My Infertility Journey: The Education Session (Part 34)
Obie Editorial Team
Apparently, part of the IVF process at my clinic was to have an education session with the IVF coordinator and her assistant on the whole process. I thought I was pretty up-to-date on how it all worked, as I'd been reading about it extensively, and had already been over the basics with the doctor. They were only able to schedule me early in the morning, which once again was a hassle for me, not being a morning person and all. I even called the clinic the morning of the session after my alarm went off to see if we could do it over the phone. I so did not want to drive an hour across part of the ocean and down a narrow strip of beach early in the day just to talk to someone!
I got the IVF coordinator's voice mail, so I just pulled myself together and went over there, drinking copious amounts of green tea along the way to perk myself up. When I got there, I told the IVF coordinator there wasn't enough caffeine in the world to make being up and over there at that hour palatable to me. We both had a good laugh at my acerbic comment. We then got down to business with her assistant present. Sitting around a round table in a small conference room, I quickly realized just how important it was that I was doing this in person.
Most of the session was demonstrations of how to take the IVF medicines, and there were a lot of them! I knew there were a lot of medications, but until I sat down with the IVF coordinator at the education session, I had no idea just how many were involved and the various ways they were to be taken. At least 3 were injections, each prepared and given a different way. One could be an injection or a vaginal suppository (I opted for the suppository), and several others were pills.
I came home with a list of what I was going to be taking, when I would be taking it, and sheets of instructions for how to take each medication. I also came home with a vague idea of how much these medications were going to cost, and it wasn't pretty. The medications, as it turns out, aren't included in the overall IVF price.
I got the IVF coordinator's voice mail, so I just pulled myself together and went over there, drinking copious amounts of green tea along the way to perk myself up. When I got there, I told the IVF coordinator there wasn't enough caffeine in the world to make being up and over there at that hour palatable to me. We both had a good laugh at my acerbic comment. We then got down to business with her assistant present. Sitting around a round table in a small conference room, I quickly realized just how important it was that I was doing this in person.
Most of the session was demonstrations of how to take the IVF medicines, and there were a lot of them! I knew there were a lot of medications, but until I sat down with the IVF coordinator at the education session, I had no idea just how many were involved and the various ways they were to be taken. At least 3 were injections, each prepared and given a different way. One could be an injection or a vaginal suppository (I opted for the suppository), and several others were pills.
I came home with a list of what I was going to be taking, when I would be taking it, and sheets of instructions for how to take each medication. I also came home with a vague idea of how much these medications were going to cost, and it wasn't pretty. The medications, as it turns out, aren't included in the overall IVF price.
