this should be posted like a week ago but hadn't got the time to do it.
well, AF finally came on Fri 22/04, for once in my life, i was jumping with joy that it came. surely there's some irony there.
anyways, full bleed started on Sat, and i'm suppose to take clomiphene on the second day. started first dose on Sunday, no symptoms whatever, so far so good.
symptoms started kicking in during the working week, AF stopped by Wed, which is rather startling as mine never stops when it should.
A nagging pain in the lower right abdomen and blurred vision by Wed made me panic. not to mention a total lethargic, not enough sleep me walking in the office.
gave a call to the gynae to list out symptoms - he said he had never in all his years of practicing had patients who experienced these symptons before and laughed it off.
i jokingly replied that perhaps i've been reading too much into it.
but then after i put down the phone, i felt kinda silly. am i imagining it all?
a post on a online forum, however came up with other women who have experienced blurred vision/mood swings/ sainzness etc. Thank goodness. i'm normal.
Perhaps it's really time to change gynae.
CD0 AF started Fri 22/04 (late at night)
CD1 Sat 23/04
CD2 Sun 24/04 - CD6 Thu 28/04 clomiphene 2 tabs per day
Most fertile period CD10 - CD20Mon 02/05 - Thu 12/05 - loads of baby dancing in store.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
AF still not here yet. What cld be wrong?
finished the last dose of medicine on 18/04 Mon, and was hoping to see AF within the next couple of days - it's Friday 22/04 and still no sign or symptoms.
called the gynae yesterday but no reply from him or his office. as usual the dragon woman gets on my nerves.
called at 10am plus, she said will pass on msg, called at 2pm plus, said already passed msg to doc, called at 4pm plus said will remind doc, called at 6pm, kena tsf to voicemail, called at almost 8pm, someone answered and said doc in surgery till10pm, guess that's it. another sleepless night.
went to KKH with DH to give the SA. and it took us 41 min to drop off the sample. arghs. talk abt efficiency and following previous instructions given.
poor hubby, took ages to produce the sample at home...that despite not doing it for the past 3 days. i guess it doesn't help that i was laughing :P
by the time i reached the office, i decided to wait till 10am to call my gynae. in the end, called him at 945am, couldn;t wait any longer. he gave all reasons why he didn';t return call. i already guessed so but didn't have the patience to reassure him. LOL. i need assurance here.
anyways, he said to wait a couple more days and to do a UPT before heading to his office on Mon. so i could be pregnant - i asked abt the probability and he says he won;t know. right, i can;t wait for the weekend to be over.
oh yes, he said the medicine i've been taking is not of any harm to the baby if i;m really positive.
Thk goodness. IF.
a bit puzzled though, we did a UPT on the 08/04 and it was a negative, last week 15/04, the KKH gynae did a scan and he said the uterine lining is thick - as it shld be due to the AF inducing medicine - so how can be pregnant?
and if not pregnant - then why didn't the AF induce medicine work as it should work the last time?
will know by monday i suppose.
anyways anyways do i ahve a choice. someone suggested a blood test, shd i go for that?
still deciding or can we wait till monday? arghs.
actually didn't wait till monday to find out, during lunch time, wen to get a HPT form watsons and did a test - it's a negative, so there goes the hope. for a short time on friday like for 3 hours after the doctor's phonecall, i got high hopes that perhaps i didn't need to go thru all those fertility medicine,
oh well, it's not to be.
http://www.babycenter.com/pregnancy-calendar/getinfo?_requestid=326251
anyways i found this amazing website, all you need is to input some stuff and it give a day to day break down of what is happening now.
AMAZING.
called the gynae yesterday but no reply from him or his office. as usual the dragon woman gets on my nerves.
called at 10am plus, she said will pass on msg, called at 2pm plus, said already passed msg to doc, called at 4pm plus said will remind doc, called at 6pm, kena tsf to voicemail, called at almost 8pm, someone answered and said doc in surgery till10pm, guess that's it. another sleepless night.
went to KKH with DH to give the SA. and it took us 41 min to drop off the sample. arghs. talk abt efficiency and following previous instructions given.
poor hubby, took ages to produce the sample at home...that despite not doing it for the past 3 days. i guess it doesn't help that i was laughing :P
by the time i reached the office, i decided to wait till 10am to call my gynae. in the end, called him at 945am, couldn;t wait any longer. he gave all reasons why he didn';t return call. i already guessed so but didn't have the patience to reassure him. LOL. i need assurance here.
anyways, he said to wait a couple more days and to do a UPT before heading to his office on Mon. so i could be pregnant - i asked abt the probability and he says he won;t know. right, i can;t wait for the weekend to be over.
oh yes, he said the medicine i've been taking is not of any harm to the baby if i;m really positive.
Thk goodness. IF.
a bit puzzled though, we did a UPT on the 08/04 and it was a negative, last week 15/04, the KKH gynae did a scan and he said the uterine lining is thick - as it shld be due to the AF inducing medicine - so how can be pregnant?
and if not pregnant - then why didn't the AF induce medicine work as it should work the last time?
will know by monday i suppose.
anyways anyways do i ahve a choice. someone suggested a blood test, shd i go for that?
still deciding or can we wait till monday? arghs.
actually didn't wait till monday to find out, during lunch time, wen to get a HPT form watsons and did a test - it's a negative, so there goes the hope. for a short time on friday like for 3 hours after the doctor's phonecall, i got high hopes that perhaps i didn't need to go thru all those fertility medicine,
oh well, it's not to be.
http://www.babycenter.com/pregnancy-calendar/getinfo?_requestid=326251
anyways i found this amazing website, all you need is to input some stuff and it give a day to day break down of what is happening now.
AMAZING.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Appt at KKH
Friday 15 April 2005
Was debating whether to go or not for this appointment after the horrendous polyclinic wait and feedback from posters in TTC that nothing much will be done as referred patients will be seen by a MO (medical officer).
in the end, i've still decided to go - my rationale was perhaps the diagnosis would be different (better?) - illogical. or perhaps the other doctor will confirm on what LA said and give the go ahead for treatment which will reassure us that LA knows what he's doing. anyways it's kinda convoulted.
been cranky and moody for the past few days, not sure if it's the medicine or just the waiting.Oh well, in the end did see the doctor at KKH. Lucky me, despite being a subsidised case, the doc on duty that day was the senior consultant. and he's really efficient and straight to the point. the type of doc i like.
despite waiting for over an hour to be registered, i reach there at 8.45am for a 9.10am appt, i didn't get to see the doctor till about 11am. by the time he's through with me and i got to collect prescription and stuff, i left the hospital close to 1pm. a looong looong day. i was totally exhausted by then.
how did the appt go?well, after being registered, you are suppose to go to another station where they take yr ht/wt and blood pressure. so you queue for that. 20 min or so.and after they done that, you go and wait for the doctor. eh this one is like an hour or so, judging that i got the first appt of the day.and then consultation is like 20 min (which is long, considering that other doctors are going thru their patients like 2 every 15 min)consultationThe doc is a nice guy, straight to the point and efficient. i don;t know why, but i wasn;t expecting efficient. maybe the concept of public hospital. therfore i wasn't expecting to be examined physically, expecting the first visit to be basically 'taking of medical history etc etc'The gynae said he will do a scan to confirm diagnosis. and his nurse appeared to tell me what to do. i was expecting a abdominal scan until the nurse told me to strip and put underwear 'in that drawer' - whoops.
I wasn't expecting a internal scan and frankly was rather embarassed. and certainly not mentally prepared for it. while being in that vulnerable position, he asked if i had a pap smear done before and i said no. He asked me why not? the gynae i'm seeing now says it's low risk hence not necessarily. He wanted to do one and called the nurse, and then asked me if i wanted one now?
in that position, the last thing i wanted is a pap smear. and i told him i will go back to my gynae for that. He nodded and inserted the probe in. He mentioned that the uterine lining is a little thick (which is normal as i'm taking medication to induce AF).he showed me the left polycyctic ovary and said that he can;t see the right one clearly. He ended up manipulating the probe about, trying to see the right ovary and was casuing me some pain. to his credit he did asked, if he was causing me pain. and i said yes, he gave up saying that my right ovary was too far away, and then printed some ultraounds.He then took the probe out. finally. The total scan didn;t take that long, maybe 5-10 min max but it felt like aeons to me and i ended up feeling brusied for the next couple of days.
the nurse came in and helped me off the table. got dressed and got his diagnosis. well he confirmed that i have PCOS (great surprise).he suggested that i see my currnet gynae for the clomiphene treatment for 3 months, and if that doesn't work to come back and see him for other alternative methods.
He then prescibed some vitamins for hubby, clomiphene for 3 months at 1 tab per day. and oh yes, a sperm analysis for hubby. I;m sure hubby is jumping with joy at the prospects of doing the sperm sample.
the sperm sample appointment.so after the consult, i'm suppose to go get a appt for hubby to deposit his sperm. to KKH credit, i am allowed to choose an appt, i wanted to know the results as soon as possible and picked the earliest appt next friday 830am. got detailed instructions and a small plastic container.
to anyone who is reading, it's nothing gross. just awkward. Hubby's suppose to clear his stuff on the 18/04, no activity for the next 3 days and produce the sample on 22/04 am into the sample before bringing it in within an hour.
The drop off is suppose to take less than 10min, all you need is drop of the sample and go. results will be given to ya via the doc at the next appt.
remember these instructions. so well, so i thought.
as you can imagine, hubby's like...into that small container, oh well, got to do what a man got to do.
Was debating whether to go or not for this appointment after the horrendous polyclinic wait and feedback from posters in TTC that nothing much will be done as referred patients will be seen by a MO (medical officer).
in the end, i've still decided to go - my rationale was perhaps the diagnosis would be different (better?) - illogical. or perhaps the other doctor will confirm on what LA said and give the go ahead for treatment which will reassure us that LA knows what he's doing. anyways it's kinda convoulted.
been cranky and moody for the past few days, not sure if it's the medicine or just the waiting.Oh well, in the end did see the doctor at KKH. Lucky me, despite being a subsidised case, the doc on duty that day was the senior consultant. and he's really efficient and straight to the point. the type of doc i like.
despite waiting for over an hour to be registered, i reach there at 8.45am for a 9.10am appt, i didn't get to see the doctor till about 11am. by the time he's through with me and i got to collect prescription and stuff, i left the hospital close to 1pm. a looong looong day. i was totally exhausted by then.
how did the appt go?well, after being registered, you are suppose to go to another station where they take yr ht/wt and blood pressure. so you queue for that. 20 min or so.and after they done that, you go and wait for the doctor. eh this one is like an hour or so, judging that i got the first appt of the day.and then consultation is like 20 min (which is long, considering that other doctors are going thru their patients like 2 every 15 min)consultationThe doc is a nice guy, straight to the point and efficient. i don;t know why, but i wasn;t expecting efficient. maybe the concept of public hospital. therfore i wasn't expecting to be examined physically, expecting the first visit to be basically 'taking of medical history etc etc'The gynae said he will do a scan to confirm diagnosis. and his nurse appeared to tell me what to do. i was expecting a abdominal scan until the nurse told me to strip and put underwear 'in that drawer' - whoops.
I wasn't expecting a internal scan and frankly was rather embarassed. and certainly not mentally prepared for it. while being in that vulnerable position, he asked if i had a pap smear done before and i said no. He asked me why not? the gynae i'm seeing now says it's low risk hence not necessarily. He wanted to do one and called the nurse, and then asked me if i wanted one now?
in that position, the last thing i wanted is a pap smear. and i told him i will go back to my gynae for that. He nodded and inserted the probe in. He mentioned that the uterine lining is a little thick (which is normal as i'm taking medication to induce AF).he showed me the left polycyctic ovary and said that he can;t see the right one clearly. He ended up manipulating the probe about, trying to see the right ovary and was casuing me some pain. to his credit he did asked, if he was causing me pain. and i said yes, he gave up saying that my right ovary was too far away, and then printed some ultraounds.He then took the probe out. finally. The total scan didn;t take that long, maybe 5-10 min max but it felt like aeons to me and i ended up feeling brusied for the next couple of days.
the nurse came in and helped me off the table. got dressed and got his diagnosis. well he confirmed that i have PCOS (great surprise).he suggested that i see my currnet gynae for the clomiphene treatment for 3 months, and if that doesn't work to come back and see him for other alternative methods.
He then prescibed some vitamins for hubby, clomiphene for 3 months at 1 tab per day. and oh yes, a sperm analysis for hubby. I;m sure hubby is jumping with joy at the prospects of doing the sperm sample.
the sperm sample appointment.so after the consult, i'm suppose to go get a appt for hubby to deposit his sperm. to KKH credit, i am allowed to choose an appt, i wanted to know the results as soon as possible and picked the earliest appt next friday 830am. got detailed instructions and a small plastic container.
to anyone who is reading, it's nothing gross. just awkward. Hubby's suppose to clear his stuff on the 18/04, no activity for the next 3 days and produce the sample on 22/04 am into the sample before bringing it in within an hour.
The drop off is suppose to take less than 10min, all you need is drop of the sample and go. results will be given to ya via the doc at the next appt.
remember these instructions. so well, so i thought.
as you can imagine, hubby's like...into that small container, oh well, got to do what a man got to do.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Seen the doc
it's not so bad, didn't have to wait more than 20 min top.as usual, he asked for history - er doesn't he keep any records? anyways it's hard to be upset with him as he's a pretty nice guy, LOLanyways after the history, he asked if i could be pregnant, i told him abt the home pregnanancy test and he said it should be a clear out positive or negative - i guess a little part of me was wishing that the negative was a mistake. strange isn't? *wryly*
he did a short abdominal ultrasound and said everything is normal, PCO is still there. and went straight into explaining that PCO is hormonal imbalance and that i need to lose weight - yes we all know that. If i could lose a kg each time he said that to me, i would be kate moss.
so the plan is this , get AF coming again by taking sonulut for the next 10 days at 2tabs in the morning. it should come within the next week. then take clomiphere (fertility medicine) from D2 to D6 (5 days at 2 tabs in the morning), have coitus (sex) from D10 - D25 and between D20-D25, i can go back for a blood test to see if the fertility medicine is working - ie if i'm ovulating.
he took my word for it and i didn;t have a urine pregnancy test, so saved some bucks there. a short visit of 20 min consultation and there goes 75.20. i sure hope that this one cycle will do the trick.*keeps fingers and toes crossed*
*reminds myself - no caffiene
*Sat 09/04 - Mon 18/04
2tabs sonulut in the morningD2 - D6
2 tabs clomiphere in the morningD10-D25
BDD20-D25 blood test
he did a short abdominal ultrasound and said everything is normal, PCO is still there. and went straight into explaining that PCO is hormonal imbalance and that i need to lose weight - yes we all know that. If i could lose a kg each time he said that to me, i would be kate moss.
so the plan is this , get AF coming again by taking sonulut for the next 10 days at 2tabs in the morning. it should come within the next week. then take clomiphere (fertility medicine) from D2 to D6 (5 days at 2 tabs in the morning), have coitus (sex) from D10 - D25 and between D20-D25, i can go back for a blood test to see if the fertility medicine is working - ie if i'm ovulating.
he took my word for it and i didn;t have a urine pregnancy test, so saved some bucks there. a short visit of 20 min consultation and there goes 75.20. i sure hope that this one cycle will do the trick.*keeps fingers and toes crossed*
*reminds myself - no caffiene
*Sat 09/04 - Mon 18/04
2tabs sonulut in the morningD2 - D6
2 tabs clomiphere in the morningD10-D25
BDD20-D25 blood test
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Had a call from a GF
Friday
i've forgotten that M is going to be 1 yr old in May, how fast time flies.I don't think i can wait any longer to have kids. been reading up that the chances of conception gets lower and lower once past 30. do we have the time or the money to wait till later to try?i don't think so. hopefully the sooner we start trying means that we will spent less time and money on it.
did i tell ya about the dragon of a lady - eh the recept at the gynae - well she's one of the reasons why i'm so hesistant about making an appt to see the gynae. From galfriends and other posters who see him, they all agree that she's a bit of a dragon, but that she's a nice person to those who are pregnant which obviosuly i am not. sighs.it looks like i got to deal with her. let me muster up enough courage to call her.
i called her ard 2 plus to arrange for a appt, tentatively 12pm on friday. mentioned to her that i would like some time to discuss some issues with the doctor about having a baby and would appreciate an appt when the doc has time to talk things through.She said anytime in daytime can, cause day evenings, the doc is fully booked with 48 patients to see. wow - being a gynae is lucurative. :P
i told her i will return call and confirm with hubby first. and she just hang up the phone :??bother - i really hate this. i'm so tempted to just forget abt this. but then he has all my records.anyways, i discussed with hubby and we decided to give him another try. i wasn;t too sure that public is the way to go, esp since reading online that subsidised patients are usually seen by an MO or a registar only and it will take a longer time in public sector to get anything done. - the 3 hr wait at the polyclinic convinced me of that.
we don't have time to waste.so i called the clinic up again and was surprised that the call is picked up by the gynae himself. i thought i got the wrong number. :P. anyways got the appt fixed and yes, i'll be seeing him in a few hours time.
It's 5am in the morning and i couldn;t get to sleep. hubby is not sleeping well either and rather than having 2 persons tossing on the bed and waking each other alternatively, i figured that i could use the time on the computer to do up medical history and the questions i wanted to ask the doc.
i've forgotten that M is going to be 1 yr old in May, how fast time flies.I don't think i can wait any longer to have kids. been reading up that the chances of conception gets lower and lower once past 30. do we have the time or the money to wait till later to try?i don't think so. hopefully the sooner we start trying means that we will spent less time and money on it.
did i tell ya about the dragon of a lady - eh the recept at the gynae - well she's one of the reasons why i'm so hesistant about making an appt to see the gynae. From galfriends and other posters who see him, they all agree that she's a bit of a dragon, but that she's a nice person to those who are pregnant which obviosuly i am not. sighs.it looks like i got to deal with her. let me muster up enough courage to call her.
i called her ard 2 plus to arrange for a appt, tentatively 12pm on friday. mentioned to her that i would like some time to discuss some issues with the doctor about having a baby and would appreciate an appt when the doc has time to talk things through.She said anytime in daytime can, cause day evenings, the doc is fully booked with 48 patients to see. wow - being a gynae is lucurative. :P
i told her i will return call and confirm with hubby first. and she just hang up the phone :??bother - i really hate this. i'm so tempted to just forget abt this. but then he has all my records.anyways, i discussed with hubby and we decided to give him another try. i wasn;t too sure that public is the way to go, esp since reading online that subsidised patients are usually seen by an MO or a registar only and it will take a longer time in public sector to get anything done. - the 3 hr wait at the polyclinic convinced me of that.
we don't have time to waste.so i called the clinic up again and was surprised that the call is picked up by the gynae himself. i thought i got the wrong number. :P. anyways got the appt fixed and yes, i'll be seeing him in a few hours time.
It's 5am in the morning and i couldn;t get to sleep. hubby is not sleeping well either and rather than having 2 persons tossing on the bed and waking each other alternatively, i figured that i could use the time on the computer to do up medical history and the questions i wanted to ask the doc.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Had this feeling that perhaps.....
perhaps i'm pregnant after all.
After chatting with a galfriend, thought that perhaps since menses is late, just perhaps i could be pregnant after all.
got myself in a frenzy and hurry to get back home to test.
it was a negative.oh well, life goes on
After chatting with a galfriend, thought that perhaps since menses is late, just perhaps i could be pregnant after all.
got myself in a frenzy and hurry to get back home to test.
it was a negative.oh well, life goes on
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Step 2
I wonder what made me think that sat is a good time to go to the polyclinic. the opening hours are from 8am to 12.30pm. I reached the place at 8.45am and even before i got out of the taxi (yes, i took a cab, got no idea how to reach the place via MRT), i saw a long queue snaking out of tthe building.
woah, i didn;t know that many people go to polyclincs - i've always visited pte doctors. ok, i resigned myself to the long wait. Ok a side point which i think is funny.The queue was kinda funny - it stuck straight out in a straight line from the registration desk - and right out of the building into the rain (there was a slight drizzle) - i don;t understand why people were queuing in the rain when they could have moved sideways and took shelter under the corridor instead. that's singaporean for you.
As i was in the rain, i wondered if i should say something, but then fortunately the queue moved forward, and i got out of the rain. I turned backwards to see if anyone would move sideways out of the rain - but no, instead i saw a couple of umbrellas being opened.
well singaporeans.anyways, the queue (i thought it was for registration but no, it's pre-registration) - took about 15 min and i passed my IC to the lady and got a number. i looked at the number i am holding on to and the one that is flashing n the disply and i freaked out. i'm like 200 numbers behind.I managed to snag a corner chair while resigning myself to the wait. Thank goodness i got a trusty novel with me. As i read my book, i did some people watching and there are loads of new borns (crying babies) around. what an irony.
Ok, while i try to concentrate on my book, the numbers went flashing by and surprisingly within 45min, i got registered. by then it was almost 10am. that was a painless process.
now as i waited to see the doctor - there's a board that says it takes an hr and 4 min - why the precision, i'm so amazed. and that estimated time doesn't change at all.
so i settled down to wait and inbetween there was some drama going on with other people who were seeing the doc as well. oh well it puts for interesting reading, but not now. ( never got round to writing abt it - oh nvm)
i watch the numbers jump and noticed that each consultation didn't take more than 15 min max. and the queue numbers jump like 8 to 10 numbers each time. i was thinking like not too bad, it's going to my turn soon - perhaps within the 1 hr and 4 min promised at registration.
almost to 1hr and 4 min, my number flashed and i finally saw the doctor. a young lady, she sounded like she's from the philipines, OK, a foreign talent. :P i got nothing against foreign talent but surely there are enough doctors to go round in Singapore? - loads of kids out there wanted to be doctors.anyways back to the topic, I told her that i wanted a second opinion since i've been diagnosed with having PCOS a couple of years back and treatment at a pte clinic has not brought any results as i have not concieved since trying for a baby for 1 yr and a half.Guess what, the next question she asked was ' when did you get married?' - now that was a bummer question. We gotten married about 4 mths ago. Eh, i got nothing against pre marital sex but duhz, need i spell it out in black and white? btw She asked this question twice.
anyways, the next thing she asked was if i ever was pregnant - she asked this twice as well. and this was AFTER i explained that the pte doc said it's unliekly i can concieve due to PCOS.I'm just thankful that there was no physical examination.She wrote me a referral letter and asked me which hospital i prefer. Eh, KKH? isn't that where these sort of matters are sent to? or is there another women's specilaist hopsital around that i'm not aware of?i got the letter and was sent with a patient clinic assistant to make an appointment. She pointed me out to where i could get a seat. i figured that it's going to be another long wait. in 20 min time, i heard my name being called and finally managed to see someone who can get me a appointment.
that 20 min was rather interesting actually, i overheard a conversation between two ladies in their early thirites - well aunties, conversing in Mandarin about the inefficiency of the system. Evidently one of the ladies had to go for a blood test and a scan but she had her blood test done and told to see the doctor, after waiting ages to see the doc, she was told by the doc to go get a scan at another place, and had to wait for another appt. and after she got an appt, she had to go for the scan and the results will be sent to this doc. So she came back to see the doctor and was told that she had to make another appt to get another scan. and that's why she's waiting to get another appt.Sounds confusing? it sure is for me. and you know what, it's one and a half month since that first blood test.
I sure hope that whatever she's suffering from doesn't spread fast, in one and a hlaf months, a patient could be dead by then.anyways, after 20 min or so, my name was called out and someone helped me make an appointment for 2 weeks later with the fertility clinic in KKH.
I'm so eagerly waiting for the appointment. not.
woah, i didn;t know that many people go to polyclincs - i've always visited pte doctors. ok, i resigned myself to the long wait. Ok a side point which i think is funny.The queue was kinda funny - it stuck straight out in a straight line from the registration desk - and right out of the building into the rain (there was a slight drizzle) - i don;t understand why people were queuing in the rain when they could have moved sideways and took shelter under the corridor instead. that's singaporean for you.
As i was in the rain, i wondered if i should say something, but then fortunately the queue moved forward, and i got out of the rain. I turned backwards to see if anyone would move sideways out of the rain - but no, instead i saw a couple of umbrellas being opened.
well singaporeans.anyways, the queue (i thought it was for registration but no, it's pre-registration) - took about 15 min and i passed my IC to the lady and got a number. i looked at the number i am holding on to and the one that is flashing n the disply and i freaked out. i'm like 200 numbers behind.I managed to snag a corner chair while resigning myself to the wait. Thank goodness i got a trusty novel with me. As i read my book, i did some people watching and there are loads of new borns (crying babies) around. what an irony.
Ok, while i try to concentrate on my book, the numbers went flashing by and surprisingly within 45min, i got registered. by then it was almost 10am. that was a painless process.
now as i waited to see the doctor - there's a board that says it takes an hr and 4 min - why the precision, i'm so amazed. and that estimated time doesn't change at all.
so i settled down to wait and inbetween there was some drama going on with other people who were seeing the doc as well. oh well it puts for interesting reading, but not now. ( never got round to writing abt it - oh nvm)
i watch the numbers jump and noticed that each consultation didn't take more than 15 min max. and the queue numbers jump like 8 to 10 numbers each time. i was thinking like not too bad, it's going to my turn soon - perhaps within the 1 hr and 4 min promised at registration.
almost to 1hr and 4 min, my number flashed and i finally saw the doctor. a young lady, she sounded like she's from the philipines, OK, a foreign talent. :P i got nothing against foreign talent but surely there are enough doctors to go round in Singapore? - loads of kids out there wanted to be doctors.anyways back to the topic, I told her that i wanted a second opinion since i've been diagnosed with having PCOS a couple of years back and treatment at a pte clinic has not brought any results as i have not concieved since trying for a baby for 1 yr and a half.Guess what, the next question she asked was ' when did you get married?' - now that was a bummer question. We gotten married about 4 mths ago. Eh, i got nothing against pre marital sex but duhz, need i spell it out in black and white? btw She asked this question twice.
anyways, the next thing she asked was if i ever was pregnant - she asked this twice as well. and this was AFTER i explained that the pte doc said it's unliekly i can concieve due to PCOS.I'm just thankful that there was no physical examination.She wrote me a referral letter and asked me which hospital i prefer. Eh, KKH? isn't that where these sort of matters are sent to? or is there another women's specilaist hopsital around that i'm not aware of?i got the letter and was sent with a patient clinic assistant to make an appointment. She pointed me out to where i could get a seat. i figured that it's going to be another long wait. in 20 min time, i heard my name being called and finally managed to see someone who can get me a appointment.
that 20 min was rather interesting actually, i overheard a conversation between two ladies in their early thirites - well aunties, conversing in Mandarin about the inefficiency of the system. Evidently one of the ladies had to go for a blood test and a scan but she had her blood test done and told to see the doctor, after waiting ages to see the doc, she was told by the doc to go get a scan at another place, and had to wait for another appt. and after she got an appt, she had to go for the scan and the results will be sent to this doc. So she came back to see the doctor and was told that she had to make another appt to get another scan. and that's why she's waiting to get another appt.Sounds confusing? it sure is for me. and you know what, it's one and a half month since that first blood test.
I sure hope that whatever she's suffering from doesn't spread fast, in one and a hlaf months, a patient could be dead by then.anyways, after 20 min or so, my name was called out and someone helped me make an appointment for 2 weeks later with the fertility clinic in KKH.
I'm so eagerly waiting for the appointment. not.
Step 1c
his only encouragement was to lose weight - which i have to say is sound advice. PCOS patients tend to be overweight and overweight poeple tend to have PCOS. while it's uncertain to say which causes the vicious circle, suffice to say is that when one have PCOS it's a tough battle to lose weight.
and loosing weight is a real battle - i don't eat that much, i'm not fussy about food, i wonlt q more than 10 min to buy food, and where i work, it's common to queue that long to have food, which explains why i prefer to skip lunch.
So despite all of that, i still am putting on weight - i say that's because i'm happy. Everything seems to be going fine in my life right now. We got a flat, did the renovations, got a wedding package, got the gown, did the invites, had the wedding, did the honeymoon bit (ok it was just across the sea, but it's still a deliciously cool break) and the bedminton and the only dark spot is the lack of vomitting and the cravings for coke.
sighs. life is never smooth.
So that brings me to the next step.
Step 1c
Public hospital - that the only one that comes to mind is KKH. everyone i know in my generation is born in KKH. well, it can;t be that bad - despite all that i heard about it. It's the national women's hospital after all.
I surfed the net a little bit more and found out the various things that they do there. well, they have a centre for infertility - there you go, that word again.
ok, there are two ways one can go about seeing a doctor at KKH. To call their one number hotline and make an appointment and get charged non subsidized rates which cost slightly more than pte doctors without the service. now that's ridiculous.
the other way is to get a referral via a polyclinic.
NOw this is where i kinda barked up the wrong tree - i assume that there will be doctors specialising in women's health in the polyclinic - so i called the one nearest to me, i got the number via the MOH website.
It was an answering service and after watiting 15min and pressing buttons, i got a operator who didn't understand what's women wellness is and what's a pre conception screening is - the only thing i got out of her was pap smear - well i suppose that's as close i can get to women's screening, until she asid she can;t make an appt until she knows which day i started my last menses. - well i told her it's not regular and she went on about surely i know when was the last time i had my menses and she can;t make an appt with the doctor until i tell her.
That's when i gave up.
perhaps a personal visit to the polyclinic will be better.
that brings to Step 2
and loosing weight is a real battle - i don't eat that much, i'm not fussy about food, i wonlt q more than 10 min to buy food, and where i work, it's common to queue that long to have food, which explains why i prefer to skip lunch.
So despite all of that, i still am putting on weight - i say that's because i'm happy. Everything seems to be going fine in my life right now. We got a flat, did the renovations, got a wedding package, got the gown, did the invites, had the wedding, did the honeymoon bit (ok it was just across the sea, but it's still a deliciously cool break) and the bedminton and the only dark spot is the lack of vomitting and the cravings for coke.
sighs. life is never smooth.
So that brings me to the next step.
Step 1c
Public hospital - that the only one that comes to mind is KKH. everyone i know in my generation is born in KKH. well, it can;t be that bad - despite all that i heard about it. It's the national women's hospital after all.
I surfed the net a little bit more and found out the various things that they do there. well, they have a centre for infertility - there you go, that word again.
ok, there are two ways one can go about seeing a doctor at KKH. To call their one number hotline and make an appointment and get charged non subsidized rates which cost slightly more than pte doctors without the service. now that's ridiculous.
the other way is to get a referral via a polyclinic.
NOw this is where i kinda barked up the wrong tree - i assume that there will be doctors specialising in women's health in the polyclinic - so i called the one nearest to me, i got the number via the MOH website.
It was an answering service and after watiting 15min and pressing buttons, i got a operator who didn't understand what's women wellness is and what's a pre conception screening is - the only thing i got out of her was pap smear - well i suppose that's as close i can get to women's screening, until she asid she can;t make an appt until she knows which day i started my last menses. - well i told her it's not regular and she went on about surely i know when was the last time i had my menses and she can;t make an appt with the doctor until i tell her.
That's when i gave up.
perhaps a personal visit to the polyclinic will be better.
that brings to Step 2
Step 1b
Step 1b
normal pte gynaes - i'm seeing one now. He's a pretty nice guy - professional and his rates are reasonable and he's like 10 min walk away from home. galfriends i know are seeing him an dpraise him for his bedside manners.
so all in all, he's a good gynae altogether. I've been seeing him for the last couple of years for various women's issues - irregular menses, those that do not come and those that when they do come, forever never ending menses as well.
There's a saying to describe menses - 'yee mah (auntie) come to visit' - i don't think this is refering to anyone's favourite auntie.
so while i used to be relatively happy that there's non of the inconvenience of having menses most of the time, yee mah only visits like once in 3 months or she even goes on vacation for longer periods of time. that surely don't restrict my activities.
sometimes she visits and with a vengence stays for a couple of weeks or even once a couple of months. i thought i would have died of blood loss before i saw him about it. a jab later and a couple of days later, he managed to stop it.
so my visits to him is limited to him trying to regulate my menses and me trying to make sure that it doesn;t affect my life.
menses is a bane in my life. there's a joke to beware the one that bleeds a week and don't die of bleeding, well i should say, one should beware the one that bleeds for weeks and don't die.
It's a draining process. literally. getting drained of blood as well as energy. though usually by the second week or so, one gets used to the tiredness and just hope that it will go away on its own.
not to mention the grouchiness and the short temperedness. i know i'm grouchy, i know i'm short tempered. and i know that PMS is not an excuse to give in to all those 'feelings' - and i believe in mind over body. chemical reactions or not, i'm going to rein in my grouchiness and temper - which i think i do successfully most times - which results in a swollen tougue and retarded responses.
swollen tongue when one just bites on the tongue to keep that remark from slipping out, and retarded responses when one just have to find another diplomatic reply to that REALLY STUPID question.
ok, that gynae, why didn;t we start with him instead? well , come to it, we did start with him. i remember asking him about the chances of concieving with all that menses irregularity - even me, in all my attempts to decieve myself - know that something is wrong.
it got seriously wrong - he did a ultrasound scan- the sort whereby you donlt wish it on anyone else. He put a probe via the vagina and he moves it around to see the various reproductive organs. the good news is that it's all intact, the bad news is the cysts on the left ovary and the heavier than normal lining of the womb which he said will clear.
Now he's not hopeful that the cysts will clear and he said it's probably PCOS - polycystic ovary syndrome - a serach on the net will tell you that a zillion women acorss the world have that and they sure talk about it.
I'm not too shattered back then, i wasn;t planning to have kids. i'm sure i didn't want to have kids. the only thing that plagued my mind was the higher possiblity of having cancer due to the irrgeular menses.
so half heartedly, i took the medicine he gave, which was meant to regulate the menses cycle. after months of having it and not having it, it got put on the back burner while i prepared to get a flat and do renovations and prepare for our wedding.
normal pte gynaes - i'm seeing one now. He's a pretty nice guy - professional and his rates are reasonable and he's like 10 min walk away from home. galfriends i know are seeing him an dpraise him for his bedside manners.
so all in all, he's a good gynae altogether. I've been seeing him for the last couple of years for various women's issues - irregular menses, those that do not come and those that when they do come, forever never ending menses as well.
There's a saying to describe menses - 'yee mah (auntie) come to visit' - i don't think this is refering to anyone's favourite auntie.
so while i used to be relatively happy that there's non of the inconvenience of having menses most of the time, yee mah only visits like once in 3 months or she even goes on vacation for longer periods of time. that surely don't restrict my activities.
sometimes she visits and with a vengence stays for a couple of weeks or even once a couple of months. i thought i would have died of blood loss before i saw him about it. a jab later and a couple of days later, he managed to stop it.
so my visits to him is limited to him trying to regulate my menses and me trying to make sure that it doesn;t affect my life.
menses is a bane in my life. there's a joke to beware the one that bleeds a week and don't die of bleeding, well i should say, one should beware the one that bleeds for weeks and don't die.
It's a draining process. literally. getting drained of blood as well as energy. though usually by the second week or so, one gets used to the tiredness and just hope that it will go away on its own.
not to mention the grouchiness and the short temperedness. i know i'm grouchy, i know i'm short tempered. and i know that PMS is not an excuse to give in to all those 'feelings' - and i believe in mind over body. chemical reactions or not, i'm going to rein in my grouchiness and temper - which i think i do successfully most times - which results in a swollen tougue and retarded responses.
swollen tongue when one just bites on the tongue to keep that remark from slipping out, and retarded responses when one just have to find another diplomatic reply to that REALLY STUPID question.
ok, that gynae, why didn;t we start with him instead? well , come to it, we did start with him. i remember asking him about the chances of concieving with all that menses irregularity - even me, in all my attempts to decieve myself - know that something is wrong.
it got seriously wrong - he did a ultrasound scan- the sort whereby you donlt wish it on anyone else. He put a probe via the vagina and he moves it around to see the various reproductive organs. the good news is that it's all intact, the bad news is the cysts on the left ovary and the heavier than normal lining of the womb which he said will clear.
Now he's not hopeful that the cysts will clear and he said it's probably PCOS - polycystic ovary syndrome - a serach on the net will tell you that a zillion women acorss the world have that and they sure talk about it.
I'm not too shattered back then, i wasn;t planning to have kids. i'm sure i didn't want to have kids. the only thing that plagued my mind was the higher possiblity of having cancer due to the irrgeular menses.
so half heartedly, i took the medicine he gave, which was meant to regulate the menses cycle. after months of having it and not having it, it got put on the back burner while i prepared to get a flat and do renovations and prepare for our wedding.
Step 1
Step 1
One would have thought that THE WAY to go about is is to make love loads of times - to the point of having sex for the sakes of it. but NO, it doesn;t work. I'm still not preggy yet. it's quite unbelievable - for one who abhors preganancy terms and avoids them like the plague and now i'm like head over water in them. and i consider preggy a pregnancy term, why can't pple say that they are pregnant instead of preggy?
after spending a couple of nights pondering over the next steps, I've concluded that we need external help. not a another woman nor another man - our sex life is pretty ok (in my opinion) - it better be his opinion as well.
ok, external party - professional medical parties - that's what i was refering to.
I spent some time surfing through the various websites - let's ttry to recall.
The first place is to check with my friends and contacts as to pte gynaes - that surely has to be the first place to start with, or so i thought, until i got some numbers and start making the calls. from scanning through some posts at a local forum, there are some 'famous' gynaes that pop up consistantly and a coincidence that one of them was recommended by a contact. He's known to have higher than average success rates, has a posh clinic in a pte hospital in singapore, and sky high charges. after ascertaining the sky high charges and the would you believe it 2 hrs waiting time to see him, i decided that as good as he is, he would be one of the last options to consider.
and to boot, he's attached to one of the most expensive private hopsitals for delivery expenses and post natal care.
so while he's the 'best', he's put on hold till things get worse.
ok, that was rather negative. i'm trying to have positive thoughts here. after reading through, or shd i say sifting through the myariads of postings on trying to conceive, i can;t help but be negative about it all.
If nature deems that you are suitable to have a child, surely it's nature that one will have one? and perhaps if one can;t have one, sirely it's because it's all part of the survival of the fitess kind of thing?
i've tried explaining this to hubby and all he did was to look at me and say there's no way you are getting out of this one - parents are getting old and isn't Y's baby so cute? wouldn't you like to have a baby like that? and my reply is still - only if i can return him.
as you can see, having a baby is really not top on my list of to do things. Having enough money to go on a long vacation trip sure sounds more enticing than having a 'bundle of joy' - especially so if we got to go out of our way and most probably get loads of strangers poking me in all the places that i wish never get exposed in public.
ok, back to choices. after pte gynaes which cost the bomb, there's other pte gynaes which don't specialised in fertitliy cases - the normal pte gynaes - i donlt know what they are called, but i suppose that because they do not have a reputation for fertility cases - that's another bad word.
Yes fertility is a bad word, i'll say more about it later. (later i found out there's another worse word - call sub fertility)
One would have thought that THE WAY to go about is is to make love loads of times - to the point of having sex for the sakes of it. but NO, it doesn;t work. I'm still not preggy yet. it's quite unbelievable - for one who abhors preganancy terms and avoids them like the plague and now i'm like head over water in them. and i consider preggy a pregnancy term, why can't pple say that they are pregnant instead of preggy?
after spending a couple of nights pondering over the next steps, I've concluded that we need external help. not a another woman nor another man - our sex life is pretty ok (in my opinion) - it better be his opinion as well.
ok, external party - professional medical parties - that's what i was refering to.
I spent some time surfing through the various websites - let's ttry to recall.
The first place is to check with my friends and contacts as to pte gynaes - that surely has to be the first place to start with, or so i thought, until i got some numbers and start making the calls. from scanning through some posts at a local forum, there are some 'famous' gynaes that pop up consistantly and a coincidence that one of them was recommended by a contact. He's known to have higher than average success rates, has a posh clinic in a pte hospital in singapore, and sky high charges. after ascertaining the sky high charges and the would you believe it 2 hrs waiting time to see him, i decided that as good as he is, he would be one of the last options to consider.
and to boot, he's attached to one of the most expensive private hopsitals for delivery expenses and post natal care.
so while he's the 'best', he's put on hold till things get worse.
ok, that was rather negative. i'm trying to have positive thoughts here. after reading through, or shd i say sifting through the myariads of postings on trying to conceive, i can;t help but be negative about it all.
If nature deems that you are suitable to have a child, surely it's nature that one will have one? and perhaps if one can;t have one, sirely it's because it's all part of the survival of the fitess kind of thing?
i've tried explaining this to hubby and all he did was to look at me and say there's no way you are getting out of this one - parents are getting old and isn't Y's baby so cute? wouldn't you like to have a baby like that? and my reply is still - only if i can return him.
as you can see, having a baby is really not top on my list of to do things. Having enough money to go on a long vacation trip sure sounds more enticing than having a 'bundle of joy' - especially so if we got to go out of our way and most probably get loads of strangers poking me in all the places that i wish never get exposed in public.
ok, back to choices. after pte gynaes which cost the bomb, there's other pte gynaes which don't specialised in fertitliy cases - the normal pte gynaes - i donlt know what they are called, but i suppose that because they do not have a reputation for fertility cases - that's another bad word.
Yes fertility is a bad word, i'll say more about it later. (later i found out there's another worse word - call sub fertility)
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