Terminology

I've been thinking about what pissed me off so much yesterday during my phone call to the ob/gyn (besides incompetence, obviously) and I realized that it was something I didn't even mention yesterday.

The woman absolutely refused to calculate how far along I am from ovulation. She told me repeatedly she would need to know the date of my last menses (since this was after all a missed menses appointment, whatever that is). I was pretty cautious with my words and said, if she was asking about the last induced bleed, I would be happy to answer that. And she said no, she was only interested in the last 'cycle.' Maybe I am using this word differently than other people, but cycle to me means growing a lining, ovulation, and bleeding. The whole thing. And as far as I know, my last cycle before this one (and why I am the luckiest woman in the world. ever.) was sometime around 1992.

I know that RE offices ask about your last cycle too (often), so maybe I am just being touchy about a term that doesn't make other people uncomfortable. But cycle to me has always been something my body fails to do. You can get it to do bits and pieces with the right prodding, but the whole thing just doesn't happen. And I know it doesn't happen, so I don't think it's right to pass off what my body does when induced by a large quantity of drugs (and frequently 7-10 days after the RE expects such a reaction) as a cycle. It's crazy that JD was told to contact this clinic by my IF clinic, but I think that when I go in there I'm going to stick to my guns. My last cycle before this one was 1992. And yes, I've been monitored closely enough to be sure of that.

Anyway, at least I'm not alone. Poor Barb at I dream of baby had the same experience yesterday.