Poor Bedside Manner During IVF – It happens…

A friend of mine JUST started her IVF protocol. Tests after tests and birth control pills taken – you know what I am talking about. She’s JUST begun. And guess what? She wants to give up already.

I’ll tell you why.

POOR bedside manner at her RE’S office. I have to say, I relate to her frustration.

Rather than divulge her private details, I’ll let you explore mine. Her stories are so freakishly similar to mine that it doesn’t matter who is elaborating about which RE’s office. Bottom line? There are commonalities.

For one? The “financial woman” is a nightmare. She hardly did her homework. She misread my information from my insurance card so she was, of course told I was non existent. On my next appointment what did this “financial woman” do? She shrieked at me in the hallway, in front of patients. “I don’t know WHO you think you are, passing off the WRONG info to me. You are INFERTILE and they do NOT cover you. In fact? There is NO record of you.” In less than five minutes I was passing my cell phone on to “financial woman” so she may speak to my insurance guy, “Russ.” Russ burst her balloon and corrected her appalling information. She was wrong. Very wrong. She did not apologize to me. So I told her off something fierce.

A few days in to my IVF needles, I was sitting in the waiting room when the front desk receptionist informed me my record was missing. She could not find it. Where was it? She accidentally dropped it in the garbage, along with her breakfast of half eaten eggs and bacon from the corner diner. Nice. MY personal records. Garbage. Height, weight and social on there. Notes. Photos. You name it.

My third gripe was by a very nasty nurse who claimed she called me with updates on my protocol. She never did. She never called me. One time she put me in an exam room (No pants. Paper sheet and all) where I waited an hour an a half. She forgot to tell my RE I was there. The reason I had not brought it to anyone’s attention sooner was because I was always so USED to waiting up to to two hours in the waiting room that it wasn’t surprising I’d be waiting in the exam room a crazy amount of time. What did this nurse say when she realized her error? NOTHING. I was told a few days later that she claimed, I went in on my own and never told her I was there. Now why would I opt to lay in a cold, exam room when I could people watch in the warm, waiting area. They had magazines and a water filter there. She lied. FAIL.

Those are three experiences I considered to be poor bedside manner. Mind you, my RE was wonderful and some of his staff were wonderful. Was it worth the frustration? Yes. I started to pay no mind to crappy employees because they were not contributing to my success. Instead, I focused on the people who mattered. People who would bring me success.

I often wonder if others went through some nightmarish staffing. My buddy is going through it now and as much as I tell her to relax and focus on the good times, she is at the end of her tether.

I hope she stays the course. I hope she does what I eventually had to do – tell her RE. So many REs are so busy that they don’t manage their staff. They have NO idea. When I told my RE he was shocked. And then he paid attention. VERY close attention. He fired some of his staff eventually and thanked me for bringing it to his attention.

Please. Feel free to tell me your hell stories here, too. I don’t mind sharing mine because in hindsight, they are so odd that they border on unbelievable. If I were not there to have witnessed it, ya know?

Yeaaah.

Anyway. Some people are not meant to work with other people. And some people, well, they are amazing. Amazing REs and amazing nurses.

And, of course, amazing IVF girls. Wink!