Control freak? Is that a bad thing???

Yes. I am a control freak, no doubt. But is that a bad thing?

Being a "control freak" at work meant that I was organized, on top of everything, and became really successful. And being successful at work has allowed me to be financially secure, have a nice house, a vacation home, a healthy retirement account, and mostly - the ability to pay for fertility treatments without going into debt.

Being a "control freak" in my personal life means that all the bills are paid automatically through Quicken, the house is organized, service people come when scheduled, I convinced my dry cleaner to pickup and deliver to my house, and I even have my groceries delivered. I've found ways to make as many of the mundane chores easier, so I can have more time for the fun stuff.

Which made the fact that I couldn't control my fertility, even more frustrating! (Maybe there's a lesson there, somewhere?)

But of course, I still approached the fertility issue with the same "enthusiasm" as I approach the other areas of my life. It was overwhelming at first, but I researched, talked to people, asked a ton of questions, and learned as much as I could about it. And I couldn't understand how some of my friends and acquaintances could go through this and NOT learn about everything and just float through the treatments obliviously. Different strokes, I guess!!

And to justify my "enthusiasm", there were a few things that have happened throughout my journey that make me thankful I approach things the way I do.

1) During my second IVF, the nurse forgot to order the antibiotics for my husband. When I reviewed the order, luckily I compared it to my first IVF, and although many of the stims were different, I happened to notice it was missing. So I let her know, she saw she had forgotten, and we were able to get it in plenty of time.

2) During my first IVF, I blindly picked up all the drugs my nurse had ordered at the start of the cycle. As it turned out, I needed more than what was initially ordered, and luckily was able to beg for donated drugs. During my second IVF, the nurse mistakenly ordered twice the amount of stims needed. The correct dose would have been about $500 a day, and the drugs are not returnable once you buy them, so catching that mistake saved me about $3-4k.

3) Even just this past Friday, when I was told I needed to go on Synthroid, the nurse said she would call it into my pharmacy. Luckily I called the pharmacy an hour before they closed, and they didn't have the order. I had to call the emergency night nurse and get her to call it in for me so I could start it that night.

Hmmmm... maybe the problem is my nurse who seems to have difficulty getting the drugs right!! But that's OK, because she patiently responds to all my detailed emails and questions, and that keeps me calm.

And luckily the control freak in me has her back when it comes to the drugs!