The good doctor

First off, I’d like to thank everyone for their supportive comments and so on after I regaled you all with my misery regarding doctors and blood tests and the disjunction between the two. Thankfully, some things have happened between then and now and I’m feeling a little more sane, and most importantly, happier.

Last week I went to see another doctor because I was a teensy bit overdue for a pap smear. This time, I went to the bulk billing one in Belconnen, because I hate having to pay $55 or more to have someone do what ought to be free, given it’s a preventative screen, rather than a treatment. The downside of this clinic is that they don’t do appointments, so you just rock up and wait until your name is called. That said, if I’ve got a good book, which I did, I’ll wait happily for hours if I’m going to get to see a doctor for free.

The guy I saw turned out to be a good doctor – which I must admit was a surprise, because I’ve heard some pretty bad reports about doctors who work in bulk billing practices, especially lately. People tend to think that if a doctor is any good, they’ll work somewhere where they can charge a lot and therefore be recompensed for their skill. The people who say that tend to forget that sometimes, just sometimes, there’s a doctor out there who actually does it for the love of it, because they feel it’s the right thing to do, not because they can earn squillions by doing it.

So while this guy was doing his thing, I mentioned my trip to the other doctor and her refusal to test my blood for the hormones I’d asked her to test. I’d already told him that I was trying to get pregnant, and that we’d be on the go since April last year. Anyhow, we discussed the results that I hadreceived and he agreed that this was worth looking into, and that gave me a referral for an ultrasound to check out my ovaries and a bottle to pee in to check for chlamydia, in case I’m asymptomatic and it’s busily rendering me infertile. And he told me that if I got the same biphasic temperature chart this cycle, I should come back on 7 or 8 days past ovulation and he’d order the correct blood tests for me.

How good is that? And how awesome is he? I was completely bowled over by a doctor who actually listened to what I was saying and brought up good ideas for ruling out problems. His view was that because all of that could be done at that clinic and analysed by him, I might as well do it there, rather than pay loads to have it done by the fertility clinic, especially if I’m not going to be staying in the country for much longer, as fertility specialists want to observe you over a long period, and time is something I don’t really have right now.

So the update is this – ultrasound Thursday week to look for cysts, then hopefully a blood test a few days after that, as I’m (roughly) due to ovulate this weekend. The only amusing/awkward part of that is that Mikey and I are spending the weekend with my family on a camping trip. So we’re gonna have to be very quiet, cos we’ll have the thinnest of walls between us and my parents, sister and her boyfriend. Secret squirrel sex ftw!