Angel Among Us

I will always remember the first appointment Mike and I had with my regular OB/Gyn, Dr. Bass. He's been my doctor for more than a decade, so I had no worries when I scheduled an appointment to discuss our fertility (or lack there of) issues. We waited forever (like always), and when the doctor finally came in, he sat down and very quickly went through his "plan" to help us. He wasn't clear on most of what he said, and I was so upset with his "plan" I didn't ask him to clarify. Mike could tell I was upset; I wanted to cry...and then scream.

I've never really had any medical "issues", so I have never felt let down by my doctor...and I've never really had to "take charge" of my diagnosis or treatment...until now. I have been reading as much as I can about infertility and different types of treatments. I know what we want, I know what we don't want...and I know what we can emotionally and financially afford. We have laid in bed many nights and talked about what we each think, want, desire, etc to come from this "issue". Luckily, we are on the same page...our doctor was NOT even reading the same book.

The basics of his plan were to pump me full of hormones for 3-6 months...then take me off for a time...and then put me back on. If after ALL that time on hormones I wasn't pregnant (or if Mike hadn't shoved me off the cliff I am usually teetering on) he wanted to do surgery to clean out my fallopian tubes.

WHAT!? Yep. That's when I was done with HIS plan.

Why would we pump me FULL of awful (and expensive) hormones BEFORE making sure there were no blockages?? Why produce egg after egg if they can't get to where they need to be in the first place? **sigh**

Not to mention the time frame!! I will be 90 by the time we conceive...

I started asking friends (and strangers) about their fertility issues...at my friend Peggy's birthday party I met Aubree...and another super cute girl I can't remember her name. She told me her sister had trouble getting pregnant (for FIVE years...kill me) and finally found someone to help her- Dr. Randall Craig at the Fertility Treatment Center. Super cute girl's sister was pregnant in no time. I love these stories (they give me hope)...so I got his contact info & made the call.

Dr. Craig founded the Fertility Treatment Center, so he was booked solid. But the amazingly nice woman on the phone told me I could get in rather quickly with their "new" doctor, Dr. Behera...."she came to us from Duke." My first question- does she speak English? Totally NOT trying to be rude, but I can't emotionally handle (at this point) a doctor I have to struggle to understand. I was reassured she did...and I was told I would LOVE her.

I immediately got on-line and found their website. I read her bio page and felt comfortable...she seemed to have more than enough of what I would need.


Our appointment day came, and I was nervous. I just did not want a repeat of our other appointment. Mike picked me up at work and we drove to their Tempe facility together. We waited a few minutes in their comfortable (well stocked) waiting room...then we were walked back to Dr. Behera's office.

She introduced herself, and then we sat to go over the paperwork I'd filled out prior to the appointment. We spent at least 30 minutes going over each of our medical histories before she told me she wanted to start with an ultrasound and go from there.

I must have sighed...because Mike asked how long that would take to schedule. Dr. Behera smiled and told us we'd do the ultrasound NOW. Whew. She explained, as we walked to another room, that we'd do the ultrasound and then make our plan.

The ultrasound was interesting...I don't get it (I'm clearly a moron), but everything is a different shade of gray!! Except my full bladder was black...I could see what she was talking about. Other than that...I think I saw my uterus, but ya know, who knows? She said everything looked great. Nothing to be concerned about, from that point of view.

After I changed, we met Dr. Behera back in her office. She had everything written out, so we could go over everything together and take a copy home with us. She was so calm and so patient...so understanding of all the dumb questions and all of our anxiety.

We discussed what we wanted to do and figured out where to start. She spent nearly three hours with us for this appointment. She never seemed rushed. She never treated us like there was another patient waiting- we were her priority.

I will save our "game plan" for us...we don't need to be jinxed, but we do wish our insurance covered a bit more. Oh well.

Even if I never get pregnant...this woman will always be my fertility angel. Even without giving us a child, she gave us back our hope and treated us with kindness and love.