How far away is your RE?

KristieM1985 · January 2012

We are currently waiting to get an appointment with an RE. The office is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours away and I'm just trying to figure out how I am going to make everything work once we do get and I start having monitoring appointment and everything. I figure that I am actually going to have to tell my boss what is going on cause I will definitely be missing a lot of work.

Just wondering if any one else has a RE that is a fairly substantial drive away?

ukcats27 · January 2012

Mine is only 45 minutes. It sounds like your monitoring appointments are going to take up you whole day with the drive so if I were you I would definitely tell my boss.

violetmarie61516 · January 2012

My current RE is local but I'm beginning to look further away from home, possibly even out of state. I'm also curious how everyone coordinates things.

LexiSophie55 · January 2012

I am currently seeing an OB - but I don't think it is a good fit. So, I have done some investigating, within my insurance network. My OB works with a few RE's that are about 1.25 hours away. What they do is my OB - 10 mins away - would coordinate everything. He would do the bloodwork, some ultrasounds, etc. But, my RE would be giving me the protocol.

I have never heard of anyone doing this - so maybe it's rare. But is that an option for you?

DoggieMom12 · January 2012

ukcats27:
Mine is only 45 minutes. It sounds like your monitoring appointments are going to take up you whole day with the drive so if I were you I would definitely tell my boss.

I agree with ukcats about telling your boss. My RE is an hour away.

farmerlynda · January 2012

My RE is technically 1.5 hours away, but 2 hours with traffic (and you never know -- so I always give myself 2 hours because I hate being late).

If I were doing IUI, which has less likelihood of success on any given cycle and a much greater chance that multiple cycles would be needed, I wouldn't have been okay with the commute. But for IVF, which we will only do a max of three times because of finances (and that much only because if the first one doesn't work, we'll get our money back), I'm okay with it.

For me, the quality of care is really important which is why I'm spending so much time driving to a well-respected practice in the biggest city in our area. We are OOP so I want to spend my money on the best possible shot at getting pregnant. I'll be honest, the pre-cycle appointments were a pain and so was the daily monitoring for the last few days of stims. I didn't tell my boss but I work part-time on a job that often takes me out of the office (and for the other hours, I'm self-employed at home). When I was on deadline, DH drove me so I could work on the computer during the drive.

It can definitely work. How well depends on how flexible the practice is with scheduling (I often took really early appointments, at 7 a.m., so I could beat traffic and get back to work at a reasonable hour)... and how flexible your job can be. Also how lucky you get with the timing -- my ER happened to fall on a Saturday, which was great.

hunterjumper102 · January 2012

Our clinic is 4 hours from us. Since we are doing IVF I have taken a leave of absence from my job starting the 1st of February and am staying with family who live near my clinic. DH will be staying at home and driving up for the ER and ET.

hootie123 · January 2012

My old RE was only 3 miles from my house. My new RE is 65 miles (about a hour or so drive).

Since you are going to be 2-3 hours away - I would ask about doing any bloodwork and even ultrasounds locally - and only going to the clinic for procedures/consults.

GL (and remember you can deduct 'medical mileage' on your taxes or your flexible spending accounts!)

KristieM1985 · January 2012

hootie123:
My old RE was only 3 miles from my house. My new RE is 65 miles (about a hour or so drive).

Since you are going to be 2-3 hours away - I would ask about doing any bloodwork and even ultrasounds locally - and only going to the clinic for procedures/consults.

GL (and remember you can deduct 'medical mileage' on your taxes or your flexible spending accounts!)

This is exactly what I was just going to ask you ladies if it was possible. I'm kinda getting ahead of myself since I don't even have my appointment yet but I am a total planner. It won't be to bad if can do most of the monitoring at our local hospital but if have to drive there for everything I don't know how i will be able to do it. Luckily my work is pretty good about most things and I'm sure they would understand but I will definitely have to come out of the closet about TTC.

hootie123 · January 2012

KristieM1985:
hootie123:

My old RE was only 3 miles from my house. My new RE is 65 miles (about a hour or so drive).

Since you are going to be 2-3 hours away - I would ask about doing any bloodwork and even ultrasounds locally - and only going to the clinic for procedures/consults.

GL (and remember you can deduct 'medical mileage' on your taxes or your flexible spending accounts!)

This is exactly what I was just going to ask you ladies if it was possible. I'm kinda getting ahead of myself since I don't even have my appointment yet but I am a total planner. It won't be to bad if can do most of the monitoring at our local hospital but if have to drive there for everything I don't know how i will be able to do it. Luckily my work is pretty good about most things and I'm sure they would understand but I will definitely have to come out of the closet about TTC.

Depending on what course of action you are taking - it is definitely possible to only have to go there for one appt (such as IUI). In that case you would only need one day off of work. For example, I have a friend that is doing a donor egg cycle at a clinic that is even further away than the one I'm going to. She is doing all of her monitoring locally and will only have to go to the RE office for transfer.

Definitely talk to them about it - trust me that you are not the first out-of-town patient that is going there - so they know what works best for people in your situation.

And about work - I am in the camp that likes to keep my personal medical procedures separate from work - I just request time off when I need it without any further explanation.

Amyaggie97 · January 2012

LexiSophie55:
I am currently seeing an OB - but I don't think it is a good fit. So, I have done some investigating, within my insurance network. My OB works with a few RE's that are about 1.25 hours away. What they do is my OB - 10 mins away - would coordinate everything. He would do the bloodwork, some ultrasounds, etc. But, my RE would be giving me the protocol.

I have never heard of anyone doing this - so maybe it's rare. But is that an option for you?

Mine is 2 hours away in San Antonio. The intial day 3 visit is there and the IUI will be. The rest I am doing at my local office.

That's pretty much what everyone here in this area does since there aren't any REs in this town. Check with you OB to see if they would be willing to do this and if they have anyone they recommend/like to work with.

KristieM1985 · January 2012

hootie123:
KristieM1985:
hootie123:

My old RE was only 3 miles from my house. My new RE is 65 miles (about a hour or so drive).

Since you are going to be 2-3 hours away - I would ask about doing any bloodwork and even ultrasounds locally - and only going to the clinic for procedures/consults.

GL (and remember you can deduct 'medical mileage' on your taxes or your flexible spending accounts!)

This is exactly what I was just going to ask you ladies if it was possible. I'm kinda getting ahead of myself since I don't even have my appointment yet but I am a total planner. It won't be to bad if can do most of the monitoring at our local hospital but if have to drive there for everything I don't know how i will be able to do it. Luckily my work is pretty good about most things and I'm sure they would understand but I will definitely have to come out of the closet about TTC.

Depending on what course of action you are taking - it is definitely possible to only have to go there for one appt (such as IUI). In that case you would only need one day off of work. For example, I have a friend that is doing a donor egg cycle at a clinic that is even further away than the one I'm going to. She is doing all of her monitoring locally and will only have to go to the RE office for transfer.

Definitely talk to them about it - trust me that you are not the first out-of-town patient that is going there - so they know what works best for people in your situation.

And about work - I am in the camp that likes to keep my personal medical procedures separate from work - I just request time off when I need it without any further explanation.

Yes I'm going to try and go this route too. Hopefully if it doesn't take me too many cycles I won't have to do too much explains but I think that if I takes too many cycles I will have to eventually fill him in on what is going on.

KristieM1985 · January 2012

Amyaggie97:
LexiSophie55:
I am currently seeing an OB - but I don't think it is a good fit. So, I have done some investigating, within my insurance network. My OB works with a few RE's that are about 1.25 hours away. What they do is my OB - 10 mins away - would coordinate everything. He would do the bloodwork, some ultrasounds, etc. But, my RE would be giving me the protocol.

I have never heard of anyone doing this - so maybe it's rare. But is that an option for you?

Mine is 2 hours away in San Antonio. The intial day 3 visit is there and the IUI will be. The rest I am doing at my local office.
That's pretty much what everyone here in this area does since there aren't any REs in this town. Check with you OB to see if they would be willing to do this and if they have anyone they recommend/like to work with.

ya this RE is the only one around for hours so I am sure that they are used to this situation. Thank you for your advice.

locksley · January 2012

wow i can't believe how far everyone is from their RE! I guess I am lucky my RE is across the street from my house and 10 min. from work. I hope that RE and OB working together is something that can work for you.

Blueyed228 · January 2012

About 8 min from my house

MrsSJE2011 · January 2012

I am doing exactly what you asked about. My RE is just outside of Boston at a satellite clinic and about 1 hour away but can increase greatly with traffic. My CD 3 bloodwork and ultrasound were done in the next town over from me at an OB clinic (I didn't even have to be in the waiting room and see all the KU ladies because they will schedule your US/BW if you are coming from the RE). I have the option to do f/u appointments with my RE by phone conference. If we get to the point of having ER etc. we will have to go to the main clinic that is about 1.5 hours away.

pulga131 · January 2012

Mine is 2-2 1/2 hours away. I only go in for actual visits and u/s. I get all my labs done locally and sent over to him. My RE is conscience of my drive and tries to not schedule too many u/s or appointments. If you have a baseline and a mid cycle monitoring then thats only 2x a cycle that you can take a half day. That's not so bad

happilyeverafterxo · January 2012

My RE is two hours away from where I work (I'm a teacher), but only an hour and half away from our house.

I've made my Principal aware of our situation, because we do have to take a lot of half days.

KdgTeacher · January 2012

Maybe 20 minutes with traffic. He's about 12-14 minutes from work depending on traffic and lights I hit.

bulldogmama 09 · January 2012

Our RE is only 15 minutes away. I confided in my boss, even with early monitoring appointment I am still about 15-30 minutes late on those days.

Milliways · January 2012

Mine is about an hour away, but they work in conjuction with the hospital in the town I live in so my RE can order somethings (US/labs/meds) and I can pick them up here.

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