I seemed to have forgotten how complicated and detailed everything is when interviewing IVF clinics.

I have requested all of my medical records (they say that it takes two weeks) and I have appointments starting in two and a half weeks. The offices that I am interviewing all require the records at least one week before the appointment so, needless to say, I am cutting it close with my first appointment.

Before I picked Stanford, I had interviewed four other doctors. I am going to be re-visiting one of them but the second place is new to me.

I assume there is a reason that everyone in blogland keeps their RE clinic anonymous so I will try to do the same.

The timing of my first appointment in 2 1/2 weeks is good for my cycle so that may be the determining factor in who I choose.

The soonest the second office can see me is just after I start my next period which means that I will be yet another month behind.

I am hoping to jump on this IVF train ASAP.

The first wants to examine me, perform an ultrasound and have a mock transfer at the consult appointment. I had to beg the forgiveness of the nurse while telling her what I wanted.

"Please forgive me", I said. "The most important thing to me is the consult part. You can examine me, you can perform an ultrasound but you cannot stick a catheter in my uterus because I almost die if I am not premedicated with Valium and Vicodin and being drugged is not conducive for a good consultation."

She said, "Oh, your autonomic nervous system shuts down when your uterus is dilated, that is not so uncommon. That is fine. I will let the doctor know that he will not be doing a mock transfer. The fee will be adjusted then to $685.00."


I mean honestly, I am tempted to start BCPs this month so that I can be ready for injectables sooner.

Hell, I don't know if I need ovary rest. I don't want to delay this another month and isn't one of my ovaries resting anyway?

Wait a minute, I could even begin injectables. I have tons of needles and syringes from my other cycles and I have about $1,000 worth of Bravelle left over from the last study I was in......

Maybe I can time the injections with my consult appointment and just tell the doctor what we will be doing.

"Hi. Nice to see you again. In order to get down to the nitty gritty, I have already begun stimming myself so this ultrasound timing should be perfect to see how I am responding. You'll need to see me about every other day now until the retrieval in about a week. I want the most experienced embryologist to perform the ICSI procedure and I don't know, I think we should put all the embryos in at day three.....no need to push it to blastocysts again."


Would that make me a controlling patient?