A new online series with Dr. Gerard Letterie

Gain insight and guidance about the many decisions facing anyone on a unique journey

Prepare for your journey through the stages of in fertility care with "Toward Building a Family: Pathways Through the Infertility Maze." Dr. Letterie's Pathways series is intended to help you prepare yourself for a positive journey filled with joy, stress, conflict, and challenge.

It is a journey that will engage all of your mind, body and heart, enrich your life, and lend your relationships a unique depth of understanding.

As you begin, you should know that your personal status quo will be challenged, so get ready to focus your energies. Infertility evaluations are intense, challenging and time-consuming. But what in life isn’t when the rewards are so immense?

Creating your family.

Your journey to your goal will involve several pathways and many decisions along the way. And the more you know, the easier it will be to help you make progress and know what to expect. That’s what this series is all about.

Begin here with the first installment, An Infertility Wellness Plan.

Installment 2: The Infertility Evaluation and Treatment Plan,  Defining Success

Installment 3: Seeking a balanced presentation of medical facts, Patient Rapport versus Laboratory Report: Part I

*New* Installment 3, Part II: FSH testing case study, Patient Rapport versus Laboratory Report: Part II

Table of contents

The softer edge of the journey:

• The journey starts here-Installment 1- An Infertility Wellness Plan.
  • Review of the personal aspects of the infertility evaluation and treatment
  • Reminder that there is no single best plan for anyone and that the experience is unique to the individual

• Installment 2-Defining Success: it’s is far more than a percentage
  • Goal setting
  • Understanding the SART and CDC data and tables
  • What to do when things do not go well
  • Defining an Exit Strategy
  • Defining a Family

• Installment 3-The Lab Report vs Patient Rapport:  Part 1 & Part II: FSH testing case study
  • Seeking a balanced presentation of medical facts in a format that is tailored to the individual in language that is understandable
  • Discussing exchanges with medical personnel from the reception desk to the provider
  • The responsibility of carefully defining our own expectations for this experience

• Infertility triangle: the emotional, medical and financial aspects of infertility care
  • The balance of three essential components in the infertility journey
  • The concept that the emphasis may shift form one to another as the journey evolves
  • Though one issue may be magnified at one point, the goal is to balance all three and maintain well being

• Parenthood and fertility care as a single person
  • The role of finding providers who will are in touch with the unique needs of single people seeking to build a family
  • Networking within the single parent community
  • Setting goals and taking the long view

Coming soon-The harder edge of the journey:

This part of the series will include in depth information on topics such as Ovulation Induction, IVF and PGD.