Tuesday 7 April 2015

#AtoZChallenge: F is for Forms

This is the sixth of a series of posts that I’m posting during the A to Z Challenge; that’s a blogging challenge where you aim to post a blog post for each letter of the alphabet throughout the month of April (with Sundays off for good behaviour). During my first A to Z Challenge I wrote about infertility, which I’m sort of revisiting during A to Z Challenge 2015.

My theme this year is IVF/ICSI, a process we’re starting at the moment and today it’s F for Forms.


It’s easy to think that the process of IVF or ICSI is all about drugs, scans, blood tests and hospital appointments, partly because that’s mainly what I’m spoken about during this challenge so far. Well, let me tell you, there’s a lot of paperwork involved as well.

During your first few appointments it’ll be the doctors or nurses who are filling in the forms. They’ll have a folder (which may not be particularly slim depending on your fertility history) and you’ll be asked lots of questions which they’ll dutifully note down into the forms inside.

It may feel like you’re going over much of the same ground with these appointments. You’ll repeat your name, address and date of birth so many times that you can rattle it off without thinking about it. Alternatively you’ll worry that you sound weird and suspicious because you have to correct yourself when you give your personal information incorrectly. Don’t worry, doctors and nurses are used to people being a bit anxious, they’ll laugh it off if you give your date of birth as this year.

But that’s not all. When everything is getting started, before you get onto the fun stuff like internal scans and daily injections, you get to fill in forms. Lots and lots of forms.

It’s complicated because you and your partner will be sharing medical details with one another (the man’s medical details will end up in the woman’s file), so you have to consent to that. You have to consent to your eggs and sperm being used, you have to consent to embryos being created from them, your partner has to consent to raising any offspring produced as a result of the treatment.

And then there’s things you need to think about a little more carefully. Like whether you consent to your products being used in training or research and if the male partner gives permission to the woman to use any embryos if he ‘becomes mentally incapacitated or dies’.

It’s a little bit weird, especially as you’re doing all of this before you’ve even got any embryos and it’s not pleasant to think about your partner dying. But it is necessary. Obviously if you say no to some bits it will kind of put the scuppers on the process. And they are important things to talk about. It’s a big thing to go through and you need to make sure that you and your partner are on the same page.


If you’re on the outside looking in, there’s not so much you can do to be involved during this stage. Your friend or family member probably wouldn’t appreciate being quizzed on what their plans are for unusable eggs or embryos. But, as someone who is going through it all, just knowing that your friends and family understand that you’re being asked to make yet another in a series of big decisions is reassuring.

14 comments:

  1. I can understand the need to go over things like that and its good that they do.

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    1. Oh yes it's definitely important that they make sure everything is clear for you. :-)

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  2. I came here after finding your note at my blog (mystery terms and short story). What a fascinating theme! Omigosh! I took a quick look through the earlier posts to get an idea of what you were presenting. LOVE, LOVE dildo cam! One thing I enjoy about this challenge is meeting new bloggers who know so many things I don't know about! Thanks for sharing your expertise.

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    1. Thank you for stopping by. I'm glad you're enjoying my posts.

      That's one of my favourite things about the challenge as well. You learn so many new things and in so many interesting ways. :-)

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  3. It's probably a good idea to have a long talk about all of this before you get started.

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    1. Yes, there are so many things that you don't even think about until you're handed a form and asked how you feel about it. It's definitely a very important part of the process.

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  4. It's truly amazing the amount of forms and repeat information. I guess, better safe than sorry!

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    1. It really is, but I suppose different forms have to go to different departments and places so they all need to have the same information repeated. It's just a bit tiring writing the same things over and over. ;-)

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  5. I guess they have to cover all bases with all their questions. One lucky thing about the computer system of the hospital we go to (there are two hospitals in town and they are huge rivals) is that once your information is entered after going to one doctor in the system, any doctor in the system can access it. So you only have to fill out all the mundane history just once.

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    1. Exactly, they don't want to miss something that comes up later and becomes very important. Our details are on computer too, but I'm not sure how easy it is for different places to access them because I needed to take my vaccination records with me to give to the hospital which I would've expected them to have already.

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  6. What a process you've been going through! My son and his wife are in the process of adopting our first grandson who is now seven months old. They have been waiting to be parents for over six years, and we are so happy and excited for them now. I'm not exactly sure how far they went with the fertility treatments, as it is quite a personal subject and they haven't shared many details with us, and I'm sure I have no idea what the struggle with infertility is really like. May you be blessed and rewarded with your own baby soon!

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    1. Thank you for visiting and sharing your family's story. It's one of those things that is so personal that many people don't share so you don't always know what they're dealing with (which is kind of why I chose this as my topic for the challenge ;-D).

      And thank you. :-)

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  7. It seems so hard to think about some of the things like a partner dying, when you have to go in for something... I would think that a photocopier might be handy, if you have similar forms that you need to repeat ad nauseum...
    Cat

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    1. It's all really hard to think about, but obviously crucially important to consider when you're going through treatment.

      And I do like your suggestion of a photocopier. Alas, it wouldn't work. The forms are all slightly different, asking for the same information in different places and must be written in black ink. Perhaps one of those things with ten pens all joined together for signing multiple forms at once though... ;-)

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Let me know what you think. :-)