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.