Care Fertility Chester - just been referred

[ChristmasJumpers]

Me and Dh have been referred to Care Fertility in Chester for IVF. I'm 30, DH 27 and we're diagnosed with unexplained infertility after completing all of our tests at RPH.

We don't have an appointment date yet but apparently should get an appointment within 6-8 weeks.

Has anyone else been referred for treatment recently or is at roughly the same stage of diagnosis/waiting to see a clinic? It would be really nice to start the journey with others who are in a similar situation.

I've been reading IVF boards but it is blowing my mind reading about down regs/stims/egg collection etc. while we're still waiting for our first appointment!

Thanks both 👋🏻
We were due frozen embryo cycle before Christmas, but they didn't prescribe enough estrogen so my hormone levels were all wrong and it was cancelled. I had 2 calls in 2 days from different nurses telling me conflicting things. The nurse was quite cross when I asked why they were saying different things.
I'm really not sure if it's just me, or if they have an issue with communication with each other / if they actually hate working there and don't really care 😩
We're speaking to Dr Sephton in 2 weeks so I hope she can make me feel better about it all.
Sorry I don't want to make you both feel stressed about it all😩

not prescribing enough estrogen, is that because they messed up and you should've been given more or because they didn't know? I hope if they mess up they at least cover the costs? How long have you been trying if you don't mind me asking? Hope the doctor does make you feel better!

@CurbsideProphet don’t apologise! It’s all good to know.

I’m a project manager so incredibly detailed by nature and this sort of thing really stresses me out! Especially with something so important.

Has anyone experienced extra delays since omicron? X

@Bl0rnky I'm on medication that reduces how effective estrogen is. I told the nurses but they started me on a standard dose anyway. And then they were surprised when it didn't work as expected 🤔😬

We had 1 NHS funded cycle March / April 2020 - 1 embryo, period came as normal 😔
First self funded cycle June / July 2020 - 2 embryos, 1st implanted but then didn't grow 😔
Now we're going for FET with the 1 frozen embryo.

@Maybemumma I have to be organised with my job and keep electronic records of what I've said and what service users have said. I also find it stressful when other services aren't so organised 😬

I'm not sure about omicron delays. I think it will only show in January when they reopen after Christmas closure. I imagine any issues will be because staff need to isolate etc. I'm anxious about testing positive at this stage. Considering cancelling my hair appointment in a couple of weeks I'm so nervy about catching covid and delaying treatment!

@CurbsideProphet, what numpties they are!

I'm worried about having a positive covid test, my ec being cancelled and having to shell out again for meds. I also don't like the idea of producing eggs for them not to be collected. Although this is better than what I was originally told, the ec would be cancelled and I would still have to pay for it! That was a rough night thinking that. Other than that I don't think there will really be any delays, everything stopped during the first lockdown but since then I've never noticed things being effected so much.

Hadn't thought about the staff testing positive, another thing to worry over!

Grrrr just lost my post.

@Bl0rnky sorry I stressed you out mentioning that! I imagine any delays will be for video call appointments with Dr Sephton and Mr Wood. They will likely be making huge efforts to not cancel any procedures. When Mr Wood was on planned medical leave earlier this year they were talking about bringing a Consultant from another clinic.

@CurbsideProphet no worries. Found somthing else to stress over. I've stopped drinking now I started the meds but my friends told me we shoulda both stopped drinking 2-3 months before. Feel like we've blown it all ready

@Bl0rnky there's so much to stress about in this. I won't say don't worry because there's no "off switch" for worry is there 😬
I can't drink anyway but DH was told not to cut anything out. He started Proxeed last month but we were not advised on anything like that. It all seems a bit hit and miss regarding which clinics give what advice.

@CurbsideProphet That's interesting. I've tried looking into it but the advice seems mixed. My husbands been on fertilsan m since March. Was hoping to conceive naturally as happened before. No such luck though. Oh well. Not much we can do now! 😂

Hi all!

Does anyone ever get an answer from the nurses at Chester? Is there a trick I don’t know about? I’ve been trying for a week and no answer, no reply to messages or email either x

@Maybemumma I've never had them answer the phone but they reply to email and call back. Is it urgent?

Not desperately! I’ll keep trying with email then. Thank you :)

They've always called me back the same day without fail if I leave a message. They have never answered, not once ever. I actually think it must be policy.

I had my first journey down to Chester for my hiv/hepatitis blood tests on Monday. The nurse I spoke to did say that they don't answer the phone but go through all messages and call back within 24 hours. I wonder why they're not responding to you 🤔 maybe a back log of calls after Christmas.
We're all set now to call on the first day of my next cycle which could literally be any day from now to a month away 🙄

I asked the nurse what the process is after I ring up on day 1, she said I'd start injections on day 16. Is this right? It seems a bit strange given that most people would have ovulated naturally by then! I won't have but she didn't have my notes to hand on the day so she wouldn't have known I have long cycles

@ChristmasJumpers they finally rang back today. Thanks to our scan being cancelled our start date will now be mid feb. That’s fine though, at least things are finally moving.

Not sure on cd 16. Are you on short or long protocol? I was told that it’s 6 weeks between cd1 and egg collection if that helps? X

@maybemumma that's good glad they rang you back in the end. Rubbish news that you're having to wait until Feb though, why was your scan cancelled?

I'm on short protocol, I think Mr Haddad said it would be roughly 28 days from start to end all being well

@maybemumma we could end up starting at around the same time! I wish I knew when AF was coming, it's cycle day 31 today and no sign yet

@ChristmasJumpers I think it was cancelled due to covid. It’s just moved back two weeks but that puts it into my next cycle.

That must be so frustrating. The waiting is bad enough without the unknown! X

@Maybemumma they were closed for procedures etc 24th December until 10th January. We're you calling between then? The nurses wouldn't have been there to listen to messages.

@ChristmasJumpers are you doing frozen embryo transfer? That is approx 21-28 days. Estrogen from day 1 then progesterone when lining looks good.
If egg collection it's approx 6 weeks from when you call with day 1 to embryo transfer. Do you have your protocol and drugs ready to go?

I found out from Dr Sephton this week the nurses do have access to everything, so they should be checking the notes before they call. That was a surprise!

I'm day 1 now so starting everything for my frozen embryo transfer. Hopefully 😬

@curbsideprophet how exciting, good luck!!
We're doing egg collection so it sounds like we'll be more like 6 weeks than 4. Now I think about it, I think he might have said 28 days from start to embryo transfer.
We've not got our protocol or drugs yet, it's all so cloak and dagger!! The nurse basically said when I call on day one, they'll arrange for the drugs to be sent and I'll start injections on day 16. Doesn't his mean I'll need to go back in for an appointment to learn how to do the injections or or do they do this over video/phone?

@ChristmasJumpers

I had my first journey down to Chester for my hiv/hepatitis blood tests on Monday. The nurse I spoke to did say that they don't answer the phone but go through all messages and call back within 24 hours. I wonder why they're not responding to you 🤔 maybe a back log of calls after Christmas. We're all set now to call on the first day of my next cycle which could literally be any day from now to a month away 🙄

I asked the nurse what the process is after I ring up on day 1, she said I'd start injections on day 16. Is this right? It seems a bit strange given that most people would have ovulated naturally by then! I won't have but she didn't have my notes to hand on the day so she wouldn't have known I have long cycles

@ChristmasJumpers it was norethistrone I started on day 16, progesterone pill, I took it for two weeks (finished Tuesday) now there's a break where I'm supposed to bleed then injections start Monday.

[quote ChristmasJumpers]@curbsideprophet how exciting, good luck!!
We're doing egg collection so it sounds like we'll be more like 6 weeks than 4. Now I think about it, I think he might have said 28 days from start to embryo transfer.
We've not got our protocol or drugs yet, it's all so cloak and dagger!! The nurse basically said when I call on day one, they'll arrange for the drugs to be sent and I'll start injections on day 16. Doesn't his mean I'll need to go back in for an appointment to learn how to do the injections or or do they do this over video/phone?[/quote]
I've been told to watch a video to learn how to do the injections!! Not overly impressed with that but I think its fairly straight forward

@ChristmasJumpers usually they start you on norethisterone on day 16 to schedule your next period, so they can control exactly when to start the injections on that cycle. Unfortunately they don't explain any of this until you ring with day 1!