Ladies who have been to an RE consult - what did they ask?

[setsuna17]

Sorry if this is a repetitive question, but I am going to my RE consult tomorrow and would like to be prepared. (The type-A teacher thing, I think.)
I was just wondering if you brought anything with you, like your charts? What kind of things did they ask?
Sorry if I'm being a weirdo, I'm just nervous and excited.

[longhornwino0907]

GL, setsuna17, and I'm so sorry you've reached this point.

For our initial consult, I took my charts, but he never looked at them. I went armed with questions, but he pretty much addressed everything up front. We went over my and H's medical histories, talked about the testing that would be done before starting treatment, and then laid out a very general treatment plan that would likely (and did) change over the months as tests came in and we saw how I responded to certain protocols.

[piccyami]

I had like 12 pages of history that H and I had to fill out ahead of time. Once the RE went over all that, he set up some testing and we met afterwards to go over everything. In addition to the history, he wanted to know if my cycles were fairly regular and if we had had good timing for the past year. Because we didn't have anything obviously wrong and our testing is covered, he set us up for testing both of us at the same time.

[Daikoku]

I brought my charts, but never ended up showing RE. I did summarize for her, though.

As far as questions, she covered most things and I had a pretty good bank of knowledge going in (thanks to the lovelies here). I did, however, ask her to explain things in her words. Ex: I asked her how she would decide whether IUI or IVF would be right for us. Just listening to the ladies here, it seems like different docs have different protocol, so I wanted to clarify.

[emilie]

First of all, best of luck, and I'm sorry you are at this point.

At our first appointment with the RE, he did a lot of talking at us (which he said he was going to do). I was okay with that as I just wanted to download everything he had to tell us. But he did ask questions - he asked me if I had been temping and using OPKs, and if we were having sex when I got an OPK+ or at least twice a week. He asked us about our lives and our jobs. He asked about pregnancy history and about our medical histories. Pretty much what you'd expect. He also laid out a lot of stats and numbers, which you probably won't like (as they will basically tell you that most women would be pregnant already at the year+ mark of trying.)

At our second appointment, which was a couple months later (we have only had 2 appointments, with a couple phone consults in between) after we did all the initial testing we went over all the results and came up with a tentative plan for how to proceed.

I think the most important thing is to make sure your RE is open to YOUR questions. I like our RE because he took a lot of time to ask if we had questions, to answer our questions, and to ask if we had any MORE questions. That was really helpful.

[longhornwino0907]

Aug 11, 2015 12:14:03 GMT -5 emilie said:

First of all, best of luck, and I'm sorry you are at this point.

At our first appointment with the RE, he did a lot of talking at us (which he said he was going to do). I was okay with that as I just wanted to download everything he had to tell us. But he did ask questions - he asked me if I had been temping and using OPKs, and if we were having sex when I got an OPK+ or at least twice a week. He asked us about our lives and our jobs. He asked about pregnancy history and about our medical histories. Pretty much what you'd expect. He also laid out a lot of stats and numbers, which you probably won't like (as they will basically tell you that most women would be pregnant already at the year+ mark of trying.)

At our second appointment, which was a couple months later (we have only had 2 appointments, with a couple phone consults in between) after we did all the initial testing we went over all the results and came up with a tentative plan for how to proceed.

I think the most important thing is to make sure your RE is open to YOUR questions. I like our RE because he took a lot of time to ask if we had questions, to answer our questions, and to ask if we had any MORE questions. That was really helpful.

I didn't like hearing the stats, but of course I already knew them. They REALLY helped H get our situation into perspective, though. Since he doesn't spend his time researching TTC and Googling symptoms and such, he had no idea about any of the stats. Just the 20% for a healthy couple part that I'd told him once and he'd held onto until our RE told him that obviously we weren't in that category.

[emilie]

Aug 11, 2015 12:16:52 GMT -5 longhornwino0907 said:

Aug 11, 2015 12:14:03 GMT -5 emilie said:

First of all, best of luck, and I'm sorry you are at this point.

At our first appointment with the RE, he did a lot of talking at us (which he said he was going to do). I was okay with that as I just wanted to download everything he had to tell us. But he did ask questions - he asked me if I had been temping and using OPKs, and if we were having sex when I got an OPK+ or at least twice a week. He asked us about our lives and our jobs. He asked about pregnancy history and about our medical histories. Pretty much what you'd expect. He also laid out a lot of stats and numbers, which you probably won't like (as they will basically tell you that most women would be pregnant already at the year+ mark of trying.)

At our second appointment, which was a couple months later (we have only had 2 appointments, with a couple phone consults in between) after we did all the initial testing we went over all the results and came up with a tentative plan for how to proceed.

I think the most important thing is to make sure your RE is open to YOUR questions. I like our RE because he took a lot of time to ask if we had questions, to answer our questions, and to ask if we had any MORE questions. That was really helpful.

I didn't like hearing the stats, but of course I already knew them. They REALLY helped H get our situation into perspective, though. Since he doesn't spend his time researching TTC and Googling symptoms and such, he had no idea about any of the stats. Just the 20% for a healthy couple part that I'd told him once and he'd held onto until our RE told him that obviously we weren't in that category.

Yes, absolutely.  I had the same experience.  When H saw that 90-95% of couples under 35 would have conceived by the year mark, it really hit home for him that something was not right and that absolutely it was good for us to be there. 

[getzystark]

I second everything everyone else has said. There are some smart ladies around these parts.

Good luck tomorrow setsuna17!

[joy]

They asked a lot of health history questions, mostly.

No, I didn't bring my charts exactly. I had them all on FertilityFriend via my phone, though. My RE didn't ask. He's cool with charting and trusted me a lot on my answers for that kind of thing.

Mostly, it's a lot of talking about health, what tests will be done, protocols for the next step assuming everything comes back okay, and what your insurance covers. It's a really informative appointment.

[setsuna17]

Aug 11, 2015 12:23:21 GMT -5 @pineappleoranges said:

Aug 11, 2015 11:58:21 GMT -5 setsuna17 said:

Sorry if this is a repetitive question, but I am going to my RE consult tomorrow and would like to be prepared. (The type-A teacher thing, I think.)
I was just wondering if you brought anything with you, like your charts? What kind of things did they ask?
Sorry if I'm being a weirdo, I'm just nervous and excited.

If they offer clomid without any testing, run! run fast. I had an RE offer clomid and refused to do a SA because it's "not usually the men's fault".

That's crazy! I do know that in monitored clomid is a no-no but thanks for reminding me!

[joy]

Oh, and I love my RE because he listened to me. Ever never made me feel stupid and respected all the questions/concerns that I had. He also laid out a treatment plan that I completely balked at. He listened, understood why, and happily dialed it back for me.

In the end, I waited nearly six months before doing anything and by this point it made the most sense to go ahead with his original treatment plan.

[mrsjene]

I agree with everything everyone else said. My charts weren't looked at, my RE did a lot of the talking (but he answered all of my questions in that talking), he set us up for testing, and discussed a possible plan. Second meeting was after the testing where we discussed how to move forward based on test results.

Good luck!

[setsuna17]

Thanks ladies. I guess I won't print out the charts but tell the RE I have them on the phone if necessary. I'm not worried about the statistics because I know them all by now. Here's to hoping that this RE is a good one!

[goldenlove3]

I've gone to two different REs now and found that they really lead the conversation. We went over our histories, stats, testing and basic treatment plans.

With the second RE, I wanted to find out who would be doing my monitoring appointments, etc and how often I would be talking to him directly. I was happy that it was either him or the other RE in his office that does the appointments. With my first RE, I met her twice (initial and follow-up) and the nurses did all the work after that.

[mugster]

My RE loves to draw decision trees (if x then y; if q then r; etc.). It makes my husband happy. Otherwise, what everyone else said.

[youdontsay]

Before our first appointment, the RE sent us a packet to fill out with our health information that I faxed back. I also had my medical records from my gyn and pcp (for MH) faxed up to them too. Any BW that I had done and SA that MH had done, I faxed up there too and brought paper copies as well.

I printed out my charts but no one looked at them. Most of our time was spent with the nurse going over our medical histories, then we met with the RE who went over our treatment plan and answered a lot of questions I had written down. He asked if MH went to see a urologist and I got nervous since the urologist we wanted to go see (he's the best in the area) had a three month wait for an appointment. Our RE said he wasn't going to wait on the appointment with the urologist to start IVF, so that was a relief.

Our big question was what he thought our success would be (not average success rate of the facility, but for us) and also how many embryos they would transfer as well as if they would do ICSI with MH's sperm count. He answered all of those plus any additional questions we had. He also wrote us an order for BW downstairs from his office as well as another SA and cryopreservation of sperm for MH as a back-up. Our expected start date for IVF #1 was my next CD1 in August.

After that, we went back to the exam room, did a mock transfer, an ultrasound and a saline sonogram which they discovered a polyp in my uterus. Once we were done with that, we met with the RE's financial coordinator, discussed insurance stuff and set up a surgery date to remove the polyp.

Don't be afraid to ask questions, our RE was completely okay with us asking any and all questions and he answered them all. If your RE doesn't answer questions or is evasive, go get a second opinion, you're not wasting anyone's time and doctors won't get offended.

Sorry you had to get to this point, but good luck. Also, as you know, these ladies are helpful, which for me, is making this process SO MUCH less stressful.

[aprilz81]

My RE sent me a packet of papers that needed to be filled out. They asked a pretty in-depth medical history of various diseases (cancer, infertility, diabetes, stroke, and just about everything else under the sun) for both sides along with asking about any pregnancies.

During the actual consult it started off with casual conversation (how we met, how long married, what we do for a living, etc.) he asked us questions about how long we had been trying, I had copies of my (useless) blood work from by OBGYN, copies of my charts and he took a quick look and said that he agreed with the PCOS dx, but he wanted to do testing on the proper days to confirm it.

He did an internal ultrasound that day along with some blood work that was not required to do on CD3. He gave me a prescription for Provera and then told me to come back on CD3 for more blood work. We decided to wait a few months to start Clomid so on CD3 we just did the blood work. Had we immediately started the Clomid I would have also had a baseline monitoring ultrasound.

Good luck!

[Deleted]

setsuna17 - This was a great question to ask. Thanks.

[BurritosAtEveryMeal]

Good luck setsuna17. I think the other ladies covered everything pretty well! I seriously got all my knowledge from the TTGP and GKU ladies; they're the best!

[juliayadda]

Hugs setsuna17, I am going for mine on Thursday!

Did yours send any info? Mine sent a page or so on what to expect.

Basically, they do an intense medical history, vag/ute exam and pap if you are do due (I AM!) Order all the fun tests. They also do the man exams at this time at my clinic and order the SA. They talk about what our options are depending on the test results. My GP ordered the blood tests last month so I expect the RE to have them on hand.

This is all I know! I am strangely excited about this, because to me this means our chances of getting pregnant will increase and such. But another part of me is like WTF cycle 15? going to the RE? Femera? Clomid? IUI? IVF? REALLY? I guess I just need to take a big breath!

You will be in my thoughts tomorrow!

ETA edit

[setsuna17]

Aug 11, 2015 20:17:27 GMT -5 juliayadda said:

Hugs setsuna17, I am going for mine on Thursday!

Did yours send any info? Mine sent a page or so on what to expect.

Basically, they do an intense medical history, vag/ute exam and pap if you are do due (I AM!) Order all the fun tests. They also do the man exams at this time at my clinic and order the SA. They talk about what our options are depending on the test results. My GP ordered the blood tests last month so I expect the RE to have them on hand.

This is all I know! I am strangely excited about this, because to me this means our chances of getting pregnant will increase and such. But another part of me is like WTF cycle 15? going to the RE? Femera? Clomid? IUI? IVF? REALLY? I guess I just need to take a big breath!

You will be in my thoughts tomorrow!

ETA edit

They didn't send me any paperwork though I wish they had! It'd funny but I feel the same way as you. I'm excited because it means I might get pregnant one day, even if it means interventions! I've been waiting for this day for so long lol! Good luck at your appointment on Thurs! I'll be thinking of you too!

[setsuna17]

And thanks ladies for all the good info! I really appreciate all your knowledge and well wishes!

[firefly]

I had to fill out quite a long questionnaire on the RE's website that he printed out and went over practically line by line with me. He asked all about my menstrual cycles and past medical history. Since we had already had a pregnancy before, he asked all about that experience - how long it took to conceive, how the pregnancy and delivery were. He did go over some statistics and then basically told me all about the upcoming blood work and tests.

I, unfortunately, had to hear the results of everything over the phone by the nurse and she was the one to relay the treatment plan to me. I had wished that I could have a follow-up appointment to discuss the results face to face rather than having to relay all of my questions through the nurse. 

Good luck. I hope you get some good info at your appointment!

[Andrea]

How did it go setsuna17?

[setsuna17]

Aug 12, 2015 21:30:58 GMT -5 Andrea said:

How did it go setsuna17?

Thank you for asking. It went well though it was good and bad.

The good:
The RE was really nice. She asked us lots of questions and answered any we had. She was extremely thorough, which I appreciated. We have testing planned for me when I start my next cycle and ASAP for DH. Also I had a surprising impromptu ultrasound. Everything looked great including my left ovary which had 17 follicles!

The bad:
Apparently the gout medicine DH has been taking is a known sperm killer/mutator. We asked his previous doctor about it before and he said it shouldn't be a problem. I'm so pissed. DH started taking it the month we started TTC! Obviously we still will have DH do an SA before we know if it is affecting him, but geez. If it is, he will stop taking it but it will take 74 days for his sperm to recover. Ugh.

So all in all, very enlightening. Glad to know that we can just start testing and go from there.

[setsuna17]

juliayadda how did your appointment go?

[juliayadda]

Aug 13, 2015 18:02:33 GMT -5 setsuna17 said:

juliayadda how did your appointment go?

Hey it went really well! 

DH felt pretty uncomfortable. He has not been to a doctor in a long time. 

He wants us to try some home insemination since we are having trouble with intercourse. I was able to catch my CD3 bloodwork today, but I couldn't swing the base ultrasound because of work so that will have to wait until next month. 

The clinic is so organized and has all the equipment/labs on site.