Describe your experience with Dominion Fertility.
The clinic as a whole walks you through every step of the process, so there's nothing to tell a new patient. They'll help you as you go along. They were always prompt with paperwork and everything we needed. We were assigned a coordinator who helped order medicine and checked in with us on setting up appointments. The whole process was very smooth.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with John David Gordon at Dominion Fertility?
At Columbia Fertility, I felt like a number. I could never get over how many people were processed there each time I went in for monitoring, and it felt very impersonal, but at Dominion, they said hello to me by name at check-in. They asked what time would be best for monitoring, so they could have enough staff at peak hours, resulting in us usually be in and out within half an hour.
During my egg retrieval, I was very emotional, and the nurses and Dr. Gordon took the time to answer all my questions and comfort me, following up with a call later that day to check in.
When we heard the heartbeat for the first time, I cried, and so did our nurse. I always felt like they were all just as invested as we were, hugging us both after our last appointment. We were sad to have to go to a new doctor and wanted to stay with them for the whole pregnancy!
Describe your experience with the nursing staff.
Besides Dr. Gordon, this is the best part about Dominion. Every single nurse we met was wonderful, and we felt they truly cared for us and were invested in the best results for us. They were so caring and made us feel so at ease. I was very emotional after the egg retrieval, and the nurse helping us that day let me cry on her shoulder and called me later to check up on me. The nurse with us the last few appointments was so happy when she heard that I'd had a positive home pregnancy test and cried when I cried hearing the heartbeat for the first time. There's no doubt in my mind that we weren't just numbers. They all really cared for us.
How was your experience with John David Gordon at Dominion Fertility?
Dr. Gordon was always very clear that he didn't have all the answers. He tells you like it is but is clearly compassionate and invested in the process with you.
We saw Dr. Gordon during most of our visits during monitoring, and he did all our procedures, so we really felt we got to know him and were sad he couldn't be with us through the whole pregnancy. I haven't had such a good experience with a doctor putting us at ease yet patiently answering all our questions in a long time.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of John David Gordon at Dominion Fertility?
I'll still remember some of his advice and pass it on to friends who are in similar situations, but when we were struggling to decide whether we wanted to do IVF and then if we wanted to do natural or stimulated, he agreed that it was a hard decision, helping us understand pros and cons with all options. He also said if you had cancer, you would never question trying to get the best care for yourself. In this situation, you can think of it the same way, but people struggle because cancer really never spontaneously cures itself whereas infertility can. Not sure if that was the intention, but that put it in perspective for me that this was a medical issue that we were treating not some failure on our part.
Describe the protocols John David Gordon used in your cycles at Dominion Fertility and their degree of success.
We had already done a failed IUI at another clinic and went to Dr. Gordon wanting to learn more about natural cycle IVF as we were still unsure about stimulated IVF. Having talked through our options, he thought we were good candidates for both natural and stimulated. However, it was our decision to do stimulated in the end because we knew our insurance only allowed us to do one round, and we decided it was best in our situation.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at Dominion Fertility.
At Columbia, monitoring was absolutely a cattle call, but at Dominion, it was a well oiled machine. We were generally in and out with about half an hour. Each visit they asked when we usually come for monitoring, so they can be prepared for staffing at peak hours. We were always promptly seen. No complaints.
Describe the costs associated with your care under John David Gordon at Dominion Fertility.
Our insurance covered most costs, but we do pay for embryo storage, the injection teaching, visits after I was pregnant and couple other things. Overall, we did spend a lot, but it wasn't nearly as much as it would have been without insurance.