Monday, April 7, 2008

Ring, dang it all, ring!

I'm 10 days away from my estimated suppression check — so the real flurry has not yet begun — but I'm already needing to stick close to the phone just to stay on top of things.

Nobody involved on the other side of my IVF process EVER picks up the phone when I call. I spend what seems like a lot of time sitting through very long voicemail announcements leading up to the beep. Sometimes I pass out a little and miss the beep. Other times I suffer a minor blank out and hear the beep but forget whose voicemail I've dialed in to. Today, though, I was fresh enough to get all my messages recorded and, presumably, deposited at the back of a long queue.

People who hold small bits of my future in their hands that I would like to but won't hear from before the day is out:

My acupuncturist, J. I need to set up this week's 2 appointments. I wanted to do this Friday with J's assistant M, but M wanted to touch base with J on the weekend, call me herself on the weekend, and then have me call J on Monday. Okay. Convoluted, but I can adapt. Now I just need J to call me back, which always seems to take 2 days.

My RE, Dr. K. I want more information from her about the timing of my upcoming Cetrotide shot. I am not satisfied with the nurse's assertion that my ovulation date doesn't matter and that we only need to go by my typical cycle length. Especially since Dr. K initially described the protocol as starting at 7 DPO. I could press the issue with the nurse, but I just want to cut to the chase for an explanation better than "it doesn't matter." If it doesn't matter, I want to hear it from Dr. K because she will at least give me a why.

I also want Dr. K to okay the banking of an, ahem, sample from DH before he flies away to the opposite coast next weekend. DH has planned to fly back as soon as it's time for me to trigger. He WILL be here for ER and fresh-sample donation. But a popsicle in the freezer would help us both let go of niggling worries that his flight will be delayed or WHATEVER.

My financial counselor at the clinic, C. She and I thoroughly discussed costs before DH and I got the cycle balls rolling. But I received — from a different financial counselor — a bill that does not reflect the credit amount we have with the clinic, the base fee C and I used to calculate costs on the phone, or the 10% discount I get for being a repeat customer. The bill is about $2K higher. And I'm not having that. I don't anticipate a problem, really. Just a "Sorry for the error," which is all I think it was. But still, it took me 2 weeks and 5 phone calls to get the first cycle total in the first place.

My fertility-meds pharmacy rep, A. We discussed everything from the giant Rx order before the ship date, but I received a couple of things I asked them not to send. Nothing big, just a second sharps container ($30 is $30, and I told her I didn't need it) — oh, and narcotics I'm allergic to and don't intend to pay for.

Everything is going fine right now, really. Despite this maybe sounding like a bunch of complaints, I don't have any big ones at the moment. Just the one where I say WHY IS THIS PHONE-TAG GAME SO CONSISTENTLY ONE-SIDED?

Ring, dang it all, RING!

4 comments:

Joonie said...

I hear you! I hate waiting for that phone to ring, carrying my cell phone everywhere with me, even to the bathroom! Why does everything have to be on their timetable? Why can't they pick up the phone once and adapt to our schedule?

Anonymous said...

Amen, Joonie! Still sitting in my office this morning, waiting for a reasonable time to start calling everyone back just to see if I can get lucky!

Dagny said...

Ugh. waiting for the damn phone to ring here too.

Good luck!

Ms Heathen said...

I'm sorry. All these relatively minor things just add to the stress of what is already a majorly stressful situation.

I hope all these people get back to you soon.