Here's what happened during my second visit to Sunfert.
Feb 17 2015
A day away from Chinese New Year's eve and here I was at my second appointment with the doc. And I brought the hubs along! I was so thrilled that he managed to take the day off. Never mind that he seemed to be in a foul mood after receiving a call from the mechanic who did a crap job with his beat-up car.
I waited for a while to be called in to see the nurse, who took my blood to check on my hormone levels. I asked if it was also for a HIV test that the doc mentioned the last time, but the nurse didn't seem to know anything about it.
We got to see the doc after an hour or so I think and I was really praying in the days leading up to the appointment that there would be no cyst found in me (again). God must've heard my prayers because woohoo, I was given the all-clear to immediately start treatment for IVF. The hubs seemed thrilled at the news, and found it amusing that the nurse needed to take another sample of my blood, because they had missed out on sending it for the HIV testing that I earlier asked about. Doc joked about "having to find the same hole to poke back into." Ouch!
I wasn't too worried about that though, but I think I just got charged extra for the double blood work! Bummer.
By the way, the IVF will cost us approximately RM16.8 k. The figure would possible be raised to RM18.5k in April, when the GST kicks in. Instead of an easy payment plan that you can pay over a year, Sunfert has taken the liberty to divide the figure into the different stages leading up to the completion of the IVF programme.
This is how the division works:
Today - second day of period scan + start of FSH injections = RM2k + (not inclusive of blood tests)
Next week (23/2) - for first scan to see the response in my ovaries = RM2k +
Another scan on 25/2 - to see if we need to slow down on the injections = RM4k+
Egg retrieval possible on 28/2 = RM7k
We told doc of our desire to freeze the eggs for a frozen transfer, as I was expected to travel to Singapore from March 13 - 16, which wouldn't be ideal if I were to be pregnant then. Doc said "Well that's the trend now, to freeze all the eggs."
So off I went to see the nurse (I think I waited almost an hour) and was told to do these injections:
Today: 1 FSH injection by mixing 3 green vials of powder with 1 1/2 bottles of ampoule (water).
Tomorrow: Same but alternate to the left side of my tummy. (exact location to be found by doing a L-shape with two of my fingers from each hand, from the navel).
19/2: Same
20/2: Same
21/2: Same + one Cetrizide shot (to prevent the eggs from being released prematurely)
22/2: Same as above.
23/2: Just the Cetrizide shot and to visit the doc.
The nurse was very friendly and knowledgeable, and was a stickler with details, which I liked. I was given a print out of the payment plan, which really made things easier to chart. So much more assurance for me, knowing when I would get pregnant :)
The hubs had to deal with his grumbling tummy so he had gone off to the Chili Espresso diner on the ground floor. Another great thing about having Sunfert in a neighbourhood mall (Nexus) is that we can do everything here in one go, and not have to drive to another place for lunch/breakfast. They even have Chatime, which I have been refraining from.
Oh and Doc said I could eat anything, except Chinese herbs. Because the evil herbs are doused with some hormones or something, and that would interfere with the treatment. Not even Bak kut teh is allowed!
I told myself that it would still be okay to eat all the spicy tom yam dishes I want. But I'd definitely cut back on the sweet drinks. No cola or fizz of any kind.
It was a good second appointment, and I couldn't be happier that Chinese New Year was just around the corner. I started doing my 'count the eggs before they hatch' routine, and got myself all excited that we might just be having a sheep baby.
Sunday, 1 March 2015
A little down
Today I felt a little down that I had to spend my Sunday doing some work...
And coupled with the fact that a friend, who already had a three-year-old, just announced that she was three months pregnant with her second child...
It still gets a little hard to take whenever I hear of new pregnancies resulting from natural planning...I tend to get all negative and ask yet again: Why aren't we parents yet?
Though yesterday marked the first time my eggs would've met my hubby's swimmers...we were told that we had to wait till end April before starting treatment again to prepare for the frozen embryo transfer. I guess I was still too numb from the anaesthesia to feel any disappointment.
So today...I just feel a little sad.
For dinner, I asked for fried chicken...and maybe just a pint of beer? We'll see what the hubs has in stored for us.
Wowed by Sunfert
I survived my egg retrieval, or oocyte pickup, procedure today! Yay! Well, my greatest worry was that I would be all dizzy and be overwhelmed with nausea because of the anaesthesia. But no such thing happened!
And I had 23 eggs in total! Indeed, a mother hen I am :)
Before I launch into more details, let me backtrack a bit. I suppose I would have to backtrack on every one of my upcoming posts till I catch up to the me now.
Feb 7 2015
Today was my first consultation with Dr Wong Pak Seng of the famed Sunfert Fertility Centre, newly opened at Bangsar South. Because I wanted it to be on a Saturday, I had to wait almost a month to cinch the appointment. At the last minute, the hubs had to be in Singapore for work so I dragged my older, much-more fertile sister to suss out the place.
Sunfert gave off a very pleasant first impression. High ceilings (I love high ceilings), more than enough seats for couples to cozy up on and friendly staff. In fact, they were so many seats, and comfortable sofa-like ones at that, that couples could choose to sit in their own corner and not have to worry about looking anti-social at all. I spotted a coffee station, with those one-click buttons for cappuccino/black coffee/caffe latte and noted to my self that hubby would be pleased.
The appointment was at 10 I think and we waited for about 45 mins to an hour before my number was called and we headed into one of the five counselling rooms to meet with a nurse.
I thought it was ingenious that we had the nurse's intervention to recall my medical history, instead of having to do the routine verbal vomit only when we saw the doc, which would hold up the already long line of patients outside.
After about 15 minutes of giving the nurse a lowdown on our past (at which point the nurse even noted in the document file that my hubby was away in Singapore, "just so the doctor would know at a glance." How efficient!), we were told to wait to be called in to see the doctor.
I think that probably took like two hours, and by then my sister was already hideously impatient.
I would say that Dr Wong couldn't have been a better fit of a doctor for me. He looked extremely calm, very patient, and incredibly decisive (perfect for the indecisive me!).
I was ushered into an adjoining room for a scan from below (the dreaded magic wand scan), and was told that I had a small cyst on one of my ovaries, and a larger unknown blob in the other. Doc says it could possibly be a leftover egg shell from a previous ovulation. To determine what was what, I was given some progesterone tablets to induce my period (hadn't had mine in almost two months anyway). I don't think I had ever taken one of those before and thought they were the most useful things ever! I was asked to be back on Day Two/Three of my period, which is standard procedure for fertility scans, but this time, because I could count on the pills to bring on the blood, I could instantly set a date for the appointment. A week later, woohoo!
Doc diagnosed me with PCOS, decisively, and surprised me by asking if I've ever been on Glucophage, a type of diabetes medication. Apparently, women with PCOS do better in fertility with the meds, which encourages better quality eggs and reduces instances of miscarriage. How interesting! No serious side effects too.
He also said that some women are born with a harder-than-usual ovarian shell (I hope I got that right), which makes it difficult for a mature egg to break out of. Hence, ovulation only happens four to six times a year, instead of the normal 12.
Doc said if I had come to him two years ago, he would've suggested a laparoscopy drilling surgery, which would enable me to conceive naturally, easily. "But I'm sure you're tired of all that surgery stuff by now," he said. True enough, as planned, I bypassed the IUI option and said we were serious about IVF.
Doc nodded in a very understanding manner and within minutes, had charted up an IVF plan for me. In all, he said it takes about 16 days from treatment to embryo transfer, which is when I would be unofficially pregnant. 16 days! It could all happen next month!
But now, to make sure that I wasn't carrying a cyst...
And so we left with a happy heart at about 1.45pm, but only after waiting around for the nurse to get my meds and seal the appointment date.
My sister then treated me to an icky rabbit-food (raw cucumbers, carrots, quinoa sushi!) like lunch in Bangsar, but that's another story altogether :)
And I had 23 eggs in total! Indeed, a mother hen I am :)
Before I launch into more details, let me backtrack a bit. I suppose I would have to backtrack on every one of my upcoming posts till I catch up to the me now.
Feb 7 2015
Today was my first consultation with Dr Wong Pak Seng of the famed Sunfert Fertility Centre, newly opened at Bangsar South. Because I wanted it to be on a Saturday, I had to wait almost a month to cinch the appointment. At the last minute, the hubs had to be in Singapore for work so I dragged my older, much-more fertile sister to suss out the place.
Sunfert gave off a very pleasant first impression. High ceilings (I love high ceilings), more than enough seats for couples to cozy up on and friendly staff. In fact, they were so many seats, and comfortable sofa-like ones at that, that couples could choose to sit in their own corner and not have to worry about looking anti-social at all. I spotted a coffee station, with those one-click buttons for cappuccino/black coffee/caffe latte and noted to my self that hubby would be pleased.
The appointment was at 10 I think and we waited for about 45 mins to an hour before my number was called and we headed into one of the five counselling rooms to meet with a nurse.
I thought it was ingenious that we had the nurse's intervention to recall my medical history, instead of having to do the routine verbal vomit only when we saw the doc, which would hold up the already long line of patients outside.
After about 15 minutes of giving the nurse a lowdown on our past (at which point the nurse even noted in the document file that my hubby was away in Singapore, "just so the doctor would know at a glance." How efficient!), we were told to wait to be called in to see the doctor.
I think that probably took like two hours, and by then my sister was already hideously impatient.
I would say that Dr Wong couldn't have been a better fit of a doctor for me. He looked extremely calm, very patient, and incredibly decisive (perfect for the indecisive me!).
I was ushered into an adjoining room for a scan from below (the dreaded magic wand scan), and was told that I had a small cyst on one of my ovaries, and a larger unknown blob in the other. Doc says it could possibly be a leftover egg shell from a previous ovulation. To determine what was what, I was given some progesterone tablets to induce my period (hadn't had mine in almost two months anyway). I don't think I had ever taken one of those before and thought they were the most useful things ever! I was asked to be back on Day Two/Three of my period, which is standard procedure for fertility scans, but this time, because I could count on the pills to bring on the blood, I could instantly set a date for the appointment. A week later, woohoo!
Doc diagnosed me with PCOS, decisively, and surprised me by asking if I've ever been on Glucophage, a type of diabetes medication. Apparently, women with PCOS do better in fertility with the meds, which encourages better quality eggs and reduces instances of miscarriage. How interesting! No serious side effects too.
He also said that some women are born with a harder-than-usual ovarian shell (I hope I got that right), which makes it difficult for a mature egg to break out of. Hence, ovulation only happens four to six times a year, instead of the normal 12.
Doc said if I had come to him two years ago, he would've suggested a laparoscopy drilling surgery, which would enable me to conceive naturally, easily. "But I'm sure you're tired of all that surgery stuff by now," he said. True enough, as planned, I bypassed the IUI option and said we were serious about IVF.
Doc nodded in a very understanding manner and within minutes, had charted up an IVF plan for me. In all, he said it takes about 16 days from treatment to embryo transfer, which is when I would be unofficially pregnant. 16 days! It could all happen next month!
But now, to make sure that I wasn't carrying a cyst...
And so we left with a happy heart at about 1.45pm, but only after waiting around for the nurse to get my meds and seal the appointment date.
My sister then treated me to an icky rabbit-food (raw cucumbers, carrots, quinoa sushi!) like lunch in Bangsar, but that's another story altogether :)
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