The Day the Music Died. Or, what happens when your fertility clinic is closing!!!

     Fresh off my overwhelming consult with Dr. KK the other day, I was feeling a bit dizzy. Somehow, even though my immune issues were super tame compared to most, and didn't require any sort of heavy machinery to tackle, I wasn't prepared for the realities of managing yet another medical provider, flying back out to Chicago for a blood flow check once I start Lovenox, or for all of the blood work that would be entailed. I had heard warnings about all of these things, but it hadn't really sunk in.

    So, imagine my surprise when that call is almost immediately followed by a call from my RE at 5:30pm telling me he had some bad news. I immediately figured he was calling about my EFT results, and told him I was prepared to hear what he had to offer. I was wrong.

    Apparently SIRM (and, like 70-80% of the fertility clinics in the U.S.) are owned by a company called IntegraMed. In June of 2015, SIRM in NYC (or, IntegraMed) forced Dr. Wang to open the SIRM CT office and direct it. I'm told he didn't want to go, but he did. I'm assuming he had some sort of a contractual obligation. Anyways, he uprooted his life, picked specific staff to accompany him, uprooted their lives, and caused chaos amongst his patients...many of whom weren't able to commute out to CT from NYC, and many who have killed themselves trying.

     And at 5:30pm on this day, Dr. Wang was calling to tell me that SIRM CT was closing...a mere 8 months after opening. Panic ensued. Dr. Wang was so professional and forthcoming about explaining why this was happening, and where he stood in it all. Basically, IntegraMed decided to purchase CT Fertility - a competing clinic that is about 15-20 minutes away from the SIRM CT location, because it's owner is retiring. It's been open since the early 90's and apparently is a very popular clinic with a loyal patient population. It's all dollars and cents, and it will be a much smarter business decision to stick with that established practice instead of keeping SIRM CT open.

     This is where things get sticky. Dr. Wang was offered a position at this new clinic, but isn't sure how he feels about it. He doesn't know their practices or lab, and feels that he cannot decide whether to go there without more information. He was also offered to work at SIRM NYCs satellite location in Westchester, NY - meaning he would see patients there and do some monitoring and minor procedures, but retrievals and transfers would be in NYC. Finally, he may leave SIRM altogether (whaaattt!!!!) for greener pastures (although, they've been fucking with him so much I wouldn't blame him if he shit on Sher's desk before peacing the fuck out), and may visit with his sick mother and mother-in-law in Taiwan for a bit. He gave me all of my options in this scenario, knowing that we were about to embark on a cycle. He wanted me to have control over how this went down, and for that, I'm so grateful. He was so transparent, and being so goes a long way to making this shitty situation much more palatable.

     I managed to hold my shit together for the conversation, which I am quite proud of, and asked some thoughtful questions, like, where the fuck are my embryos going to be living, yo?! CT Fertility will be using the SIRM CT office (since it's shiny and new) for their practice and I'm assuming that our embryos will be chilling there, which isn't something I'm really comfortable with since I know jack shit about this new practice. If Dr. Wang stays at the new practice, then everything will be copacetic and easy. If Dr. Wang goes, my embryos and I want to follow. If he goes to Taiwain, my embryos and I plan to pack our bags and head to SIRM NYC. SIRM NYC is our backup. It's a great clinic and a good lab, and if we are going to travel 2.5 hours to a clinic, we may as well add 45 minutes to the commute and go somewhere fun like NYC. Sorry, Trumbull, CT, you no interesting!

   Basically, Dr. Wangs FB group (yup, I'm a groupie), have banded together to write IntergraMed a letter outlining our demands. First, since almost all of us sought out Dr. Wang and NOT SIRM specifically, we demand that they move our embryos to the clinic/provider of our choosing without cost to us. Second, the wait list at SIRM NYC is cray, especially for Dr. T. So, we decided that since this was a hardship being brought unto us, that IntegraMed must guarantee that any of Dr. Wangs patients who choose to stay with SIRM have expedited appointment times with their new providers, within 1-2 weeks of transferring to the NYC office. I refuse to hop on a 4-month wait list after this bullshit.

    As you can imagine, this was me after hanging up the phone:

   So, now we wait to see what Dr. Wang is going to do. When he puts up his bat signal, myself and the rest of the Wang Gang will follow.