FS in Sydney or Canberra?

Hi all,

Just to cut a long story short...as some of you may or may not know DH & I have been TTC for a bit over two years. We eventually made the very frightening but exciting decision to go and see a spec. I have been seeing my spec for 4 months. For the full 4 month period I have been taking clomid (but I think I was ovulating anyway). I also had plenty of blood tests, HSG, u/s approx 2 months ago. I am thinking as all of these things came up trumps I may need to go for a laproscopy.

Anyway....It is a shame we didn't go to her sooner as now me & my DH are getting quite anxious about the whole situation. Because of this my poor DH was unable to perform when needed this month. My spec will also not prescribe anything to assist him as she advises that this is not her "policy" and she would rather him view porn than take medication (a strange concept if you ask me)....Her receptionist also advised that as we were not an "urgent" case she could not see us until the end of June....so this means that we will once again be doing it all naturally (which obviously has not worked for us in the past) in June.

We have also found my fs to be quite abrupt and having a "the quicker I get you in the quicker I can get you out" kind of attitude and is never available when we call (which I think may probably be the case with most specs however).

So the point of this thread is to ask 3 questions (the 1st one may sound a little silly and/or nieve):

1. Has anyone else experienced this situation with their fs? Or is it the norm?

2. Since I am living in Canberra does this mean I need to be referred to a spec in ACT? This would also include if we still want to take advantage of medicare benefits etc.

2. Could anyone recommend another FS in Canberra (preferrably) or in Sydney that is a little more caring for his/her patients and that is reasonably easy to access?

Thanks girls....and sorry for taking so long to get to the point :lol:

My thoughts are with you all xxoo

Rara, I wish I could help more than I can!

I do want to say that from what I've experienced from my FS, I've never had the feeling of being rushed, and always felt that we've had all the time we've needed. Doesn't stop me thinking of another 20 questions 5 minutes after we've walked out, though! We've often had to wait for an hour to get in because he's always running late because he gives so much time to his patients... but we've never felt rushed. Even when we had to sign forms to get started on our first IVF cycle, he let us sit in his office and think while he dealt with other paperwork.

My FS is in Sydney (Parramatta), part of Next Generation Fertility. I don't know how convenient it would be for you, and I certainly wouldn't want to be driving that much (bad enough going an hour each way for blood tests at 7am to get to work on time!) myself so I hope someone can suggest a good FS in Canberra for you.

BW

Hey,

To be very honest I wouldn't care if I had to travel 5 hours to go and see a spec that actually listened to what I had to say and was relatively easy to access. If you rang your spec today for example how long would it usually take to get in to see him?

Thanks so much for the above...it has definitely given me something to think about.

Good luck girlie

When I've needed to make an apointment with him, I've always been in within a week. Including the very first appointment we ever had.

If I have questions that I need answered, I usually have to go through the clinic nurses rather than speaking to him directly, but they've always managed to get back to me with an answer that day. When it is necessary, they have had him call me back.

I'm sure he can't be the only one that works like this!

BW

I haven't given up hope on all of them just yet....my dad was a vascular surgeon for approx 45 years until he passed away about 2 1/2 years ago (I really wish I had him around now to help me out with all of this that's for sure!). Anyway....he was a great spec and I always saw that he would sit down and let the patients talk as he always thought that if you listened to them for long enough you could usually determine what was going on. My spec has certainly not been like this. She is always rushing me. The first time me & DH went into see her she sat me down asked me 20 questions, did a pap smear (yuck), gave me about 10 blood test forms and sent me on my way.....and did this all in about 20 minutes! I was stunned...she didn't even ask me about the way I felt or what had been going on....

I'm actually also trying to determine whether it is just Canberra specs as I was told by a lady that worked at pathology that Drs in Canberra are so busy that they don't have the time (nor the patience) to give the patients enough care as they should.

I'm really going to have to look into this further!

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to reply :hug:

Hi Rara,
My FS is in Sydney too. He is part of IVF Australia at Chatswood. I find him really good. He listens to all my questions and does things I ask him to do (I asked for scans and he was happy to do it for me). If I have a question I call and leave a message with his receptionist to call me back and he calls me back the same day. Once he couldn't call me back but his receptionist called me back with the answers I needed.
I hope that you find a FS that you like. I think it is important.
Good Luck
SAM :)

Hi Sammy,

I have heard that they have a very supportive medical profession in Sydney and you girls just seem to be proving that more & more.

I'm just hoping someone in Canberra might also see my thread so I can get a little perspective on what it is really like here in Canberra as well.

Thanks!

Hi Rara,

I am going through IVF Australia at Chatswood and have been pretty happy with them. Perhaps you could give them a call and see if they have a sister office in Canberra. We went to Qld last month for a holiday and I was worried that I would need a bt and u/s when I was away. They told me that I could see someone in Qld to have this done so I think they all work together.

Good luck!

Hi Rara,

I haven't yet seen the FS but I am booked in to see Dr Nicole Sides at Deakin. My gynecologist is Dr Mutton and he said that she was good and he is very lovely so I trust his recommendation.

A

Hi Athena,

Um.....that is my spec :( Perhaps you might find her great and maybe it's just me and I'm just beginning to get impatient but after talking to a few girls here in BB compared to a few different fs's in Sydney etc she is very difficult to access.

I hope you that you get better success with her than I have. When are you booked in to see her? Let me know how you go and we can compare notes :lol:

Take care

Hi Rara

Sorry - I only just saw this thread.

We see Janelle Macdonald at Sydney IVF and I am really happy with her. My DP initially felt that she pretty much just treated him like an appendage to me and that he didn't understand what she was talking about (problem being that I am scientifically trained so understood everything and kept nodding etc initially) DP told me that he didn't understand what she was talking about after our first visit and so now I specifically ask him "is there anything you are unsure of" and this seems to give him the opportunity to ask her questions and he is now a lot happier with her. We were initially referred to her because my GP and a friend who is also a Dr said that she was one of the best around.

She is never able to speak to me if I call but always calls back the same day (often late in the afternoon once her surgeries are over for the day)

With regard to your other issues. I am pretty sure (but am happy to be corrected) that if your HSG come back clear then you don't need a lap.

Has your DH had any semen test results or was the issue with his first one? I wouldn't suggest heading straight to medication as there can be health complications from using things like Viagra (which is what I assume you are talking about) and if it is nerves that are causing arousal issues then it won't really help anyway. My DP also has some performance issues but everyone at the lab was very understanding and we were able to reschedule a time to try again pretty quickly. We were able to get a take home kit and he was able to perform at home and then we took it to the lab straight afterwards (by me keeping it warm down my shirt). There is also an option to ask for a special condom that you use while DTD and then take straight to the lab. Have you rescheduled his time? Maybe you could speak to the people at the lab about possible alternatives to performing there.

My thinking would be at least get your semen analysis results back so that you know if there is an issue there. I would recommend this for two reasons. Firstly, you already have the referal for that test and the results would be sent back your your current FS and you can get them at your next appointment (Semen samples take a couple of weeks to be analysed in my experience). Secondly, it may take you several months to get an appointment with any other FS so this way if you decide to move you can take all your results with you and they will know where you are up to rather than ordering tests for your DH and then you having to wait at least a couple of weeks to find out those results.

I know exactly how frustrating the waiting is. I am currently on a 3 month wait because DP's SA came back really bad and they want to retest in 3 months. I am tearing my hair out!

Thinking of you.

Taff

Thanks Taff...

My DH had a SA and everything was gr8 so no worries there. We weren't actually advised of the reasons why the FS won't prescribe medication to assist with arousel (eg Viagra) so we weren't really aware of any of the implications involved with using it.

Thanks again sweetie. Thinkin of u 2!

Hi Rara

Just noticed your post. I am also in Canberra with same FS.
I agree we there aren't many FS locally but in a way we are like a big country town. I actually started with Canberra Fertility Centre with just ovulation tracking but eventually left because I had bad endo that wasn't diagnosed properly or treated well. I then got treated for my endo in Melbourne by an excellent surgeon. I then did consider doing IVF interstate but my doctors in Melbourne recommended Sydney IVF in Canberra as they have pretty good results and are are part of the larger SIVF group.
I have been pretty happy with them so far, currently in my 2nd IVF cycle with them. The nurses at the clinic are great and happy to answer all my questions no matter how ridiculous or far fetched. I have spoken to Nicci during a cycle on the phone but normally I ask the nurses to ask Nicci questions and they feed the answers back to me.
One thing I have really really liked is that the clinic is small in Canberra and hence all the staff get to know you and it feels comfortable and close knit.
I hope your experiences improve and that you are successful in your baby making journey!

dusty

Hey Dusty,

It's great to hear of your experience so thanks for taking the time to reply to my thread. I go to see Nicole in 1 1/2 weeks FINALLY so hopefully I will get the ball rolling then. I'm going to see whether she can organise a lap to be done pronto and if that isn't possible then I am going to try and see a fs in Sydney. As you said Canberra is a big country town and Nicole appears to be the only one with Sydney IVF so I appreciate how busy she must be however earlier on when I first submitted the thread I was going nuts with worry and anxiousness and really needed some help. I think it is mainly to do with the fact that we waited too long to go and see an fs in the first place so now we are wanting our LTTTC journey to come to an end as soon as possible.

Thanks again and good luck with your ttc journey :pray: