Dr. Motormouth

As the title suggests, the second fertility doctor talks very fast. She, too, switched to English as soon as Bill walked into the office. All the nurses watched in amazement as the doctor discussed my medical treatment and the fertility treatment with us.

Different from Dr. Magichands, Dr. Motormouth wanted more information from us: family medical history, BMI, details about my menstrual cycle, and all the details regarding my cancer treatment. I was trying to get a sense of what she was like by observing her body language, and she came across as a very straightforward and thorough physician. Her feminine side slipped out when she was typing in my family medical record though. After I told her that my maternal grandfather had high blood pressure diabetes, she typed, "mom's daddy" into the computer. I thought it was cute.

Dr. Motormouth wanted more from us. She wanted me to do a blood test for FSH, LH, E2, and PRL, all of which are tests for ovarian function. The blood test is also for insulin levels. Bill has to have semen analysis & morphology done. All this has to be done during the first 3 days of my next menstrual cycle. That means we have to wait another week and a half until we can go for the blood test. After that, we have to wait for another week for the results. Meanwhile, she asked us to record body temperature first thing in the morning. We walked out of her office with a pile of paper (for all the different tests), a transparent plastic cup with a lid (for little Billys), and a bill of NT$2,445 (about $80 Canadian).

The quest continues. I just made an appointment with a "legendary" doctor at National Taiwan University Hospital. His legend is that, through IVF, his wife got pregnant at the age of 47. I'll tell you more about him later. It's quite a story.