if you have had NCIVF...

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much.. it is really reassuring that they called you! That makes me feel a lot better. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you though. Would you mind letting me know what your next step was? I am trying to think about a contingency plan now in case this doesn't work and I honestly don't know what I should do.. at ALL. My DH is being incredibly cost conscious about this which is stressing me out even more. I feel like I *could* get pregnant if I had unlimited funds, but I don't, and so I'm just trying to make the most strategic decisions... part of me wishes I had tried stimulated from the get go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much.. it is really reassuring that they called you! That makes me feel a lot better. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you though. Would you mind letting me know what your next step was? I am trying to think about a contingency plan now in case this doesn't work and I honestly don't know what I should do.. at ALL. My DH is being incredibly cost conscious about this which is stressing me out even more. I feel like I *could* get pregnant if I had unlimited funds, but I don't, and so I'm just trying to make the most strategic decisions... part of me wishes I had tried stimulated from the get go.

Shoot we could all get pregnant with unlimited funds, right? I'm sorry about this, I have a friend whose husband just wants to call it quits because of the money.

Don't feel bad about the stims. I have done 2 stim IVF and 1 NC. There is no telling based on your age, on the timing, etc, what will happen. I got a good NC egg that became a blast but didn't implant. I went thru stimulated IVF and got 15 eggs, 13 of which "fertilized." I put that in quotes because now, after a year of really getting into all this stuff, we don't know how they could know that these eggs fertilized because the fertilization call was within 7 hours of retrieval...we're understanding now that this isn't possible. The doc told us that only 7 divided, but showed us a picture of 6, and said only 3 were normal. Then he changed his mind to 4. Implanted the 4 and I got nada. This last IVF I'm on now (Does IVF work is my thread) only gto 7 eggs, 4 mature, 2 fertilized. So I'm really not much better off than a normal month right now. It's a tough call. Don't panic. Remember: No news is good news.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP! PP 16:47 here, the one with the call the next morning. I'm glad that it helped you what I wrote, and I am crossing my fingers, that it will work out for you!!! I know exactly how you feel, my DH was very cost conscious also, and I had the same thoughts as you.
What the best contingency plan would be depends on your situation, and has so many variables. For us, we didn't carry a diagnosis, other than "unexplained" after every imaginable test came back normal. In addition to the "advertised" reasons for NCIVF, I also chose it because IVF was absolutely incompatible with my job. The NCIVF was already problematic despite taking vacation etc, and for 'full' IVF I would have had to quit or take an extended leave of absence, which either way I would have had to announce 3 months in advance! That, plus the costs, plus the constant feeling; "There is nothing wrong with us, why isn't it happening?", had me in the grip of not knowing what to do at all. The call that day hit me harder than I had expected going in. Somehow I had thought a problem would either occur at retrieval or with transfer, but the embryo dying in the lab I had not expected... I cried for days... and then we decided to take a break for several months to try on our own again. But we didn't get pregnant.
DH and I then decided that we would maybe do one more NCIVF, and then IVF, meaning I would start an extended leave of absence, and maybe forced to resign. I was sick with financial worry. Because of the 3 months lead time I needed anyways, I asked for one unmedicated monitored cycle with timed intercourse. We did that, and at the last minute we added an IUI (all unmedicated). Unexpectedly, around this time I also had some of the greatest physical and mental stress, and the 2 wk wait flew by, because of all that was going on. I was driving when I got the call, and pulled over. Coincidentally it was that one snippy nurse I had mentioned who simply said: "Yeah, your test came back positive and you need to come back the day after tomorrow." I was like: "OMG, OMG, are you sure?" She said: "Did you not hear me?" and "You don't have to believe me..." after I had stammered a few more "Are you sure?", and I don't remember what else she said. I hung up, and cried and cried, this time tears of joy. We had been TTC for over 3 years! ... and are expecting our little one shortly! Wow, this is the first time I'm writing this down... and I hope it will give you hope.

[Anonymous]

Wow congratulations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I was driving when I got the call, and pulled over. Coincidentally it was that one snippy nurse I had mentioned who simply said: "Yeah, your test came back positive and you need to come back the day after tomorrow." I was like: "OMG, OMG, are you sure?" She said: "Did you not hear me?" and "You don't have to believe me..." after I had stammered a few more "Are you sure?", and I don't remember what else she said. I hung up, and cried and cried, this time tears of joy. We had been TTC for over 3 years! ... and are expecting our little one shortly! Wow, this is the first time I'm writing this down... and I hope it will give you hope.

This was with Dominion? my god, they really are asses. I don't understand what the hell is wrong with them. How can they treat someone like this. Getting pregnant naturally is exciting (and elusive) enough, but hello! If I show up at your poor excuse for a clinic, throw tons of money at you and get a positive result, at least try to sound happy.

When it's all said and done and you are physically in the clear, I honesty think you should send those jerks a letter for that reaction.

[Anonymous]

You know, I am a past DF patient, I can honestly say that in over THREE years with working with the group, I had one 'issue' with a nurse (and told the nurse in charge, and THAT was fixed instantly) and then one more 'issue' with a staff member that was NEVER allowed to work with me again. By Dr. Gordon's orders!

I know a lot has changed since I was there...but I just have this belief that if people relayed these incidents to the DF staff (instead of pissing and moaning about them on an internet site that-I would guess- is not read by the DF docs), that these issues would be rapidly resolved.

Gees...I went in a year after my twins were born...with a spontaneous pregnancy that Dr. G monitored for me. We were treated like gold, the scheduling for the appointment was kindly and rapidly done. While we were there (not great news, the pregnancy wasn't viable) some of the old nurses that worked with me during my IVFs were there and oogled over pictures of our little ones...and the nurses that didn't know us all gathered around and looked at pictures of our little ones.

I just NEVER got the negative vibe that you all are conveying.

[Anonymous]

To PP, I think Dr. Gordon is a good guy. I think Dimattina probably is the tricky personality there. My experience with him was that he was almost bipolar, normal one day, wackjob the next. And I did have problems there - legitimate issues - and not only did Dimattina not care, he told us to get lost. Literally. Then they "doctored" the records to high hell to make it look like I was wrong. It's cool though because we went elsewhere and found out what a real clinic was like.

I never would have questioned a lot of what happened at Dominion had I not ended up in another place and saw how professional and knowledgable the nurses and docs were. I probably would have kept going at Dominion. Well, until I made the error of questioning Dimattina and he all out had a meltdown and threw us out of there.

[Anonymous]

OP again: Thanks so much to everyone!

19:31- good luck this cycle. I will say a prayer for you!

10:06- that really does give me hope!! I am very young (fertility wise, anyway) with severe endometriosis, so I think while my age gives me points, the endo takes them all away plus some. Not sure if an IUI could work for me but boy would I love it if it did. Anyway, I am so happy for you and I wish you the best going forward!

13:22 - I haven't really had any bad experiences at DF either except for some (not all) snippy nurses (and I don't really feel like it's my place to complain about them.. often times in those situations complaints just make it worse). Like you, I have had good experience with the schedulers - they have actually gone out of their way to be accommodating when we had a situation with my DH going out of town mid-cycle for business. And, as I said in my prev. post, all of my interactions with the doctors have been great. I like Dr. Gordon a lot - something about him just makes me feel reassured that he knows what he's doing. From what I have read here, it seems like the people with problems (serious ones anyway) HAVE complained.. no? I will say that the stuff here about Dr. Dimattina scares me. I guess you have to take everything with a grain of salt that you read on an anonymous message board, but if I were his patient I would be alarmed after reading this. I have never met him myself.

[Anonymous]

I'm currently a patient with Dr. DiMattina and I think he's a perfet fit for my personality. He won't hand hold, and he gives it to you straight. When I have a question or need to speak with him, I contact a nurse and he calls me back within hours.

PP - I'm curious, what was the source of the disagreement you had with Dr. D? How did he doctor your files? I ask because I want to make sure nothing like that happens if I have a differing opinion. I may even ask for an updated copy of my files after this post!

[Anonymous]

to 11:51, he made a major error with me, MAJOR, that sent me to outside docs to fix. He never bothered to put that in the files. When my husband and I had conversations with his idiot nurses or him about it, they totally "rewrote" what was said on those calls. They should be out of business.

[Anonymous]

11:51 here - Holy crap! Can I ask what procedure you were having done? I'm having my ET later this month, so I'm almost afraid to ask - but am dying to know...

[Anonymous]

You sure can. I was having my egg retrieved. He missed. Look, when you hear the words "Oh no, where's all that blood coming from" I think you have a problem.

[Anonymous]

Google dominion fertility lawsuit. Read some of the articles on the first page. You'll find it...

[Anonymous]

NP here. Are any of you worried about potential lawsuits re: writing things on this board? I have plenty that I would love to share in terms of my experiences, but am wary. I always thought you couldn't badmouth people on the internet like this.. slander or libel or something? Clearly I'm not an attorney!

[Anonymous]

15:28 - I'm not really concerned. I had such a traumatic experience that I'd rather tell women so they know what I endured at Dimattina's hands. And as far as a lawsuit, well, what happened happened. If people stay quiet about the things doctors do to them that are wrong or negligent, then no one wins. The best the asswipe could do is contact the site admin and tell her to take certain posts down. But thanks to our good friend google, stuff lives on...

You should share your experiences. And if you are concerned, don't do it from your home or work. Do it from an internet cafe or wifi place.