Dr.Roland Chieng and Parkway East Hospital

[DesperateMom]

Hi Janelle, Good luck on your appointment with Roland. Strawberry, sorry to hear about your AF coming. Hope next month is lucky for you.
Dianrafee: What's happening with you these days...

 

[strawberry14]

HI Desperate mom,
howz everything going with you? is your 2ww over?
this month again i took clomid but did nt produce good follicle, also my lining very thin so doctor has askd me to wait for atleast 2 months and has giving me medicines to build lining.
dont know whats gonna happen next
so no iui for next 2 months.

 

[JanelleQ]

Hi everyone, yes I hv seen dr chieng with my husband & result does not seems very gd on both of us..
but we hv to still wait for the blood test for further treatment..

But somehow, I hv this feel tat dr chieng keep wanting us to do ivf.. Do u gals feel tat?
Haiz the thought of it is really stressful ESP on the $$ part... Some ppl is so easy to get preg but some (eg. Me) is jus so hard... ;(

 

[DesperateMom]

Hi Strawberry, dont worry abt taking clomid... For me too he said 3 cycles of Clomid and if it doesn't work then go for IUI... Jus stay positive... It will happen at the right time...
Janelle, Don't lose up... When things dont work for me... i too sometimes feel that the Dr. is making us do unnatural methods why not natural... But let me tell you... they know it right... they may not explicitly tell u all the problems that we have (they dont want us to lose hope or get depressed abt it... they will encourage us only)... So in ur case, if Dr. says something, take it for good. After all you need to trust someone... u cant keep changing Drs. it will only increase ur bill as each one will make u do same set of tests... So if you are comfortable with Dr. Roland, then just trust him with 100% heart... It will def. work... Good luck to you

 

[JanelleQ]

Hi desperate mon,

Guess u r right... let's all jia you together..!

 

[strawberry14]

i completely agree with Desperate mom

 

[JanelleQ]

Hi hi,

Hws everyone? Busy ttc-ing..? ;p

Any gd news to share.. For me , still under medic treatment.. Going back to see him next week for results & see hw it goes..

 

[Dreambear]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum but not new to e problems tat we all share. I'm here to share my side of e story for e benefit of those couples whom are or will be facing e same problem like me n my hubby.

Like many couples, we decided to start a family since we r not young anymore. Tried for 6 mths no results & decided to get professional advice. Was hesitating to go either Raffles or KK as we do not hv recommendations on private gynaes. Hv gone ahead with KK cos e gynae in Raffles Hospital was unreachable. Started all our preliminarily tests in KK since Aug 2011. Results show no sperm count in hubby’s specimen, ie Azoospermia. He went for further ultrasound rest n shows no blockage. KK gynae straight away advised us to either go for adoption or get a donor sperm & do IVF.

We were both sad to accept e fact. Then I started to google about Azoospermia n learnt that there could be a possibility to find sperm if my hubby go through biopsy. During one of our visits I suggested biopsy to KK gynae & he just said, "oh, if u all want to try, we can do it though chances not high". He then asked hubby to do another blood test n waited for 3 wks to visit him again. He cleared our results & we proceeded with making an appt in Nov 2011 for biopsy. Then KK gynae called us saying there are too many appts & we agreed to postpone our Nov appt to Jan 2012. KK began calling hubby in Dec saying doctor wanted to see us even before e biopsy where we find it strange. I tried calling & email e gynae. My email was bounced back & I was unable to contact e nurse in charge for 2 full days. What great service in KK.

Finally e gynae got my massage & called me back saying that another marker from my hubby blood test shows that there is no sperm production & hence no point doing biopsy. We made another appt with him n met him on 17 Feb. he explained that there was a Y deletion chromosome in my hubby & told us to look for sperm donor instead. Though sad, we accepted the fact. But that was not the worse, he told us KK only use one sperm bank & they have recently, in Jan 2012 stopped doing IVF for patients using donor sperms from that bank because KK has imposed some additional regulations which the bank has not agreed on (to restrict 3 life births per donor in SG from each overseas donor). So what about us? KK gynae just said sorry to us and unless we can find a local sperm donor, they can't proceed with the fertility treatment for me. Imagine the time and money we spent in KK and they just shut the door like that. To think that the government wants more babies but they are not helping the very minority group like me! And the gynae is not a small doctor in KK.

KK gynae recommended me to Dr Roland and since all necessary results are available, he did not request us to do further tests. I met Dr Roland in mid Feb 2012 & he explained that about 10% men suffer from Azoospermia and only 5% of them have Y deletion chromosome. How lucky are we?! He recommended me to go to Parkway Health Fertility Centre (PFC) to purchase donor sperm and I was advised on the procedures on the purchase, and guess what, from the SAME sperm bank as KK. The difference is PFC CURRENTLY only restrict per sperm donor per couple in PFC. Everything was done quickly and today, 6 Mar 2012, I'm done with the selection of donor and now waiting for PFC to make the necessary arrangement to ship over the donor sperm (about 2 wks time).

Dr Roland has advised me to do IUI first since I was not fertilised for our past tries with hubby. Reason also being IUI is cheaper than IVF. Hubby & I both very happy with Dr Roland as he is patient with us & charges are comparable with KK (as we are considered private patient in KK anyway). I just want to encourage couples like us to quickly go ahead to purchase donor sperm if possible. There might be changes to the law for donor sperm in SG, looking at the way KK rejected us. Charges are not cheap. To purchase donor sperms (5 vials; ie tubes) plus the handling charges already cost us about SG$7000. IUI procedure will cost about SG$2000. If need to do IVF, I heard is about SG$12000 per cycle (think can claim some $ from CPF.)

Hi hi,

Hws everyone? Busy ttc-ing..? ;p

Any gd news to share.. For me , still under medic treatment.. Going back to see him next week for results & see hw it goes..

 

[strawberry14]

Hi JanelleQ hope everything is fine at your end and @Dreambear welcome to the forum,
no news from my side as for now i have to concentrate on my weightloss n m off any medications now, as dr. roland also believes it might help me.
i feel he is a wonderful doctor n does nt push to take unnecessory medications or treatment.
hope it will b a successful journey for all of us.
feels good all of us can share our stories here n can b a supportancing_tongue:

 

[JanelleQ]

Hi Dreambear,

Welcome to the forum..!

A big hug to you.. I think you must have gone thru some emotional roller coaster.. Actually I didnt know that Singapore has sperm donor that people can purchase too..
You mention that u are done with the selection of donor, does it mean there is a profile of the donor that u can choose fm? So sorry for this stupit question.. hehe
So ur IUI should be done after 2 weeks? Hope everything gone well for you... Jia You Jia You..!! ancing_wub:

HOwever, I really have this puzzle question in my mind.. during the 1st or 2nd visit with Dr Chieng, I requested to do IUI first before proceeding for IVF.. But he says dnt need to waste time in IUI coz the chances are very slim.. So he suggested us on IVF straight away.. But he has suggested you to do IUI instead.. Really Puzzled...

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum but not new to e problems that we all share. I'm here to share my side of e story for e benefit of those couples whom are or will be facing e same problem like me n my hubby.

Like many couples, we decided to start a family since we r not young anymore. Tried for 6 mths no results & decided to get professional advice. Was hesitating to go either Raffles or KK as we do not have recommendations on private gynaes. have gone ahead with KK cos e gynae in Raffles Hospital was unreachable. Started all our preliminarily tests in KK since Aug 2011. Results show no sperm count in hubby’s specimen, ie Azoospermia. He went for further ultrasound rest n shows no blockage. KK gynae straight away advised us to either go for adoption or get a donor sperm & do IVF.

We were both sad to accept e fact. Then I started to google about Azoospermia n learnt that there could be a possibility to find sperm if my hubby go through biopsy. During one of our visits I suggested biopsy to KK gynae & he just said, "oh, if you all want to try, we can do it though chances not high". He then asked hubby to do another blood test n waited for 3 wks to visit him again. He cleared our results & we proceeded with making an appt in Nov 2011 for biopsy. Then KK gynae called us saying there are too many appts & we agreed to postpone our Nov appt to Jan 2012. KK began calling hubby in Dec saying doctor wanted to see us even before e biopsy where we find it strange. I tried calling & email e gynae. My email was bounced back & I was unable to contact e nurse in charge for 2 full days. What great service in KK.

Finally e gynae got my massage & called me back saying that another marker from my hubby blood test shows that there is no sperm production & hence no point doing biopsy. We made another appt with him n met him on 17 Feb. he explained that there was a Y deletion chromosome in my hubby & told us to look for sperm donor instead. Though sad, we accepted the fact. But that was not the worse, he told us KK only use one sperm bank & they have recently, in Jan 2012 stopped doing IVF for patients using donor sperms from that bank because KK has imposed some additional regulations which the bank has not agreed on (to restrict 3 life births per donor in SG from each overseas donor). So what about us? KK gynae just said sorry to us and unless we can find a local sperm donor, they can't proceed with the fertility treatment for me. Imagine the time and money we spent in KK and they just shut the door like that. To think that the government wants more babies but they are not helping the very minority group like me! And the gynae is not a small doctor in KK.

KK gynae recommended me to Dr Roland and since all necessary results are available, he did not request us to do further tests. I met Dr Roland in mid Feb 2012 & he explained that about 10% men suffer from Azoospermia and only 5% of them have Y deletion chromosome. How lucky are we?! He recommended me to go to Parkway Health Fertility Centre (PFC) to purchase donor sperm and I was advised on the procedures on the purchase, and guess what, from the SAME sperm bank as KK. The difference is PFC CURRENTLY only restrict per sperm donor per couple in PFC. Everything was done quickly and today, 6 Mar 2012, I'm done with the selection of donor and now waiting for PFC to make the necessary arrangement to ship over the donor sperm (about 2 wks time).

Dr Roland has advised me to do IUI first since I was not fertilised for our past tries with hubby. Reason also being IUI is cheaper than IVF. Hubby & I both very happy with Dr Roland as he is patient with us & charges are comparable with KK (as we are considered private patient in KK anyway). I just want to encourage couples like us to quickly go ahead to purchase donor sperm if possible. There might be changes to the law for donor sperm in SG, looking at the way KK rejected us. Charges are not cheap. To purchase donor sperms (5 vials; ie tubes) plus the handling charges already cost us about SG$7000. IUI procedure will cost about SG$2000. If need to do IVF, I heard is about SG$12000 per cycle (think can claim some $ from CPF.)

 

[JanelleQ]

Hi Strawberry,
hope everything is fine on ur side too.. Perhaps you can try cycling too.. i feel that its pretty relaxing & can excerise at the same time..

Hi JanelleQ hope everything is fine at your end and @Dreambear welcome to the forum,
no news from my side as for now i have to concentrate on my weightloss n m off any medications now, as dr. roland also believes it might help me.
i feel he is a wonderful doctor n does nt push to take unnecessory medications or treatment.
hope it will b a successful journey for all of us.
feels good all of us can share our stories here n can b a supportancing_tongue:

 

[Dreambear]

Hi Janelle,

Here are my answers to your questions :

(Sperm donors)
Singapore has a National Sperm Bank, in KK. But there is NO DONORS at all. Can u imagine there is no blood in our National Blood Bank:nah::nah: ?? Every Fertility Centre will recommend different overseas sperm bank, which from as far as I know, most of them recommend the one that I purchased from, California Cryobank, CCB, which KK WAS recommending. Usually they will recommend patients to puchase from an anonymous donor. They have some basic info like profile and the CCBs' staff impression of the donor for you to view. You will need to pay if you want to see his childhood photos (if they provide any) and his extended profile info, such as his family medical history. Of cos all these info are declared by the donor hence patients have to accept any risk after concieved with the donor sperm.

IUI Treatment
Dr Roland has recommended me to do IUI first as I have not been fertilised by my hubby at all since there are no sperm. Of cos he has explained that though IUI has a lower successful rate, but at least i try 1st and if really touch wood not successful, then go for IVF lor. For your case, its cos you and ur hubby tried b4 le but not successful, hence he recommended you to IVF bah. My fertile period is end of Mar but as I will be travelling, I might postpone IUI to end of Apr instead. But will check with Dr Roland for his advice 1st. He did not put me under any medication or japs also..... So are you doing IVF? And if yes, where are you doing it and estimated how much? I have to do everything in Mt E cos the sperms are stored there. I tik Mt E charges is sure higher than elsewhere de lor. Really siaz cos got to spend so much.

Hi Dreambear,

Welcome to the forum..!

A big hug to you.. I think you must have gone thru some emotional roller coaster.. Actually I didnt know that Singapore has sperm donor that people can purchase too..
You mention that you are done with the selection of donor, does it mean there is a profile of the donor that you can choose fm? So sorry for this stupit question.. hehe
So your IUI should be done after 2 weeks? Hope everything gone well for you... Jia You Jia You..!! ancing_wub:

HOwever, I really have this puzzle question in my mind.. during the 1st or 2nd visit with Dr Chieng, I requested to do IUI first before proceeding for IVF.. But he says dnt need to waste time in IUI coz the chances are very slim.. So he suggested us on IVF straight away.. But he has suggested you to do IUI instead.. Really Puzzled...

 

[Rainy Girl]

Hi Janelle,

Here are my answers to your questions :

(Sperm donors)
Singapore has a National Sperm Bank, in KK. But there is NO DONORS at all. Can you imagine there is no blood in our National Blood Bank:nah::nah: ?? Every Fertility Centre will recommend different overseas sperm bank, which from as far as I know, most of them recommend the one that I purchased from, California Cryobank, CCB, which KK WAS recommending. Usually they will recommend patients to puchase from an anonymous donor. They have some basic info like profile and the CCBs' staff impression of the donor for you to view. You will need to pay if you want to see his childhood photos (if they provide any) and his extended profile info, such as his family medical history. Of cos all these info are declared by the donor hence patients have to accept any risk after concieved with the donor sperm.

IUI Treatment
Dr Roland has recommended me to do IUI first as I have not been fertilised by my hubby at all since there are no sperm. Of cos he has explained that though IUI has a lower successful rate, but at least i try 1st and if really touch wood not successful, then go for IVF . For your case, its cos you and your hubby tried before but not successful, hence he recommended you to IVF bah. My fertile period is end of Mar but as I will be travelling, I might postpone IUI to end of Apr instead. But will check with Dr Roland for his advice 1st. He did not put me under any medication or japs also..... So are you doing IVF? And if yes, where are you doing it and estimated how much? I have to do everything in Mt E cos the sperms are stored there. I tik Mt E charges is sure higher than elsewhere . Really siaz cos got to spend so much.

Hi Dreambear, wish u success in watever route u take
just a suggestion. maybe u can consult Dr Christopher Chen from Gleaneagles re yr hubby's problem? his charges r very high but my male ex-colleague & my relative consulted him b4 & got their problem resolved after seeing him & going thru surgery. i'm not sure wat r their exact problems but seem similar like yr hubby. if u hv medical insurance, can claim from insurance. anyway just a suggestion for u to consider

not sure whether some couples will be comfortable with donor sperm. that means getting the sperm from another male rite? so looks like the baby may not be the 'true blood' of the hubby leh.

 

[Dreambear]

Hi Rainy Girl,Yes, I heard of the high charges of Dr Chris Chen. The issue with my hubby is his chromosome, that is its his genes that there are no sperm production. It is not something that surgery can cure. And even if and only if, there is any chance that we can find one live sperm in him and I'm pregnant, this "issue" will be passed down to our son. This was was KK told us.And yes again, you are right. Not all husbands can accept the fact that the child is not his true blood. That was why we sat down and discussed to whether to get donor sperm or to adopt a bb. I prefer to have half of me rather than none of us. It was a tough decision as we have to spend so much money and also to accept alot of risk but still, we have decided on this path.....

Hi Dreambear, wish you success in watever route you take just a suggestion. maybe you can consult Dr Christopher Chen from Gleaneagles re yr hubby's problem? his charges r very high but my male ex-colleague & my relative consulted him before & got their problem resolved after seeing him & going thru surgery. i'm not sure what r their exact problems but seem similar like yr hubby. if you have medical insurance, can claim from insurance. anyway just a suggestion for you to consider not sure whether some couples will be comfortable with donor sperm. that means getting the sperm from another male rite? so looks like the baby may not be the 'true blood' of the hubby .

 

[Rainy Girl]

Hi Rainy Girl,Yes, I heard of the high charges of Dr Chris Chen. The issue with my hubby is his chromosome, that is its his genes that there are no sperm production. It is not something that surgery can cure. And even if and only if, there is any chance that we can find one live sperm in him and I'm pregnant, this "issue" will be passed down to our son. This was was KK told us.And yes again, you are right. Not all husbands can accept the fact that the child is not his true blood. That was why we sat down and discussed to whether to get donor sperm or to adopt a baby. I prefer to have half of me rather than none of us. It was a tough decision as we have to spend so much money and also to accept alot of risk but still, we have decided on this path.....

Dreambear, is gd that u n hubby hv discussed & considered the issue carefully
baby dust to you soon! all the best!!!

 

[JanelleQ]

Hi Dreambear,

Thanks for your explanation on the sperm bank.. Really wish you success in the treatment..

We have not decided if we wanted IVF..I guess we may really have to go thru this if we really want a kid..
Partially (or rather) most of it is becoz of the high cost.. I have ask Dr Chieng before and he mentioned around $12k for the treatment..

If u r a singaporean, you can claim from Medisave which you can claim max upto $6k for the first treatment..
& max $5k claim for the 2nd treatment, then $4k claim for the third try..

I have a friend doing IVF soon (next month) in KKH, which she told me that there is some gov grant.. But I am not sure how it works.. But of coz if we do IVF under Dr Chieng, then we are not entitle to this gov grant..

 

[Dreambear]

Hi JanelleQIf cost is really a concern to you & your hubby, then you shd consider to go to KK instead of doing IVF in pte hospital. Other than the $6k to $4k medisave that you can use, the government will co-fund up to S$3,000 per cycle, for a maximum of three cycles. I've gotten some info from KKIVF and from what I understand, it is the hormone medicine which is costly. Hence the cost for couple will varies. The nurse told us mostly each cycle will cost about $9K to $11K. After deducting the $6K and $3K for the 1st cycle, couples may not pay a single cent or pay

 

[Dreambear]

Hi JanelleQIf cost is really a concern to you & your hubby, then you should consider to go to KK instead of doing IVF in pte hospital. Other than the $6k to $4k medisave that you can use, the government will co-fund up to S$3,000 per cycle, for a maximum of three cycles. I've gotten some info from KKIVF and from what I understand, it is the hormone medicine which is costly. Hence the cost for couple will varies. The nurse told us mostly each cycle will cost about $9K to $11K. After deducting the $6K and $3K for the 1st cycle, couples may not pay a single cent or pay about $2k for their 1st IVF treatment. You may wish to check out MOH's website for more info.

 

[JanelleQ]

Hi dreambear,

Thanks for the information abt the cost.. Tats really a gd news for us..
Will check out MOM webby for more details..

 

[Dreambear]

JanelleQ, pls note that e $3k grant & medisave don't cover e hormones medicine hor. So u still need to pay cash for those & blood tests.

Hi dreambear,

Thanks for the information abt the cost.. Tats really a gd news for us..
Will check out MOM webby for more details..