Oh, yes, yes we do. Anger. And frustration.
In the past 4 years i have been on a new path, one of natural medicine & seeking to use food, supplements, herbs, etc. to be healthier. And i AM healthier. Duane & i were recently in a pharmacy to pick up contact lens solution or something, & i realized i used to spend a lot of time & $ on prescription Rx. It has been almost 2 years since i last filled a Rx, & it was a huge mistake.
I don't think MDs are taught well for thinking "outside the box." It seems their education is very narrow & limited. I don't have much faith in MDs, & my experiences with them has not been very good. Thus the new path to natural health.
Fast forward to yesterday.
This particular MD, a reproductive endocrinologist, has an excellent reputation. In fact, i'm told he is world-renown. He had recommendations from 2 different people. He is suppose to be "different" from the others. I was told he spends time with his patients, listens to them, & is very attentive. And so, we went with hope in being told a full line of options, things we might have missed.
And, we found him to be just like every other MD i've ever known. He did NOT read the paperwork we spent so much time on. He handed me back the labs i had compiled without reading them. The most recent was only 2 weeks ago, and he did not even look at them. His office ordered labs for me, & when i looked at what they wanted done, three of them were ones i'd run just 2 weeks ago. (I pointed this out, & it was, "Oh, oh yeah. You won't need to redo those.")
So much info was thrown at us we were like deer in the headlights. Too much information that we weren't able to process at the time. When he asked if we had questions we couldn't even come up with them. They were there, but they were frozen.
I had an ultrasound done. I do have 2 fibroids, but they are in the wall not the cavity, & so shouldn't be a problem. We could see where i probably ovulated about 3 days ago. And my uterine lining was at 13. I asked what his requirements are & he said a minimum of 8 to 10. So i'm far beyond that. When asked, since my lining is good, would i still have to do drugs to create a lining his response was, yes he has to "control" the environment.
In talking it over later, Duane & i decided that he simply looked at my age on his forms & looked no farther. He gave us 2 options: donor egg, donor embryo. Ok, Kathie had already warned me that that would likely be his response. So i expected that. BUT i did expect to be given other options as well. Duane & i both felt that if he had looked at my records & not just my age he would have been giving us other options. Duane felt the frustration too.
And this is an office that has a reputation of being excellent all the way around & listening to patients!
Ok, we've still some options tho the visit discouraged us. One, we could go to another RE & see if they present other options.
A PT i know had good results from a Chinese doctor she used. I've hesitated to do this for two reasons. One, it is a great distance from where we work or where we live. Two, he doesn't speak much English. I know this could be seen as racist, but i don't mean to. I previously worked with an acupuncture doc who was many generation Chinese, 4th generation acupuncturist. Not racial, but i've been concerned about a language barrier.
Also, a chiro i know believes he can help. I don't know what he means, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out. There are other things as well.
Duane doesn't want to burn any bridges on the embryo adoption. I don't intend to, but i think our chances of going that path are not great. Besides the fact that finding someone to donate embryos is not so easy either. When we registered with a place that matches embryo donors to embryo recipients, it was with the belief that if that is our path, if it is God-directed, then it will happen. More people looking than giving, & our chances of being chosen are not so good.
So many negative factors to doing RE assisted pregnancy. I think we need to explore other options.
I've such a headache.
Anyway, the day ended nice. We visited with some friends of Duane's for the evening. They made us a wonderful meal. Duane has been helping put an absolutely incredible home theater system in their house. I'd never heard of Apple TV before. It is really wonderful.
Happy St. Patrick's late!
We go home today! Lovely.
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2 comments:
Happy St. Patrick's day to you as well.
yes, having ranted you are now free to edit. Doctors are ruled by medicine, they do not get much chance ( or time ) to imagine, or invent. A sad state for a smart person to be in.
You mostly sound very very frustrated. I can totally understand that. I have the same opinion about doctors. They have a set process and set parameters and if you fall outside of them then you are outside their box as you say.
My loss of trust in doctors started when I was 18. I was suffering from blinding headaches pretty much constantly and they kept telling me it was nothing. In the end it was discovered by my mother that I was suffering from migraines, stress induced from exams. A few years ago I saw my medical records and the doctors had written 'hypochondriac' on my notes. That explained so much of the disdain with which I was treated!
Spin on a few years and I suffered horribly with multiple fibroids. I suffered from anaemia and pain so excruciating that I could barely move. This went on for months while the doctors played 'wait and see'. In the end I got a referral to a consultant who was horrified about what I was going through. She immediately prescribed me a drug which improved my life almost immediately and fast tracked me through surgery.
I thought I would just tell you this to let you know that a) it's not just you and b) there are a few doctors out there who are outside of the box, who do care and can speak to you like a human rather than that distant thing they call a 'patient'.
I hope you find that doctors soon. Thanks for visiting my blog :)
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