A Little More About our Adventures with Dr Quack

I always do my best to find a silver lining in every situation.  This time it was hard.  If anything though, I can tell women in the Tampa Bay area where NOT to go for their reproductive care.  I am not going to name names on the blog, but if you want to email me I will be MORE than happy to tell you Dr. Quack’s real identity.  I will tell you that she advertises herself as a Reproductive Endocrinologist and she is actually an OBGYN (did a 2 year Repro Endo fellowship) and should NOT be practicing fertility care.

We definitely learned the hard way (physically, mentally, and financially) that you shouldn't always trust your doctor. 

My first few visits with her were okay.  She seemed very knowledgeable and was pleasant enough.  We were going in for what we thought was our appointment to discuss IUI and it quickly became our appointment to get the ball rolling with IVF.  We hadn't even CONSIDERED IVF as an option and we were both shocked with the news (and cost).  She quickly mentioned the egg donor program as soon as she saw our concern with the price.  Because, in her words, I am an attractive female of a “certain class level” I would make a great donor and in return of donating half of the eggs retrieved I would get half off her fees…BUT,” you have to be under 35 (found out later FDA recommends you are 30 or younger) and time is running out, you turn 35 in October”.  The next thing I knew we were signed up for IVF.  It seems strange now, but it didn't even cross our minds to ask and check her success rates (which are horrible) or to interview other doctors or to even get a second opinion.  When you are in that situation you feel vulnerable and almost desperate, we were naive and trusted her.  We just wanted a baby.

Since we were taking part in the donor program they demanded our payment upfront.  We paid for everything except our meds as we were told they would be customized towards our cycle (this was not the case), but at worst case would be no more than $2,000. We were quickly matched with a recipient and it was time to purchase our meds. They gave us our med list – it somehow went from no more than $2,000 to right over $4,000!  I just remember shaking my head (this was the first time I thought something wasn't really right).  We were told we must have misunderstood her previous quote (we had it on paper, but whatever) but that we were very lucky because she had another patient on the exact same protocol as me that ended up getting pregnant naturally (Dr said it HAD to be a miracle) and she was willing to sell all of her medicine for half off. Looking back, why we didn't get up and run at this point is beyond me.

So we called this stranger (who we are now great friends with!) and arranged to trade drugs and syringes for cash in the parking lot of a Publix grocery store in Tampa…lol.  We met up with the couple and started talking.  Her first words to us – “If your cycle fails, and I’m really hoping it doesn't, DO NOT go back to see her”.  We visited with them quite a while in the parking lot and by the end of our visit I was feeling very uneasy.  Because of their experience with her, they did do their research and she only achieved ONE successful IVF pregnancy in the previous year – O.N.E.  In every appointment DR Quack would always talk about all these patients she was getting pregnant, even having conversations with the IVF nurse ABOUT other patients and their great outcomes even though they were such tough cases. I was in shock and felt taken advantage of.

I was mess on the way home. I quickly looked up her success rates on the CDC (tried SART first, but she doesn't belong - red flag) and they were right, one. I wanted to be positive. She did get ONE woman pregnant, why couldn't I be the next?  We were too far in to quit and get our money back, so I HAD to think positively and trust that she had my care in her best interest.

Soon after my parking lot IVF drug purchase I went in for my baseline ultrasound and started the every other day and eventually daily blood draws and ultrasounds to monitor my estrogen levels and follicle growth.  During the last week of monitoring a different person did my ultrasound each time (red flag – no quality control, plus the DR SHOULD be doing these)

At my final monitoring appointment they noted that my follicle count had gone down, but not to worry. My egg retrieval was scheduled for two days later.  (She only does retrievals/transfer on certain days – Tues/Fri)

The first thing I remember when waking up from my retrieval surgery was the Dr’s glare. “You should have had more eggs.  You get 4, your recipient gets 3.” Then she stormed out. I was groggy but remember thinking that seemed low.  I was told this whole time that I had at LEAST 14.

As we know things didn't work (unfortunately for the recipient either). I had to wait another 2 weeks after my negative pregnancy test before the doctor could fit me in to go over my embryology report.  When we finally met, it was like she was reviewing my cycle chart for the first time.  She very calmly points out that her nurses noted that I had ovulated on the Saturday prior to my retrieval.  “You didn't have any good eggs left for me to get because they were all in your abdomen.” She didn't take any blame, didn't say that she SHOULD have canceled my cycle, SHOULD have refunded my money, SHOULD NOT have done an at that point moot surgery, no, instead she picks up her cell phone and starts talking to the nurse in the room about a text she received the day before from yet another patient she got pregnant. It was at this point that we ended our appointment and our care with Dr Quack.

It was not a great car ride home that day.

So, what do I have to say to another couple faced with IVF?

Do your research (success rates, patient reviews, RESOLVE). Get a second opinion. Trust your gut. It’s so easy to get caught up in the moment; to feel vulnerable, desperate, and trusting all at once.  We didn't know what to expect, so we took what she said as truth we didn't know things should have been done differently. We wanted a baby and for this to work so badly that we ignored all of the red flags that seem SO overtly apparent now.

So although the silver lining was hard to find, I found it and am going to let everyone know.  Please don’t use Dr Quack!!  Other couples facing infertility and IVF don’t have to go down the same rough road that we did.  Learn from our mistakes.  I know we did.

The Beginning is a Good Place to Start

I've wanted to start this blog for a long time now and am so happy I’m finally getting around to it!  Between working a regular 9-5, owning/running my own flourishing photography business (www.mybphotos.com - shameless plug), going through infertility treatments, and trying to have a social life it’s a miracle I did get around to it.  As many of you may know, we've been trying to start a family for a while now and have started down the bumpy road of fertility treatments.  For those of you who didn't know….”SURPRISE!?” 

I've decided to share our story because I know there are hundreds of couples going through the same thing. It’s been the openness of other couple suffering from infertility and sharing their stories that have given me hope so I hope that I can pay it forward and do the same.

I feel like there’s a lot of catching up to do to get to where we are now, so I think the easiest way to play catch up is through bullet points. Ready…here we go…

• First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby…..wait, the whole baby thing isn't working out like it should.

• We go see our first Reproductive Endocrinologist (who we later found out was actually just an OBGYN – more on this quack later).

• After many tests for both of us, it’s determined that we have both female AND male factor infertility. I don’t ovulate on my own and even if I did, Bill’s sperm is too lazy to look for the egg.  So we were left with IVF.

• IVF sucks…that’s all there is to it.  After over 75 shots, 20 blood draws, and countless ultrasounds I was ready for my egg retrieval.

• Retrieval day came and we only had SEVEN eggs, SEVEN. Only TWO were mature and only ONE became a 6 celled embryo.

• Two days later, we transferred this 6 celled embryo into my uterus and prayed (and continued shots).Two weeks later we found out the transfer was unsuccessful and cried (and finally stopped the shots).

• IVF isn't covered by insurance and is VERY costly, so we decided to explore other options.  We had heard of other couples having great success with acupuncture so we started seeing an acupuncturist, who in turn suggested we turn our diets upside down (after all, we are what we eat, right?). So now I get acupuncture once a week, we both take a handful (literally a handful) of supplements, we've started juicing and TRY to eat a vegan based diet.

• We FINALLY had our appointment with Dr Quack to go over our embryology report and failed cycle.  Turns out she either wasn't actually monitoring my IVF cycle OR she was and just didn't care because she pointed out to us that I had ovulated on my own 2 days PRIOR to my egg retrieval (as stated in my chart), so I didn't have any good eggs to retrieve. My cycle should have been canceled.

• Made the decision to seek a second opinion and possible treatment from one of the top rated Dr’s (and my old DR) in the Southeast U.S. His office is over 2 hours away, but his expertise is worth the drive.

• Drove the 2 hrs to his office just north of Orlando and immediately felt regret that we didn't go there first.  We had an amazing appointment and he confirmed all of our doubts about our cycle with Dr Quack.  He performed additional tests on both of us.

• On Saturday morning we got the call from the DR himself – IVF is still our only route and Bill may have additional health issues he felt needed explored.  Not what we wanted to hear, but we've been there before.

 That brings us to now.  Now we are saving every penny we make and are preparing for our next IVF cycle. I am still continuing acupuncture and we are doing our best to eat a healthful diet. Bill will see the DR again in a month to ensure he’s healthy and then we start the IVF roller-coaster again in October.  

So we ask that everyone pray, think positive thoughts, send baby dust, or do whatever you may do to send a happy healthy baby our way soon!  And in return I promise to keep you updated on our journey and hopefully growing family!