Tubal Reversal Patient Satisfaction Messages ‘CHTRC’

My husband and I were thrilled with CHTRC! You couldn’t ask for a more pleasant experience! My DH is a scientist and researched and then researched some more… Dr Berger and CHTRC kept coming up, so that is why we chose CHTRC!

Thank you all for such a wonderful experience and giving us the chance to have a child together!

Date of Tubal Reversal Surgery July 2nd, 2009

Monique T.
Beck1009@comcast.net

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To Pam Mills, CRNA -

I cannot thank you enough for whatever it was you gave me in my IV before waking up yesterday!! I always vomit after anesthesia and you somehow pulled it off . I didn’t have one moment of feeling sick… even this morning as I am taking Vicodin now. DH and I fly out this afternoon and I will keep my patch on until we arrive back in Seattle. You truly deserve an award!!!!!

I am amazed at how well you and the entire staff at CHTRC work together to put your patients first. I have been health care since I was 17 years old and have never witnessed what a great team you work with. Bless you and the entire staff!!!

Thank you again for such a wonderful experience!!

Lisa D.
lisadavis52@verizon.net

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Dr. Monteith and the wonderful work of his hands has truly blessed our family. I’m pregnant just ONE month after our tubal reversal!

Thank you Dr. Monteith and to all the staff at CHTRC!

Kristi S.
sugagrl143@yahoo.com

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Dr. Monteith – I find it absolutely necessary to write to you and express my gratitude. Like most of your patients, I was sure that I was finished having children at the age of 28. Having been in a horribly abusive relationship, I knew that 2 children were enough for me to handle. Without telling a lot of my friends about the circumstances around the relationship, I revealed that I was planning to have my tubes tied. Most advised against it as it is such a permanent decision. “You will meet the right guy one day and he will want children” was the majority of the comments. I was sure this would not happen and if it did, my thought was that he either needed to have his own children or not want his own children. I went ahead and had my tubes tied in September 2004.

To my surprise I did meet “him”. In May 2006 I met my future. Kevin is the most charming, gentle, patient, and devoted man I have ever met. I have never been treated this good by any other man. The only problem, he has no kids of his own. When we met he was sure he didn’t want kids so this was going to work out great! Until he decided that he did want me to have his child about 6 months into the relationship. He was heartbroken that this was not going to be possible. I was heartbroken that I made this drastic decision 2 years prior. We talked about IVF and it just seemed too expensive and unnatural. We wanted to conceive the “old fashioned way” but didn’t know how.

It wasn’t until a friend of mine in a similar situation talked about a “reversal”. I didn’t even know it was possible, that there are doctors out there that are doing this. I had to find out more. I started to Google a few months ago and I was always led to the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center web page. I was very cautious of this as anyone can post on the web these days. After searching and critiquing the site, it was the message board that convinced me that CHTRC was legit and successful. I have to admit that I also made a couple “test” calls to the center to gauge professionalism. Finally, I was convinced that “I am going to do this”. I booked the surgery and started making arrangements for the trip. I was so nervous but I never second guessed my decision.

I did it!! Feb 25th, 2009 was one of the most significant days in my life. The staff was absolutely wonderful and attentive. Before, during and after surgery I felt cared for. Well, especially after surgery as I had a very nauseating recovery. Yuck!! The nurses were very focused on my recovery and did all they could to help.

Special thanks to the recovery room nurses for a job well done. The front of the house staff receives a special thank you for their knowledge and courtesy upon registration. Last, but never least, Dr Monteith. Thank you for choosing tubal reversals as a professional path. I don’t know of any other center that “specializes” in this procedure and your knowledge and professionalism around reversals is evident of that specialty. You have incredible bedside manners and the ability to ease a nervous patient. I have been given another chance to conceive and bless my fiance with a child. For that, I thank you!!!

Marcy T.
mltaliceo@msn.com

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Dear Dr. Berger,

Thank you for the amazing care we received at CHTRC! Never have we experienced such dedicated, meticulous, professional, knowledgeable and personal attention from a doctor and his staff. Everyone at your clinic gives 110% to their jobs, and it shows in the way they truly care for each patient. Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center was the absolute best place for my surgery, and Todd and I have commented on that many times since our arrival home. You fixed my left tube, were able to repair my right tube (which two other surgeons said was not possible), and corrected other issues which you discovered during surgery. You have given us hope! We now understand why women travel thousands of miles to have their surgery done at CHTRC – there is no better place to have it done.

We also want to thank you and your staff for so promptly answering any questions that have arisen since our arrival home. It has been a tremendous help and gives us peace of mind about the choices we are making on our journey to have a family.

Todd and I are so thankful that you were willing and able to help us even though we weren’t a ‘tubal reversal’ couple! I know that for some women with tubal issues, IVF is the only realistic option for a biological family. But I also know from personal experience, that there are many more ‘tubal repair’ (and ‘tubal reversal’) women out there than we know of who are told that IVF is their only option because the doctors do not have the skill and knowledge (or desire to develop and keep the skill and knowledge) to repair tubes in the manner that you do to achieve the success rates that you do. IVF, which is a considerably more costly procedure allowing for conception for one month only, is given as the only ‘realistic’ option for a biological family.

Couples should be able to choose whether tubal surgery or IVF is the right option for them. Many are not given a realistic option for a choice that will not go against their moral or religious beliefs. Surgical success rates when portrayed against IVF success rates are very low, and if you do want surgery, you are not viewed favorably if you say that IVF is not an option for you. For us as a couple, we were given a very low surgical success rate and looked upon unfavorably by the surgeons we spoke to here in Canada about the procedure, and were again very thankful that you were willing and able to perform the surgery. I had considerably more peace-of-mind (the difference was unbelievable) about traveling the distance to your clinic for my surgery, and staying in the U.S. for two days post-surgically without any sort of medical insurance to cover me until I got back to Canada (because I couldn’t find any that would), than having the surgery done for free at the IVF clinic at the women’s hospital in a city two hours away from our home where some of my family live. We knew that you had the skill and knowledge to give us the best chance at having a family without ‘artificial’ intervention. We definitely saw God’s hand of Providence in all of this as He provided the opportunity and orchestrated the timing for us to travel to CHTRC!

Thank you for being honest about our circumstances, but for also giving us hope. You are in our prayers. Have a great weekend!

Kimberly T.
toddturner@telus.net

More Information on Tubal Reversal vs IVF

Posted by Eric’sGirl on the Tubal Reversal Message Board

This THANK YOU!  is long overdue. I had my TR one week ago! I have started and restarted this 100 times over in the past 7 days. I can’t find the words to say what I feel in my heart. The following is a mere fraction of the gratitude that Dr. Berger and all the wonderful nurses and staff at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center deserve.

I found Dr. Berger’s website in March 2004. Life had thrown one hell of a twist my way. My high school sweetheart and I were reunited. I may have loved other men in my life, but never the way had I loved him. And he was back – a second chance to correct bad life decisions we made 10 years earlier.

In those “lost” 10 years I had met and had kids with a man – a man that was my best friend and my worst enemy. He changed me. I lost some of the personality traits that made me “me” while I was with him. And along the way, I opted for a TL – and asked a doctor to “cut and burn” my tubes instead of the clips he was going to use. I knew if I came home with clips I would only hear over and over again how I did that so I could leave him and start a new family with someone else. His post operative notes didn’t make much sense! So the first time I sent them into Dr. Berger, he told me my post op notes were ambiguous. I was told I could have the pre-screen laparoscopy to determine the true effect of my TL.

So that is where it sat until I got married in October 2006 and decided to start pursuing a TR more aggressively. In January 2007 I had an ovarian cyst and a wonderful local Ob/Gyn. My doctor told me we could wait 8 weeks for the cyst to resolve itself and do a follow-up ultrasound. I said I didn’t want to wait 8 weeks and risk a rupture – that I was considering a TR. He removed the cyst and took pictures so I could send them to Dr. Berger.

Those pictures put me in “marginal” candidate status. I am a smart woman, I but never looked into the numerous ways a TL can be performed. That doctor – the one that was recommending clips because I was so young (27 yrs old) – went on to remove all but 3-5 cm of my tubes and cauterize them right up to my uterus wall. No two ends for anastomosis… and possibly not enough tube left for implantation.

In 2004, I had sent my report to two other doctors – wasn’t as impressed with them from the start, but this time I was doing due diligence in the research phase. Again, I contacted the two other facilities. One took over a week to respond… and the other, the nurse on the phone wasn’t versed enough to understand the “implantation” option… or maybe they just didn’t perform it… or maybe not that often – I don’t know. All I know is neither had the support network that Dr. Berger and his staff provided.

I once sent an email over the weekend because I had time to send it then and wasn’t expecting an answer until Monday. It by no means was anything pressing. Dr. Berger himself responded shortly after I sent it!!!! Oh my goodness,that pushed me over the edge. It was followed shortly by a response by the nurse that was copied on it!

I have now been to Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center. I don’t know how they do it! Four consults and four surgeries each day, and somehow there is ALWAYS a prompt reply to every phone call and email. And the message board full of ladies who are saving to schedule, waiting for their day, or on the other side. You couldn’t ask for a better support system!

On Wednesday, October 17th I walked into CHTRC for my consult. What an amazing place to be! Nothing but professionalism from the second you walk in… until you walk back out. I hire people for our service company. I can’t believe the caliber of the staff Dr. Berger has assembled! It is not an easy feat to find that many people who put their heart and soul into their work and the cause!

On Wednesday, October 17th I met with Dr. Berger. I don’t know if I have ever been in the presence of such a gifted and caring individual. And I don’t know if I have ever been so shaken. He accepted me at my “marginal” candidacy – and I came face to face with that reality. I signed a surgical consent form that needed to be so vague – “bilateral tuboplasty” (plastic surgery of my tubes!) it read. I didn’t fit into either “standard” (anastomosis or implantation) procedure. I walked into that room knowing that there was no other person on this planet that could put me together. And with complete professionalism, he walked me through every reality and every possibility. I watched as he drew out what he MAY be able to do. I left struggling to hold onto the faith I had – IN HIM! I wanted a miracle out of him – how unfair of an expectation was that?!?! In fact, I even told him to write, “Dr. Berger is going to pull of a miracle tomorrow” on my surgical consent form – instead of “bilateral tuboplasty.”

My husband wasn’t there that day. He was in Cincinnati for work – flying in that night to be there for the surgery the next day. But I wasn’t alone. Dr. Berger’s network extends past the doors of CHTRC. Online I had my girls pulling for me from all over the world! And back at the hotel, I had Donna and her husband Bob. Donna was on my thread and had surgery the day of my consult. We hung out after her surgery and my consult, clear through my husband arriving at 9 o’clock that night. They kept my chin up. Without them I would have sat in my hotel room – crying until my husband got there. It was ALL OR NOTHING the next day.

So with my hopes and dream of babies with my high school sweetheart on the line, I walked back into CHTRC on Thursday, October 18th. I have never been so scared of an “answer,” and surgery never seemed so – well… refined and simple. There were no worries… they took such good care of you and kept you so comfortable! I almost forgot there was a chance this wouldn’t go well!

I remember telling me they were starting the anesthesia. I remember trying to wake up and ask the nurses what he did. I wasn’t the typical case. Dr. Berger had told them he wanted to explain things to me, so they weren’t able to say much. I remember someone telling me, “thumbs up!” I remember someone saying, “It’s good news!” I wasn’t catching their hints. Half loopy – and fully determined to get the answers I wanted. I guess I worried my recovery nurses. My husband later told me they came to get him and told him they had upset me.

Dr. Berger PULLED OFF A MIRACLE THAT DAY! He found my original passage through my uterine wall. He connected the minimal tube my TL doctor left behind. Dr. Berger sat in front of me and told me I had 4.0 cm on the right and 3.0 cm on the left. OH MY GOSH!!!! I wasn’t supposed to have much more than that in there!

And here is where I can’t explain what I feel inside… gratitude… hope… faith… yes! But they don’t come close to describing what it feels like to be whole again. What it feels like to be with my husband. What it feels like to make love and know I may be able to make a baby…. The old fashion way.

I don’t know how to say “thank you” for all that! I believe in always giving of yourself what you can give… you may never know when you will need to ask someone for something. I have never done something so great in my life for anyone – I don’t know how to pay this forward – I spin every time I try to fully grasp the impact he has had on our life.

Never have I been so amazed by anyone! I don’t know what made Dr. Berger dedicate himself to women and to families. He gives us so much – and there is nothing we give him! Or so I feel.

I have been on the boards long enough to know my same story is replayed time and time again by women who find Dr. Berger. What a gift he gives us by providing us the opportunity to undo our past!

I am sorry this is so long…

Dr. Berger, Sarah, Jan, Ericka, Jennifer, Julia, Rhonda, Pam, and Dr. Phlugrath – I remember each of you from that day or previous correspondences… and I know there were other surgical nurses and recovery nurses I was too hazy to acknowledge… please don’t feel I thank you any less!

THANK YOU! Thank you for caring so much…. Thank you for being the amazing people you are… Thank you for what you have given me… us… and our family!

May all your lives be as blessed as those you help!

Chrissy 34
Eric 35
TR 10-18-07
cconwell@charter.net

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