I went through Westmead Fertility Clinic and started with oi-iui then progressed onto ivf.
Basically, on Day 1 of AF you ring the clinic and they make an appt for you on about Day 4 of your cycle. You meet with one of the nurses and they'll talk you through the process of oi-iui, they'll show you how to inject yourself (or give you an option of coming in each day if you can't inject youself but majority of people do it themselves) and will give you a "timetable" sheet showing when you come back to the clinic for your 1st blood test. They'll monitor your hormones through blood tests until they think you'll have a follicle or two reaching maturation. Then you'll be booked in for an internal ultrasound and they'll check the no. of follicles. Any more than 2 and your cycle will be cancelled. If you've got 1-2 and they're a good size, the nurse will trigger you on the day of u/s (they'll do the injection)and tell you to come back 2 days later for insemination. The trigger forces your body to release the egg/s and this whole process will occur before your body naturally ovulates.
I completed 3 oi-iui cycles and started day 4, insemination was usually over and done with by about day 11-12. In saying that, everybody is different and if your cycles are normally short your body may respond differently too. It's a really busy clinic and the nurses will have had experience with people with lots of different cycles.
The nurses are great at the clinic. They work 7 days a week but Sunday is a lighter staff. When you ring into the clinic you won't speak directly to a nurse, the recpetionist takes your details and the nurses give you a call back in the afternoon, normally after 3-ish. If you call on the w/ends there is an answering machine but again the nurses will call back later. I sent an email once and it was just like logging a call to the nurses, they gave me a call back later that afternoon. I don't think they send written replies via email.
Cost wise, you can't beat WFC. The price you pay at the start includes everything no matter how many BT or U/S for a cycle. I'm not sure what happens with your money if they cancel your cycle because of too many follicles, ask at your appt with the nurse. I was lucky enough not to have a cancelled cycle. The nurses start the gonal-f dose low and will only increase it if you're body isn't responding, that way they have control over not producing too many follicles, avoiding having to cancel your cycle. By starting treatment early in the year (we did too, we started last Feb) it only takes a couple of attempts and you'll reach your Medicare Safety net which was about $1100. After you've reached the Safety net, medicare refunds 80% and each cycle won't cost you much at all.
We moved onto ivf in Sept last year and while we paid $1450 to WFC, medicare refunded and we ended up out of pocket about $300.
I understand not telling family and friends. Our family and close friends knew we were going through fertility treatment but I found the cycles where they knew nothing about where we were up to with it all much less stressful. There's hope and expectation with each cycle from yourselves and it's hard having their well-meaning 'pressure' of questions on how it's all going. Our family pretty much got the idea if we didn't bring the topic up, then it was off limits. It's a very personal issue.
Wishing you and your DH all the best of luck. Hope the info has helped.
I had the worst experience with WFC. The nurse was rude. I have been told my BMI is too high to loose 10kgs. But not in a nice way. She assumed my portion sizes were big, when in fact they are half of a dinner plate, she assumed I ate mac donalds and KFC, lollies and chocolate. My husband came to my defense saying I have been eating healthier than him in the past 6 months and my portion sizes have decreased dramatically in the last 6 months.
The nurse asked me what sort of exercise I did and I said walking, because I have an inner ear condition that makes me have vertigo. She laughed and said what about jogging. I told her if I jog I will have vertigo for a week, not be able to get out of bed, work and loose my job then I wouldnt be able to afford IVF in the first place.
I saw Dr (who is fat) and he recommended me loose weight too, saying we wouldnt be treated until I lost it. I told him about my inability to exercise strenously and he said oh well drastic dieting then. I felt like saying "Hey you fat bugger you should talk"!!
Im really wondering if I will even go with WFC at all!!! If this is the sort of treatment I got. $300 to see a doctor to sign a few forms, tell me I need to loose weight and see you in january. 15mins he earnt $300!!
Im so not happy but Im wondering do I loose the weight and try my best. Get preg and then get what I came for a baby. Or do I just not go back to the clinic??? Confused
Last edited by onthefly; February 13th, 2010 at 03:14 PM.
It took us 7 phone calls to WFC with no replies over 4 days and then we paged Dr Smith to get a repsonse. No one returned our phone calls so we paged the doctor.
In the end they won't treat us even if I have half a kilo more weight than they said I should. Come on half a kilo is neither here nor there.
I think their cheaper costs reflect the type of service they provide lacksidaisical.
I used wfc only the once and was successful first go (ivf) - including after first phone call to them. We now have a son. I was at least 15kg overweight when I went to them and no one said anything to me. I am also 43 and noone said anything negative about that either - in fact they were very encouraging. The nurses are really nice - esp chris. Maybe you should try one of the other drs associated with wfc???
good luck sweet we have a bubba girl from wfc and i would highly recomend them ,soory i cant help as we did ivf but im wishing you all the luk in the world
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good luck sweet we have a bubba girl from wfc and i would highly recomend them ,soory i cant help as we did ivf but im wishing you all the luk in the world
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