Well first I looked online to see exactly how far this clinic is from my sister's home. They have two offices, and their main office is closer to Chicago. The name of the clinic is a little deceptive in that "Chicago" is in their name but it's actually closer to Minneapolis. Anyhow it's 46 miles from Wendy's house to their main clinic. This is another reason I'd really rather do the stimming in PA. If I did the stimming in PA then I'd only make two trips to Gurnee from Chicago - the day of the retrieval and the day of the transfer. If we did a 5dt (which is what I would hope would happen as their success rates are much higher for 5dt than 3dt), I'd be in Chicago probably for about 8 days assuming we flew out the day before the retrieval and came back the day after the transfer. Anyhow, the reason I called them was to find out when their "up" and "down" times are as I figure many clinics have a lot of "down" times around the holidays. She said that in December the week of December 2nd and December 30 are their "up" weeks when they are doing procedures. She said the January schedule hadn't been set yet. I asked her if they are doing monitoring around Christmas (in case Dr. Awad says no to us doing the b/w and u/s here), and she said every day except Christmas Day itself.
Well the week of Dec 2 is definitely out given I'm just having the FET on Nov 2nd, and in order for the 5dt to be done before the spring semester starts, I had already figured the latest day for ER would be Jan 8. So I guess the week of Dec 30 is when the ER would need to be. Now if they only have one "up" week at a time I assume there are some transfers that take place the next week as otherwise all the retrievals would have to be done only on Sunday or Monday. So I am assuming that as long as the ER takes place that week that it's fine. I guess I'll have to clarify that. I told her we did one IVF this summer and would soon be doing a FET with one 6 day blastocyst. She said if the FET doesn't work that I need to fill out their questionnaire and send it along with our medical records and prepay $200 to have a 30 minute telelphone consult with the RE. I could start stimming as early as December 10, but that would make the ER prior to Dec 30. If I started stimming on Dec 24 the likely the ER would be Jan 4 and the ET Jan 9. In that scenario my first appt (just b/w) would be Dec 27. I am trying to keep my schedule clear so we can celebrate Christmas with our families. If the ET does need to be done by Jan 5, then the stimming would need to start Dec 19 which would make my b/w and u/s appts on Dec 22, 24, 26, and 28. So I'd need to make sure those dates are okay with Geisinger if they agree to let me do the stimming there. I'd prefer to wait until Dec 24 to start stimming. But there are two big unknowns that need to be resolved first:
#1 - Will our 7th embryo result in a pregnancy? I hope so!!!!! I really would like to avoid traveling to IL for IVF #2.
#2 - Will Dr. Awad agree that I can do the b/w and u/s in Danville (and they would fax the results to IL and the staff in IL would call me with my instructions)? I hope so as if he says no then the cost just went up $1,400 plus I will need to stay in IL a longer time and rent a car.
But at least now I know that logistically it IS possible for me to do IVF#2 in Chicago. Their up/down times are not creating a problem in terms of my goal of having the ET prior to the start of the spring semester.
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