After our last meeting with our fertility doctor I decided to make an appointment with another clinic. I felt really guilty because I have been going to my fertility doctor since I was 17 (they are a gyno as well!). I definitely feel a sense of loyalty to them but after our meeting they would only give us 1,500 dollars off our next round of ivf. 1,500 from 10,000+ didn’t seem like very much to me! I just wanted to shop around to see what was out there. I also figured USF ivf would be a lot bigger and possibly have more research/study opportunities.
Well, they are definitely a lot bigger for sure! One big downfall is that it is pretty far away from us. It took us about an hour to get there, they are all the way at Tampa General Hospital. They do have a large new building and everything was nice and new inside, I was very impressed with the offices. The reception ladies were very nice, the one at my old doctor is a total bitch, so this was a nice change for sure! His resident met with us first and got all our information, asked about all our medical backgrounds. Then she took that info and discussed for a few minutes with Dr. Silva. He then brought us into his office and we began to discuss our options. He has a great personality, he is Brazilian so he has a beautiful accent as well. He took his time and answered all our questions. I only teared up one time! Just going over everything we have been through got a little overwhelming, the IUI’s, the surgeries, the ivf. I guess it just seemed like so many things and none of them worked. He reassured me and told me that even after all these failed attempts it is still possible for me to get pregnant. He too feels that ivf is pretty much my only option. He wants me to get some blood work done to find out if my ovaries are not producing many eggs because I am running out of them. He had some medical name for this of course but I can not remember it! I only made 5 eggs on my ivf round, he said women my age should make at least 15. Dr. Silva also seemed much more aggressive towards this process. He wants to up my stimulants, a lot more, so I will make more eggs. They were a little cheaper but not much. We did get one awesome deal while we were there. One of the stimulants which is usually 800 dollars a box ( I need 7 boxes for an ivf cycle) was at the Tampa General Pharmacy for 12 dollars a box!!! They didn’t know why it was so cheap but he told us to go get them even if we weren’t going to do an ivf for a while, it is too good a deal to pass up. He wrote us a script and we got them. Overall, I really liked him a lot. The only downfall is that they are so far away. If we can swing it, I would love to do an ivf cycle in August so I am still not back to work yet. There is just no way I could get down there while I am working, I would have to take half days and I am already almost out of sick days anyway. So, we are definitely feeling optimistic, now to find the 9,000 dollars needed…
