How was your experience with Gregory Chow at Madigan Army Medical Center?
Dr. Chow has been a good doctor. He explains things well and let me ask all my questions. I would also say that he has good bedside manner and speaks in an tone that I appreciate. He is not available for questions outside of your appointment time and can only be reached my email that one of the nurses would pass on. I would prefer a better phone communication with him.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Gregory Chow at Madigan Army Medical Center?
Make sure you have all your questions ready to go at your appointment time and make sure you understand the treatment plan.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Gregory Chow at Madigan Army Medical Center?
Since this is a military infertility office, the doctors where rarely the same. I have probably only seen Dr. Chow a total of 5 to 6 times in the 3 1/2 years I have been going there. And when a different doctor comes in, sometimes they don't know my history and ask the same questions over and over. Also, their have been times where I have been frantic over needing meds to be signed off by a doctor so I can get them at the pharmacy and they don't answer their phones or prefer you to email in, when email is obviously not going to work when you are currently in front of the pharmacy technician and they are telling you that no meds are in the system for you. There was also a time when they forgot to give me syringes and alcohol wipes for a cycle I was going to be on that night. I didn't know I was going to be needing syringes since no one told me to pick them up. It made for a frustrating experience and not surprisingly a unsuccessful cycle.
Describe the protocols Gregory Chow used in your cycles at Madigan Army Medical Center and their degree of success.
When I 1st went to the clinic Dr. Chow started me on Clomid. Same time every day or a specific number of days and then blood draws and ultrasounds were performed to calculate my most fertile days and recommend days for intercourse. The logic behind this was that because I have PCOS and my body was not ovulating on it's own then I have Clomid make me ovulate and try a more natural way to conceive.
This was successful once, resulting in an ectopic pregnancy. Then we did the treatment for IUIs. Which were pills on certain days, blood work and ultrasounds, then an injectable to make my body release the egg and suggest days for intercourse along with the date for the IUI procedure. The night before the IUI I took the injectable to release the egg and they then placed a concentrated amount of my husband's sperm in my uterus. Wait 2 weeks to check for a positive pregnancy test or not. The logic behind this treatment was to place the sperm close to the egg in hopes for a better chance at pregnancy. We tried that 3 times, once it resulted in a chemical pregnancy. Then we moved on to and egg retrieval cycle. All of these eggs were to be frozen and we would thaw out 2 to 3 at a time to fertilize and then dona frozen transfer. We were successful in retrieving 19 eggs and 17 were successfully frozen. Then 2 months later, I prepared my body for the transfer and transferred 2 embryos and that did not result in a pregnancy. Dr. Chow suggested this because he thinks at this point this is our best chance at achieving pregnancy.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at Madigan Army Medical Center.
I really don't have anything bad to say. I think they were often afraid to say anything so they said nothing most times. I wish they were more compassionate but they do this everyday so they may have turned that part off. But I do think that they are very knowledgeable nurses and well equipped for the job.
Describe your experience with Madigan Army Medical Center.
Again, with this being a military clinic, the turnaround for doctors is mind blogging. I felt like I saw a new doctor almost every visit. And most of them didn't take the time to ready my history or even what I was there for at my appointment. I also am very frustrated with the method of communication with this office. I do not like to communicate through email about time sensitive issues as fertility. But this clinic mainly uses email for communication. I have been at the lab or the pharmacy more times than I would like to count and sometimes you wait in line for your number to be called just to be told when you get up there that there is nothing in the system for you. Obviously, anger and frustration become your immediate emotions and then that turns into sadness because you feel like no one cares that you are spending your time going to the lab and the pharmacy and they don't even put the order in. Then you have to go back to the clinic and still have to wait for them to put it in the system.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Gregory Chow at Madigan Army Medical Center.
We never had to pay anything to the Madigan clinic but we did have to pay for the IUI and IVF services that Madigan did in partner with Seattle Reproductive Medicine. We paid a discounted rate of $200 for IUIs to the SRM clinic and $10,000 for IVF procedure to the SRM clinic.
Describe Gregory Chow's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Madigan Army Medical Center.
He suggested we transfer no more than 2 in. He said more thann2 would be a risk to be and any potential children I might bear.
What specific things went wrong at Madigan Army Medical Center?
- Failed to call in prescriptions to pharmacy
- Failed to order appropriate test
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Madigan Army Medical Center.
Many times they have forgotten to put in my orders for a blood test or urine test and also forgotten to put in my meds at the pharmacy. They have also forgot to give me syringes now time that I needed them for a cycle treatment starting that night.