Watch out. I'm on my soapbox.

I got a letter in the mail yesterday that blew me away.
It was from the University Hospital letting all present and past patients know that they are closing the Women's Reproductive Endrocrinology clinic.
What?
Closing?
It was a very vague letter, only 2 paragraphs. I got to my parents and told them about the letter and my dad told me that there was an article in the newspaper about it.
You can read it here.
If you don't feel like reading, basically it says that the University feels that because it doesn't a wide range of services (ie: labor/delivery or gyn) that it isn't a good fit for them.
This particular paragraph really irked me:

UW Hospital does not see its decision to close the clinic as hurting women's health services because it is focusing its resources on areas that affect many more women, such as heart disease, Brunette said.

Really? Of course it's all about money.
Here you see we have one of the top 100 cardiovascular programs in the country.
See, the thing that bugs me is that she basically says the minority isn't important enough to keep this service available to them.
Sure, the majority of women can get pregnant on their own. If they can't, many can go to an OB/GYN for help.
The problem is, for a few of those many, the OB/GYN simply isn't enough.
I was seen by an OB/GYN for the longest time who kept giving me clomid. I kept taking it. I figured, she knew! SHE was the doctor.
She told me after my 6th cycle on clomid that she was out of her comfort zone. If I were going to get pregnant with her, it would have been by now.

I made an appt with this doctor. You knew he knew what he was talking about. He looked at my past file and basically laughed at the past treatment I was given. He knew exactly what was wrong with my by looking at my past labs. Labs that my OB/GYN looked past. He told me the next tests we had to do, and told me he would do his best to help us. I could tell he meant it.
Fast forward to the first test, the clomid challenge test, where I failed miserably.
I also had a hysterscopy to check out my tubes and uterus. It was done by this doctor who couldn't have been nicer.
After all of my tests, we went back to Dr. L and went over the results. It took one month of tests to have a definite answer. It would be hard for me to get pregnant, but he was honest and knowledgeable.
One month, verses the almost year that I had been seeing the OB/GYN.

What does this tell me? That I feel horrible for those women waiting in this area. If they are going to have to continue seeing a regular OB/GYN for such a specific problem, my guess is it will take much longer, if ever.
And if the OB/GYN decides that it is out of her comfort zone, and they get referred, they will have to travel outside of the area. I know that might be the norm elsewhere, but this clinic has been in practice here for over 20 years (23, I believe).

They state that this is not going to take away from 'women's health'. I completely disagree.
The compassion at this clinic, the sympathetic hand that rested on my shoulder when we found out that I had a less than 1% chance to conceive on my own. The true excitement when I had my first ultrasound with Miles. The cheers when they saw the little heartbeat. The nurses that came to see what all the commotion was about. The hugs I got. The TEARS I saw in one of the nurses eyes. The call I got even after I was transferred out of that clinic to a regular OB just to see how I was doing and how I was feeling.
THAT is going to be taken away from Women's health.

I'm usually not a letter writer, but today, I'm writing a few letters. One, to Dr. L and Dr. P thanking them for their honesty and compassion. The next, to the University telling them what a horrible mistake a past patient thinks they are making.