Consultation with Dr. Vasquez - 1/9/2012

We went to Dr. Vasquez's office today for our consultation.  After an unhappy and unimpressed experience with Nashville Fertility Center (NFC) and Dr. Hill's team, I researched for another fertility clinic in Nashville and found The Center For Reproductive Health (CRH) and Dr. Vasquez.  There were many things that drew me to this clinic, but the main one is their desire to determine the individual's cause for infertility.  I'll be honest, aside from not feeling like my voice was being heard, and never meeting with the same doctor twice, and feeling like I was throwing money away, the thing that bothered me the most about NFC was that they were content, and expected me to be too, with diagnosing me with "unexplained infertility."  End of story.  Well after meeting with Dr. Vasquez today, it is so clear to me that NFC was simply in the business of fertility treatments, and not necessarily interested in helping me become a mom.

Dr. Vasquez said today that most fertlity doctors do types of "pre-screening" of patients to determine if they're going to be successful in conceiving with fertility treatments.  He called it "cherry picking."  He said that they throw prescriptions of Clomid at you to see how your body reacts to it to better determine if they would be able to increase their chance of their clinic's success rate at "helping you have a baby."  He said that most doctors don't look at the biology of the patient.  Because, as I learned today, it takes a perfect egg, a perfect sperm, and a perfect uterine lining to conceive, carry and deliver a baby.  A lot of people don't realize that a woman has only a 20% chance of conceiving each cycle, and so many of those people who can take it for granted.

So after talking and learning and having my blood drawn to check my luteal something-or-others, I was given the instruction to call the office when I start my period so I can get a shot of something and then return the next day for an ultrasound to look at my granules (?) or something like that.  Dr. Vasquez used lots of big, scientific words that I vaguely remember from my high school and college biology days, so forgive me if I can't recall exactly what he said about everything.  Bottom line is that he is doing testing to determine my cause of infertility so that we don't just throw money away at that 20% that is likely lower in my case since I've never been pregnant ever and I have irregular periods (as in not every 28 days with ovulation on day 14).

In addition to having to call the office when I start my period and go through that 2-day testing cycle, I have already been scheduled for a surgery to dig around in my lady parts.  I was thinking he meant that I would have another HSG where they fill a catheder of contrast and do an ultrasound on my fallopian tubes, but this is an actual surgery.  The same day, Elvis will have to have another semen analysis done.  Then, in about 3 weeks, we'll go back for the followup appointment to discuss the findings and our plan at building our biological family.  Such a rollercoaster of emotions, but mostly relief that I will not be left answerless.  It's going to be a good year.