3 replies to this topic

[heartolion]

Newbie question:

 

I've noticed a lot of measurements, numbers, results posted as you go along your protocols.  Are you asking your doctor or clinic for results every day? Do they email them to you? Do you bring along a notebook every morning?

 

I want to be sure I'm as educated and informed as possible to be my best advocate, so seeking any advice on what's key to track or ask about. It seems pretty overwhelming! What do you do on your own versus with your doctors?

 

Thanks!

[Pebbles]

I learned to watch out for these numbers thanks to the ladies on the forum here and reading about theirs. My RE would mention things like follicle size, lining thickness etc during ultrasound sessions and I'd try to remember as much as possible and write it down in a journal afterwards. I didn't get this info as email (but it was in my file). My previous clinic would never tell me any blood values (like estrogen levels as indicator on how many follicles might be mature) and would only contact us if there was anything "off". These numbers I only got when I asked for my file -which is something you could do at some point (you might have to pay for it and I don't think there is a reason to get it from the very beginning).
Blood values like FSH or AMH levels were directly sent to my RE and we went over the results together and again I asked to get the number from the RE and then wrote them down.

I see that you are starting with a natural IUI. Best of luck with it! If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask, I also started with natural IUIs and little did I know about all the other options for IUI that were out there. I am now going back to IUIs with injectables (switched clinic).

[heartolion]

Thanks Pebbles.  I will take my journal with me and hope to remember to ask the key questions.

Good luck to you as well!

[SunshineTTC]

It's your right to have any all info and details, a Dr absolutely cannot refuse to give you results.  It's a 2-way relationship (in this case costing a lot of $$), the patient absolutely should be an active participant and advocate for themselves.  Many (most?) patients in any Dr-patient relationship just move along without details, some don't even want them, that's how they deal best with things, letting someone else have control and not getting themselves stressed out by detail (some of which might not be good).  I'm the opposite, I get totally stressed out with too little detail, I want any and all information and the smallest of detail whether it's good or bad.  It's my body, I need to know what's going on in it.  Plus I have a scientific/research background, so I easily understand everything and over-analysis is my middle name.  It'll be overwhelming at first, but you'll start to become very educated very quickly.  Even for me asking for all details, I still regret not being more educated at the start.  For what it's worth, at age 40 with my other stats (AFC, AMH, etc) in hindsight I was treated way too conservatively with unmedicated and then low-dose clomid IUIs, should have moved much more quickly and aggressively, but I didn't know any better.

 

My current Dr (especially) and nurses have pretty much figured out my need for numbers by now.  I get told all follicle sizes and lining thickness and any other detail as my Dr is doing the monitoring u/s, and when the nurses call or email in the afternoon and try saying "all is good with blood, just continue meds as before" they don't get away with it, I want the results.  I even ask for the numbers from the tech at my baseline u/s just at a radiology place here in Regina, in theory they could say no and make me wait for the Dr to receive the results, but usually they are decent about it.  And yes, 2.5 years of this every little detail is written down in a notebook.  It has come in handy more than once.  For example when we couldn't decide whether to trigger one day or push one more day of stims, I was able to sit down with the Dr and nurse and lay out all the info on follicle sizes at trigger for previous cycles, which had been mature vs. not, what day we triggered etc... of course he has all that info computerized in front of him, but I was the one putting the notebook on his desk with everything nicely together for comparison (which I'd already gone through the night before, knowing that decision was going to hit us).  And in fact we had been leaning to the opposite decision until talking through all the info and realizing that was the wrong call.  Ultimately it's your responsibility to always be on top of things, but how much of that responsibility you want to take on vs. brain overload is really your decision according to what helps you get through your journey the best.  Good luck to you!