The Best Laid Plans (part 1)

I had to travel for work this week.  I don't travel frequently with work these days, which I appreciate...  traveling is not so much fun anymore.  Especially this trip.

New Donor Dilemma 

Last week I made an appointment for my new Cryobank 'consult' which is required by this bank before sperm can be purchased.  Several weeks prior I had narrowed down my list of donors to two that I was very happy with.  The appointment was Monday morning, before I flew out on my business trip.  It was quick and painless, then I placed my order.  I was feeling relieved that I had that taken care of and my vials would be at the clinic with plenty of time to spare...

My first choice did not have IUI specimens available so I selected my second choice.  I requested the pregnancy stats for this donor to confirm he was "proven" so the woman on the phone worked to pull up a report while taking my information for my purchase.  Later, in flight, I realized I did not get my $ total that would be billed to my card OR the results of the pregnancy report...  

After landing, I carefully extracted myself from my co-workers and found a corner to call the bank and confirm these details.  Well, the donor I had just purchased has ZERO pregnancies reported in the 2 years he's been donating.  My heart dropped.  While his swimmers could be perfectly fine...  going into my 5th IUI at the age of 39 I did not want an unproven donor.  I told her to cancel my order and I'd call back.  

In the meantime I checked with my clinic about whether they could take unwashed (non-IUI) specimens - from the first donor - and do the prep work there at my clinic... they could but it would cost a TON more... and remember, I'm now doing 2 IUI's per cycle... double the cost!

So now my problem was I needed to look at other donors...  I didn't bring my personal laptop or bank research notes with me.  Why would I?  I had it taken care of before I left... or so I thought.  The research I did was so long ago I couldn't remember the others I had reviewed without my notes... and I wouldn't DARE pull up the Cryobank website on my work computer (it would be blocked anyway).  By Tuesday I realized my only choice was to wait until I get home Thursday night, pull out my notes, do my research and then make a new order on Friday for Monday delivery.  That would work, right?  Wrong.

Part 2 of this post will cover how sick and miserable I was when I got home last night... but that's not the problem with my revised plan.

Since my new bank is on Pacific Time, I got up this morning, went through my notes and revisited other donors that had been on my list from this bank.  I selected two more that were on my original list of top contenders AND cross referenced them on the DSR (that's one way to know they are "proven").  

Once the bank opened I called back and YES, my new proven first choice had plenty of IUI specimens available!!!  YEA! Since I expect my IUI to be Tuesday, I asked her to ship it today to be delivered to my clinic on Monday....  

And because nothing about this is simple - I was told that they can not send deliveries for Monday's.  They could ship it today to be delivered tomorrow (Saturday) when no one is at MY clinic to accept the shipment... but they will not allow the shipment to sit at FedEx on Sunday to be delivered Monday (my old bank did this because the nitrogen tank is good for 5 days).  

REALLY???

So I had to call my clinic to see if anyone can accept  the shipment on Saturday?  As expected, no.  The woman who receives all specimen shipments was quite surprised that they couldn't have it delivered on Monday (join the club)...  So I asked if I could have it delivered to my house and bring it to her Monday morning.  Yes.  She explained how I need to quickly open the tank when it arrives to verify that it's cold (if it's cold when it arrives, it will be cold until I get it to her Monday; if it's not - the bank needs to be notified).  

I can't help but wonder why every single step has to be such a chore... shouldn't things fall into place like it's meant to be?  This bank came highly recommended by my RE but from the start of my encounters with them, I've not had a good feeling...  I'm afraid I should have gone with my instinct... but now with timing, I'm in a bind.  This is just one aspect of a challenging week that threw all kinds of roadblocks my way; more to come.

Conclusion, my swimmers will be here, at my HOUSE, before 10:30am tomorrow.  I'll need to put them somewhere safe from two curious (but 'fixed') female dogs.  - sad attempt at humor, forgive me, I'm still sick.