LGBTQ
Verified
This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.
2021, 11 Eggs Frozen
7
7
I met the doctor [Dr. Nastaran Foyouzi] on the day of retrieval. She was very warm during pre-op. During post-op, she brought up the question of why I was freezing eggs instead of embryos. I felt that wasn't the appropriate time to talk to me about that as obviously we couldn't change course at that point for the cycle. I had talked to the physician's assistant about this previously, so I felt it was a poor choice to bring this up as I was just recovering from the procedure.
The [Kindbody San Francisco] clinic is very clean and aesthetically pleasing. I mainly chose it because it offers a very affordable egg freezing cycle... They made my partner and I feel welcome (we are LGBTQ) and my partner was able to come back with me for all my appointments which was huge for us...Angela was my nurse and she was amazing. She was very maternal and I felt like she was taking good care of me.
How was your experience with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody San Francisco?
I believe the doctor is very competent and warm and set our minds at ease before the procedure. As I mentioned previously, my main complaint is that she broached a complicated subject matter that had already been discussed with the physician's assistant with my partner and me during post-op. It didn't feel like a good time and it felt like she was putting a damper on what we had just achieved with the retrieval by saying we should have frozen embryos instead, which wasn't an option for us at that point. I also think that I was started off on too high a dose of gonadotropins given my fertility. I'm coming to the fertility clinic as an LGBTQ person, not as a person with infertility. At the first monitoring appointment, they saw that some eggs were growing quite big, so they lowered my dose of medication, but I think we may have gotten a bigger cohort of eggs if I had been started on a more moderate dose.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody San Francisco?
Research the medication protocols to make sure the protocol given seems appropriate for you, given your age, fertility markers, and any diagnoses you have.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody San Francisco?
I met the doctor on the day of retrieval. She was very warm during pre-op. During post-op, she brought up the question of why I was freezing eggs instead of embryos. I felt that wasn't the appropriate time to talk to me about that as obviously we couldn't change course at that point for the cycle. I had talked to the physician's assistant about this previously, so I felt it was a poor choice to bring this up as I was just recovering from the procedure.
Describe the protocols Nastaran Foyouzi used in your cycles at Kindbody San Francisco and their degree of success.
I did an egg freezing cycle and they chose a Luteal start for me. I believe they chose this due to my age (38 y.o.) and trying to get the most eggs possible. It was an agonist protocol, I believe, as I was started on Menopur (75 units) and Gonal-F (175 units). At the first monitoring appointment, they saw that some of the eggs were growing quickly and larger than the rest, so they lowered my dose of Gonal-F slightly (I'm not sure by how much). I never took an antagonist like Cetrotide, although they did have me buy that and I had it on hand. I was only stimulated for 8 days and then triggered the next night. The trigger was Novarel (5,000) and they had me do a Gonal-F booster of 450 units with the trigger. My stimulation period was on the shorter side (only 8 days) because the lead follicles were getting too large and they didn't want them to become too mature for retrieval. I originally had an AFC for the cycle of 21, but only 14 eggs were retrieved because the rest were too small. Of the 14 retrieved, 11 were mature.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Kindbody San Francisco. (Assigned nurse: Angela Cheung)
Angela was my nurse and she was amazing. She was very maternal and I felt like she was taking good care of me. She was very responsive and called me on the weekend, at night, etc. I could reach her and the team at any time with questions. She gave me really good advice for avoiding OHSS in terms of diet and electrolytes. I was a little concerned afterwards that I was still bloated for many days, but when I contacted them, she told me it would be relieved after my period, which it was. I would have liked to have known that ahead of time, though.
Describe your experience with Kindbody San Francisco.
The clinic is very clean and aesthetically pleasing. I mainly chose it because it offers a very affordable egg freezing cycle. The coordinator helped me a lot with getting the most affordable medications as well, which I really appreciated. She sent my prescription to several pharmacies so I could get different quotes. They made my partner and I feel welcome (we are LGBTQ) and my partner was able to come back with me for all my appointments which was huge for us. My mom also got to come back with me at one of my monitoring appointments! They were easy to get in contact with and all the pricing was very straightforward. I went back recently for an OBGYN visit recently and they were running about 15 minutes behind. I had to reschedule my appointment. But outside of that experience, they were always on time and fast during the egg freezing cycle.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody San Francisco.
The egg freezing cycle was about $7,000. The medications, which I qualified for discounts for, were under $2,000.
Describe Nastaran Foyouzi's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Kindbody San Francisco.
I didn't do any embryo transfer.