CCRM Minneapolis

Dr. Salem is a compassionate, knowledgeable and highly trained professional who provides excellent patient care. Under his care my health was utmost importance. Before moving on with any treatment Dr. Salem ordered multiple tests to ensure nothing was abnormal. He took note of my blood pressure each time I was in the office and noticed how consistently high it remained. He eventually diagnosed me with high blood pressure and prescribed a medication safe for pregnant women and women trying to conceive.

The one advice I would give a prospective patient of ask Dr. Salem would be to have access of knowledge of all your previous medical records as well as your partner/spouse. Dr. Salem is very thorough and this will aid in your future treatment under his care.

The protocol Dr. Salem chose for me was specific for me. I followed FET protocol, but prior to the transfer (2-3 months before) I took an injection of Lupron to help reduce the symptoms of endometriosis. Once I started the protocol I used multiple hormones, vaginal pills, transdermal patches and injections. I became pregnant after each cycle, but miscarried in the first trimester.

The costs were explained thoroughly by the billing staff. If we had any questions we just called to verify any amounts due.

Dr. Salem strongly recommends only transferring a single embryo base off scientific data, which I completely agree with. Transferring more than one embryo may result in multiple embryo’s competing for space which may result in an unsuccessful pregnancy.

The patient has to be comfortable dealing mostly with staff at this clinic. For me that wasn't a problem, and Dr. Batcheller was clearly monitoring my progress behind the scenes, as she is clearly very busy. I felt my care was well handled and had a very good cycle to begin with seeing as I have low ovarian reserve. The protocol seemed very fitting for a first round based on my situation, and I will only be requesting small adjustments for round two.

If you want a very personalized plan this is the place to go, but you should be prepared to have somewhat limited interactions with the doctor herself.

I did a high dosage protocol for my low ovarian reserve. I was on both Clomid and Dexamethasone, alongside 300 units Follistim, two vials of Menopur, and about halfway through I started one prefilled syringe of Ganirelix. I triggered with both HCG and Lupron. Toward the end of my cycle my estrogen was very high, so there was some concern for overstimming. They had me trigger according to our original plan, even though I was hoping to let a few more follicles catch up. They focused on my body and safety when I didn't, which I think is very important. They put me on Cabergoline to help this as well. I am currently one day past retrieval and have had no weight gain, no trouble urinating, and otherwise no signs of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Being below age 35 and having been on such high doses of hormones this was definitely a concern, and I'm glad that my doctor took this into account.

Initial Consultation: $200 One Day Workup (Hormone Testing, Hysteroscopy, Sperm Analysis, Disease Testing, Other Blood Tests): ~$2,100 in house, ~$2,000 to Quest Diagnostics (disease testing) Round One (Monitoring, Surgery): ~9,400 Anesthesia: $475 (Check Only)

Because I am doing PGS testing and am under age 30 I believe that when we get to the transfer I will only be allowed to do one. The risk of multiples is too high, and the success rate should be around 70%. For me this is a non-issue as I would like to avoid multiples if possible, as the risk to myself and the babies increases significantly in this case.

Amanda was very good at describing her part in everything and what they would do during the whole process. The only weakness I saw was that there was an implication of the semen collected for analysis was also going to be used for fertilization. This is not the case. No big deal, but worth mentioning.

Make sure intended parents fulling understand what their next steps are so there isn't any confusion.

We're going with an egg donor since we are a same sex male couple, so we don't need to do any treatments.

Yes, this is the shocking and sad part. Our total package for everything is over $46,000.

Amanda has a very strong preference of eSET because they do extensive testing of the embryos. If the quality of embryos is good, she'd only do eSET. If they were lower quality embryos, she mentioned she'd be open to potentially doing DET (if surrogate was willing).

The first time I met Dr. Salem, he provided us with clear timelines and what things would look like. He was very thorough and has a personality that helps to make people feel comfortable. I have twins that were done previously through IVF at a clinic that is no longer open and he was diligent in getting all of that information to help inform him on my care.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. He is very open and honest about what to expect and outcomes.

The first thing that I did at CCRM was to get a full workup. They took blood and did ultrasounds to be sure that I was in good health. It was at this time that he prescribed me with thyroid medication to be sure that I had optimal levels. Then I went on birth control for 3 weeks before beginning my stimulation meds. I am on the last day of my stimulation meds now. I take 2 vials of menopur in the morning with my thyroid medication. At night I take Follistim and Dex. On day 5 I also began taking Gonirelix in the morning with the Menopur. I have had daily ultra sounds and blood work for the last 5 days. I will likely trigger tonight.

Cost of medication was about $7,000 Cost of everything else was about $20,000 We did IVF with CCS testing. They also had sperm thaw.

Dr. Salem prefers single embryo transfer as he believes that with added testing the results are likely going to be positive.

Dr Salem takes the time to be prepared for our appointments and spent time to understand our goals before we developed a treatment plan. While we have not had a complete cycle due to setbacks, he has adjusted our plan to ensure that we are setting ourselves up for the best results.

Bring all of the questions that you can to understand the process, He was able to break down our plan using our results. It was helpful for me to have my questions written down so that I was sure I got all of the answers that I needed to feel good moving forward with our plan.

I have PCOS and my husband has a normal sperm count/motility so we are good candidates for IUI. With the success rate of IUI (about 20%) the plan is to do 3 rounds of IUI and if not successful moving on to IVF. We were ready to start an IUI procedure using letrozole to trigger ovulation, sadly the lab found that one of my ovaries had an active cyst which would interfere with the treatment plan. So we did a 3 week cycle of birth control pills to quiet it down. We are currently waiting to see if that did the trick to move to doing a full cycle.

$383 was the cost for a sperm analysis and cryopreservation $253 is about what a monitoring appointment costs (day 2/3 appointment)

Dr. Batcheller was always pleasant when I met with her. She explained step by step what was going to happen when she was doing procedures or if we needed to change treatment course (which happened multiple times). I do wish I would have had more face time with her vs. the nurses but if I ever needed to get a hold of her for questions - she was available. I loved her and will continue to go back to her for all my fertility treatments!

Ask lots of questions and tell her how you would like to communicate. I preferred a more direct approach and she respected that.

Egg Retrieval: Normal protocol using Gonal-F, Menopur, Cetrotride. We STIM'd for 10 days and retrieved 24 eggs on the 11th day. Embryo Transfer: We attempted 3 times for a transfer but due to having a thin lining we had to cancel 2 times (was successful on the 3rd). After the first transfer attempted was cancelled, I was worried and unsure about the future and if we would be able to transfer. She calmed my worries and looked at my medicine and changed course accordingly, always trying to find the right mix of medication. I was so discouraged when we cancelled but she was always positive and assured me that sometimes when bodies have a hard time getting a thicker lining they just have to change the medicine protocol. I have been on Estrogren (oral and patches), Vaginal Viagra, Progesterone, Baby Aspirin, Endometrin, etc.

Medicine (Egg Retrieval + 3 Transfers attempts + 1 successful Transfer) = $15,000+ Care: Unsure - at least $7,500. My insurance coveres a specific amount (which has now been used up). Our costs will be different when we do this another time.

I trusted Dr. Batcheller's approach to transferring just the 1 embryo.We only had 2 good embryo's and we did discuss transferring both but she wanted to make sure that we had the best chances for success - which meant transferring only the 1, which was successful.

Dr. Salem has been very compassionate and great at communicating. He is the only doctor on staff right now while the other is out on maternity leave but he still took the time to call with updates and give us next steps. Everyone at the clinic has been wonderful and caring and patient with all the questions we’ve had throughout the process.

Ask as many questions as you want. He’s extreme patient and kind and really makes you feel like he wants to help, you’re not just a number.

Due to my husbands abnormal sperm sample and the fact that we had tried other approaches prior to going to CCRM, Dr. Salem thought our most efficient and best option would be IVF since my tests showed normal results. We are currently in the transfer prepping phase of the cycle.

So far the costs have been surprisingly minimal through our insurance. I do wish we could have gotten a better estimate up front on what the cost of the entire cycle was going to be including medications.

My doctor does the single embryo approach. When I asked about doing multiples to possibly have a better shot, he explained the benefits for the mother and child if only one is transferred and that made me feel better about the approach and care for myself after getting pregnant.

We have only completed our initial work up and are starting down the path of IVF with the genetic testing, after finding out we are both carriers of CF. This came as a shock to both my husband and I, but Dr Salem discussed the risks and options we had and let us choose which path we wanted to take. He was sympathetic and kind during this stage, especially as I found this out on the anniversary of a dear friend passing of CF. He reassured us that we can work around this risk factor but also explained the challenges.

Trust him. I am so thankful we found Dr Salem and CCRM

We are just starting with creating the probe for our genetic mutation so we have not begun our IVF cycle yet. We have to wait until the probe is ready.

We have not reached this stage of our plan yet

Dr. Batcheller has slowly gotten much busier over the last 3 years. It is definitely more challenging now to get in touch with her directly than it was back in 2016. She still performs all of her own procedures but often the diagnostic testing is now done by nurses or the other physician on staff. I also often wonder why the nursing staff has as much control over patient calendars. The nursing staff says that they review all calendars with Dr. Batcheller on a weekly basis but if that is true I question some of the decisions that have been made on some of my calendars and would expect Dr. Batcheller to know based on previous cycles what works and what does not work for me.

Be very clear what type of communication you expect from her so that she can meet your expectations or so that you know what you can expect from her.

1 IVF cycle with 4 successful embryos and a fresh transfer leading to a successful birth (September 2016) 1 frozen transfer cycle with a negative pregnancy test (January 2019) 1 frozen transfer cycle canceled due to illness (September 2019) 1 frozen transfer cycle pending (October 2019) All frozen transfers included lupron with two weeks of estrogen

Frozen transfer cost approximately $5,000 plus medications, IVF cycle with fresh transfer cost $12,000 plus medications

No concerns, we wanted to transfer only one embryo

I went to see Dr. Batcheller right after I was diagnosed with cancer. She and everyone at the clinic, got me in urgently, helped me understand my options, moved quickly and treated me with compassion. I tried to get two retrievals in, but my cancer grew too quickly so I had to cancel the second one. Dr. Batcheller gives all of the pertinent information and allows the patient to make the decisions that are best for them. I could not recommend her and her clinic more highly. While she was on maternity leave, I also saw Dr. Salem at the same clinic, and he was amazing too! I highly highly recommend this clinic and these doctors!

Choose Dr. Batcheller and CCRM for your fertility needs.

It cost about $15,000 for the egg retrieval, fertilization process, and genetic testing. That also included all appointments, ultrasounds, blood draws, and the actual retrieval procedure. That did not include medication.

I was sufficiently educated about about the number of embryos that should be transferred. Since I have a limited number, transferring them one at a time will give me a better chance of success.

I met with Dr. Salem after having a bad experience at another fertility clinic. He is incredibly kind and compassionate. He is also incredibly smart and up to date on the latest information about fertility treatments. He worked really hard to get me the maximum number of eggs for freezing and tailored my treatment plan specifically to my issues (I ended up getting nearly double the number of eggs that I got at the previous clinic!) I sent my sister to him also because I was so impressed with his services.

Go see him! He is a great doctor! If you are a woman who its hesitant to go see a male ob/gyn, don't let that stop you - get the best treatment possible from the best doctor.

My treatment protocol was "Luteal Oral-Clomid Protocol 5 - freeze all only." I did a round of egg freezing at a prior clinic and got 7 mature eggs. Dr. Salem's goal was to get me at least a few more the second round. To do that, he advised me to wait 3 months after stopping birth control pills to see if my AMH would increase (it did! went from .5 to 1.78). Based on that, Dr. Salem concluded that birth control pills had a very suppressive effect on my ovaries, so rather than start my cycle with down-regulation by taking birth control pills, I waited for my natural LH surge and then started priming my ovaries by taking estrogen (estrace 2 mg tab twice a day). On day 3 of my next cycle I stopped taking estrace and started taking the stim meds (2 vials of menopur in the morning, 300 units follistim in the evening + 2 tabs of clomid for 5 days + dexamethosone). On day 7 of the stim meds I added in ganirelix in the morning. Triggered after 11 days of stims with HCG and Lupron. I got 13 mature eggs this round - almost double what I got at the previous clinic. I feel that Dr. Salem is directly responsible for the improvement - he really looked into which treatment plan would work best for my circumstances. The other clinic planned to do their exact same protocol a second time (birth control pills for 2 weeks to down-regulate, then start with 1 vial of menopur in the morning + 225 units of follistim in the evening, add ganirelix and then trigger with just HCG). It didn't work well the first time and they had to increase the medication half way though - I believe that if I had done that protocol again, I wouldn't have gotten as many eggs. In addition, they made it seem as though that was the best they could do for me - that because of my low AMH I should just be happy with the number I got. It was very frustrating. Dr. Salem's approach was much more tailored to me and really addressed the concerns I had at the first clinic. He is optimistic and tries to do the best for all of his patients.

$8,754 for an egg freezing cycle + $475 for anesthesia. The clinic also offers to reduce the fee for a second cycle by 20% and 15% for each cycle after that.

I’ve met Dr. Batcheller once or twice, but she’s always been super helpful and friendly. In our initial consult with her, we talked about our plan being 3 months of IUI and then evaluate from there. At that point, she was so optimistic for us that we never spoke of what would come next and that was comforting. Unfortunately IUI has not worked for ya yet. We’re trying a 4th round with some new meds and if that doesn’t work, we’ll have our regroup appointment next month. Honestly, we see more of the other staff and they’ve all been great.

Stop in and say hi during appointments every now and again if you’re available!

IUI with Clomid (1pill x 5days), Ovidrel and Progesterone. Our second cycle, I ovulated on my own, so Ovidrel wasn’t needed. In our upcoming 4th round, we’re adding in 3 injections of Gonal-F. So far, no positive tests, but we’re optimistic about this round.

Our insurance is taking a while to process things, so I know we’re not up to date. So far we’ve spent around $2000. I anticipate it will be more though.

Dr. B is very kind and caring about her patients. She is knowledgeable about the various developments and innovations in IVF treatment, and I felt like she allowed us to be part of the decision-making process. When our first FET resulted in chemical pregnancy, we reviewed some unique symptoms I presented with and she listened to my ideas on how to adjust treatment, gave us the scientific reality of those ideas, and we made a joint decision to try an anti-histamine approach. Dr. B also is understanding that since we were paying for everything out-of-pocket, we should skip some tests for the immune theories, and just treat me as though I had tested positive. Overall, even though we still haven't had a successful pregnancy, I feel Dr. B cares for and is passionate about her patients. My only concern now, is with two failed transfers, she had initially told us she expected a 60% chance of success. My only criticism is that her optimism can be a bit misleading or insensitive. It's nice to have that hope when you first meet and are nervous, anxious, or uneasy about the whole process. But I think I would have rather she not so confidently given us a percentage of success when I asked for it, or tempered her optimism when she said, "Let's talk about your options!" after our first FET resulted in chemical pregnancy. I'm sure in this line of work, you have to be a positive person to stay in it, but a touch more compassion isn't a bad thing either.

Just know that Dr. B is super positive and optimistic. I think she presented the risks of anti-histamine protocol well, but also dismissed the one birth defect she's seen with the protocol she's done it to something else... so, again, she's very optimistic about what she does. If you are in in a bad place, and need that boost to come back to, she's great. But if you prefer a very realistic and honest assessment, I felt like things were maybe presented a little more positive and confident than I would have liked in hindsight.

Our stim phase was "Luteal Patch (Protocol 3 with Patches)" in CCRM categories. We worked with my natural cycle at my request due to some bad experiences with BCPs. I was instructed to use ovulation kits to catch an LH surge, and then begin cetrotide and patches post-surge. The next cycle, we started stim with Menopur and Follistim on CD2. We upped the Follistim from 150 to 225 on the 4th day of stim since my eggs were going a little slow, and after that, things progressed nicely. After 10 days of stimming, Dr. B cancelled our fresh transfer because my progesterone levels were higher than they wanted. We triggered after 10 days of stimming as well. My US on that day showed at least 8 eggs on each ovary between 17.5 and 20 mm in additional to many smaller eggs. Retrieval was two days after trigger shot. They retrieved 25 eggs, 15 were mature and had ICSI, 11 successfully fertilized, and 7 were frozen for transfer. For our first FET we used my natural cycle again. Used Lupron to suppress cycle before using patches and endometrium vaginal inserts to build up lining. Had to add 1mL of PIO every other day 4 days before transfer due to low P4 levels. After transferring they upped PIO to 1mL every day due to low P4 levels. My lining grew perfectly, and once it reached 8 mm, they scheduled a transfer for 8 days later. (It’s my understanding CCRM will not transfer if the lining is not at least 8 mm.) Our transfers went perfectly, although, we requested last minute to thaw two embryos for transfer, and one did not survive. They thawed a third one in order to still transfer two. (When I asked at our pre-transfer nurse meeting about embyos not surviving the thaw, a nurse told us she had never heard of that happening at CCRM. If they would have asked us what to do when the first embryo did not survive, I would have told them not to thaw a third one. That was frustrating and I expressed that to Dr. B at our regroup. She said CCRM only has 2% of embryos that fail to survive the thaw.) 9 days after transfer, Beta #1 was over 180 and the nurse indicated a number that high (they like it to be over 50) could mean both embryos implanted. Beta #2 did not double, it was just over 200. No changes in protocol. Beta #3 was in the low 30's, and the cycle was deemed a chemical pregnancy. One frustrating part was that Dr. B insisted I get a fourth HCG test 4 days after the Beta #3 to confirm the pregnancy was over, even though I had started a heavy period three days after Beta #3. That was both a hassle and frankly, somewhat traumatizing to experience in the aftermath of things. I didn't see any reason I couldn't have waited out the period and tested afterwards to give me time and space to grieve. After discussing some symptoms I had in FET #1 (two instances of severe nausea, cramping and sweats/fever for 20-30 minutes several days after transfer) we decided to try an anti-histamine protocol in case I was having immunological issues. We also did a long-Lupron cycle due to a previous diagnosis of endometriosis in case that left me with a specific type of cell that can affect implantation. Our initial attempt at a second FET was cancelled when my lining failed to thicken, even after adding estradiol tabs, and eventually developed fluid in the lining. We induced a period with 2mL of PIO in each hip. I never really got a clear reason why might have caused the fluid, but the nurse said unless it happens again, they sort of chalk it up to a fluke and try again. FET #2- Natural cycle again, this time with low-dose meds. Instead of steadily increasing from 1 to 4 patches every other day to help grow the lining, we let it grow on its own. My lining grew a little more slowly than they like, but no fluid and it had the trilaminar layers they want to see. Once my lining was an 8 on it’s own, we added 2 patches every other day for the entire transfer, along with endometrium vaginal inserts three times a day. Anti-histamine protocol was Claritin and Prednisone once a day and Pepcid AC twice a day, beginning 2 days before transfer. Again, transfer went perfectly, we only did one embryo this time. I also didn't need PIO shots every day and could stick with every other day. However, when I presented the same symptoms of nausea, cramping, and fever/sweats, Dr. B didn't have anything specific to change initially. She did suggest we could up the PIO to every day after the second instance occurred in case the fluctuation of Progesterone was causing the symptoms. I declined since we had been doing PIO every day in our first transfer and I still had the same symptoms. Beta #1 was less than 1 and the cycle failed.

Specifically: Initial consult: $205 Communicable/Vitamin D, TSH: $300 LH Check: $115 Progesterone Check: $115 IVF Costs (Stim appointments and clinic surgery) $13,510.00 BETA: $70 Baseline ultrasound and Hysteroscopy: $1,795.00 Regroup (phone) $112.00 FET transfer is in the range of $7,000 Overall, we've spent $24,702 at CCRM with both the consult, stim, retrieval, two transfers, and two re-groups, one in person and one on the phone.

I specifically asked Dr. B about the risks of double embryo transfer a few days before our first transfer. I had to ask, because it was never offered to me. I think CCRM assumes eSET unless they are told otherwise. Dr. B said for our situation, if we transferred two, we had a 65% chance of twins. She explained there is a slight increase in HBP and Diabetes risks, but those exist anyway. The bigger risk is a 25% chance of pre-term labor and bed rest for some portion of pregnancy. However, Dr. B was comfortable with doing 2 for us.

Dr. Batcheller is such a blessing. She is intelligent, warm, and honest, a combination that is so hard to find. Dr. Batcheller has always given us the impression that she is fully invested in seeing us succeed in this process and doesn't shy away from trying new things or tweaking things as needed. I have worked with another RE in the past and while the outcomes of my cycles have been similar the experience of working with Dr. Batcheller far exceeded my previous experience. Can't recommend her highly enough!

Don't be afraid to ask questions.

To date I have done one egg retrieval with Dr. Batcheller. I did androgen and estrogen priming followed by an antagonist protocol (ganirelix + 300IU Follistim + 150IU Menopur) and simultaneous Clomid (100mg), Saizen (8.8mg total), and dexamethasone (0.5mg). Trigger was Lupron + Novarel (5,000IU). This protocol was chosen due to my history of being a poor responder to IVF medications, and having poor quality eggs.

At the end of the day after diagnostic assessment and egg retrieval (+ CCS testing) including medications the cost was approximately $25,000.

Prefers eSET for CCS tested embryos but open to multiple embryo transfer in my case. Can't comment on her approach when genetic testing is not used.

Dr. Batcheller sits down with each patient and really gets to know them. She meticulously plans out every aspect of your treatments, what you are going to need for meds when, do on. If you have questions she will answer them and explain to you in terms you will understand. She cares about your well being during the whole process.

I had to start with egg retrieval. I had to start taking Doxycycline for 10days. Cycle day 10 start an ovulation kit testing. 10days after surge I started my Vivelle 0.1mg patches switching them every other day. The next day I started taking Cetrotide 0.25mg for 3 days. I continued with the Vivelle patches for that week and wore the last patch for 7 days or until it fell off. 3 days after I started with my Stim meds, 2 vials of Menopur in the morning and 300 units of Gonal-F and Dexamethasone in the evening for 10days. After 6 days of starting Stim meds I started taking Cetrotide again. 2 nights before the retrieval I had to start my trigger meds, Pregnl and then again 12 hours after the first does then I had retrieval.

Everyone’s IVF story is different therefore everyone’s cost will be different. But I strongly believe that the cost was comparable to other clinics.

She’s very well versed in different options. She is also thoroughly prepared to speak on your specific issues even before you even meet her, just based on your records. She presents options and plans, strategizes with you on timing and always makes you feel comfortable speaking to her throughout the process.

Have your questions ready because she will be ready to answer all of them

Dr. Batcheller was the first doctor to find my uterine polyps. Based on our previous meetings with other doctors for ivf consults we asked Dr. Batcheller if she would put me on birth control, which was suggested by other drs to boost egg production and she said no, because of my low AMH, it wouldn’t be helpful. I throughly enjoy that she doesn’t treat us as if we are just another couple with the same issue as everyone else. Our plan is unique to us.

The costs seem normal compared to other ivf locations in MN

Dr. Batcheller is not opposed to multiple embryo transfers but did suggest not transferring more than 2. She thoroughly explained why this is safer for me and the embryos as the risk of multiples increases.

I highly recommend Dr Batcheller. She has a great bed side manner, explains everything in a straight forward way that is easily understood. I felt confident that we were at the right place and getting the best treatment available.

If you are struggling with infertility, CCRM-Minneapolis is the place to go in the Twin Cities metro area.

We went with my natural cycle for IVF instead of picking a date on the calendar that fit the schedule (like the other clinic I went to was going to do). She said I was an excellent candidate for IVF, and had a successful cycle with the medication and protocol she used.

We have always put in 1 embryo. I was able to freeze 5 embryos.

Although I saw a lot more of the nurses at the clinic than Dr. Batcheller, when I did see or speak to her she was always very clear and thorough in her explanations, very up-to-date on the science (the one exception being that she ordered bed rest for 24 hours after embryo transfer and gave me a 10 lb lifting restriction), and very kind.

Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions

I honestly don't remember a lot of the specifics three years later, sorry.

The cost for IVF was about $14,600 (including anaesthesia) plus the cost of medication (which I think was around $5000). IUIs were around $2500-$3000 each, plus the cost of medication. Preliminary testing and diagnostic work cost around $2500.

She advised me to only transfer one embryo, due to the high chance of multiple pregnancy if multiple embryos were transferred.

Dr. Batcheller was the second physician I've seen while undergoing treatments. She is warm and friendly and very understanding of my situation. I had 3 miscarriages prior to seeing her when I was undergoing IUI and IVF the year prior and she definitely understood that I had been through alot with no clear explanation. I think she is very intelligent and adjusted my meds during the stimulation cycles to get the best quantity and quality eggs.

I would say ask any question if you aren't understanding the protocol and meds, it can be alot to understand. Always take notes!

I have done two egg retrievals. The first cycle I did a vivelle patch and ganirelex prior to stim meds, stim meds I used Menopor, Follistem, Dexamethasone and added in Clomid after first ultrasound check as I'm a poor responder to meds. We retrieved 9eggs and 6 mature by day 5 only had one and did CCS testing which came back aneuploid. I just finished a second cycle and primed with Estrace pills and then for stim meds Menopor, Follistem, Clomid, Dexamethasone and did Saizen for first 5 days. Retrieved 18 eggs, 15 were mature, and then after ICSI 3 made it to day 5 blasto and still awaiting CCS results.

My insurance only covered the workup labs and baseline ultrasound nothing related to IVF. Which was a sticker shock coming from Boston where everything was covered. My meds for a retrieval were roughly $6k and then the retrieval which included everything was $15k plus another $450 for anesthesia. Honestly it might be expensive but I think it's the best clinic/MD in the Twin Cities and I don't think you can put a price on that.

I haven't done a transfer but will probably do a single embryo but will be based on quality of egg.

April Batcheller is a great doctor who is passionate about what she does. She was always thoroughly prepared and has options for us. She always had an answer for my questions. She isn't afraid to change a protocol or think outside the box to get you the results you want. I don't feel like i am a number or a statistic in the column with her, she has your families interest at heart, and that shows with alot of the cases she takes on, that others will not. I felt very well cared for and trusted her judgment.

Come with all your questions and don't be afraid to ask them. She is a wealth of information and you should understand your situation and treatment completely. (this is not saying she didn't do a good job laying out the treatment, I just had pages full of questions and she was more then happy to answer and explain)

My protocol was considered "the kitchen sink" protocol :) Menopur 150, clomid, dex, gonal f 300, saizen the first five days of Stims and triggered with 5,000 novarel and a double Lupron trigger. This resulted in 5 eggs retreived/5mature/5fertilized, three made it to blast with one normal ccs tested embryo. Second cycle was same protocol, 15 eggs retreived/10 mature/7 fertilized, two made it to blast and now waiting on ccs testing to come back currently. (this egg retreival was actually done by Dr. Salem, Dr B was unavailable) I will very shortly be starting my FET Blast BCPs/Lupron/suppository/P4 in oil QOD protocol for our first transfer with Dr B. I am extremely happy with the outcome of our two retreivals since our last doc wouldn't try anything but DE after a failed cycle with him.

We needed to schedule our monitoring appointments before 1130 I think it was. I had an hour and a half trip to the clinic so that was inconvenient for me on work days, but couldn't do anything about it. I was always called in an appropriate time and the ultrasound techs were great. One thing I do wish is that CCRM would have a payment option to not include the monitoring, so that you could do it at your local clinics when available. If I would have chose to monitor at my local clinic they would not have taken out the price of labs and ultrasounds from our package price. And we would have been paying for the labs and ultrasounds twice if we decided to monitor at our local clinic.

First cycle of IVF with CCS testing was $14,884. Second cycle was $13,419 due to a discount for banking cycles. With around $5,000 in medication cost each round. Labs that were not included in package were expensive, Vit D was $225, I elected to do that at my local clinic, along with my initial labs since that was where they were drawn for the past two years and I wanted the consistency. The price per item or procedure was more than at my previous clinics and I had no insurance coverage for any of it at CCRM

We don't have the opportunity yet to have to worry or think about how many to transfer, we only have one ccs tested embryo currently but waiting on two more to result. Hopefully those can change our thought process. But I agree with her idea of only putting one in at a time, if you only have two, because you can make changes if the first FET was unsuccessful and still have something to work with. And she is not opposed to transferring two embroys but you case will be evaluated and pros and cons will be weighed. I would love the ability to put two in at a time, but I do not think that will be our course of action.

Strengths that I see in Dr. B are communication, empathy, hard work and doesn’t tell you what you want to here, tells you what you need to hear in a kind and caring way. Both my husband and I were immediately impressed and when our cycle did not go as planned she delivered the news to us and made time to see us right away. She never gave up and came up with a great option. She also explains things in a way that we could understand. I have yet to find something I don’t like. She’s trustworthy, dependable and willing to think outside the box.

Tell her exactly what you didn’t like about your RE before. She listens!

We started with protocol 3 and that didn’t work for us. All of our eggs were immature and she sat down with us going through every stim day step by step and came to a conclusion of what went wrong. I didnt respond to one medication and the next cycle we used a different medication to trigger with, but she was very careful as I had previously had OHSS and she was trying to make sure it didn’t get worse. We ended up stimming one day less, but getting 7 mature eggs.

Total cost so far about $25,000.

Dr. B prefers one healthy mom and one healthy baby, but if we have more than 2 to transfer she is open to twins.

Dr Batcheller herself will tell you that she specializes in caring for those who have had multiple failed cycles. When we came to her we were broken, we had done 9 IUI's and 2 IVF's with zero success. We went to her just to get a second opinion to see if we should stop and move onto adoption. Dr Batcheller had new ideas, was way more aggressive gave us the confidence to try again. While it still took her 2 rounds of IVF to get us pregnant, we didn't hesitate to do that second round as she had new ideas and was so confident in them. As a result I'm pregnant with twin boys and have 9 more embryos in the freezer waiting for us to expand in the future. I trust her implicitly with my care- she is a brilliant doctor on the cutting edge of research!

Dr Batcheller is a straight shooter yet compassionate so you will love her from the start. Once your treatment has started however you don't see Dr Batcheller personally each visit but know that she is the only one creating your care plan and that she is constantly monitoring and adjusting your cycle if need be to get the best results! She will likely push you for a freeze all cycle...it's hard to be patient but it was so worth it in the end! This approach allows her to be more aggressive with your meds and will ultimately be a huge benefit to you in the end!

My husband and I had a lot of obstacles to overcome so we were on a very aggressive protocol. We used lupron each cycle as I produce a lot of eggs...55 my last cycle her clinic record :) For my cycle we used a combination of saizen which is a med to help egg quality- cetrotide, vivelle patches, menopur and follistim which was about 15 days of injectable meds. I was in for monitoring 5 times during that period which was always quick and easy. Dr Batcheller favors freeze all cycles because she swims very hard typically and there was no way my body could handle a transfer at that point. My last cycle I produced 55 eggs (with previous clinics I was lucky to get 20), 37 were mature, 32 fertilized and 10 top grade embryos were frozen. We then went on to do a frozen embryo transfer 3 months later (we could have done it sooner but opted to wait). Because of my previous failed transfers again Dr Batcheller made sure we did everything possible for success. I went on Depot Lupron injections for 2 months leading up to the transfer. I then did a combination of Vivelle patches, progesterone shots and suppositories 3 times daily and she added an anti-hystimine protocol of meds to be absolutely sure my body wasn't attacking the babies. We transferred two 5 day top grade embryos that resulted in a successful twin pregnancy!

Our freeze all IVF cycle for just treatment was around $11,000 plus medications that were about $7,000. Our embryo transfer was around $3,500 and then the OB care after we were pregnant was $1,200. The meds for the transfer through the first 3 months of pregnancy were about $4,000. Dr Batcheller is very picky about using certain brands of drugs vs generics which did add to the price a bit, however her reasoning made sense and was worth the extra in the end.

CCRM Minneapolis does favor single embryo transfers as their success rates are so high and it does lower the risk. In my case we had so many failures Dr Batcheller agreed that transferring two was the best approach but she did caution me that it would likely result in twins...and it did :) In future transfers I will likely only be transferring 1 at a time as we such great quality embryos as a result of their amazing embryologist and lab!

She seemed so human. She was warm, caring, and smart. She was always there...even though I didn't see her every visit (not needed either) she was there for all the important things and even sometimes just there to touch base. For those that might want hand holding of the Dr at every appointment that probably isn't what Dr B will do but I never once felt like she was unreachable or wasn't guiding the process. She was great from consult to stims to retrieval to transfer to releasing us to our OB.

(OCP Antagonist - BCP) CCRM - Minneapolis 10/14 Consult and CD 3 testing, 10/14 started (OCP Antagonist - BCP) BCP, 10/21 1 day work up, Doxycycline 100mg 10 days, 10/24 stop bcp, Bloodwork US 10/29, 10/30-11/8 Stims 2 vials of Menopur, Dexamethasone, 225 of Gonal-F daily (dropped to 120). CCRM Vitamin Cocktail (like 20 of them), Monitoring (11/2, 11/4, 11/5, 11/6, 11/7, 11/8), Retrieval 11/10 (38 eggs, 30 mature, 16 fertilized ICSI), 11/16 8 Blasts that were day 5's 11/30 CCS testing results 3 Normal 5aa's (2 boys and 1 girl- We didn't learn this until after we had already transferred as CCRM's policy changed) 1 Unknown 4 Abnormal (All girls)

Overall we paid roughly 35k (including IVF/Frozen Transfer, Acupuncture day of transfer, stim meds, transfer meds, post transfer meds, meds for the first 8 + weeks of pregnancy, some monitoring off site) plus (lodging/travel) 2016 Estimate of charges for: In Vitro Fertilization with CCS Testing PACKAGE PRICE CANNOT BE BROKEN APART Ultrasounds for Monitoring 76857 $800 Nursing Time Coordination (Retrieval) 98960 $750 Nursing Time Coordination (FET) 98960 $350 Retrieval of Oocyte 58970 $1,000 Transfer of Embryo 58974 $800 Ultrasound for Retrieval 76948 $180 Ultrasound for Transfer 76856 $180 Surgical Suite for Retrieval UB-92 $1,250 Surgical Suite for Transfer UB-92 $350 Clinical Lab Package $1,500 Includes Estradiol, Progesterone, LH, HCG, Blood Draw Sperm Isolation with Semen Analysis 89261 $300 Oocyte Identification 89254 $700 Culture and Fertilization 89250 $1,200 Embryo Transfer Prep 89255 $400 Assisted Hatching 89253 $500 Extended Culture 89272 $450 Embryo Cryopreservation 89258 $1,000 ICSI 89280 $1,500 Embryo Thaw 89352 $400 Embryo Biopsy 89290 $1,500 CCS Testing (Fertility Genetics) Includes 4 to 6 embryos $1,700 CCS Shipping Fees $250 Initial Pregnancy test HCG, Estradiol, Progesterone and lab draw fee $325 Total $17,385 **ADDITIONAL SERVICES NOT INCLUDED IN PACKAGE PRICE** Anesthesia/Paid to Allied Anesthesia $475 check only Medication paid to Pharmacy Varies Cyst Aspiration $400 Annual embryo storage fee $400 Back-up sperm freeze $250 Sperm Thaw $200 Oocyte Activation $400 PICSI (used with ICSI) (Not billable to insurance) $400 MESA, Testes Biopsy, PESA, microdissection Varies

She seemed willing to let us do 1 or 2 but recommended 1. We also agreed to 1 (though did a lot of thinking on it) as we live far from a hospital that could provide care for infants/children with needs. Also the delivery hospital would be 2 hours away. I was also concerned about my ability to really give a quality life experience to my child and also for me and my husband if we had more than 1 child at a time. After all the time of trying to make family I really wanted to enjoy the experience as best as we all could. Also I was concerned about additional medical issues that I might have if carrying 2. EVEN with just the 1 transferred our first ultrasound showed 2 sacs (only 1 with a pole in it). So even when transferring just 1 it is possible to get twins etc.

Dr. Batcheller put all of the risks and downsides to everything before we decided to do anything. We were torn about doing the genetic testing and she gave us reasons to do it and reasons why it’s not always necessary rather than just telling us to do it.

You will be treated by such an intelligent, warm, and positive person who honestly has your best interest in you.

I was unfortunately overstimulated after my egg retrieval but they took such good care and sent me to ER and followed up constantly.

We wanted to do multiple embryo transfer but the clinic and dr advised to do one bc their goal was for us to have a single healthy baby and they said the chances of both eggs holding were almost just as successful as a singleton transfer. They weren’t even telling me it was just about putting in two eggs but how hard it will be to carry twins, deliver, and take care or aftRewards. We still wanted to do 2 and they said they would let us but wanted to make sure we knew that we would probably have twins, which we did!

She did all but 2 of my ultrasounds for 2 retrievals. My first retrieval was good. My 2nd resulted in 0 embryos. She sat with me for an hour to discuss my results and listen to my frustration and even said she was sorry for things I didn't understand, although she did nothing wrong. She's competent, compassionate, science-based, with an incredible bedside manner.

The clinic is new, so they're still figuring some things out. But take your chances on them - they're worth it. I did find that they're on the more expensive side. However, they specialize in helping older women get pregnant.

About $27,000 per retrieval, including meds. $6000 for transfer including meds. I also elected to do embryo chromosome screening which added $5000.