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Friday, August 26, 2016

Still no call

I haven't heard from the doctor yet. I read all these fertility blogs and they all talk about how their doctors go out of their way to make them feel comfortable and supported. I get none of that from my doctor. He's a world-renowned clinician but when it comes time for anything related to the phone, he's the worst. The most recent time I felt like he didn't give me the time of day was after the chem pregnancy beta results came back and I was a complete mess. I attributed that situation to my hormones, misplaced sadness, and extraordinary circumstances that were beyond his control.  After the wtf appointment I felt better.

Until now.

Now I'm angry.

Our results from the ERA were delayed to begin with. There was anxiety already. Finally on Thursday morning (five days after we were expecting the results to begin with), my nurse emails with the results and that "I put those results on Dr. X's desk for review and he will contact you to discuss." That was at 7:44 AM on Thursday. That evening, I emailed her back and said that I didn't get a call. Maybe I misunderstood?  Was I supposed to call him? Should I have scheduled a phone appointment? Her response came back at 7:53 AM this morning, "No need to make a phone appointment. He will call you." Yet, it's now Friday evening and still no call.

It bothers me that I've been on pins and needles for nearly 48 hours waiting for these results. It bothers me that I haven't allowed my phone to leave my sight for more than a few seconds for fear that I might miss the call when it finally comes. It bothers me that the earliest I'll hear from him is probably Monday, and even then there's no guarantee.

What kind of service is this? You'd think they were doing me a favor, as though I wasn't paying thousands and thousands of dollars for their services.

It bothers me that I feel trapped because it's the best clinic, and he's considered the best RE. It bothers me that I'm stuck with them because they have my embryos. It bothers me that I'm stuck with them because I still need them.

I'm so annoyed and frustrated. It's so unfair to keep people waiting like this. No matter what benefit of the doubt I try to give him, it still doesn't excuse this kind of treatment. If he's on vacation, or has a family emergency, or is swamped with patients... whatever the excuse is.... he could've told the nurse to pass on the message that he is unable to talk immediately and he may not call for a few days. What is this madness keeping someone waiting for results???

This whole ERA process was a cluster from start to finish. Everything along the way was awful - from the financial, to the scheduling, to the appointment itself, to the checking out of the appointment, to payment, to results.

It pains me to think that we have to go through this again. Or do we? I assume I know what are options are but I don't really know because the trained medical professional has yet to call me.

I know I need to calm down. I'm so frustrated and infuriated at this trapped/dependent feeling that we're stuck with him that I have hot angry tears simmering just below the surface. Should I switch doctors? Should I complain to the office manager? Should I just suck it up and wait to get pregnant? Are my expectations just unrealistic?

Let's say I write him an angry email. Then what? What am I expecting in return? He'll say sorry? He'll write back, "Oh I don't have your file, talk to you Monday." Anything he writes will make it worse.  But a thought came across my mind that what if he doesn't even know he needs to call me? Then I thought that of course he needs to call. We have a baseline appointment next week and we don't even know if it's for another ERA or an FET. Plus the nurse would have made sure that he knew. He knows. Maybe he's ashamed for being so wrong about nothing being amiss that that we should "just keep transferring." Yeah right.

It seems like he doesn't care at all. He's won awards for his work, he has 20+ years of success. He has a pristine reputation and has nothing to prove. What's in it for him to be a good doctor? He's got no incentive to see us succeed. He gets paid regardless. In fact, the more we fail the more he gets paid. He's basically got no motivation to keep me happy or help us get pregnant.

He'll apologize, come up with some dumb reason why he didn't call sooner, and then we all have to move on because we still want to have babies.

I'm so sick of this. I'm sick of this clinic and all their bs. I'm ready to move on from them but there's nowhere to go. I'm done dealing with the uncertainty of the unknown and the dread of the news of the next phone call. I'm done with fertility treatment and I just want to move on.

Shabbat shalom.

1 comment:

  1. Ugh. I totally understand your frustration and anger. When you want something and it's so very important, it's annoying when others don't share your urgency. I'm sorry.

    ReplyDelete

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