How was your experience with Mark Sanchez at Florida Fertility Institute?
He can be very charismatic until your pay $$$.
Then you are of no concern to him.
I have low ovarian reserve. I didn't do Dr Google or question his course of action. I followed his instructions and the nurses instructions to a tee. I never questioned anything because I trusted that he knew what he was doing and that he had my best interest in mind. Boy was I wrong!
They prescribed me birth control for a couple of cycles before stimulation.
(now I know birth control suppresses your ovaries and is terrible for people with low ovarian reserve like me).
On stimulation day 6, they did my ultrasound and bloodwork and my follicles were not growing as fast as they expected. The nurse called me that afternoon and said that the doctor told me to not come back till Monday which was day 11 of simulation. I was not monitored for 4 days in the middle of stimulation! The nurse told me the Dr established the exact day for my egg retrieval even though my body wasn't responding the way they wanted. Later I found out that's the day he had the anesthesiologist from the hospital in his clinic and he lined up all his retrievals for the same day. Forget what my body said or my timeline. It was what worked best for his timeline and most cost-effective for him.
He never told the nurses or me to take any of the ganirelix that was prescribed and I purchased until after I came back on day 11. By that time, little did I know, the damage was done.
When I came in on day 11 of stimulation, I was very bloated and complained that my stomach could not be extended anymore. The doctor never saw me. He didn't say anything. He never called. Looking back at my medical records now, my estrogen levels were through the roof on day 11.
He doesn't have any of his patients come in after trigger to do blood work to identify your true estrogen level. If mine was high before the trigger, I can only imagine what it was afterwards. I have had other doctors ask me what my estrogen level was after trigger and they were shocked he didn't check my level.
After retrieval, I awoke from anesthesia and threw up immediately 2X while still on the table from the pain. He never came back in the room to check on me. I literally left his clinic after egg retrieval hunched over and couldn't stand up straight.
He never called me that afternoon to check on me.
I went to the hospital for 6 days. He NEVER called.
He didn't even care to call other doctors that were calling him asking him how to take care of me and if this was a normal reaction to egg retrieval and what to do.
His professional manner was so bad, my OBGYN told me she will never refer another patient to him or his practice again.
Dr Sanchez also told us that we didn't need ICSI and that my husband's sperm was great. Out of the 6 eggs I had left on day 2 only 3 had fertilized and I had a 50% fertilization rate. If we had done ICSI, I now know it would have been much higher and I would have had a greater chance at growing more embryos to 5 days.
When we met with him after my hospital stay and I was still extremely sore, he asked to examine me. All he did was lay me down on his examining table and press on my lower abdomen and I was in so much pain. His response was like, yeah that's normal. He then smiled and told my husband that it would all be ok because women like me that over stimulate and end up in the hospital always end up pregnant.
I left the clinic so upset that he gave my husband this false promise. I knew the odds and with only 1 embryo, they were not in my favor.
He also runs a lot of clinical trials out of his office. I saw many people waiting in the waiting room every time I was there. I was shocked since there are only 2 doctors, 2 IVF nurses.
Looking back, it seems like all he cares about is the $Money$
Money from patients.
Money from clinical trials
Money from students
waitng room - clinical trails
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Mark Sanchez at Florida Fertility Institute?
RUN AWAY!
Interview 2 or more clinics.
Read reviews.
If you need anything more than the basic IVF, he is not the doctor for you.
The clinic is very disorganized.
His protocol is the same no matter what your circumstances are.
Also, I was never given a saline sonogram to determine my uterine cavity. This is a basic test that is extremely beneficial for implantation.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Mark Sanchez at Florida Fertility Institute?
We saw the doctor 4 times total for a full IVF egg retrieval and frozen transfer.
At the initial consultation, he is very warm and talked about 30 minutes to explain IVF with a student present.
The second time I saw the doctor was at egg retrieval with another student present.
The third time was after my hospital stay when we requested to meet with him to hear his explanation of what went wrong during my egg retrieval. No student was present.
The fourth time we saw Dr Sanchez was for my frozen embryo transfer with yet another student.
I didn't notice till after I was done with the clinic that 3 out of 4 times I saw the DR he was always with a different student he was teaching. As if his attention was elsewhere or he found another way to make more money by having different students in his practice all the time.
While I was in the hospital for OHSS, he never called my OBGYN. She gave his office her personal cell phone in order to get more information from him so that she could treat me. When we met with Dr. Sanchez after my hospitalization, he told me that my egg retrieval went perfectly and if I had gone to the hospital where he had privileges, then he would have been able to help me. In the very next sentance, he stated that he didn't even know I was in the hospital because he was on vacation. On the paperwork the nurse gave me, nowhere could we find a hospital name or directions of what to do in case of an emergency. I had no idea he didn't have privileges in the hospital I went we drove to at 3:00 am. My husband called his emergency number and I woke his nurse up who told me to take ibuprofen over and over again and didn't have anything else to say. She was so confused when she answered the call as if she took an ambient or a sleeping aid.
There are 2 doctors at this practice. It should not matter if a doctor takes a vacation. Your care, especially while hospitalized, should be of concern and priority.
While in the hospital his nurse continued to call me about the details of my eggs in the lab. I asked for the doctor to please call and help my general practitioner and OBGYN to treat me. Neither Dr Sanchez or Dr Zabella called either of my doctors or myself while I was in the hospital.
I was simply left with tremendous pain and no one in the hospital knew how to take care of me since IVF is a very unique situation. I sat in the hospital for 6 days. I had fluid in my abdomen built all the way up to my diaphragm. I could not go to the bathroom, I could not stand up straight. I could hardly walk.
At the end when my 1 and only embryo didn't implant, he didn't bother to call me. His nurse called and told me.
His follow up was atrocious!
In all my life, I have never been treated so bad as if I didn't matter and was of no use since he already had our money.
Describe the protocols Mark Sanchez used in your cycles at Florida Fertility Institute and their degree of success.
I stated with Birth Control.
They had me taking DHEA 25 mg 3 X daily.
Prenatal vitamin daily.
Baby Asprin daily.
I took an antibiotic. (Doxyclycline in the middle of stimulations for 10 days)
225 of Follistim Daily at night
3 bottles of Menopur at night.
My stimulation medication was high and the nurse originally said he would probably adjust it but he never did.
I was prescribed 5 shots of ganirelix but was only told to take 1 shot on day 11 of stimuation.
Trigger was HCG Novarel.
I don't recall any special treatment strategies other than my high amount of stimulation drugs.
The results were I was overstimulated. I ended up in the hospital with OHSS with low ovarian reserve (which should never happen) I had 10 follicles with 10 eggs at retrieval. 2 were immature, 2 died, 6 were fertilized naturally. 3 grew into embryos and only 1 made it to 5 day but was not able to be PGS tested even though we paid for it in advance.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Florida Fertility Institute. (Assigned nurse: Charlie & Andrea)
You can tell they are overworked and disorganized.
They do a sit down and explantaion of injections 2-3 weeks before you start. It was just enough time for us to forget. It is very overwhelming.
I never received phone calls asking how I was doing during stimulation. How my first shots went, how I was feeling. Looking back now I can see they are simply way too busy.
I don't need hand-holding. I paid A LOT of money and simply want to know that they care about me and I am doing everything correct. It's simply nice to know that someone cares.
When my husband called the emergency line after my egg retrieval, which is a cell phone the 2 nurses share, the nurse that answered was so out of it. It was 2:30 am. My husband explained I couldn't breathe and fell on the floor trying to go to the bathroom and was in tremendous pain. All she could say was take ibuprofen and come back to the clinic at 7am.
I called at 8 am because I was having an allergic reaction to the oral estradiol prescribed and started to break out in hives on my face. I called the IVF desk and left a message since no one answers the phone. It always just rings and rings and then goes to voicemail. It was returned at the end of the day 4:30 pm and she gave me instructions after I had called a couple of pharmacists to find out what to do.
I don't know why I wasn't told to take ganirelix during my stimulation? Was my handwritten charts lost, did the nurse not follow up with the Dr. Did the Dr not follow up with the nurse?
At my FET, the nurse told me my lining looked great, even better than during my stimulation. I told her I had been going to acupuncture after a friend referred me. She stated that she has seen many girls have great results with acupuncture. WHY wasn't this mentioned to me when I started IVF at their clinic?
I mentioned I was taking CoQ10 leading up to the retrieval. The nurse stated that it really didn't matter and I could either continue to take it or not during stimulation. It was my choice. Now I know many studies show that taking this is helpfu for women in my situation with low AMH.
Overall they are nice people. But 2 nurses to run IVF, IUI's, and clinical trials for 2 doctors simply isn't enough nursing staff! The nurse to patient ratio is not in favor of the patient.
Describe your experience with Florida Fertility Institute.
strengths: the clinic was close to me. He was highly recommended by my friend and many people in the area know of this clinic.
weakness: he doesn't' cater his plan to your individual needs. They are understaffed, running clinical trials, student mentor program, 2 ivf nurses and 2 doctors. The girls at the front desk changed 3 times over the course of time I was there. The office uses paper charts. No one answers the phone in IVF department phone line. You must always leave a message.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Mark Sanchez at Florida Fertility Institute.
IVF $6450
Anesthesia $400
ICSI - $1,500 *Optional
Assisted Hatching - $680 *Optional
Cryopreservation - $950 & annual storage $360 - both must be paid if you have any embryos to freeze.
Facility Fee $2,400
They charge 2% for credit card transactions.
All the bloodwork was charged to my insurance.
All medications are paid to the pharmacy.
Describe Mark Sanchez's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Florida Fertility Institute.
He never discussed this.
We didn't know this and he never brought it up during initial consultation.
After my retrieval, there was no point, since I only had 1 embryo.
What specific things went wrong at Florida Fertility Institute?
- Failed to order appropriate test
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Florida Fertility Institute.
I think I explained everything already.
I have low AMH, low ovarian reserve and yet I was overstimulated and received no follow-up instructions, no care to my well being while being hospitalized.
My FET was unsuccessful and yet the Dr didn't care enough to call me and tell me it didn't work.