# Newbie with a quick question ~



## PinkPeacock (Nov 9, 2006)

Hello all,

I'm Carys and I've just joined. I'm 23 and my husband is 35 (!) I've got endo and have been trying for 2 years or so.  It was the lovely ladies on the endo board who suggested I come over here.  

I've just had my first letter through saying  I have a nurse led Pre-assement appointment on 23rd November.  Glad the appointment is finally here, but it makes me feel a bit sad, feel like its official now.  

Anyway, my question is what on earth do they do at a Pre-assesment appointment? It says it lasts half an hour and may include a brief physical which scares the living daylights out of me in case they do an internal!  Even my gynae doesn't do internals these days as he got the point that they hurt about 3 years ago! lol.  What would they be looking for?  ANd what happens at this appointment?

Thanks for listening,
Carys
-x-


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## Suzie (Jan 22, 2004)

and welcome to ff 

All clinics are different but at my first ever appointment ( many moons ago  ) we saw a nurse and she just took our general details and background and medical history etc, she also took bloods from me as i have pcos. She also booked my dh in to have another sperm analysis done as his last one had been a while before that, she then sent the notes to the consultant to look at and she gave us and appointment to go to barts ( as we have what they call a satelite clinic which is attached to barts ) The appointment at barts was for a hycosy which is to test my tubes etc

i have added the link to the investigations and starting out board as you might find them helpful 

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=110.0



love
suzie xx


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## ☼♥ Minxy ♥☼ © (Jan 13, 2005)

Hi Carys

Great to see you made it over here 

You'll get lots of support and advice on these boards and feel free to PM me if you have any questions 

Is this pre-assessment for ivf hun ?

Here's a useful link to abbreviations, jargon and bubbles to help you...

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=62247.0

Wishing you lots of luck  

Take care

Natasha (minxyleminx on NES board  )

PS...blown you a couple of bubbles to get you started


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## ♥ Angels ♥ (Aug 10, 2006)

Hi Cary's

welcome to the site, 
everyone is so helpful and there is loads of info on here.
I have 'spoken' to you on the endo site before

where are you having tx (treatment)

love Em X (angels12)


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## Kamac80 (Nov 24, 2005)

hi carys i just wanted to welcome you to the site and wish u lots of luck with your appointment.

This site is truly amazing and u will get lots of support and advice.

Kate xx​


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## PinkPeacock (Nov 9, 2006)

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your kind messages.  Just to add more info,  I'm being seen at Queen Mary's in Roehampton, but I'm not sure what this pre-assesmnet is for.  All it says is "pre-assesment"  I've no idea whether it'll be straight on to IVF or try other things first like Clomid.  In a way I'd rather go in with all guns blazing!  But guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I'm not very good at all this.  I like to know whats going on and why, I don't like feeling this out of control and in the dark.

Dave and I fell out last night, mainly cause I'm feeling so insecure about this whole thing.  Until now, the assited conception has been our contingency plan, now it IS the plan and I don't have a contingency!  Thank goodness we only have two weeks until the appointment.

Thanks again for welcoming me to the site.  Btw, what are bubbles?  I looked at the explanantion and still don't get it!  I'm an intelligent woman, honest!

Oh, one more thing, I had an email this morning offering me some free sperm.  As far as I know Dave's are just fine, so how did he get my email?  I really don't want to get emails from sperm donars.

Thanks guys,
Love
Carys
-x-


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## ☼♥ Minxy ♥☼ © (Jan 13, 2005)

Hi again

Please could you forward the email on to Tony...the WebSite Management...

I will inform him about this.

You've also got your email account showing in your profile which you may want to hide !

Thanks
Natasha


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## mindY_00 (Feb 11, 2005)

Hi Pinkcarys,

There is a Queen Mary's IVF board if you want to join us there you are welcome!

Here is the link;

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=58892.270

Take care,
Carmen 
x


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## AmandaB1971 (Feb 19, 2006)

pinkcarys

Welcome to FF!

All I can tell you is about my own pre-assessment.  I had some bloods taken, she checked my height and weight (unfortunately!  ) blood pressure, urine test for Chlamydia and a few other bits and pieces as far as I remember I didn't have an internal.  In fact, I haven't had an internal done by any of them (and we have 4 consultants on our case for one reason or another) the only thing remotely like that I've had is a few transvaginal ultrasounds, but that wasn't at the pre-assessment appt.

Hun, I fully sympathise with feeling out of control.  I am a complete control freak and I was near-on hysterical when I had to go for lap & dye and all that, I dont like General Anaesthetic for exactly that reason for an hour or so I dont know what's going on?!   very unsatisfactory!!   As for your next contingency plan, I always recommend people start looking at what they will do if tx fails.   Will they resign themselves to being childless, will they consider adoption or fostering?  I think it's healthy to have an exit strategy, it isn't a sign of being pessimistic it's merely sensible to know and accept that life wont stop if treatment fails.  

I'm sure your appointment will be fine. 

Take Care

Amanda xxx


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## DizziSquirrel (Feb 15, 2005)

and Welcome to FF pinkcarys

Just thought I'd say Hi sorry its taken me a while 
I see you've had some great advice and links already, I'm sorry to that you recieved a nasty email 

As Amanda says talking about a back up plan if TX fails is always a good thing, 
you need to ask each other whether you could or would go down an alternative route.

I'm sure your pre-assement will put your minds at rest and give you a plan to work from Ask as many questions as you can 

Wishing you lots of  and   

~Dizzi~


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## Mrs CW (Jul 12, 2004)

Hi there honey, hope you get all the help and support you need on fertility friends.

I had treatment at Queen Mary's - the preassessment (if it's for IVF) is fairly straightforward, some blood tests for HIV and hepatitis and lots of chat.  If it's for fertility treatment before IVF then it's even more straightforward, but you may be referred for more detailed tests such as a hysterosalpingogram,  but since you know you have endo they may just do bloods.

Good luck, they are lovely at QMH.

Claire x


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## PinkPeacock (Nov 9, 2006)

Hi all,

I posted a couple of weeks back saying hello and that we have our first appointment on Thursday.  Well its nearly here.  I'm feeling very in the dark about the whole thing so was hoping you might be able to think of some appropriate questions to ask.  SO far I have...
What sort of treatment is going to be likely for us?
What tests are we going to have to go through?
What sort of time frame do you envisage?
Are we eligible for treatment on the NHS, if so how many cycles?

Anyone think of anything else we should be asking at this point?
Thank you
Carys
-x-


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## Julia C (Nov 21, 2006)

Hi Carys

Good luck for Thursday.

Don't worry your specialist will lead the way.

I can only say, be patient, it all takes so much time, waiting for your period so you can begin the investigations, waiting for results, etc, etc and on it goes. 

Hope the time passes quickly for you.

Good luck again.

Julia C


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## Kamac80 (Nov 24, 2005)

hi carys i just wanted to wish u luck for thursday and keep us posted on what happens

Kate xx


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## PinkPeacock (Nov 9, 2006)

Hi everyone,

I posted a while back and had some good advice from everyone but as all we've had to do was wait I haven't been on the boards for a while.

We still don't know which hospital is going to offer us NHS treatment, and have decided that as the waiting list for one is 2 years, and the other is 3 years we're going togo private in the mean time.  I'm going to ask my doc to refer us when I see him tommorow to Guys and St Thomas.  I'm due a lap any time now, well, whenthe date comes through, lol.  So we want to start just after that.

Now come the questions, if anyone has any ideas of somewhere better to post them then please let me know.

Has anyone had any experience, good or bad, of St Thomas?  

In their info booklet they say they do egg collection under sedation and don't mention GA.  This is not something I want to comprehend as internals and TV scans have made me cry and scream.  Can't imagine the egg collection is going to be alright.

The drugs on their price list are Menopur, Gonal F and Puregon.  I'm a bit confused whether we have to take (and pay) for all three or if they are alternatives.  I've searched google but can't really get an answer.  

I'm sure I've got other questions too, but will leave it at that for now. 

Thanks for any help,
Carys
-x-


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## Clareybob (Mar 4, 2007)

Hi Pinkcarys,
We went and had a tour of Guys fertility clinic with one of their lovely nurses (we wer checking out a number of clinics trying to choose between them).  She told us that all their ECs at Guys are now done under GA, cos they had patient feedback telling them that it was too uncomfortable just under sedation (oh, good, I'm just having sedation with my clinic!!).  

If you got in touch with them and asked to be shown around by a nurse, too, you could ask lots of your questions then, as the one we saw was very helpful.  We just arranged it informally and she stayed late one evening to see us after work.

As for the drugs question, I have had to pay for 3 separate drugs (not the same ones as you listed): one for down-regging, one for stimulation and one is a progesterone pessary for after EC.

Just wondered: did you say that you can stay on the NHS waiting list whilst having private treatment?  I am sure we were told that we forfeited our NHS treatment by going privately, but if this is not the case, I'd love to know, cos a free go is clearly worth pursuing!!! 

Hope you find more answers from other peeps & good luck with it all.

Clarey xxxx


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## ☼♥ Minxy ♥☼ © (Jan 13, 2005)

Hi Carys

Good to see you back on the FF boards 

I have no experience with Guys but there are a few threads you may like to check out & chat to the ladies...even if some are old threads you can always PM the ladies...

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=86711.0

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=70987.0

There's also thread on Clinic Review board...

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=33604.0

As for whether to have GA or IV sedation...I had IV sedation and it was absolutely fine and I'm opting for that option again this 2nd time round. You are completely "out of it" but still able to respond when required and I certainly didn't feel a thing. There are a couple of thread you might want to read...

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=87433.0

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=24414.0

With regards to the drugs you mentioned, Gonal F, Menopur & Puregon are all the stimulating drugs. What drug regime you are put on will be completely down to your consultant, looking at your FSH levels and medical history. It will also depend on whether you're on the Long Protocol or Short Protocol...I expect you'll be put on the Long Protocol which involves downregulating first, before the stimming drugs...with the Short Protocol (usually for older ladies or poor responders) then you go straight to stimulating. Assuming you're on Long Protocol then you would need drugs to downreg eg Syneral, Burselin etc, drugs to stimulate (as those ones you mention), the hcg trigger injection eg Pregnyl, Ovitrelle etc and then drugs to support the 2ww which are progesterone eg Cyclogest, Crinone, Gestone etc....

For our first IVF I was on Long Protocol and will be doing the same again this time round as although I'm older (3 I responded well....
I have Syneral (sniffing - to downreg), then Gonal F (to stim) then Ovitrelle (to trigger before EC) and then Cyclogest and Crinone during 2ww...plus I have other drugs for blood clotting/immune problems.

Although we have been having private treatment we managed to get all the drugs on NHS prescription. You would need to discuss this with your GP and also check directly with your local PCT...if you use the search option on this website you will find lots of posts discussing this so I won't repeat everything.

For information on IVF procedure you can check out the "rough guide"

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=2&id=10&Itemid=3

Good luck
Natasha


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## ☼♥ Minxy ♥☼ © (Jan 13, 2005)

Clareybob said:


> Just wondered: did you say that you can stay on the NHS waiting list whilst having private treatment? I am sure we were told that we forfeited our NHS treatment by going privately, but if this is not the case, I'd love to know, cos a free go is clearly worth pursuing!!!
> 
> Clarey xxxx


Hi Clarey

Its entirely down to your local PCT and what their criteria is as it can vary greatly from area to area. With some, if you have private treatment it will jeopardise your nhs funding but with others its ok.

We live SE London & come under LB of Bromley...we're entitled to 2 funded ivf treatments and when we got put on list in April 2005 we were told there was 2 year wait...just as we're about to reach top, we have been told its been put back by 6mths ! However, we can have as many private treatments in the meantime without it effecting our nhs funding...(initially we were told could have 3 full private ivf cycles but this has changed).

We have paid for 1 fresh ivf and 2 fets so far and are about to start our 2nd fresh ivf...all private...whilst still remaining on the nhs waiting list. We have also managed to get our GP to fund all the drugs on private prescription so rather than spending nearly £1000 for full ivf drugs, we've paid less than £50 and that includes all the additional meds I need...this does mean though, that if we ever did need the nhs ivf tx then we would have to pay for the drugs ourselves as we've now used that up ! However, if (fingers crossed) this next ivf treatment is successful and we have a "live" birth then we would automatically be removed from the nhs list because most PCT criteria stipulates that you or your partner can't have children from current or previous relationship.

It really is down to each individual PCT and you would need to check with yours...you can search here...

http://www.nhs.uk/England/AuthoritiesTrusts/Pct/Default.aspx

/links
Take care
Natasha


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## Clareybob (Mar 4, 2007)

Thanks Natasha!  You are the source of so much information!  I am well impressed!
 you da lady. 

Clarey xxxx


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