Columbia Fertility Associates

I saw Dr. Abbasi originally as a patient being treated for PCOS/anovulation. After over a year of negative tests and treatments including timed intercourse with injections and IUIs, we moved onto IVF with PGS tested embryos. When my first FET failed, Dr. Abbasi decided to run more tests to figure out why I was having such a lack of success at my age (28) with good egg quality. Her testing determined that I had many immunological and blood-clotting factors which were making it impossible for my embryos to implant. Once we began treatment for these issues I was able to get pregnant and carry to term (and am currently pregnant again after repeating my successful protocol). I am so thankful that Dr. Abbasi took quick action to make changes and figure out what my issues were. She didn't just suggest repeating the same failing strategy over and over. She is blunt and honest and I trust her intimately to tell me what I need to hear to be successful. I will always be thankful to her for being our miracle worker. I have also never heard of another doctor, anywhere, who is as hands-on as her. She performs all monitoring ultrasounds, retrievals, transfers and early pregnancy ultrasounds for her patients. She is incredibly responsive to email and has a dry sense of humor that I love!

Do not be afraid to contact her directly to get the information you need. Ask her as many questions as you need to in order to be prepared for your cycle. Do not expect her to small talk often or give you a sugar-coated consult. Others might say that she is "cold" but if you get to know her you will find that she cares deeply for her patients and shows it through her hands-on care and not her smalltalk. There are not many doctors that call patients daily after retrieval and put patient health and safety above all else (including doing all she can to eliminate chances for OHSS).

My first retrieval protocol was antagonist with ICSI, lupron trigger, and FET. My 2 successful cycles involved the lupron down-regulation protocol with HCG trigger, ICSI and fresh transfers. For my 2 successful transfers I was also on an immune protocol which involved IVIG, Prednisone, neupogen and lovenox. I switched to the fresh transfer approach after having difficulty during my first cycle getting my lining thick enough for FET. My lining was better during my fresh cycles. My immune testing came after my PGS FET failed.

7:30 is always when monitoring was supposed to begin, but really it begins when the nurses show up. As a teacher who had to be at work early, I'd have to get there even earlier to get to be first in line so I could get out of the door fast. However, in my most recent cycle Dr. Abbasi did all of my montioring herself and I always appreciated this level of care!

My insurance covered treatment and meds, but the freezing/testing part of any cycle was around $5400 (this was the part my insurance wouldn't cover) and embryo testing itself could be thousands more depending on the number of embryos to be tested. The immunological treatment I did for my successful cycles was around $30,000 per cycle.

Dr. Abbasi is open to mutliple embryo transfer but definitely prefers to do a single embryo transfer with a PGS tested embryo. She does not believe that multiple embryos lead to a higher chance of success (just a higher chance of having multiples).

Dr. Sarhan has been kept me hopeful that I can have a child. When another fertility doctor would not treat me due to my weight, Dr. Sarhan was agreeable to treatment as long as I knew the risks. She has not stopped when we have come across issues and has made sure I was comfortable with every step. I do wish I could spend a bit more time with her, but I know she is a busy doctor with many patients. That would be my only criticism.

The doctor tries to do all the monitoring appointments herself. Prepare a list of questions when you go in each time so you can get your answers. It's a quick visit and she will try to head out with out spending too much time with you. However, if you know what you want to ask, she is very helpful and does answer thoroughly.

I started out doing 100mg of clomid. When I did not produce follicles we upped my clomid to 150. Still nothing. We then moved on to Gonal-f 150 injections. I was still producing slowly, so we upped it to 225. I then took 250 ovidrel injection to trigger with iui roughly 36 hours later.

All of my medications were out of pocket. I paid a co-pay for each monitoring appointment. My iui was 100% covered by insurance.

Dr. Sarhan seemed very knowledgeable and up-to-date on all the scientific debates relative to the field of infertility. Therefore, I completely trusted her to recommend the right things and to know all the potentials for success and failure. I saw her during every visit that required more than just taking blood, so she got to know me pretty well. We always talked about me during the visits which made me feel that she cared about me as a person, not just as a patient. She also listened to me and reassured me at every step. I think she might have wanted to perform more aggressive treatments, but she knew that I was hesitant, and never pressured me. She never sugar-coated anything, but she handled all bad news with respect and compassion. She handled good news in a way that let me know she actually cared about me as a person. She was clearly skilled in her performance of all medical procedures, so again, I trusted her completely.

Don't be afraid to ask for what you need. If you have any questions at all, just email her or call her office. It can take up to a day or two to receive an answer, but she will answer, and she will not be (or at least seem) annoyed that you asked.

It has been a couple of years, so I don't remember all the details, but I can say that we started out conservatively, using Letrozole for stimulation. I had had adverse reactions to Clomid with a former provider, so we started with Letrozole. On my third cycle, I had a chemical pregancy. We tried for another 3 cycles and I achieved pregnancy, but I miscarried at about 6 weeks. After that, Dr. Sarhan thought we should become more proactive, so we did a few rounds of IUI, still with Letrozole since that was providing enough eggs. After three rounds of that with no success, she again recommended we become more aggressive. We did the first round of IVF with Bravelle and Menopur. That was a long (12 days maybe) and not very successful cycle. We did a trigger shot and then the retrieval. On that cycle, we only got 7 embryos, and only 2 made it to become day 5 blastocysts. Dr. Sarhan said neither looked great, but she transferred them anyway. The cycle did not result in pregnancy. For the next cycle, she changed the drugs to Follistim and Menopur. This was more of a "textbook" cycle, resulting in 12 embryos, 7 of which made it to day 5. Two were transferred, resulting in my mono-di pregnancy which resulted in 2 live births. The other 5 were frozen.

The monitoring hours were always in the morning, which worked out fine for me. I was lucky because I was a full time student with a flexible schedule. There were sometimes a lot of people in the waiting room, but I almost never waited more than about 15 minutes. There were probably a handful of times over three years where I had to wait more like 45-60 minutes.

My health insurance covered fertility medications and monitoring until I started doing IUI. The IUI procedures cost $1500 each. The IVF procedures cost around $20,000 each plus the cost of medications. I can't remember exactly how much those cost, but it was several thousand more dollars.

She didn't really give me the choice for single or multiple embryo transfer because of the quality of the embryos, my age, and my previous lack of success. For both IVF cycles, she transferred two embryos.

She was upfront and honest. I found her to be warm, but honestly I'm fine with more medical facts and less bedside manner. She was super cool with me being single. It really never came up after I explained why I was there in the beginning.

She has a piecemeal approach--don't think about things too far down the road if you don't need to. Don't do tests that you don't need to. I really liked that.

We tried two cycles without any clomid or injections. (My choice.) Then we tried one cycle with clomid and an injection. She was supportive of my decision to try and do it naturally, but was also supportive when I changed my mind.

I paid for the sperm and I paid for the defrosting and prep of the sperm. I think that the sperm was about $750 a vial and the prep was $250. My insurance covered everything else.

We had two IUI's and the nurse said she would facilitate the insemination and both times, it was another doctor who I've never met. Since we were new in our fertility journey, we were in a vulnerable state. Our second IUI was triggered late with low estrogen for the existing follicles, had hcg in my system from a previous cycle, follicle on right was overcooked and left were not ready. We didn't receive calls when promised to receive pregnancy results and had to wait another 24 hours to receive results. We didn't have the information to get the HCG shot when we needed it for the trigger. We didn't feel we had enough information to make informed decisions.

She does mean well, however, the practices of this clinic are not acceptable. I would recommend to go to another clinic.

IUI's were around $1500 with no help from insurance.

She knows her stuff regarding reproductive immunology.. I would highly recommend and trust her. She was willing to do immune testing on me even though i didn't do my ivf with her. She answers questions and seems to know her stuff

Get immune testing. She is experienced w that

Consult was covered so far

Dr Abassi is completely trustworthy and knowledgeable - I totally trust her medical knowledge. I also think she is putting more effort into figuring out the cause of my unexplained infertility than other doctors, who just wanted to label it and jump straight into IUI and IVF with standard procedures. With her, I feel like my treatment is tailored. Now - the only thing is that she can come across as no-nonsense. I like it - I'm here for answers. But I can see that it could rub others the wrong way.

Bring all your medical records with you to your consultation - we went over them in detail and it was very helpful I had them all well organized in a binder. At times it was a bit like a pop quiz on different numbers and treatments.

IUI - letrozole plus FSH, then trigger and progesterone suppositories. I ovulate on my own but the goal is to get multiple eggs to improve the chances.

$1620 for IUI with letrozole, including everything except the baseline appt

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Sacks is caring but with me at least, was not as creative or thoughtful as he could have been. It took me three years to get pregnant and I felt more like he was following his standard playbook than thinking through what I really needed. I finally did some of my own research and after 3 years of trying, I suggested I should be on Metformin. Given my history of PCOS this seemed like an obvious choice and he was not especially receptive when I suggested it. But we did try it and I was pregnant within 6 weeks. A miracle!

Push to see him directly (as opposed to just reviewing your data) and encourage him to review your chart beyond the numbers. I was just within the range of normal in several categories so he never identified me as a candidate for different treatment. But in retrospect, the aggregation of these data points created a very different picture when put all together.

Dr. Abassi was trustworthy and compassionate, but straight to the point. She did not sugar-coat anything. She made recommendations that ultimately resulted in a pregnancy. She was compassionate.

She has your best interest at heart. She does not sugar coat anything.

Monitoring appointments were done early in the morning. I always tried to get there as early as possible so I wouldn't have to wait a long time. At times it was stressful if only 1 nurse was available.

I wish she had been more honest with me about how fertility works. She said. These are your test results right now, I can't guarantee you'll have the same numbers again in 6 months. I interpreted that to mean that my numbers might be the same in 6 months. But of course, quality and quantity go down with age, always. I wish she had expressed to me the urgency of going ahead with eggs freezing, because I ended up waiting a year and a half.

Nothing I can think of.

I didn't go ahead with treatment with her because I found another clinic with cheaper prices.

My insurance covered the consultation and diagnostics. I then switched clinics for a better price.

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He is one of a kind. He is invested in you and your success. He only wants what is best. Not only is he brilliant, but kind and compassionate. He goes out of his way to check in on you and always available to answer questions.

You are in the best hands.

Ivf w injectables, ERA,

My insurance covered

If you can try other doctor in DC, please stay away from Dr. Rifka! My experience with him was horrible. I went to see Dr. Rifka on March 31(Thursday Morning) and wanted to consult on egg freezing options. I told him that another doctor at this clinic (who left) introduced the egg freezing to me seven years ago while I was single and I told him I am married now and had a baby recently. I also told him I wanted to preserve my fertility possibilities as my husband and I want more kids. He seemed very reluctant to spend time talking to me. Our total conversation was about 6-7 minutes and he told me to do a blood test and also guaranteed me that he would let me know whether I am a good candidate for egg freezing and also let me know the estimate of the expenses. I received a call from his nurse that afternoon who told me to go to the office on April 4. I went to the office on April 4 and a nurse delivered a calendar to me and also gave me some birth control pills. The whole process took about five minutes. No explanation on the process or my blood test results. Based on the calendar, I should take birth control pills until the next appointment with Dr. Rifka on April 25. On April 13, I received a lab result from Quest Diagnostics showing my AML is extremely low. I wrote to Dr. Rifka inquiring my treatment plan, my lab results, and the costs estimate as I have never received any financial information from his billing team, and requested a follow-up consultation ASAP. His staff called me and arranged a follow-up consultation on April 20. My husband and I went to see Dr. Rifka together. My husband brought up topics related to egg freezing, embryo freezing, and IVF which he learned by some google search. Dr. Rifka explained the differences. I asked Dr. Rifka why he did not explain all these options to me on the first visit and he said "You Did Not Ask and You Said You Wanted to Know Egg Freezing." After discussing the pros and cons of egg freezing and embryo freezing with him, my husband and I decided to go with embryo freezing. He then suggested disregarding the current calendar I have, and starting over the entire process again. I got confused and I asked him why I needed to start over again and he answered the two processes are completed different. I did not trust him and brought out the calendar and read the instructions of the calendar in front of him. When he saw my calendar, he asked "Have you already taken birth control pills"? I answered "YES, YOUR NURSE GAVE THEM TO ME ON APRIL 4 AND I HAVE TAKEN THESE PILLS FOR 16 DAYS"! He then said "we can still use this calendar...." I also ask him the estimate costs and he said his billing department will let me know soon. Also, he started showing me the blood test results I did on March 31 which also shows I have very low egg reserves. My concerns about this doctor: 1. He did not share the blood test result (which shows actually I have very low egg reserve and may not be a good candidate of egg/embryo freezing) with me until my second visit; 2. He forgot that he delivered a calendar to me and already put me on birth control for 16 days when I saw him again; 3. Very bad communication. 4. He never thinks for the best for the patient. He spent less than 10 mins on a consultation before initiating a treatment plan. Patient has no idea where the entire process is heading to. 5. His financial team never reached out to provide an cost estimate. 6. There is no medical information on my patient portal. I requested them to upload my medical records and lab results twice and nothing has been posted. My husband and I decided to switch to another doctor which we think is one of the best decisions we have made.

STAY AWAY FROM HIM

Never got an cost estimate

Dr. Sacks is friendly and helpful. He was very sympathetic when he performed my HSG, which I was very nervous about. He gives me realistic expectations for my procedures, and listens to my questions and concerns. He did once have to take another call during an appointment, but otherwise, I feel that I've had his full attention. He has never hassled me about my weight.

Things can move quickly, so make sure you know what you want to cover (questions and concerns) before your appointment, so you can make sure those are addressed.

One cycle with Clomid, one cycle with letrazole (since I had done 3 total previous Clomid cycles, and I wanted to try something different). Otherwise, I have had very standard medicated IUIs. I chose to do medicated cycles because, while there is no evidence that I have fertility issues (I'm queer, and don't have access to sperm/reproductive sex), I'm also nearing 40, and want to make the best use of my time and money.

For a self-pay (no insurance) medicated IUI, I pay around $1700 each cycle (not including the cost of sperm), plus the cost of medications ($15-$50) and the trigger shot ($150-$250).

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Strengths: Dr. Sacks was willing to explain the IVF procedure to me in detail. He seems knowledgeable about my condition and is also up to date with the latest research. He is patient and happy to answer mostly all of my questions. I really appreciated his good bedside manner when he gave me the bad news of my nonviable pregnancy, explaining also the possible procedures going forward. Weakness: My cycle was canceled because of poor response. During my monitoring sessions he saw I was not responding but he stayed with his protocol. He also decided to wait that my body responds without increasing the dose, even though I told him about how I responded in previous treatments so it was never clear that he took that into account. Also, during the cycle it was not very well communicated if the retrieval was possible or not. I guess he was hoping my body responds. However, all the cycle lasted 29 days and I ended up ovulating on my own. I would have expected him to see that my ovulation was coming and communicate it to me that the procedure was not possible (I got pregnant though but it was a blight ovum)

Be sure to ask all of your questions during the routine visits, and also via e-mail. Also, make sure to be honest and direct with him if you have any problems with the clinic or the nurses, he'll get involved.

Estrogen priming, then 12 days of stim meds: First 3 days Menopur 150IU + Gonal F 150IU, remaining 9 days only Gonal F 150IU, and Estrogen. No eggs were retrieved, they weren't ready in size. I ovulated on my own though after 26 days since starting stimulation, and got pregnant (blighted ovum).

I have an insurance coverage of 50K for procedures, I have a $20 copay for every visit. Meds were mostly cover for this cycle and I payed approx. $700, but already reach my coverage of 10K.

Dr. Forman is awesome. He’s very responsive and always lets you know the possible outcomes. Obviously what Him and the embryologists do is incredible the science is there but there’s the parts they can’t control and he lets you know up front. He also lets you make your decisions without pressure but tells you his point of view. I trusted Dr Forman the whole step of the way and very grateful for him and all he’s done for us.

Trust his judgment and take notes if you’re one that needs to know all the details!

He changed my protocol after my first clinic wasn’t successful as I ovulated before they went in for retrieval. He used lupron micro flare along with follistim and menopour.

Retrieval cycle including PGS testing (not Transfer as insurance covered) around $14,000. Didn’t have to pay for monitoring as my insurance covered this as well.

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I've really enjoyed being a patient of Dr. Sacks. He is warm, straightforward and optimistic about my chances of having a child. He has answered all my questions and taken us through what feels like a logical progression of fertility testing and treatments.

No advice for Dr. Sacks. I have advice for the nurses.

To be honest, I don't remember all the treatment strategies and protocols and I have been seeing him for over two years with a year break in between. He did a number of tests when I first started working with him to confirm I didn't have various fertility issues. Then after it was decided I had unexplained infertility, we moved to IUI. I go into the clinic when my period starts for blood work and a transvaginal ultrasound. Then I've started clomid shortly after, taken a trigger shot, and had an IUI. Still working with him.

An IUI without insurance costs $1,620 plus copay and medications.

I wish I had picked another doctor who could deign to be more informative and less paternalistic. DC has a dearth of providers so I picked this clinic based on CDC live birth stats. One of the biggest failures was not assigning a triage schedule for handoffs because intervention is so time sensitive.

Go to another practice if you have to cross state lines, or pick another physician—but you will still have to deal with the negligent office practices.

Dragged feet and wanted us to pay for IUI when IVF would have had higher indication of success considering both parents’ age. I had a complication after egg retrieval: no one checked in with me so I had to seek urgent care, and no one asked about how I was tolerating ovarian stimulation meds. I had a singular positive experience with one nurse who only works occasionally and offered assistance with triggering.

Copays of about 3.5-4K

He was personable and friendly. I felt like we had a good relationship. I felt he listened to me, but sometimes I wasn't sure what the next step was and had to ask. He was easy to talk to during visits and was present for every one of them, which made it a little easier to come in

Stay on top of your care and be honest with him. While I liked him as a doctor, the back end systems of his clinic are very messy and painful to work with at times.

Usually a cattle call, would typically take anywhere from 20-45 minutes to get blood drawn and monitoring completed. Clinic seems understaffed and under-resourced.

Canceled cycle $2,000. Embryo Transfer approx $12,000, Egg Retrieval $10,000+

Dr. Sacks was open to whichever we wanted and had an appropriate conversation with us about our options.

I started with Preston Sacks prior to TTC. He was always forthcoming with results and painted clear pictures of the obstacles to come. He is very easy to talk to and was very responsive to emails. Early on he determined that the issue was a male factor and referred us to one of his colleagues. He even took the time to set expectations on what to expect when working with the specialist which was extremely comforting. When dealing with infertility, having information is very important as it reduces anxiety regarding the unknown. He was very thoughtful and honest at ever step.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Even if you think they are silly.

We used clomid and timed intercourse for 3 cycles. When I didn't respond to clomid he used the step up method. After the 3 cycle, he ordered an SA for my husband. Upon the results he suggested IVF. Due to insurance/money issues we took a break.

Competitive compared to other clinics

Dr. Sarhan was wonderful. She knew the science/medicine and knew my case intimately well, plus she had wonderful bedside manner. I felt I could trust her. The proof is in the pudding - thanks to her, I had a successful pregnancy.

Find out the days she will be at your clinic (in my case it was Tuesdays and Thursdays in Arlington) and arrange your work schedule to be available those days for all monitoring. You will get a ton of face time with her.

We used the antagonist protocol for each freeze-all retrieval. I had endometriosis so Dr. Sarhan had me suppress with birth control pills for 6-8 weeks before each frozen embryo transfer. She recommended against fresh transfer due to the endometriosis. It took me three retrievals and three transfers to achieve a successful pregnancy/live birth.

The ‘monitoring hours’ system made t super efficient - I was in and out quickly.

Insurance covered everything, so I don’t know.

We only transferred single embryos until the third FET, when she recommended increasing to two embryos.

I have been very happy with Dr. Sacks. He's been doing this a long time and really knows his stuff and knows the latest research, etc. He's always very responsive over email, which I really appreciate. And I have felt like overall he does a good job of balancing being realistic with being gentle. Like most fertility doctors, he's not overly emotional or super outwardly compassionate, but I always felt like he cared (he wasn't harsh) and also like he was telling me how it is (not sugar coating). He's often hesitant to give specific chances/percentages, but when he has them, he shares them. There have been a couple times where I wondered why he didn't suggest or say something different, but overall I have been very happy. He also has a really good, calming bedside manner. He's very chatty and personable, which helped put me at ease during a number of procedures. One example: Before my egg retrieval, the nurse had trouble getting the IV started and I ended up passing out. I was very nervous about whether it would affect what happened that day, but he came in and immediately put me at ease, shared stories about himself passing out, etc.! He also remembered personal details about me in a really thoughtful way that I think went above and beyond.

Be prepared for the fact that he's very chatty :)

In summary: 6 natural IUIs with donor sperm; 1 cycle with Clomid where I had the bad side effect that affected my vision; 5 IUI cycles with Letrozole. That included an ectopic pregnancy (after an HSG test) and ultimately doing another HSG test and finding a blocked tube (likely from the ectopic). Then moved to IVF and egg retrieval followed by PGS/PGD. Resulted in two embryos. First resulted in a miscarriage. After that, did a bunch of tests via bloodwork to rule out immunological issues. As of this writing, six weeks pregnant from second FET.

Monitoring is done between 7:30-9:30 and generally I found it to be pretty efficient. Some days I'd be out of there in 5 minutes, if all I needed was blood work and there weren't many people there. Other days, it might be more like 30 minutes or so, if it was more crowded and I needed blood work and a sonogram.

I did not have insurance coverage so it was very expensive. Natural IUIs were $500. Monitored IUIs were $1,000. Medicated IUIs were $1,500. IVF with FET was about $18,000 not including medication or the PGD testing, which added about $2,000. Just the FET was $3,500.

Dr. Sacks is extremely knowledgeable and is able to speak to current literature and studies clearly while taking your individual situation into account. Dr. Sacks is always on time and addresses any questions you ask, though during standard monitoring appointments, his time is somewhat short. For consultations, he will take all the time necessary.

Be prepared with questions you want to ask him

Dr. Sacks diagnosed me with PCOS approximately 10 years ago. He treated my PCOS with metformin and later birth control pills. When trying to conceive, I completed approximately 12 months of treatment with clomid while monitoring my cycles, Dr. Sacks recommending clomid for PCOS treatment. For most of those cycles, I also utilized ovidrel to trigger ovulation. At the end of approximately 1 year, Dr. Sacks conducted a laparoscopy and recommended we proceed with IUI. Following this, I complete IUI, again using clomid and ovidrel. To date, all cycles have resulted in negative pregnancy tests.

IUI was partially covered by my insurance, so that cost was $500 per cycle plus approximately $85 for ovidrel.

While we're still in the midst of our treatment and have had several setbacks, including a recent miscarriage, Dr. Sacks has been empathetic and present throughout our entire time with him. He's always done our exams; our procedures; and been responsive to our emails/calls. After a very negative experience at another doctor's office, I have nothing bad to say about Dr. Sacks or his team.

Come prepared with what you want to know, questions/concerns/etc.

for IVF: I was on 150 mL of Gonal F and 150 of Menopur (plus ganirelix) to stop ovulation. The first cycle, none of my embryos made it to blastocyst. Second cycle, Dr. Sacks didn't change my treatment (he said that he was happy with our response, so hopefully, we'd get a different batch of embryos) We got 10 embryos--3 made it to blastocyst--and after PGS, we got two back One was transferred, which subsequently ended in a miscarriage.

I found the experience to be efficient...I can get in and out in less than 30 minutes in the morning, before even going to work.

I couldn't tell with you with certainty--some things our insurance covered...we paid for drugs out of pocket, to save on our lifetime insurance maximum.

We asked Dr. Sacks for his recommendation--and he said one. So we went with one. He talked us through the risks of both.

Weakness: I feel that Dr. Sacks could have better explained my initial test results and what that meant for my likelihood to produce low # of eggs with stim meds. I did most of this research on my own but know he could have prepared me for the less than optimal results BEFORE choosing treatment. Strengths: Dr. Sacks is clearly an expert in what he does and is more than capable of answering the most complex questions. He has always been patient and willing to explain procedures and outcomes in great detail. Dr. Sacks always has a good bedside manner and is very kind and friendly.

To ask for detailed explanation of test results and what he will be looking for in continuous testing before and during rounds of treatment. He has the answers, there is just so much to cover to coming prepared with pointed questions is helpful.

First round of stim meds for egg freezing was 300 IU of menopur. I only needed one ganorelix shot before retrieval as I ended up on the menopur for longer than expected - 13 days.

Very efficient monitoring appointments. Even when it seemed crowded, their system is optimized for quick visits to get you out the door. I also like that the time frame is early morning so we aren't forced to miss work.

First found of egg freezing was about $8,300 plus the cost of meds. Second round is a little lower to account for freezing cost already covered, about $7500. The third round (not yet completed) will be free besides cost of anesthesia ($500) and meds. This is part of a "buy 2, get one free" egg freezing package.

Dr. Sacks has an excellent bedside manner and treats patients as if he is personally invested in their well-being and success. He worked closely with me to develop a treatment plan and communicated every step in language I could understand. He gave his opinion frankly, but was kind and supportive.

Be honest and open to honesty

Because of my favorable initial testing, Dr. Sacks recommended a conservative approach. We began with unmedicated IUIs (3 chemical pregnancies, 3 negative tests) and progressed to IVF--for insurance coverage reasons--with low-dose medications (9 eggs retrieved, 7 fertilized, 4 frozen embryos, eSET) which resulted in a chemical pregnancy. Dr. Sacks helped me overcome my reluctance to medicated IUIs (1 negative, 1 positive), the second of which resulted in a vanishing twin and birth of a singleton.

It did not feel like a cattle call. There were other patients present in the waiting room, obviously, but I never felt rushed.

About $16,000 in totol

Because of my strong aversion to having twins, Dr. Sacks advised an eSET, which proved to be the right choice as I still conceived twins (one vanishing at 8 weeks).