How was your experience with Randall Loy at Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando?
He’s clearly very knowledgeable in his field. This is comforting to work with someone who seems to know every in and out. But at times he was almost too clinical and did not have much of a bedside manner. He is compassionate in terms of cancelled/failed cycles but not overly so. He takes time to acknowledge how difficult it is to go through this but he doesn’t linger on it and moves right into next protocol. Our first transfer with donor egg resulted in pregnancy but ended up having trisomy 21. We were obviously devastated and having a hard time wrapping our heads around payment for another cycle and potential PGS testing costs and he did work with us to offer a small discount which we greatly appreciated. Overall he is kind but it’s clear he has too much on his plate/too many patients. As mentioned before I’ve had to remind him on a few things that we would need to do or not do based on my situation.Also in the beginning he told us he thought there was 95% chance Ivf would work with our own eggs- we turned out to be the 5%. I think communication could also be better. For example we went through 3 weeks of one cycle (doing Lupron injections and estrogen) and it ended up being cancelled because I wasn’t responding. It wasn’t until our follow up with him that he told us estrogen was rising, but slowly and on the low side. This is something we would have liked to know during the cycle to brace ourselves for the possibility of cancellation. We were totally blindsided when it was cancelled. We also made it to transfer on another cycle, and on it the day of we experienced some confusion. For one, he was not the doctor performing the transfer. They tell you that other doctors may do your surgeries but you are usually told who at the pre-op. He didn’t say anything about it being anyone else so i didn’t think to ask. This threw us because our transfers tend to be complicated due to my cervix passage and uterus position. I was also to be under anesthesia for my transfer which you can’t drink water for. And the doctor on call that day seemed to be confused why I didn’t have a full bladder and why I was getting fluids through IV. He ended up making me drink water and the anesthesiologist understandably had to wait until the water moved from my stomach to do the transfer, which was a 2 hour delay. It’s obvious Dr. Loy did not leave clear notes or talk to this doctor beforehand. Or the doctor did not pay attention to any notes left by him, so either way communication is an issue.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Randall Loy at Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando?
Do not be afraid to ask questions and advocate for yourself. If you don’t understand something try to ask in that moment. It can be intimidating to question a doctor on his protocols or have them breakdown something in simpler terms for you but that is why you’re all there! So that you’re all on the same page and all feel confident in next steps. You shouldn’t leave an appointment not understanding your plan or having doubts about it. He can read your chart all day but nobody knows you better than you.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Randall Loy at Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando?
We learned early to expect that we would not see Dr. Loy at every appointment and we’re mostly ok with that. But the meetings we do get with him feel progressively more and more rushed the longer we’ve been patients. We always come in with a list of questions and sometimes he seems bothered by so many questions and gets noticeably impatient. Also a couple of times I’ve had to remind him of things specific to my situation which makes me feel he’s got too much on his plate to play close attention. When I bring these things up though he is willing to change protocol and accommodate us. We had one cancelled cycle that really made us feel like a number versus a human this year. We thought everything was going well and made it to our pre-op. On that day my lining had thinned a little and he said as long as estrogen hasn’t fallen off we should be good. Well of course estrogen had dropped so I got a call at 6pm (appmnt had been much earlier that day) and the nurse was very blunt and cold- “your cycle has been cancelled please call on your next cycle day 1.” She didn’t even mention what estrogen level was, I had to ask specifically what happened and why it was cancelled. She told me she couldn’t answer any questions only the dr could and I was very obviously upset and she offered no comfort and getting information was like pulling teeth. After I asked several questions which she said she could not answer she finally asked if I would like a follow up and offered me one for a week later. I had to explain why I would want one as soon as possible and she ended up finding one for me the next day. I know those calls can’t be easy but her attitude made it clear she didn’t really care and just wanted to get on with it.
Describe the protocols Randall Loy used in your cycles at Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando and their degree of success.
Don’t remember exactly the protocol for retrieving with my own eggs. I know there was cetrotide, gonal f, tigger shot and something else I can’t remember. This resulted in 3 eggs, 2 fertilized, 0 blastocyst. He said it was the strongest protocol he would give to someone like me (small frame, diminished ovarian reserve) and next step would have to be donor eggs. With donor eggs we used Lupron and estrogen and progesterone and I responded “textbook” to these and transfer was a success but ultimately had to terminate for chromosomal issues. Next cycle we did same protocol because it had previously worked but i did not respond as well. Third try we did letrazole protocol which had good results but transfer did not result in pregnancy. Our next try we are doing estrogen protocol. He was going to do Lupron again but I had to remind that though this did work once it didn’t the second time so we’re trying something new.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando. (Assigned nurse: Venus)
Overall I’ve liked the staff. I have dealt with only 2 who could use some help with bedside manner. One was one I hadn’t worked with at all until she called to advise of our cancelled cycle. The other is one who is not my primary nurse but seems to step in when my primary is out. She is nice enough but overall demeanor is not very warm. She seems a little annoyed when I ask too many questions. Venus my primary though is very nice and though we don’t speak on the phone much ( all correspondence through the portal) I feel much more comfortable talking with her and asking her questions. She’s very patient. If I ask questions she can’t quite an answer she’ll let me know she is checking with the dr and responds by end of day typically. Phlebotomist and ultrasound techs are also very friendly. Finance is very nice as well and willing to answer many questions and check on anything you ask them to.
Describe your experience with Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando.
Lab, ultrasounds and surgery center are all on site which is a huge plus. Results are usually ready same day unless biopsies. Surgery center, though onsite, is a different entity so be prepare for that to go to towards different deductible.Has several doctors so your cycles can proceed even if yours is off. Con would be that it may be a different doctor for every surgery which I do not prefer. Many doctors and large office are great but this also means they’re helping MANY patients so I think communication and attention to detail struggle because of that.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Randall Loy at Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando.
Approx $13k for egg retrieval
$17.5k for donor eggs (lot of 6 with one embryo guarantee)
$2.2k for FET
Does not include meds, hysteroscopies (3), biopsies
Describe Randall Loy's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando.
He strongly recommends single embryo transfer for me as I have a pretty small frame and he believes multiples will be difficult for me to carry.
What specific things went wrong at Center for Reproductive Medicine Orlando?
- Provided conflicting information
- Failed to convey critical information