Dr. Magichands

Dr. Liu, my surgeon, recommended this fertility doctor, also a Dr. Liu, to us. After checking out this second Dr. Liu on the Internet and was pleased with what I read in the testimonials, I made an appointment for 10 o'clock this morning.

The doctor's office is on the 10th floor of a business building. The first thing I noticed was that there was no big signs downstairs, which suggested that he gets patients mainly through referrals. "It could be a good thing. That means he probably doesn't accept many appointments a day." When we walked into the office, however, there were at least 15 woman and their spouses in the waiting area. The receptionist gave us a form to fill out, so we went to the back where there was a table to write on. In that room, there were another 5 couples waiting. The sheer number of patients in the waiting area made both of us uneasy. Bill said he felt like he was in a factory. I started imagining eggs and sperms being mixed up or contaminated.

The form asks about the woman's medical history, allergies, cigarette/alcohol/drug use, family medical history, and everything there is to know about her menstrual cycle. On the flip side, it asks questions about the man's health condition and the purpose of this visit.

I could feel that my confidence level in the ability to get pregnant declining as I filled out my medical history. I wondered if the doctor would tell us that I'm a hopeless case. I tried to push negative thoughts out of my head and remind myself that we were there to find out about the procedure and check out this fertility doctor. If we don't like him, we have an appointment with another doctor on Monday. We won't do it unless we feel 100 % comfortable and confident in the doctor.

This doctor is obviously very successful. In the 1.5 hours we were waiting, there was a steady stream of patients coming in and out. The women coming in all looked nervous, and the ones leaving the office were all smiling with a blue bag of medication and some empty needles. On the wall, there was a custom-made wood carving with stylish Chinese brush writing, which roughly translates as: "Magic Hands that Bring Life". It was a gift from a patient and her husband. I could see the doctor in his office whenever a patient came out of it. He's bald, heavy-build, and he's got himself a very comfortable-looking, high-back chair. A sign of power. The impression of a money-sucking doctor who wouldn't give his patients the time of his day started to form.

As soon as we walked in to his big bright office, the doctor stood up and reached out his one of his magic hands to greet us. He is personable and very easy to talk to. The beginning of the visit was all in Chinese. He told us that he knows my surgeon and that he could assure us that had many years of experience. He also told me not to worry too much because he had dealt with women with my kind of medical history and succeeded. Then he effortlessly switched to English and started explaining the science behind the procedure. He asked about the details of the surgeries and jotted down relevant numbers and dates. His realistic and honest opinion, in a nutshell, is that it's gonna be tough considering how much my leftover left ovary has been through, but we won't know until we check out my ovarian function through a blood test for AMH.

We also did an ultrasound, and the doc examined my breasts and thyroid. When he squeezed my nipple, a droplet of milk emerged from the center. I was fascinated beyond belief and started wondering if the same thing would happen if I squeezed it. Dr. Magichands quickly ripped off his latex gloves and calmly said, "Ummm.. just as I suspected. It's a sign of irregular hormone function." If my life were a Japanese manga (comics), that was the square in which a huge piece of rock fell from the sky and squashed me underneath it.

Our next appointment with Dr. Magichands is at 2pm on August 30th to see the result of AMH.