First telephone consultation - what to expect?

[FortheBeautyoftheEarth]

Hi everyone, I'm 36 and my partner and I have been trying to get pregnant on and off for the last 4 years to no avail. After a bit of denial - "maybe we've been mistiming/not trying enough" etc., we got ourselves referred to our NHS fertility dept. We had (as with most things) a bit of a wait for first appointment, but finally it came through and I have my first telephone consult with a nurse on Friday (it says gynacology dept on letter) and I wondered if anyone has been through this and could tell me what to expect from the very first appointment and if there is anything information I should prepare or have handy??
Many thanks in advance!

So hopefully the process is the same for you and your clinic as it was for mine but we were the same with being referred on nhs etc…..
The first telephone appointment (mine also said with gynae dept) is basically just to go through yours and your partners details, medical information, how long you’ve been trying, how often you’ve had sex, any previous stis, pregnancies etc and your lifestyle, weight and stuff then all being well and if you meet the criteria for funding in your area you should then get an appointment to start investigations which will be face to face. I believe it’s normally a sperm test first, then if that comes back ok they do female tests, bloods, internal scans etc.
All you need to make sure you have is any tablets etc you take and your partner will need to be there when they call you.
It obviously depends on your clinic but I found the wait after initial telephone appointment quicker than the initial referral (time from referral to telephone apt was 12 months, 6 months from phone apt to first face to face and then it moved fairly quickly - 3 / 4 months to starting the ivf)
Wishing you all the luck in the world and you’re nearly there now after a long wait 🥰

@HopefulHead Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such a thorough response. This is most helpful!

Hi @FortheBeautyoftheEarth I’m also 36 and had my first telephone appointment last week 😊 Same as PP the nurse went through a list of questions. I found it useful to have notes to hand about my recent and average cycle lengths (mine are all over the place so that’s not an easy question for me to answer!) She also asked about my husband’s health as well as mine (weight, alcohol, smoking, history of surgery). While on the call she booked me in for a scan and face to face appt with the consultant (which is next week, so only 2 weeks after the phone appt) and she also talked me through what the treatment options might be, depending on the outcome of the scan. I’ve already had blood tests done and husband is waiting for SA results - our GP got those sorted for us while I was waiting for my referral which was handy.

About a week after the call I received a copy of a letter from the nurse which summarised our call. It also included a bit more info about my blood tests and a recommendation for a further test based on the results, so we’ll also discuss that at the face to face next week.

I felt really positive after the call so I hope you do as well. It’s nice to see things progress so quickly. If you want to stay in touch about how things go then please do! It would be nice to share updates with someone at a similar point in the journey 😊

@ChipAndDip It's great to hear your first apt has left you feeling positive :) and yes I would be very happy to keep in touch. I've scribbled down some notes about my height/weight etc. so thank you for all your advice. I am nervous now but also glad something is finally happening! Wishing you all the luck in the world.

@FortheBeautyoftheEarth how did your appt on Friday go?

I have my scan and consultation on Wednesday and can’t wait to find out what the plan is. My husband also has an appt with the GP tomorrow to go through his test results. I assumed he would just get a letter so now I’m anxious that he’s been given an appt in case it’s bad news. But I guess whatever the result, it’s best to know so we can try and fix it 🤞

Yes definitely.
It went ok thanks, the consultant was lovely and explained the tests we'd need to have. I need to have scans and bloods redone as the last ones were quite a while ago. She told my husband to lose some weight which he wasn't thrilled about but it feels good that we know what the issues are so we can address them..It turns out my BMI is a little over too so she told me not to gain anymore weight either. I was kind of expecting that so no surprises there! She said we'd get a nice long letter in the post after, so feels positive that the wheels are now in motion!
Best of luck with the GP apt/scan. Hope it all goes ok/you get more answers x

@FortheBeautyoftheEarth pleased to hear your telephone appt went well! It feels good that things are happening doesn’t it. Do you have a date for your scan/tests?

I had my scan this morning and all looks fine which is a relief. I saw the fertility nurse afterwards and she said she’ll probably prescribe me ovulation induction medication, but she needs to check with the consultant (I didn’t see him today). Husbands results were actually fine (count was a little on the low side, but nothing too concerning) but the full results haven’t been sent to the fertility clinic so they couldn’t say for sure. So need to chase that next week, and I have one more blood test booked next week and then hopefully after that I’ll finally have a treatment plan! To be fair, it’s only been about 2 months since I first went to the GP so it hasn’t taken too long. Hope you don’t have much of a wait either! x