I wanted to take some time to write a review regarding my
personal experience as a patient of the Regional Fertility Program. When I was looking for a clinic I wasn’t able
to find anything that was up to date. I
am hoping this review helps the people who are considering becoming an out of town patient.
It is lengthy so I broke it
up into the different steps of a cycle.
Feel free to add your own experiences and ask any questions you may
have.
Here is some info to catch you up to speed on what
treatments we have completed…
- Cycle #1 - Full IVF with ICSI
- 20 eggs retrieved
- Only 10 were mature enough to fertilize
- 4 made it to the blastocyst (blasts) stage
- Transferred 1 blasts
- Cycle#2 - Frozen Embryo Transfer
- Thawed 3 blasts of which only 2 survived
- Transferred 2 blasts
My overall impression of the clinic at this point is not favorable. They do have some of the best success rates
in Canada
and have a great team of doctors. We
were hopeful that this would be the answer we have been waiting for. However I feel that all this is negated with
the way they choose to schedule and organize the clinic.
They say that there are able to look after out of town
patients just as if they were there and I feel like that statement could not be
farther from the truth. I think that
if they offer and encourage people from out of province to come to there clinic
they really need to do some work on the care they provide for their out of town
patients. I am speaking from the perspective of an out of town patient, this could be very different if I was a resident of Calgary.
By far my biggest complaint was due to lack of proper communication. In one word I would describe the
communication with this clinic as horrible!
You are never able to talk to a person and you must leave a message (and
only 1 message per day). The average
time I waited for a return call was 24-36 hours. There are times within a cycle that you need
to talk to someone within a few hours. When
I expressed this concern I was met with excuses and a lack of care for the
situation.
In my experience this clinic does not go above and beyond
for their patients. The $10,000 we paid
was to get us through the treatments, offer very minimal advice and support and
send us on our way.
The last thing you want when going through IVF is stress and
frustration. It seemed that every time I
got off the phone with a nurse at the clinic I felt frustrated. I have asked myself if this review would be
different if the treatments had worked and the more I thought about I would say
my answers would stay the exact same.
We are waiting for our follow up appointment to discuss
these concerns and our options for the future.
We will also be looking around to see what other clinics in the US have to
offer. If you can afford it (it is not
even that much more) they have some amazing clinics outside of Canada!
I have contacted one clinic who will respond
to my questions on their Facebook page faster than I can get someone to answer
my call in Calgary. I think that says A LOT!
Getting On the
List
I first contacted the clinic in the summer of 2010 and by
the fall we were invited to go to an information session regarding IVF. After we attended the information session they
told us the wait time to be offered treatment was between 4-5 months. It actually took us 1 year and 2 months for
treatment to be offered. I eventually
found out the reason for this was because I was not calling in my period which
they require you to do so to stay on there waiting list. I have PCOS and do not get a period so it took
at least 4 months of them not calling before I called them to ask them where we
were on the list. Low and behold we were at the bottom and the
lady explained if I wouldn’t have called I would never have been offered
treatment. I explained to them my
situation and I was put on birth control so I could call in my cycle and ensure
my spot on the list. After that my tests
(HSG, Blood Work) all had expired so I was benched again waiting to complete
tests for treatment. This took the rest
of the year and finally we were called in for treatment.
The Clinic Building
The clinic looks like any doctors office, neat and tidy. There are pictures of babies and children on
the walls for decoration, I liked this because it made me feel hopeful. They apparently have free internet stations
but I was never able to access the internet.
The only thing I did find at these stations were baby food ads and
pregnancy information, I think articles pertaining to fertility would be a much
better fit for these stations.
They have a TV in the corner that I never noticed until our
retrieval. I was subjected to 2 kids
watching Dora for almost an hour. There
are still people struggling with infertility after having children but this
annoyed the hell out of me. I don’t feel
this is a place kids should be. If we
had children and required more procedures I guarantee they would be left at
home.
The weekday receptionists are professional and knowledgeable. They always answered my questions and made me
feel at ease. The ones I experienced on
the weekend were unprofessional, I would not feel comfortable leaving important
information with anyone I saw at that desk.
In my opinion the girls on the weekend dress way too casually and talk
very loud about there personal life. It
is a small waiting area so there voices travel. The last time I was in there to check on my
appointment (during the weekend) I was greeted by a girl sucking on a sucker
with a wrist full of dirty bracelets, enough said.
The Pharmacy
The pharmacy within the clinic is small but we have nothing
but positive things to say. All the
staff were extremely helpful and friendly.
They made sure I knew exactly what I was doing and returned my calls in
a timely manner. I received my
prescriptions on time and everything was packaged well! I was glad I choose to use the pharmacy
within the clinic as it made my experience less stressful.
IVF Prep
(Medications, Ultrasounds, Blood Work)
The medications were easy for me to administer. I didn’t mind the needles and the pharmacy
walked me through any apprehensions I had.
The clinic opens at 8:00 for your daily (sometimes every
second day) ultrasound and blood work.
They tell you that appointments are on a first come first serve basis. They tell you if you want the first
appointment, show up early! I have no
idea why they do this, it is not like they don’t know who is coming in that
day. I think it would be better if they just
scheduled an appointment time for everyone.
Instead you have a group of women showing up at 7:00 – 7:30 glaring at
one another making sure no one buds in line.
I found this to be a stressful way to start my day.
The morning nurses were some of the most cheerful people we
saw there. Once your blood was done you
went in for the ultrasound portion.
During this time we were surprised to not see our doctor once. We learnt that over the course of your
treatments you will be seen by different doctor’s everyday, I didn't like this. I never felt confident that my care was
individualized and the decisions that were being made had my case history in
mind. You were not given any time with
the doctor to ask questions. Instead you
were referred to the nurse who would answer questions, handle any dose changes
and make sure your treatment was progressing.
My number one question was “how are we doing”. We were always given what seemed to be a brush off
answer, everything looks good and the doctor thinks its fine. Since we weren’t talking to a doctor I felt
we were never given a real answer as to how the treatment was going and the
challenges and successes they were facing with my cycle. I feel this clinic fails to really educate
there patients about where there patients are in a cycle. As a patient I want to know the all the
medical details with explanations. I
want to understand the process and that my money is buying me some personalized
attention and the best advice out there.
Unfortunately as a result I never totally felt comfortable and confidante with my
treatment.
Egg Retrieval
The nurses were cheery during my egg
retrieval. They quickly went through
some paperwork and got an IV started.
The made sure to keep me engaged and talked to me which helped me worry
less about the procedure that was about to take place. They gave me some gravol to help with nausea
which I appreciated. It would be
terrible to start throwing up in the middle of something like this.
They gave me the anesthesia and the doctor began her
work. They talked to me throughout the
procedure. I watched the eggs appear on
the screen after they were retrieved. I
liked that in the treatment room you can see some of what they are doing. The nurse and doctor were supportive and got me through the
retrieval. It wasn’t very painful and it
was over before I knew it.
I waited in the recovery area for about an hour. There again the nurses were super friendly,
helpful and knowledgeable. The doctor
came in after to check on me and give me a final report on what was
retrieved.
The only thing I felt they could have done a better job at
is describing the discomfort and pain over the next few days. The nurse told me most women are feeling
normal after a day or so. It took almost
a week to feel normal again. I seriously
thought something was wrong, thank god for the internet as I found out this was
actually pretty normal.
Fertilization
Reports
For us this was a super emotional roller coaster ride. You wait with baited breathe every day to see
how those little fellers are doing. The
embryologists were always super punctual and called in the morning before 9. It was nice not having to wonder all day long
what was happening and if they were still progressing.
Transfer Day
The transfer was very similar to the egg retrieval except
without all the work! The nurses were
friendly and caring. They double checked
they had the right person on the table and the embryos they are transferring
are yours, they place the embryos in the catheter and away they go. It literally takes 2 minutes. All that prep work for 2 minutes…crazy!
The embryologist gives you a picture of what he transferred and
let’s you know how the embryos looked.
In our case the embryologist said in both cases that we had great
looking embryos. I was disappointed that
they never graded them or spoke about the structure in scientific terms. In the United States and some Canadian clinics grade the embryos
based on many factors. If our embryos
did have a grade we were never given more than the assurance that these could
do the trick. At the time it was easy to
trust that sentiment. I have wondered more
about the quality now that both of our treatments failed. I have no quantifiable information on the
quality of our embryos.
The 2 Week Wait
and Pregnancy Testing
Within this topic I have experienced the MOST frustration
with the clinic. The two week wait is
nothing special, restricted duties and pee on a stick at your doctor’s office
two weeks after transfer. This should be
the easiest part!
Both “confirmed” tests from a doctor took over 5 days for
them to get a hold of and process. Which means both times I was hormones for an
extra 5 days until it could be confirmed with my doctor. They do not accept home pregnancy test results. It must be done by a doctor. This clinic does not require a beta blood
test. The only test the said I needed
was a pee stick test at the doctor’s office.
I also question this practice as some women don’t even get a positive
result on a pee stick. I think that a
beta blood test is a far more accurate way of confirming pregnancy.
This situation is made problematic because I am not a
resident of Calgary. If I was, I would go into the clinic and they
could give me same day results. However
they make no effort in making it easier for out of town patients. The clinic here said they faxed the result to
them three times. The fertility clinic
said they did not receive any of them.
Instead of the fertility clinic just calling and asking (they would have
the power to get the results over the phone) they said it was my problem and
until I got it to them I would have to stay on all my medications. As a result I sat trying to figure out why
they weren’t getting them. It took a lot of back and forth phone calls and again waiting for someone at the clinic to call me back.
After the 5 day wait they FINALLY got the fax. The lady over the phone was empathetic but by
this point I was frustrated and was annoyed by the sentiment. I knew I wasn’t pregnant 5 days ago and she should
have known this considering I communicated to them that I had been testing at
home and had not received a positive result.
Thanks for reading my review. I hope this provides some information that is helpful to you.
Thanks for reading my review. I hope this provides some information that is helpful to you.
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