Traveling to CNY Fertility: A Patient’s Perspective

Asking yourself “what’s it like to travel to CNY Fertility for IVF or another fertility treatment?”  Well, today is your lucky day as you’ve come across an inside look at what traveling to CNY is like written by a CNY patient.

Starting IVF can be so overwhelming. Add in IVF as an out of town patient, and it can all feel almost impossible! But luckily for us, we had the amazing travel team at CNY Fertility to support us, and they made the process much smoother than we imagined. 

The first step for us was setting up our initial telephone consult. We ended up being extremely lucky and were able to get an appointment from the cancellation list about 6 weeks later. CNY Fertility is a very busy practice, so it can take some time to get a consult, but it’s very much worth the wait.

Before our consult day arrived, we made sure to write down all of our questions so we didn’t forget anything. We also made sure to set up a way to record our call, as was recommended by Dr. Kiltz, so we would have access to all the information he gave us at any time.

After our consult, a nurse with the travel team called to make sure we were clear on our protocol, answer any new questions we had, and explain how to access the forms in our patient portal. We were given a packet with an extensive checklist of all the testing and procedures we needed to complete prior to our IVF cycle. We also received our consent forms and prescription lists.

We had already completed most of the required testing with my previous fertility clinic which really simplified things. I was able to take my lab requisition form for the blood tests I still needed over to a local lab, and get them drawn without any issues. If you want to get everything done before your consult, you can request a list of these labs/procedures from CNY, and see if you can get with a local reproductive endocrinologist or OB/GYN to complete them.

As my checklist neared completion and day 1 of our IVF cycle got closer, I connected with Integrity RX to order all of our medications. They overnighted two huge boxes filled with everything that we would need; sharps containers, medications, syringes, alcohol wipes, and very detailed instructions on how to store and administer every medication.

I think the most daunting thing about being a traveling patient is figuring out where on earth you’re going to do your monitoring. Being able to find a place who will book appointments for you at the very last minute, and have the ability to send stat results can be a challenge. Luckily for us, the fertility clinic we had been using in Texas has seen travel patients before and were familiar with my requests. So we were able to do all of my labs and ultrasounds in one place. However, in communicating with other travel patients, I’ve learned that you can also call local ultrasound clinics, and labs like LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics to assist you.

Once we had our checklist complete, our meds all accounted for, and a monitoring location locked in, all that was left to do was wait for day 1 of my cycle to begin. The day it finally arrived, I called and spoke with a nurse at CNY who uploaded my lab requisition form into my patient portal, and advised me which day I needed to go in for my baseline ultrasound and blood work. I then called my local clinic, set up my appointment, and sent over my lab requisition.

Our IVF cycle then began, and we went in every few days to measure the follicles in my ovaries and check my hormone levels. CNY Fertility would call me in the afternoon and let me know how everything looked, and either update my medication protocol or tell me to continue as I have been. Things really ramped up as my ovaries finally looked ready for the trigger shot and egg retrieval.

Once we had my retrieval date, we had about 3 days notice to be in Syracuse. This meant purchasing flights on short notice, but luckily we were able to find a great last minute deal! We booked a hotel in Syracuse, a few minutes from the clinic, and got ready to go. (Side note: if you’re concerned about flying with IVF medications, don’t worry! We carried on syringes and vials in a cooler bag and weren’t given a single hassle by the TSA!)

We arrived in Syracuse the day before my egg retrieval surgery. It was all such a blur, so it was nice to have the evening to unwind and prepare myself mentally for my surgery the next day.

Our retrieval went off without a hitch and we were able to retrieve 34 eggs! Because I was at a higher risk for Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS), we decided to do a freeze all cycle instead of a fresh embryo transfer. This ended up being a very smart move because I did end up with OHSS which pushed our travel plans back a few days. Once we arrived home, we got our final embryology report: 17 made it to the blastocyst stage on day 5 and were successfully frozen! We planned our Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) for my very next cycle.

Our FET pretty much followed the same pattern as our retrieval cycle, although we didn’t have to go in for monitoring appointments as frequently. We also had a little more notice before having to leave for Syracuse again. We stayed in Syracuse for 2 days during our FET before heading back to Texas. Once home, we did our “halfway labs” and then our long-awaited beta, which was positive! Our first FET was a success!

I strongly believe it was worth all of the extra steps that IVF as a traveling patient takes. Most people will tell you that even with the price of monitoring at a separate clinic and last minute travel, you still save so much at CNY Fertility. They also have an extremely compassionate team. Seriously, Dr. Kiltz gives the best hugs!

I promise you, it sounds so much more overwhelming than it actually ends up being, and we are very happy with our experience at CNY Fertility.