Here's to Renewed Hope

My brain is working overtime right now, trying to process all of the information and happenings of today.  We had our consultation with the civilian clinic this afternoon. We had really high expectations for this appointment....and we were not disappointed. We had a wonderful experience and it really makes me question why we did not seek care outside the Army months ago!


We arrived rather early, since we had never been there before we wanted to make sure we allowed plenty of time to get there. The nurse, who I had never met before and had only spoken with a couple times on the phone, knew who I was right away and had some information for me.  Shocker! I've been a patient on post for 13 months and the receptionist still doesn't know me from Adam.  I had the typical intake form to complete and then we waited, but not for long. We got called back into the doctor's office--plush leather chairs instead of an exam table? I'll take it!  Dr. C, the embryologist, sat with us and took our history.  There were no comments like, "Oh you're young! Don't worry..." but rather he said, "Wow, it's been a long time, huh?" Based on my diagnosis, endometriosis with a blocked left tube, he agreed that IVF was our best course of action.  Then we waited some more... As it turns out, the RE, Dr. M, is also an OB/GYN and had to deliver a baby at lunch so he was running a bit behind.

When Dr. M came in he introduced himself and very quickly sat down and got right to the point. He's from NY, speaks very quickly and with a lot of incomplete thoughts and sentences. I got the impression that he is an incredibly smart man (M.D. and PhD in Embryology!)  and has difficulty having conversations with people of average intelligence.  He took the time to literally go over every single page of my chart and highlighted things that he felt were pertinent to my case.  He commented that my treatment up to this point has been, "Cost effective but a waste of time."  I couldn't have agreed more!

For those of you who aren't familiar with the military insurance Tricare, they cover nothing for IVF. They'll pay for endless drugs as long as we're having timed intercourse and they'll pay for breast augmentation and vasectomy reversals but not IUI or IVF--we are entirely out of pocket for this. At first, it sounded like the IVF program on post was a really great deal.  All my meds would be covered thanks to a grant program given to the hospital, my ultrasounds and meds would be covered and done on post too. However, we'd still have to pay for the actual retrieval and transfer since those would be done at an off post facility in Seattle and will cost several thousand dollars. From what I've read on various military boards, this fee is significantly higher than most military IVF programs.  Dr. M, bless his heart, gives a substantial military discount which makes IVF at his clinic, meds and all, even cheaper than on post....and without the long wait.   We can receive even further discounts if we choose to participate in his embryo/implantation research study.  He is working on developing a sort of "embryo glue" that has shown to have added success with implantation during IVF cycles.  As we were leaving, Dr. M saw me trying to pay for the consultation and he stopped me. He told the nurse to bill Tricare since they should cover it. I thought that was really nice of him, even if we do still end up with a bill in a few weeks.  This clinic is seriously a God send and I felt like Dr. M genuinely cares about his patients and he is not restricted by Army red tape.

When we left the clinic we were already 95% sure that we were going to switch, just based on our initial impression in compared with the overall experience we've had with the Army infertility clinic.  It's a bit of a drive (an hour away) but we really liked the small, intimate setting of the clinic compared to the hustle and bustle of the large Army hospital. When we got home Mike and I had a very long talk about everything--the odds, the risks, the research study, financial aspects, how soon we'd like to try, if we want to leave the clinic on post entirely......everything.  We came to this decision:  I am going to call the clinic tomorrow and get the ball rolling.  We are going to shoot (and pray!) for a December IVF Cycle, which means that I will need to start BCP in two weeks. Here's hoping that the powers that be (and Uncle Sam) allow it and here's to renewed hope!



For your viewing pleasure: A 3D animation of the IVF procedure.