Nurse at GW?

[Anonymous]

Please anyone at GW, can you tell me which nurses you recommend at GW? I have Donna and I have to change, and quick. Please give me advice if you can! I'm 39 and running out of time, GW is my second fertility clinic and I want to get this one right. Thanks in advance-

[Anonymous]

What's wrong with Donna? She's really the nurse supervisor (unless there are two Donnas?), but I have dealt with her a few times and liked her.

[Anonymous]

So far Donna has been TERRIBLE. Doesn't respond to emails, has forgotten to call me with bloodwork results. Has forgotten to tell me blood results unless I specifically ask. Has not shared with me a plan, possible theories as to what's wrong with me, etc even when I press. Has not explained hypothyroidism or my medication and wouldn't even call in medication until I pressed, telling me first to "make an appt" with my dr, which is over a month away, meanwhile I would just be twiddling my thumbs for a month. She is unemotional, doesn't seem very compassionate, and not on top of things. In short, she's horrible. My nurse at Shady Grove was so open, caring, compassionate, and on top of things, Donna is terrible compared to her. If not given the donor egg speech at SG, I would go back there. Please, if you have a nurse you like at GW, can you recommend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far Donna has been TERRIBLE. Doesn't respond to emails, has forgotten to call me with bloodwork results. Has forgotten to tell me blood results unless I specifically ask. Has not shared with me a plan, possible theories as to what's wrong with me, etc even when I press. Has not explained hypothyroidism or my medication and wouldn't even call in medication until I pressed, telling me first to "make an appt" with my dr, which is over a month away, meanwhile I would just be twiddling my thumbs for a month. She is unemotional, doesn't seem very compassionate, and not on top of things. In short, she's horrible. My nurse at Shady Grove was so open, caring, compassionate, and on top of things, Donna is terrible compared to her. If not given the donor egg speech at SG, I would go back there. Please, if you have a nurse you like at GW, can you recommend?

I was going yo reply to your other thread. But since you open this new one. I'll reply here.

I'm sorry your going through this. It's tough, very tough. I do not mean to be insensitive (in fact I'm in the same boat, passed the 39 deadline and desperate for things to work out) but you need to take a deep breath.

Nurses are not necessarily emotional or worried about individual cases, and more often than it should things slip up.

Get some power back to yourself. Advocate for yourself . Ask questions, you did well in asking for the TSH/prolactin numbers.

Now, there are other things you can do to help yourself:

* Do you have access to the GW portal? If not, register for it, in there you can see the results of labs. Not the labs from monitoring (E2, P4, etc) but the labs for which you get blood drawn downstairs (like the prolactin, tsh).

* Take a more active role. Get TSH medication from your PCP or endocrinologist. Trust me is easier this way. If you don't have PCP or endocrinologist yet, get one (preferably at GW) so Dr. F. can see your labs results easily. Try to keep your TSH around 1.0. (It's not really the RE responsibility to take care of your TSH - although he should check and send you to an endocrinologist).

* Ask to be on "cancelation" list or "when available" list for a consult. That way whenever the Dr. has a free spot you get a call of whether you can make it. It might be short notice so try to be flexible if possible. If he doesn't have availability ask if he can give you a phone call.

As for Nurses you can try Christine, she's warmer but trust me, things will slip up. Take an active role, and at the same time take deep breaths. It's sometimes a long journey so take each step at a time.

I'm sorry this is not easier, but it will make a big difference for you if you are able to help yourself through this process.

[Anonymous]

Rana, the woman at the front desk, is really the gatekeeper there. She can help you resolve some issues if you talk directly to her. She's very sweet and totally on top of things. Just ask for a more responsive nurse. I work with Jenny and she is great.

[Anonymous]

Jenny has been my assigned nurse and she is okay. Better than Donna, though I've had some frustration with Jenny on communication (I've mentioned it in previous posts, so I'm not going to rehash here). During my last cycle, my retrieval was on a Saturday and Donna was the nurse on duty. It was painful (figuratively, not literally). She threatened to cancel my retrieval because she misunderstood a request we made about getting my husband in earlier for his sample (we were having trouble securing child care for that day). During the procedure, she disappeared for periods of time, forgot to tell us things (like she didn't tell me to change into the hospital gown, and then when she came in and found me still in my street clothes, she rolled her eyes and scolded me for not changing). Silly little things, but hopped up on hormones and adrenaline, it's not what I needed. I had a different nurse for transfer. I can't remember her name, but I really like her.

[Anonymous]

I had Reisha - I think she is no longer there I believe. She was ok but not fabulous. Chrissy subbed for her on calls for a few days and was GREAT. Gave lots of info. If she's still there, ask to switch to her. I do think that for nurses though, you have to be on top of it as a previous poster said. They have too many patients unfortunately...

Also Rana is the best. We still keep in touch and I am 22 weeks with a Dr. F baby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had Reisha - I think she is no longer there I believe. She was ok but not fabulous. Chrissy subbed for her on calls for a few days and was GREAT. Gave lots of info. If she's still there, ask to switch to her. I do think that for nurses though, you have to be on top of it as a previous poster said. They have too many patients unfortunately...

Also Rana is the best. We still keep in touch and I am 22 weeks with a Dr. F baby

I had Reisha and did not like her at all - she almost caused me to miss a cycle.

But you are right, the most important thing is to be your own best advocate. This is hard if you're a first-timer, but that's what we are all here for. When I'm done with all this, with or without a baby, I want to work with GW on writing up a patient handbook - in PLAIN ENGLISH. There are so many little things that nobody tells you. They can't expect us to come in knowing even half of what's going on.

[Anonymous]

I found Donna patronizing, but not super horrible. But then again, after dealing with the SG financial people, I can face off with the Satan now, no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your replies!! I am definitely an advocate for myself, I'm not new to this since I've been at SG since December. And I took care of my mom when she was sick with cancer, so believe me I know the power of advocating. That's what I've been trying to do with Donna, and it's getting nowhere. Yesterday after I posted this, I realized she never called my thyroid med in- then she called it into the wrong pharmacy! I understand there are slip ups- at SG more than once they didn't order my mail-order meds on time and I had to go to a speciality pharmacy out in Fairfax to get emergency meds. But there have been nothing but slip ups, frustration, lack of communication, and hostility mixed with evasiveness from Donna. To 3:01, I'm on the GW portal but my results were no on there, there is no new information on there since I've started with GW. I did try to get in with a GW endrocriniologist- first appt was Dec 1. And I only have a 30-day supply of my thyroid meds, so that's not going to work. I agree, Rana is a sweetie! Thanks everyone for giving me the names of some of the other nurses, that helps a ton! TO 12:25, is there a GW patient handbook? I never got one. Please write one because it's all so unnecessarily confusing!To 10:17, that sounds like an awful retrieval experience with Donna. I mentioned in another post that the techs said "oh that explains it" when an order was missing and I said my nurse was Donna. In my opinion, she should be fired. She's definitely in the wrong profession. Thanks everyone for your help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for your replies!! I am definitely an advocate for myself, I'm not new to this since I've been at SG since December. And I took care of my mom when she was sick with cancer, so believe me I know the power of advocating. That's what I've been trying to do with Donna, and it's getting nowhere. Yesterday after I posted this, I realized she never called my thyroid med in- then she called it into the wrong pharmacy! I understand there are slip ups- at SG more than once they didn't order my mail-order meds on time and I had to go to a speciality pharmacy out in Fairfax to get emergency meds. But there have been nothing but slip ups, frustration, lack of communication, and hostility mixed with evasiveness from Donna. To 3:01, I'm on the GW portal but my results were no on there, there is no new information on there since I've started with GW. I did try to get in with a GW endrocriniologist- first appt was Dec 1. And I only have a 30-day supply of my thyroid meds, so that's not going to work. I agree, Rana is a sweetie! Thanks everyone for giving me the names of some of the other nurses, that helps a ton! TO 12:25, is there a GW patient handbook? I never got one. Please write one because it's all so unnecessarily confusing!To 10:17, that sounds like an awful retrieval experience with Donna. I mentioned in another post that the techs said "oh that explains it" when an order was missing and I said my nurse was Donna. In my opinion, she should be fired. She's definitely in the wrong profession. Thanks everyone for your help!

I'm the PP who mentioned a handbook. I don't think one does exist, and I do plan to talk to Dr. F. about creating one (I am a writer and do that kind of stuff for a living). If it does happen, I'll post here and we can all get together to share experiences.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if Jan is still at GW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if Jan is still at GW?

Jan was my nurse and sent me a goodbye-ish email about a couple months ago. but hinted she might be back but don't know if that's the case. I'm now with Donna which I have mixed views about like others.

[Anonymous]

I found out through my experiences at SG that you do indeed have to advocate for yourself. I switched doctors while I was there and was so much happier. While there was a minor issue here or there, I still felt I was in much better hands. SG had a point person set up for things like switching. I'm sure GW does too. People switch all the time for various reasons, it's not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if Jan is still at GW?

Jan had surgery and is out on leave. Too bad because she is AWESOME.