Trying to have an IVF baby during a pandemic is probably not the best of ideas. But in our defense we decided to do it before covid had become an issuue. So I imagine that our experience is probably not a typical one.
For one thing we haven’t met face to face with our plan of care nurse. I imagine that in a more normal situation you would see them more often, maybe not. But because of that lack of face to face contact I would expect there to be more calls, messages, or emails. But there hasn’t been. I know it can be hard once you are deeply entrenched in a profession to forget that not everyone understands your field at the level you do. I think the mark of a true professional, someone who really understands their field, is someone who can anticipate and address foundational questions.
I (we) started injections today. For 10 days we mix two different kinds of fertility drugs at home and inject them into my abdomen to encourage my ovaries to produce more eggs than they normally would during a cycle. This is a critical part of the IVF cycle. I would think the nurse who is in charge of my plan would’ve called me to check in to see if I had any questions, make sure I understood dosing, and that I was doing okay. And I received none of that. Instead when asked at my appointment if I had questions and I said yes, I was given misinformation.
Thankfully I have a loving, supportive, and rational husband who helped us get the right information we needed in the time that we needed it.
I can be really disappointing when you expect help from someone and don’t receive it. To be clear I didn’t just hope that the nurse would be in contact with me she said she would be in contact with me when the time got closer.
I don’t think the answer is to not expect anything from anyone. Clearly the answer is to have good communication. You would think that a business that relies on communicating accurate and timely information would make it a priority.
But of course if you don’t get a baby out of the treatment it’s not their fault so maybe misinformation is not a bad thing for them because then they get more money out of you in the future.