yet another route

Open evening at Darlington for Free egg share IVF

Well it was soooo gooood!

we got there at 5.45pm and it was so easy - off the train into a taxi and there within 5 mins in rush hour!

The place looks so posh from the outside, and as soon as we arrived we were made to feel very welcome, we were offered tea / coffee and biscuits, and at 6pm we went into a seminar room for a 1/2 hr presentation. First they started off by expalining what IVF we all about - how the procedure works etc, the guy who did that part wasn't a great speaker to be honest - it's a good job I knew what he was talking about 'cos otherwise you'd've been totally lost. Then the Clinical Director of the hospital explained about the criteria for egg share and the success rates of the hospital (45.5% for both donor & recipient!) etc, he was about 71yrs old and was a fab speaker - he used to work on a farm before he became a fertility Dr, and he compared human fertility to cow fertility and made it as light as possible adn spoke in simple English, (unlike the first guy who used all the medical terms) so that everyone could understand what he was talking about and gave full explainations about everything.

Then we got shown around the unit and had the opportunity to ask the staff any questions we may have, we got to speak to the CD and he asked about any treatment I'd had before, so I explained about the last IUI, and he explained the reasons why IUI is so unsuccessful compared to IVF.

We then booked our first consultation session - which will be free!

We both came away feeling it is a good move to go there, and they said that if I can get hold of all my previous blood tests, then I shouldn't need to have them done again, so I am going to phone the Sheffield clinic up one day next week to get them to copy my blood tests and my last cycle sheet so that I have them to take to our consultation session

G hadn't a clue what the first speaker was on about, but he warmed to the CD, and as we walked away from the evening, he said he felt robbed by Sheffield as they did nothing like that at all, it was a case of come in show us your money and lets get on with the job, there was no human interaction, no compation at all, where as there it was all so friendly and relaxed, and they appeared to be wanting to do what's best for the couple concerned, not just for the money - they said that they would rather spend extra time getting everything sorted out before treatment to ensure better success rather than rush in like a bull in a china shop and end up with poor results and people feel let down - which is basically what Sheffield felt like.

We were asked when we wanted our consultation appointment, so we opted for January - there's so little time left before Christmas and I wanted to ensure that I have as much time to prepare my body for the low FSH as possible, so we're going on the 11th January it was so worth it, the place was warm and inviting, the people were friendly and both G & I left there thinking we have a real chance here to get it right.

I don't feel pressured at all by this place, I feel relaxed about it all and happy to ride the wave rather than get the speedboat out and try to plough through the waves. When we were with the Sheffield clinic I was constantly pushing - pushing for the earliest appointments all the time, rushing to get everything sorted out, but with this clinic, I don't know, I feel a calmness as though there is no neeed to rush it, as though it will all fall into place without much intervention and we'll come out the otherside victorious