Dr Christopher Chen at Gleneagles
I drove straight to Gleneagles and was pleasantly surprised at how huge the clinic was. It had a big waiting area that was designed to look like a living room with plushy sofas. There were expensive paintings on the wall and the place was tastefully decorated with plants too. The reception had a few staff manning the counter. My mobile phone had no battery and they gladly helped me to charge my phone.
I chose a plushy sofa at a corner and waited. This atmosphere was a stark contrast to the previous clinics I had been too. I felt so relaxed that I decided to catch a wink by slumping my tired body against the soft cushion. Before I could fall into a deep sleep, it was my turn!
I was ushered into a big consultation room but Dr Christopher Chen was not there. I overheard a male voice doing consultation in the very next connected room, separated by a thin wall. The nurse was young and friendly. She told me to be seated and to wait for Dr Chen as he would be here shortly.
A few minutes later, the male voice grew louder and I could finally match a face to the voice. Dr Christopher Chen looked very old to be a gynae! He looked like a grandfather who was still professional looking. The moment he entered the room, he had nurses following him around and at his command. The whole scene reminded me of Charlie and his angels.
Once again, I repeated my story to him and he asked his nurses casually, "Where are the pictures?"
Immediately, the nurses scrambled to look for the pictures. They looked nervous. After some scrambling, they finally found the pictures. Dr Christopher Chen showed me the pictures of different types of wombs. He said that sometimes the womb had some abnormal structures and this could only be confirmed through laparoscopy. Laparoscopy was a minor surgery whereby they used a camera to examine the womb. I was starting to build up my vocabulary bank of terms associated with infertility.
He also said that another cause could be hostile cervical mucus. My mucus could be hostile to my husband's sperms and this could also be checked. He later asked the nurses to prepare me for a transvaginal scan. Basically it was to stick a dick looking apparatus into my vaginal to scan my womb. I had one done at Dr LC Cheng's clinic so I was not very surprised. He told the nurses to take me to the toilet to pee so that the images could be clearer. They led me through a maze and I peed. I also cleaned myself with soap because I did not want to embarrass myself by smelling bad.
The transvaginal scan was done and he also did a swab of my mucus. He said that Physician Tan Lee Kee of Ying Chuan Medical Hall was right and that I really had an enlarged uterus. He also said I had polycystic ovaries. He also ordered a detailed sperm analysis for my husband. I told him that my husband had already gone for a sperm analysis and that he was fine. He replied that his test was special because it would be able to check whether his sperm could survive long.
The bill came up to close to S$300. I had already spent a lot of my savings on these unexpected gynae visits. Each visit is at least $150. Dejected with my new label - woman suffering from adenomyosis, I left his clinic and walked across to the other building where my car was parked.
Damn! I saw a familiar looking couple - my church friends who were married with a kiddo. They were the last people I wanted to see on Earth - not very close so I needed to make small talk. They asked me why I was there. I also did not know what came over me. I told them the truth. They looked very sympathetic and prayed for me at that very spot. She shared with me that she was seeing a TCM physician Dr Xia Ai Wei at Thomson Medical Centre and was healed of her chills after her childbirth.
Suddenly a thought came to my mind. Would they think badly of my husband since they saw me alone? I quickly told them that my husband was not aware of me visiting Dr Christopher Chen. They nodded their heads and we parted ways.
My husband went to have his sperm test checked and the bill came up to $400 plus. The next few days, I read up on forums on others' experiences with Physician Tan Lee Kee and Dr Christopher Chen. I was so shocked that most of them had the same diagnosis as me - adenomyosis. Some of them recounted shocking experiences that they were made to go through unnecessary laparoscopy. To be fair, I also came across a minority saying that they were successful with this pair.
My husband and I were so spooked that we did not do a follow up visit with him. He called the clinic up and asked whether he could retrieve the medical report but they replied that they could only release the report through the gynae. I told him to try telling them that we needed the report to see TCM physicians urgently but he was reluctant to do so. In the end, we did not collect our very expensive reports. We both felt that we did not want a dark shadow hanging over us should the report be negative and that it was something that we could not bring ourself to trust. If there is no trust, there is no point in collecting the report so we forgo it.
Many months later, my colleague who had heard about my condition, told me that she heard of this very famous doctor whom the rich Indonesians Tais Tais would go to if they had infertility issues. Lo and behold, the famous doctor was none other than Dr Christopher Chen. I felt that he should be effective since he was sought after by the rich but I decided that I would stick with my initial decision of not sticking to him as I felt that I would not be able to afford his hefty fees and expensive recommendations.
To be fair, there are successful stories on the pair too!
I chose a plushy sofa at a corner and waited. This atmosphere was a stark contrast to the previous clinics I had been too. I felt so relaxed that I decided to catch a wink by slumping my tired body against the soft cushion. Before I could fall into a deep sleep, it was my turn!
I was ushered into a big consultation room but Dr Christopher Chen was not there. I overheard a male voice doing consultation in the very next connected room, separated by a thin wall. The nurse was young and friendly. She told me to be seated and to wait for Dr Chen as he would be here shortly.
A few minutes later, the male voice grew louder and I could finally match a face to the voice. Dr Christopher Chen looked very old to be a gynae! He looked like a grandfather who was still professional looking. The moment he entered the room, he had nurses following him around and at his command. The whole scene reminded me of Charlie and his angels.
Once again, I repeated my story to him and he asked his nurses casually, "Where are the pictures?"
Immediately, the nurses scrambled to look for the pictures. They looked nervous. After some scrambling, they finally found the pictures. Dr Christopher Chen showed me the pictures of different types of wombs. He said that sometimes the womb had some abnormal structures and this could only be confirmed through laparoscopy. Laparoscopy was a minor surgery whereby they used a camera to examine the womb. I was starting to build up my vocabulary bank of terms associated with infertility.
He also said that another cause could be hostile cervical mucus. My mucus could be hostile to my husband's sperms and this could also be checked. He later asked the nurses to prepare me for a transvaginal scan. Basically it was to stick a dick looking apparatus into my vaginal to scan my womb. I had one done at Dr LC Cheng's clinic so I was not very surprised. He told the nurses to take me to the toilet to pee so that the images could be clearer. They led me through a maze and I peed. I also cleaned myself with soap because I did not want to embarrass myself by smelling bad.
The transvaginal scan was done and he also did a swab of my mucus. He said that Physician Tan Lee Kee of Ying Chuan Medical Hall was right and that I really had an enlarged uterus. He also said I had polycystic ovaries. He also ordered a detailed sperm analysis for my husband. I told him that my husband had already gone for a sperm analysis and that he was fine. He replied that his test was special because it would be able to check whether his sperm could survive long.
The bill came up to close to S$300. I had already spent a lot of my savings on these unexpected gynae visits. Each visit is at least $150. Dejected with my new label - woman suffering from adenomyosis, I left his clinic and walked across to the other building where my car was parked.
Damn! I saw a familiar looking couple - my church friends who were married with a kiddo. They were the last people I wanted to see on Earth - not very close so I needed to make small talk. They asked me why I was there. I also did not know what came over me. I told them the truth. They looked very sympathetic and prayed for me at that very spot. She shared with me that she was seeing a TCM physician Dr Xia Ai Wei at Thomson Medical Centre and was healed of her chills after her childbirth.
Suddenly a thought came to my mind. Would they think badly of my husband since they saw me alone? I quickly told them that my husband was not aware of me visiting Dr Christopher Chen. They nodded their heads and we parted ways.
My husband went to have his sperm test checked and the bill came up to $400 plus. The next few days, I read up on forums on others' experiences with Physician Tan Lee Kee and Dr Christopher Chen. I was so shocked that most of them had the same diagnosis as me - adenomyosis. Some of them recounted shocking experiences that they were made to go through unnecessary laparoscopy. To be fair, I also came across a minority saying that they were successful with this pair.
My husband and I were so spooked that we did not do a follow up visit with him. He called the clinic up and asked whether he could retrieve the medical report but they replied that they could only release the report through the gynae. I told him to try telling them that we needed the report to see TCM physicians urgently but he was reluctant to do so. In the end, we did not collect our very expensive reports. We both felt that we did not want a dark shadow hanging over us should the report be negative and that it was something that we could not bring ourself to trust. If there is no trust, there is no point in collecting the report so we forgo it.
Many months later, my colleague who had heard about my condition, told me that she heard of this very famous doctor whom the rich Indonesians Tais Tais would go to if they had infertility issues. Lo and behold, the famous doctor was none other than Dr Christopher Chen. I felt that he should be effective since he was sought after by the rich but I decided that I would stick with my initial decision of not sticking to him as I felt that I would not be able to afford his hefty fees and expensive recommendations.
To be fair, there are successful stories on the pair too!
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