A lot has happened since I stopped blogging. I got excited that we were doing IVF but at the same time I was worried about it. I didn't think that my doctor had my best interest in mind when he put me on a bad protocol and insisted that there weren't any others that we could try. I knew from the start that the cycle would get cancelled, but I went along with my doctors plan anyway to prove to him that it wouldn't work in hopes that he would try a different protocol for our next try. I hate saying this, but I was right and my doctor was wrong. Our IVF cycle went horribly wrong. I did not respond to the medicine properly. Instead of creating a lot of follicles, the meds caused one to grow out of control. After 3 days of stims and on cycle day 6 I had 1 follicle that was 18mm. The nurse went in her pocket and took out a folded piece of lined paper where they kept notes with a pen and showed me that I had 5 smaller follicles. I wanted to cancel the cycle but our doctor told us to wait an extra day so the other follicles would catch up. Stupidly taking his advice, DH and I bought the expensive remaining drugs and went to the fertility clinic the next day just to find out that there was no change. We cancelled the cycle and saw our doctor again. He told us that we should try again but with a higher dose of medications. I knew that wasn't going to work so I said no and told him the protocol I wanted to try but of course he refused to go with my way. I know my body and how it responds to meds. I did a lot of research and found another protocol, but my doctor told me that the internet was crap and I shouldn't listen to anything I read on the internet. I then asked him what would happen if my IVF cycles didn't work and he suggested donor eggs. I was so annoyed with his lack of options and that he wasn't open to my suggestions so I asked if he could refer me to another doctor who might have an idea. I don't think he liked that very much because that's when things started to get BAD for me. The next day when I had my IUI done by him he was very rude and physically hurt me. I would like to think that he didn't hurt me intentionally, but I am pretty sure that it was. I am in tears writing this because I feel so violated. When he inserted the catheter into me I screamed at the top of my lungs in agony. The doctor smiled and said that he accidentally used the big catheter and it was okay because I liked them big anyway. I really want to complain to someone but am afraid to.
The clinic said right from the beginning that if our cycle was cancelled we could get all of our money back minus the IUI and a $300 administrative fee for the cycle. After my horrid IUI I wanted to leave that place and never turn back so DH and I went to the reception and asked to get our IVF money back, but of course that didn't go over well. They didn't refund us what they owed us. They only gave us the cost of the IVF back, but never gave us the $1000 for ICSI. They also charged a $300 administrative fee for 2 cycles. The reception argued with us about it and then out of the blue turned to me and said that if I don't want any problems and ever wanted treatment done again that I would need to have a meeting with the medical director, who by the way was away because he was having back surgery. DH told them that he would just tell the CC company that services weren't rendered.
Because I was never going back to that awful clinic, I asked for my chart to be emailed to me. When I received it I couldn't believe what I saw. The fertility clinic lied on my records. They lied about the drugs I was had been on and the doses. My records say that I wasn't taking any medications when I was. I assume they made fake records because they were given me way too much medication that could have seriously hurt me. I was on Femara almost every cycle taking 5 - 12.5 mg at once. The lined piece of paper that the nurse showed me during my IVF cycle wasn't the same as the actual IVF record that they emailed me. My actual records said that I only had 3 follicles and not 6 like the lined paper had. This record also said that I was taking no medication when I was on a whole bunch of things.
At the end of my IVF cycle I started to feel really weird. I was in a lot of pain and felt like something was leaking inside of my legs, ovaries and uterus. Before I asked for a second opinion and everything was okay at the clinic, the IVF nurse said that she would be there for at any time of my cycle and if I needed anything at all to call or email her, yet when I was concerned and needed her I couldn't get a hold of her, or anyone at the clinic for that matter. I still don't know what was wrong with me, but as soon as my period started I passed a clot the size of the toilet and felt a lot better. This was months ago and the clinic never did follow up with me. You think they would want to make sure I was okay after giving me all of those IVF medications, oh yeah but that's not on their records so I guess they don't care.
DH and I have realized that we were being screwed by this clinic big time! All they cared about was money. They strung us along knowing that nothing they were doing would work and nickeled and dimed us. When I went there for the first time they led me to believe that I couldn't buy fertility medication at a normal pharmacy and said that if we were to buy our medication elsewhere we would have to pay them $75 per cycle. That must have pissed people off because they stopped that.
I cannot believe I wasted 2 years with those crooks. I have more stories about them that would make anyone cringe but this is getting long so I'll get to those later.
In my next post I will write about our new plans.
