I’ve heard of an orthopedic surgeon naming his dog Bones. I’ve heard of an ophthalmologist not naming his dog Spot, but instead naming it Macula, which is a "spot" on the retina. One of my dogs is named Ixie, after ICSI, the procedure by which a sperm is injected into the egg as part of [...]

There are some in this world who claim that what I do is vile and despicable. No, I’m not manufacturing toxic waste that will decimate our environment and I’m not selling crack to destroy the lives of countless addicts. Instead, I’m responsible for helping bring something into this world that is much much worse —- [...]

Click here for episode 1 RECAP: Aimee and Boyd have been infertile for three years. They’ve finished basic testing under the care of their regular OB. They’ve also been tried unsuccessfully on six cycles of Clomid. Their only significant findings include minimal endometriosis and periods that are just a tiny bit longer than average. What [...]

My patients know that I like to use stories and analogies to help explain things. One fellow blogger has done a tremendous job explaining what’s wrong with the state of medicine today using a fantastically clever story about the tomato market. I urge all medical students to read it.

I received a notice from the State of California Franchise Tax Board regarding a missing payment. I needed some help, so I tried calling their support line several times in the past two days. Each time, I followed the voicemail instructions and was put on hold. I would put it on speaker phone and do [...]

Last week, a former patient who did IVF last year visited us with her baby. After doing the customary sharing of just how happy she now was, she added that she had just got done spending over $1000 at Gymboree for baby clothes. I would have been surprised, except for the fact that very few [...]

Last week, the scary health story du jour plastering the airwaves concerned a research study that found a link between high caffeine consumption and miscarriage. While some news outlets were relatively objective in their reporting with headlines like "Best evidence yet of caffeine-miscarriage link" and "caffeine is linked to miscarriage risk", others distort the truth [...]

I take issue with cruel inconsiderate people who criticize infertility patients, accusing them of not accepting their fate and trying to change the “fact” that nature intended them to be childless. The other common stupid accusation is that people who do infertility treatement are selfish because they only want a baby for themselves, not for [...]

I appreciate all your emails. It’s obviously more fun to keep writing when I find out that others are being educated, enlightened and inspired by the fruits of my labor (or labour, as many of you readers appear to be from the UK and Australia). Many of you are sending me your specific stories, asking [...]

OK, so maybe it’s not exactly like this, but you get the idea. It’s not all that easy for a sperm to find an egg.