You went to see your new Allergist for the first time.
The receptionist at Doctor Ragweed’s office hands you the New Patient Form and you sit down to fill it out. You check off all the NO columns until one question stops you.
Are you Pregnant? (yes) (no)
You are in your 7,000th two week wait again so technically, you could be pregnant. How do you answer that question? You chew on the back of the pencil as you ponder your answer. You can’t circle YES because you know you probably aren’t pregnant but you can’t rule out NO just yet. It’s too early to test and you still have hope right? You think about adding another MAYBE column to the answer…
Are you Pregnant?
(yes)
(no)
(maybe)
(well, technically I could be. My breasts are sore but I don’t know for sure)
(I’d like to be pregnant)
(Can I get back to you on that answer?)
(Can I just check yes anyways?)
Instead, you leave the question blank and start to fill out the ‘What medications are you taking’ portion of the form. How do you spell Progesterone Vaginal Suppositories again? Damn Doctor’s forms. Way to mess with an infertile’s head.
Regardless of what you put on the form they are going to ask you about birth control and you will have to explain yourself. The awkward form is only the precursor to the awkward conversation
I went to the doctor yesterday because of a sinus infection. Regular doc, not obgyn or ivf guy…He looked at my chart and said “So it says the last time you were here you were pregnant…back in August. IVF…” So he’s clearly doing the math and thinking that I should be pretty far along by now (being that it’s January) and it’s pretty clear that I’m not pregnant. So I had to explain that I was pregnant in August, but I miscarried in September. *insert awkward pause here – allow doc to update chart* “Oh, I’m sorry.” Yeah doc, me too.
I went to the dentist last cycle and declined to have xrays in the off-chance that my IUI worked. He found a small cavity and said “if you are not pregnant, come back to get it filled and we can do the xrays.” Three months later, I can’t bring myself to go back even though I know I need to get this cavity filled.
I also had a similar experience to you with an allergist too. That was 3 years ago.