A new beginning…

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.