Top 10 Things We Love

Yesterday, we blogged about getting a second opinion from another locally respected RE in regards to our 3 IVF losses. As you know, this is the most educated path for us to take after all of the blood, sweat, & tears we have put into this process. It would be great to have another set of eyes confirm that our diagnoses and future treatment plans coincide with our current RE’s.

After making the appointment with the new RE, I quickly started (not even close to being done) a list of questions we will ask of him (hope he’s got a lot of time on his hands). This prompted a discussion, and led to making a list of all of the things we really love about our current clinic.  I think this will come in handy if we ever are faced with the possibility of switching clinics down the road one day.

Top 10 Things We Love 

1. There are other means of communication rather than just the telephone.  I can email my doctor or nurse at anytime and I know they will get back to me within 24 hours max (unless of course they are out of the office).  I can also call the after hours line and receive a call back within 30 minutes from my RE (we did this when miscarrying after IVF #2).  When it comes down to it, in my eyes, this is the biggest perk about our clinic.
2. We are under the care of only 1 RE at the practice.  This provides a sense of consistency and continuity.  There are about 7 doctors in total at the practice, we always see the same one no matter what.
3. We do not have to travel to their various locations.  This is a biggie.  In Florida, most clinics have numerous locations, and you have to travel to each of them at some point.  Although our clinic has 5 locations, we have only had to travel to the one closest to our home.
4. Everyone knows us by name.  Our current clinic location is small enough that everyone knows us by name.  This makes us feel at home.
5. Scheduling Appointments.  They always seem to squeeze us in or accommodate our schedules. I honestly do not remember the last time we requested a certain date or time and were shot down.  My RE has even seen me in between patients when I have not been on the schedule for that day.
6. Wait time for appointments.  When we have an appointment, we never have to wait long past our scheduled time to see our nurse or RE. It’s great!  I don’t know if the receptionist just likes us, and schedules us at “good” times or what, but I’m not complaining. LOL.
7. Amount of time our RE spends with us.  We can spend as much time with her as we need and we never feel like we are being pushed out for the next patient.  This was a biggie for my husband.  At the first clinic we went to before we did IVF, he felt as if we were “just another patient.”
8. Bedside manner.  My RE and nurses hug me, laugh with me, and have literally cried with me.  I know they have our best interest at heart.
9. Paperwork.  This would include records, prescriptions, requisites, and the like.  For example, I can email our nurse when we would like a copy of something, such as a semen analysis, blood work, etc.  Within a day of our request, they will email it to us.
10. Hours.  Our clinic starts seeing patients at 7:30 am which has been really convenient for us since we both worked. I could still arrive to work on time when I had the first appointment of the day.  Also, when we needed, our RE came in on a Saturday and/or Sunday when she was not on the schedule. This happened right before IVF #3.  There really is no day or time that is off limits-in fact, I was even getting phone calls on New Years Eve from my nurse.

This list is a work in progress. There are actually even more to add to it. In all honesty, we were lucky (or should I say blessed). We didn’t look into hardly any of these things before we began the process a few years back. Thankfully, they all worked out to our liking.  I would encourage anyone considering IUI or IVF to think about these things before hand, because sometimes cycles don’t go as planned and you may end up sticking around for quite some time (try 2 years in our case!).