After my Menopur cycle was cancelled, the doc said to wait 2
weeks and to call when my period comes (which it should, so he says…). Well,
after 1 week I started spotting but he said it was too early for it to be my
period. But even after the 2 weeks, it never
came. I was not the least surprised but I wasn’t really worked up about it because
I knew I could start a Menopur cycle without a period just as I did before. But
you know how I have said before that the second we think we know what’s coming
everything gets turned on its head…
When I called the clinic I was informed that my doctor was
out of the office for 3 weeks! And the nurse casually tells me that the doctor
covering his patients is in Wilkes-Barre (another 45 minutes up the road)!! I
knew that driving to Danville every other day was one thing, but going to
Wilkes-Barre was just not an option. Plus, the nurse wasn’t even sure this
other doctor would start me on a new cycle of Menopur without a period so it
was looking more and more like I was in for the 31-day cycle of pills. She was
going to talk to the doctor and get back to me on Monday. I was beyond
frustrated and I told Jared I really want to quit if it doesn’t happen by the
end of the year. I felt very reminded of a quote I had seen on Pinterest: “If
God shuts a door, stop banging on it! Trust that whatever is behind it is not
meant for you.” As an aside – starting a few months ago, ads for a new fertility center in Mechanicsburg had run in our local paper and billboards went up on the highway en route to Harrisburg. I honestly hadn’t given much thought to switching doctors because I felt so invested in our path in Danville. Plus, we didn’t want to go backwards – we were afraid a new doctor would want us to start all over from the beginning of the process (diagnostics, clomid, the horrifically painful HSG, etc).
The weekend after I talked to the clinic I googled the
office I had seen advertised – Reproductive Medicine Associates of Central PA.
There are 4 doctors in the practice and they are out of Philadelphia and have a
satellite office in Mechanicsburg. Something just came over me and I decided it
was time to talk to someone new. I called Monday to set up a consult. I have to
say – just the friendly demeanor of the person who took my call was refreshing.
Plus, I was expecting a wait for an appointment (it took us over a month to get
in to Danville) – nope! They could get us in that week!
Jared and I went into that appointment still on the fence
about whether we wanted to switch. Needless to say, they had us sold before we
even left the office. It’s crazy that we did not know how badly we were being
treated until we got to experience being treated well! We had a long discussion with the doctor about
each of our and our families’ medical histories as well as everything we had
been through so far (so thankful for being a type A nut and having kept an
excel spreadsheet of all my treatments and dosages!). He asked so many
questions and really seemed stumped as to what is going on. He really didn’t
seem to understand the 31-day cycle of pills business. However, I was really
won over during my ultrasound. I have had what seems like a million of these
done…and I can’t believe I didn’t realize how the doctor and nurses at Danville
were never talking TO us but rather just AROUND us. It was amazing to have
someone explain what we were looking at. My uterine lining was very thick
(which is odd for me) – even Jared commented on it right away, haha. He’s now
an expert on what my uterus and ovaries look like on a computer screen! I was very relieved to hear the doctor say
that everything looked totally fine – uterus and ovaries.
Next we sat down with 1 of the 2 front desk nurses to go
over our insurance. (I love that there are only 2 nurses…each time at Danville
I had 1 of 5 or 6 who rarely remembered me).
We were blown away to learn that we have used only $250 of our $20,000
fertility maximum. Of course, the insurance lady at Danville had never pulled
this information for us. Another awesome feature is that you can elect to
communicate via email! No more phone tag!
They sent me for the litany of blood work-11 vials! (I just
found out today that all came back normal.) We did one final sit-down with our
NEW doctor – Dr. Freedman – and were very happy to hear him say that he didn’t
want to make us go backwards. He said we will probably be doing Menopur but
first he wants to try something new to bring on my period (new to us, not new
in existence) – Prometrium, which I will take for 7 days. Of course, I am VERY
skeptical that this will make me get a period. If it works, I will be very
conflicted …happy – yay! A period in 7 days of meds! …and MAD – at all those
wasted 31-day rounds they made me do before.
Right now, Jared and I are feeling so excited and rejuvenated
by this fresh start. There are all of these positives that I have mentioned
and, of course, a big big one is the location as well. My drive will now be
less than 1 hour, it’s close to Jared’s work so he can come to appointments
without having to take off the whole day, and there is so much more to do in
the Harrisburg area (shopping, lunch with friends, yoga classes) versus Danville.
As we were leaving the office, I found myself looking around,
taking everything in, and wondering – “will this be a place for happy?” Even
when I was getting my ultrasound, I found myself imagining what it would be
like to get happy news in that room. Danville had become a sad place for us and I feel
so glad that we decided to make the leap and let it go.