I don't know anything about Alison Gee, sorry, we were with Derek Lok as he speciailises more in MFI which is what our issues was (is).
If you could work it to get your cycle checks (BTs & ultrasounds) done in QLD and also your meds organised through someone locally then you'd really be able to get away with a week in Sydney max. Come down for the egg collection then stay & relax for the five days until the embryo transfer. Now if you can't organise to do things through a QLD clinic & then come down just for the final bits you'd be looking at roughly four to five weeks. It depends on how your body reacts to the meds which is a big unknown on your first cycle. If you respond really well, like I did, you can have egg collection fairly early (mine was on day 23) but a friend of mine had hers at around day 30 as she took longer to respond to her drugs. So for us it was a total of 28 days from the first injection to the day of embryo transfer, my friend's cycle was 35 days. After the embryo transfer there aren't anymore tests etc until the BT with a yes or no answer, this is done 12 days after the transfer.
There are clinics in Qld you may also want to look into. Monash have clinics in Nth, Central and Sth Qld, and Qld Fertility Group have them in Cairns, Townsville and Mackay. It pays to shop around a bit as costs can really vary. I can also understand it being limited in regional areas like you mentioned regarding dates for transfers etc. But they still may be worth considering.
In my experience SIVF is the most expensive in Australia. They also require a full up front payment which not all clinics do (that is you pay for the Medicare portion of the cycle as well as the out of pocket costs and then get that and your Safety Net out of pocket payment back up to 8 weeks later).
There can be other costs associated with day treatments which vary from clinic to clinic. If you have private health insurance you need to check if you will be covered for the procedure with the clinic/hospital you are going through. I went through SIVF in Canberra and got hit with a few unexpected costs that I haven't had to through Monash.
There are other clinics that do blastocyst transfer (eg Monash). There may be others on BB to give you good advice of other clinics around. Also if you need to do more than one cycle (a realistic possibility for everybody) you need to factor in costs associated with travel, accommodation more cycles etc. You may also be required to be available for tests etc in that town over a period of days/week. I have found doing a cycle near family (ie I cycle in Melbourne but live in canberra) to be helpful.
I hope that is helpful.
Wishing you all the best.
xx
Can I also add that based on the info you've provided (duration of TTC, no sperm issues and you are now ovulating) I'd seriously consider to continue trying as you are for at least another 6 months. Don't go down the IVF route unless you have to. Just because it's been over 12 months doesn't mean all hope is lost. In fact I'd say in your situation you've got a lot of hope.
Sarah - thanks for your help. A week or 10 days in Sydney would be fine with work but 3 or 4 weeks would be a lot harder so it's good to know there are possibilities I can work around. I have ordered the SIVF info pack so I'll have a look at that with DH when it arrives.
Dusty - I am currently with Dr Miller at the QLD Fertility Group. He is very good but I'm just worried about the rigid timetable with IVF there. One of my colleagues had to go on the pill again for 6 weeks to get her cycles in line with their egg collection times. I'm not sure I could deal with that. Thanks for the info about other clinics too. I'll definitely be looking into other options with DH before we decide.
Slyder - I should have mentioned my time limit in my first post, sorry. I have bad arthritis and have been allowed 12 months off my tablets (not baby friendly ones) to TTC. I am now approaching cycle 13 which I guess is why I'm getting a feeling it more this cycle thank others. I think if I didn't have the arthritis then I'd be ok with another 6 or 12 months. My choices are therefore:
1. Give up on TTC (nooooo!!!)
2. Go back on BCPs for a year (so I can start my arthritis tablets) and try again later (I am 34 and not keen on this option)
3. Carry on doing everything I can to get UTD and hope I don't cause my body more damage simply exisiting on steroids alone
My spotting has stopped today but I still have AF cramps. I just feel very confused.
Thank you to everyone for helping me out - it's good to hear about your experiences and I really appreciate the time you've taken to reply to me
hi lou we also go through sivf but we do our in newcastle as its a bit closer for us as we travel 4.5hours every time we go and i have to agree its totally worth the travel and everything else they are just wonderful and i would recomend
good luk to you
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