinic. made a huge difference for us when we switched.

soralis said...

Sounds like a much better doctor! Good luck and give your wife another hug! :)

Take care

Susan said...

such great news. i really think this will relieve some of M's stress....when you know your REs got your back, you can let go of a lot of worry....

got my fingers crossed for you guys.

KatieMc said...

Amen to all the above.

Nurse Buttmunch: Ok. So you want to cancel the appt you have on Wednesday?"

You: Uh, yeah, I want to fork out another copay to come kick your a$$.

Serenity said...

So happy for you both!!!! Yay for better care!

Kir said...

I am so happy that your appt went so well. Wishing you both lots of luck!!!