What Happened to August?

Wow, I knew that I was behind in my blogging but missing a whole month is pretty bad! In my defense, I was on vacation for part of the month and DrD was on vacation for several weeks as well so it was a pretty crazy time here at DFE.

The end of summer is always very bittersweet. It brings back memories of driving back home from a summer on Cape Cod with the station wagon absolutely heaving from all the junk plus a wet dog and usually a container of Sea Monkeys. The return to school was usually not a high point for me...hard to imagine considering how many years I spent in school...but summer remains my favorite season. Of course, now that I have school age kids I can appreciate why fall is not so bad as getting back into a routine is sometimes a relief.

Speaking of routines I think that fertility treatment can sometimes become a routine or even a second job for some patients. The hardest thing to tell a patient (or couple) is when it is time to move on with their lives and consider other paths. These can include adoption, embryo adoption or child-free living.

Making these recommendations is not easy, especially in patients who respond well to medications but ultimately fail to conceive. I never say that a couple has no chance unless there truly are no eggs, no sperm, no tubes or no uterus...anything can happen but my ability to make it happen faster really drops after multiple failed attempts.

Years ago I received a letter from one of my New York patients. The letter started "Dear Dr. Gordon, thank you for failing to get us pregnant with IVF." Oh boy, I thought here comes the part where I am told to expect a lawsuit or a baby photo from success at another clinic. But the comment was a sincere one. The patient continued "If you had succeeded then we never would have adopted our daughter from China and she is the light of our life!"

What a great letter. I still have it and when I have had a rough day I often read it over thinking to myself what a gift it was for them to have expressed that sentiment to the doctor who tried but failed.

More posts to come in September!