I'm not sure I like her

I finally made the call to my clinic to get an appointment with my nurse practitioner. It's not that I'm lazy--I had to put it off long enough for the oh-so-slow lab to get the results back from my day 21 progesterone blood work.

Somtimes I almost forget why I don't like talking to people I don't know very well on the phone, but then the recptionist at my clinic reminded me. After explaining to her that I needed an appointment to discuss how our infertility testing is going she gave me a date for the next available appointment (next Thursday, the 22nd) and then proceded to remind me of the clinic's appointment policies--arrive 10-15 minutes early and don't bring any kids with you. Um, how did she miss the fact that I'm there because I can't have kids?

If I had even thought she said that on purpose, she'd have been feeling the wrath of this crazy infertile woman with PMS.

Reason number four for a trying to conceive break: I won't need to talk to clueless receptionists or worry about having my veins excavated. The prospect of a break is suddenly looking even more appealing.

Comments

[Karen]

Babies and children are allowed in my clinic. I can't tell you how many times I've gone there and lo and behold there are three babies there and a toddler, all sitting near me. It's good that your clinic has a no kids policy, it sucks to go in for a negative beta with that staring you in the face. Good luck with everything!

[Christina]

Perhaps I should clarify. I wasn't venting about the no kids policy; I was venting because the receptionist didn't listen well enough to know that I don't have any yet. Bleh.

Yeah, I agree, it is better to not have to see babies when you know you are going to hear yet another "It's negative."

[Monique]

Girl, at least you get to schedule appointments. Here at our lovely base, they made it so that they only had same day appointments. If you are dying, call for a referal to the ER, otherwise you get to call everyday to see if someone can fit you in. I've had to do that with everything except for a few referals to a woman's clinic and my ultrasounds. Then they are usually so far behind that they will only let you discuss one issue.

[Christina]

Yeah, they've pulled that one on us here too. However the Women's Clinic is operated as a separate entity from the rest of the clinic so it's not unheard of to get an appointment scheduled for other days.

Your husband is in the Air Force, right? Do you mind if I ask what base you are at now? We're at Dyess.

[Manda]

I happened to stumble across your blog by way of getupgrrl and stopped to read a little. Wanted to leave a note letting you know that I had stopped through, and also say that I understand some of what your going through. Dh and I went through the TTC nightmare with the military as well. In the end things have worked out beautifully. Thanks in part to living in Germany and having a referral to a super RE off post. Anyway, I am not sure even what else I wanted to say here on your comments, except for maybe hello, and hang in there.

[Monique]

We are in NM, at Cannon AFB. The worst base in the history of mankind. Our lovely town of Clovis is surrounded by "feed lots"... and I mean there are A LOT! So, all day long you smell nothing but shit. (sorry) I love going into town, especially to Wal-Mart, and running into the feed lot owners/employees who are still dressed and smell like they are at work. In the beginning, I used to complain but everytime I said something about the shit smell I was corrected and told it was the smell of money.

If that is the smell of money, I will stick to being poor.

[Christina]

Manda: Hi! Thanks for leaving a note. It's nice to meet other military wives who can relate to the difficulties of TTC in the military. I'm glad to hear that things worked out well for you guys!

Monique: And here I thought the cows in our backyard (well, not literally, but they are only about 150 yards from our back door) were rather annoying. I forgot to mention, Dyess AFB is in Abilene, TX. It's kind of odd living in a town where people in cowboy hats and boots at Walmart is an everyday sight.

[Monique]

My husband tried to explain to me where that is and I think I have an idea.

Yeah, the cows are everywhere. It is awful! (and the smell is even worse.) When we were driving here, we came through Amarillo (my husbands home town) and my dad had told me that he had heard the smell would kill me and that there were no trees. I thought he was kidding.

A few miles outside of Amarillo this smell hits us like a brick. All 3 of my cats sit up and start looking around, whiffing the air. I never imagined in a million years we would be living IN the smell.

This is the only base where it is mandatory that you live ON base. They were originally going to close it down, but lately they have been doing some major renevations so it looks like we are here to stay. =/

[Christina]

Abilene isn't quite that bad as far as the smell goes, but some days the wind blows just right (or perhaps I should say wrong?) and it's quite "lovely". Spring is especially bad here because it seems like all the skunks in the county get hit and killed on the road between our apartment and Walmart. Yuk.

I really miss trees. My favorite season is fall and here I don't even get the benefit of watching the leaves change color. :(

The mandatory on base housing sounds like it stinks (both literally and figuratively). I would hate having to live on base here, because half of the housing is really old (my mom lived there when she was a kid and it wasn't new then!) and the newer housing seems to have been built where a lot of rattlesnakes used to live, so they're not an unusual sight in most people's front yards. And then there's the scorpions, tarantulas and cougars...