continued from... First Step to Taiwan IVF (Part 2) : Medical History Interview
After a quick lunch, we returned to Mackay Memorial Hospital’s Second Floor where Dr. Robert Lee Kuo-Kuang holds clinic. A list of the day’s patients’ names is posted
outside his door so you will know more or less when your turn is going to
be. I was called in after more than an
hour wait. My companion has to stay
outside first.
Inside the clinic of Dr. Lee I was met by Ms. Tsai
again. She asked me some more questions
regarding my previous workup like which medicines have I used. She showed me a board containing all the
medicines being used in pregnancy workup.
I tried to point, as far as I can remember, the medicines I have used.
Again, I have to wait for a couple of patients to finish
their consultation before it was my turn with Dr. Lee. My mom was called in then. Ms. Tsai gave Dr. Lee her notes on my earlier
interview. She also handed Dr. Lee the
film of my HSG and Dr. Lee examined it.
Dr. Lee speaks fluent English hence uses the language during our
discussion.
Dr. Lee explained that since I have had a successful IVF
pregnancy before, it would likely be easy for me to get pregnant again. However due to my age, which was 40, he will
be doing Assisted Hatching (AH). He
slightly explained in layman’s term what Assisted Hatching is. As explained, this procedure involves the
opening of the embryo’s shell by making the outer layer crooked. This helps implantation of the embryos into
the uterus thus increasing the chances of successful IVF.
Dr. Lee asked me to take the Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH)
test, which is a blood test to determine ovarian follicle reserve. By the way, it takes 2 weeks to get the result of AMH hence you will receive an email from Ms.Vanessa Lin on your result via email. Aside from this, Dr. Lee also requested me to
have an ultrasound of my uterus and ovary.
I went to the Ultrasound Room located at the same area at
the far end of the Doctors’ Clinics Section.
There was no queue hence it was immediately my turn. After the procedure, I was asked to wait
outside for the result. In a few minutes
I was handed the result. I went back to
Dr. Lee’s clinic, handed it to her nurse and waited outside to be called again.
When I returned to Dr. Lee’s clinic, I was asked to lie
down, as Dr. Lee needs to do basic examination.
He also measured, at the same time, how deep my uterus is from my
vagina. This measurement will be used as
his guide during embryo transfer.
Pending my AMH result, he explained that I would likely
follow protocol 3. Well, he was almost sure,
as he didn’t give me any other instruction in case my AMH is not less than 1.5
ng/mL.
Dr. Lee instructed me to start
taking birth control pills on the 5th day of the cycle before actual
IVF month for 21 days. He asked if I
want to take the medicine home or to just purchase it in Manila. I said it is all right to take it from their
pharmacy thus prescribed to me Gynera. My next cycle's period should come one or two days after the last pill. With this, I can book my flight to Taiwan a
month before the IVF cycle. Dr. Lee also
gave me an idea more or less when my husband should be there on the IVF
cycle. Hubby also needs to do semen
analysis before the actual IVF procedure.
To read more about the consultation, you may refer to this blog by Deborah : IVF Consultation Part 2 : Consultation with Dr. Robert Lee Kuo-Kuang
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