Can You Say, "Fiasco"?

What a fiasco the last couple days!

I went up to the Little (local) Hospital on Tuesday morning to have blood drawn to check my estrogen and progesterone levels. Everyone was pleasant and I was in and out very quickly. That afternoon I got a phone call from My Nurse at The IVF Clinic, asking if I had been taking my progesterone shots. Of course I assured her that I had – that I had gotten a little extra the night before, even (see previous blog post.) She said my progesterone levels were extremely, extremely low. This, of course, precipitated a small panic attack. My Nurse said she’d call the hospital back and ask them to re-run the test and get back to me.

Moments later, the phone rang again and My Nurse told me that she had been sent my results from January 7^th, when my progesterone levels were SUPPOSED to be nice and low. She said she’d call the hospital back and ask for Tuesday’s results. The phone rang again very shortly thereafter, and My Nurse asked if I had indeed been in for blood work that morning. I assured her I had. It was at that point we discovered that, despite my having told the nurses at Sunday’s transfer that I was going to the Little Hospital, no one told My Nurse, so she had called the Big Hospital for my results. Of course, the Big Hospital had nothing to send her! So I looked up the number for the lab at The Little Hospital and gave it to My Nurse.

When My Nurse called looking for my results, the lab attendant actually laughed at her. My orders were marked to be done “Stat” (meaning immediately – not “as soon as possible,” not “by the end of the next business day” but IMMEDIATELY.) The Lab told My Nurse that they’d have the results to her by the end of the week; seven-to-ten days at worst. These are time-sensitive tests! The Clinic needs to know where my levels are, so they can have me adjust my medications to best support the pregnancy!

So we agreed that I would go up to the Big Hospital on Wednesday morning. My Nurse emailed me new orders and faxed them ahead so everything would be ready for me. Being myself and liking to have all my ducks in order (and because, being a rural state, it’s not uncommon to need extra paperwork when dealing with outside medical facilities), I printed off the orders on Tuesday night. At which point, I noticed that the “Stat Results Requested” box had not been checked.

I emailed and called The Clinic in a tizzy, because the last thing we all needed was to have results delayed yet again. After many phone calls and emails from both me and Mum, (Wednesday morning) they agreed to re-fax the orders, and I had a revised copy in hand. Except that when I got there, the new orders with “Stat” marked on them had not arrived, so in the end we just used the ones I had brought with me.

We’ve talked it over, The Clinic and Mum and I, and agreed that from here on out we won’t bother with the Little Hospital for this pregnancy at all.