Northwestern Fertility & Reproductive Medicine

Dr Pavone is a very professional women. She spent time with me during my consult and listened to me explain my history and gave my husband and I a plan. She was knowledgeable and polite but was not warm and fuzzy. I only met her once, so I can’t really say how my experience as her patient was since I only spent one hour of my 6 month treatment course with her. I would ask questions through my nurses to her and they would be the communicators of her information. Other than the initial visit, I never felt like my condition (PCOS) was explained to me. I didn’t know why I was ovulating each month, had normal labs, responded to the medication, but wasn’t getting pregnant. No one took the time to explain that to me and when I asked they’d say “the body just sometimes doesn’t take.” Which is fine, but why?! What happens to my eggs in particular? During my IUIs I asked for a change in the planned course of medication dosage and I got shut down. Meanwhile, midcycle, I wasn’t responding to my letrozole and they decided on cycle day 20 to increase my dose and restart the whole process (just like I had suggested on cycle day 1). I feel that if Dr. Pavone saw me in the office as she walked by, she wouldn’t even know if I was her patient. Again, I didn’t have an in-depth treatment course with her- I wasn’t to the point of IVF so maybe I just wasn’t a serious enough case to be seen by a doctor, but I just felt slightly ignored and neglected and I don’t think any patient would like to feel that way.

Be your own advocate and fight for yourself and your body. Ask for meetings and speak up with lots of questions. if your plan isn’t working, don’t just keep going along with it without knowing why.

In regards to treatment strategies, Dr. Pavone, after diagnosing me with PCOS, decided that trialing three rounds of medicated timed intercourse followed by medicated IUIs would suite my diagnosis well. None of them were successful and we did not change the course for any of the cycles even though I asked to change medication dosage.

My care was 100% covered since my insurance it with the same hospital.

Non applicable.

It was really frustrating that Dr. Jungheim tried, essentially, the same protocol on us over and over again with the same results, and after our 3rd IVF cycle we were met with "I'm not sure what else I can do for you."

I'd stay away from Northwestern.

We did 4 medicated (Letrozole) IUIs - none worked. For our first IVF cycle we used a very standard Folistim/ Menopur stim and Letrozole + HGC trigger. I produced a lot of eggs - 33 in total - but had really low maturation rates, and we only ended up with one low quality embryo available the day of transfer (she was very pro-fresh transfer), and then an additional one to freeze that had matured the day after. We did a frozen transfer with Estrace prep/ stim, and it didn't take. For our second IVF cycle, she pulled my stim meds down, but pulled them too far down and our cycle was cancelled. I somehow went from creating 33 follicles, to just 3... so something was clearly off with my meds. She advised that we do an IUI in order to make it not a total loss. It didn't work. For our third IVF cycle, we did the standard Folistim/ Menopur stim again. I got 23 eggs that time, but again had low maturation rates. We only ended up with one embryo, which we transferred fresh. It didn't work.

We're lucky enough to have insurance that covered nearly everything.

Dr. Goldman is amazing. She cares deeply for her patients, and really makes you feel like you are on this journey together. She is positive, but doesn't sugar coat the situation you are in dealing with infertility but she provides you with hope. I feel safe in her care and I trust her to take care of me throughout this journey.

Ask as many questions as you want, and if you don't understand something ask for clarification. Dr. Goldman never made me feel rushed or embarrassed to ask questions, she understands this is a sensitive journey and she wants you to be as comfortable as possible.

I had two IUIs with clomid and tigger shot, one ending in a miscarriage at 8 weeks. She got me in the very next day the day before Thanksgiving for a D&C. Then, we tried two more IUIs with Clomid and trigger shot, both ending in a negative pregnancy. We are going to start IVF as soon as the coronoavirus settles down.

She believes you should only transfer one embryo because it's the safest option for me, and I trust this and want this as well!

Dr Jain was very thorough in his explanations and medical opinion. He always listened to me when an IUI cycle didn’t work and adjusted the medications based on patient preference. Be prepared with questions! You won’t see Dr Jain often but he is working with the staff behind the scenes. I highly recommend him!!

Be prepared at your appointment with a list of questions. Ask Dr Jain anything that is on your mind. Patients lose a lot of control during the infertility process, so Dr Jain will listen to your requests to “give back control” in a sense. Do your homework and be prepared to ask questions!

PCOS - letrozole 2.5, letrozole 5, then letrozole 5 with clomid 100

My insurance has great coverage, so our out of pocket costs were low. IUI was about $220 after insurance

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Dr. Kim would call me back when I had questions and show empathy for bad news. However, I was upset that I completed two IUIs and was told that a cyst and fluid would be monitored. It wasn’t until my second IUI failed and I contacted her that she mentioned the cyst and fluid were still present. Because of the cyst and fluid, she was concerned my tubes were blocked and recommended I have another hsg completed. Previously, my obgyn said my tubes were open when I first took a hsg and I attempted to retrieve the images for Dr. Kim as she said she could not locate them. I completed another hsg and was diagnosed with Hydrosalpinges. I felt destroyed because I felt like a thorough examination of my condition was not monitored early on and could have saved me a lot of resources and energy. In addition, I felt like I had to review notes and ask questions in order to get my “plan”/“”case” reassessed. For example, I asked about being placed on birth control to try to prevent the cyst from growing further. Dr. Kim informed me that she did not tell me about this treatment as most clients want to try naturally when they take time off. I would like to have all information and make my own decision in regards to my treatment. There was another time I had to point out that my medication dosage was to be increased for the 2nd iui according to our treatment plan. I lost a lot of trust and confidence with Dr. Kim after these instances and the failure to get a hsg completed or request/retrieve the prior hsg images before having me complete any IUIs.

Make sure you review all notes and do your research beforehand. Do not be afraid to advocate for yourself and speak up.

The plan was to do 3 IUIs, then IVF. After two failed IUIs, I messaged Dr. Kim and she decided to do further testing to determine why I continued to have a cyst and fluid in my ultrasounds. I had to redo an HSG as she could not locate the previous HSG that was completed at NW.

I spent approximately $1900 for IUIs and medication (plus another HSG). Each IUI was $700 out of pocket and my medications were about $120. My monitoring procedures were covered by my insurance.

N/A

Dr. Robins is straightforward and gave me his cell number which I appreciated. However, I still found it difficult to get in touch with him and trying to contact him through the nurses or MyChart was pointless. He is not warm or compassionate. Can be a little bit patronizing.

Don’t use him if you need comforting care.

I had 3 retrievals at the clinic - 2 were conducted by Dr. Robins and one was by another doctor. The protocol for my first 2 retrievals was Follistim/Menopur/Ganirelix. I used Ovidrel to trigger for my first retrieval and got overstimulated, which was awful. 12 embryos retrieved. For the 2nd retrieval, same stim meds, but with Lupron trigger. I think I had 10 retrieved (can’t remember exactly). For the 3rd retrieval, I used an estrogen priming protocol the the same stim meds with a Lupron trigger. I think I had 11 retrieved (can’t remember). Ended up with 2-3 per retrieval after Day 5-6 that ended up being frozen for PGS/PGD testing. Only had 3 transferable after testing.

Monitoring occurs from 7-7:45 am and it is a cattle call.

have insurance coverage for some of it but paid $40 copay per visit (these REALLY add up), $895 per retrieval for cryopreservation, plus my coinsurance costs. Total of about $4,500 for 3 retrievals and 2 transfers spanning 2 calendar years. Not counting parking costs!

They wouldn’t transfer more than one.

So far he is very nice and very gentle. He explains this well and although I am in the field he still explained everything. Sometimes he can be a little awkward but I believe he knows his specialty. I’ve never had a problem with him, I’d just like him to be more visible.

Be prepared to not see a MD during your IUI. I was completely caught off guard. Be prepared to travel down town for monitoring and procedures, I was under the impression everything could be done in Oakbrook.

Iui x3 with letrozole and ovidrel trigger. Letrozole works better with those with a history of PCOS. 1 ivf cycle with gonal f and menopur. 7 follicules, 4 mature, 1 fertilized. 1 bfn.

Last I have heard... my insurance covers 5 IUI’s and 4 IVF procedures.

1-2 with a 3 day. 1 with a 5 day.

From the beginning, due to my age I felt like they didn't want to treat me and immediately offered the egg donor option. Having been pregnant twice before, and a 1st time IVF patient, being encouraged towards egg donor-ship was startling. I wanted to exhaust all my options before looking into that route. After 2 losses, we were adamant about getting our embryos PGS tested to reduce the chances of another miscarriage. However, on the 10th day of stimulation I received a voicemail from a nurse that my cycle was being canceled due to a low # of follicles and that an IUI was being recommended. That defeats the whole reason why we are doing IVF. After the canceled cycle, the Dr. and I just couldn't connect by phone or appointment. It takes 3-4 weeks to even be able to see the Dr.

Be your own advocate. Ask questions. All of them. And be persistent.

PRIMING: Day 10 after LH surge: 2 Estradiol Patches - replaced every 2 days Day 12-14 after LH surge: 250 mcg Ganirelix - for 3 days STIMULATION: Day 3 of period/Day 1-3 of Stim: 300 units Follistim/150 units Menopur Day 4-10 of Stim: 450 units Follistim/150 units Menopur Day 11: CANCELED cycle (2 Estradiol patches stayed on entire duration of Day 1-10 of Stimulation)

I had already reached my insurance out of pocket costs. The visits and medication were covered under my insurance.

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Dr. Feinberg has a policy of only transferring 1 embryo per transfer. She says it is for the safety for mother and baby, but with Northwestern's cost of $5000 per frozen transfer, there is a financial incentive for you to fail so that she can make more money on subsequent transfers. She cowers behind her nursing staff to deliver difficult news, instead of calling and talking to you directly. We made the mistake of waiting longer for an initial appointment so that we could see Dr. Feinberg, but she really wasn't terribly involved in our care. I had a different doctor for both the egg retrieval and fresh transfer. All that waiting for her did was delay our ability to start treatment.

Don't wait to see her, because you really won't be seeing her. Take the first available appointment unless you feel like waiting another 6 months (or longer) to actually start treatment.

Standard IVF protocol, with a month of estrogen priming to start. 5 day fresh transfer.

It is a cattle call. Expect to spend 30 min to an hour waiting.

$10,000 for out of pocket IVF, plus additional costs for all medicines. $5,000 for frozen transfer

She will only do a single embryo transfer unless you have very unfavorable characteristics (ie advanced maternal age and poor embryo quality).

Lia Bernardi was always great in person and on the phone. I spoke with her a total of two times in two years. Once at the initial meeting, once on the phone after miscarriage. She was kind and caring when I interacted with her. Interaction was so little. I felt like I was in charge of my own treatment. I would suggest something via portal and a nurse would respond. Also I had to point out that my thyroid was high and only then did they put on meds for that. Nice person, not a great doctor/patient experience.

Look carefully at all tests and each patients results/past. Interact more with patient.

Went for FET with an embryo from an embryo retrieved at another clinic out of state. Wanted to transfer in state so found them. They transferred and it was not a success. I requested Dr. Bernardi be the one to transfer- she agreed. The dr. that showed up at the transfer was NOT Dr. Bernardi and at that point I had no choice but to do the transfer as the embryo was thawed. It failed. Then we went to IUI as I had previously gotten pregnant with iui. First stimmed iui I became pregnant. I then was shuffled between two dr.'s as Dr. Bernardi went on maternity. The pregnancy was ectopic. Given methotrexate (3x) to dissolve pregnancy. Also had an empty sac. This was expelled and I ended up being admitted to ER for excessive bleeding. Horrible times. A few months pass. We decide to do iui again. First iui failed. Second they stimmed me too hard and I feel the cycle should have been cancelled as I triggered on day 6. It failed, not surprised. This current cycle I am doing a natural cycle (I asked for this). We'll see. I am planning on going elsewhere after this cycle.

a lot for the fet. Each iui ends up being about 1700$

Not applicable

When we first went for our consultation with Dr. Bernardi, she seemed incredibly friendly and knowledgable and like she would be a good doctor to work with. When it was time to start our cycle though I didn't hear from her at all, working only with nurses. When I requested for her to call, she elected instead to send me a message a day later informing me she was going on maternity leave and good luck. So essentially, she did not tell me she was going on maternity leave until the last moment, when she certainly could have told me sooner and made alternative arrangements for my care. In addition, she could not take the time to speak with me over the phone and discuss certain procedures and answer my questions. It was very disappointing.

Ask a lot of questions and be persistent if you actually want to speak on the phone with her. Although ultimately I would recommend a different doctor at Northwestern.

We used oral estrogen tablets, injectable progesterone, and progesterone suppositories.

$5,000 for an embryo transfer, plus the cost of medication, plus copay expenses for workup appointments.

When we had our initial consultation and I told her in our last cycle we had only done a single embryo, she asked why and thought we could do two embryos. That was the extent of her comments or explanation about the subject.

I just felt like I was never seen. Once, that's all. Her words to me were "we will get you pregnant by the end of the year." Yelp, unfortunately, that did not happen. I also don't like when fertility doctors say "you are young, you shouldn't have a problem." My protocol was never changed for the complete 7 cycles. All communication was through the nurses.

Advocate for yourself. If the protocol doesn't work the first or second time, ask her (or the nurses) to switch it up.

Femara 5mg and Ovidrel trigger shot. Femara is supposed to be better than clomid especially with PCOS. Since I don't ovulate on my own, the trigger shot was there to ensure I did - if it did it's job. I unfortunately don't know if it worked because we never checked my levels after doing the trigger. After 6 cycles of timed intercourse, an IUI was ordered.

280 per ultrasound 1200 for IUI

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This review covers my experience with NW RE and Fertility Division from May 2017 -- Dec. 2017. It has taken me over a year to come to terms with my experience and feel comfortable sharing it as a warning for others. We first met with Dr. Pavone in May after two years of TTC; she was great and mild mannered but straight forward. She required months worth of tests before she would make a recommendation on any treatment moving forward. After several months of inconclusive testing, she suggested IUI. We started IUI in Sept. I never met with or heard from Dr. Pavone again. From there on out, I was passed from Nurse to ultra sound tech. The US techs are only available for a short period on weekday and weekend mornings (about 1.5 hours). There is no other time to be seen unless you raise a stink -- which by my third IUI, I was having to do. The nurses and US techs are all very angry and unhappy -- likely because overall the practice treats patients much like a fast food restaurant treats its patrons. My experience was already a poor one, and having nurses perform IUIs was starting to solidify my doubt in the practice. With no word from any doctor, I begrudgingly scheduled my third IUI and let the nurse performing the task know that I had had a difficult and painful experience with the first two. An IUI should take about 10 mins but after 40 mins of the nurse trying without success, she asked a doctor to come in and try. A man I had never met came in and roughly attempted to complete the IUI for another 30 mins, growing increasingly frustrated as I writhed in pain. It took so long that my husband had to leave to go back to work; the nurse had to hold my hand and try to calm me due to the pain. Finally, without discussing anything with me, the man opened a drawer, pulled out a pair of what looked like long scissors, and used them to hold/pry/clip open my cervix in order to fit the IUI inside. I bled for several days after this experience. After two months with no period, negative pregnancy tests and terrible, debilitating symptoms, I sought the help of my OBGYN who shared that I had severe damage to my cervix such that I was no longer able to have a period without a surgery. Meanwhile, I called the practice to meet with my doctor and discuss what had happened -- only to learn that Dr. Pavone had had a baby and was out on maternity leave. No one had ever told me she was pregnant and worse -- I had not seen her in so long that it hadn't been obvious that she was pregnant at all. The practice never bothered to follow up with a backup plan for a new doctor in her place. To say that this was a terrible and traumatizing experience is just scraping what I went through. And I would still be leaving a one star review even if the male doctor had not damaged my cervix so badly. Overall, there are way better practices that you can go to outside of Northwestern that will treat you like a human and not a number, that will respect you as a woman with rights to her body, and who will look after your individual case. Good luck to you in your fertility journey.

Please find another doctor and another practice. You are wasting your precious money, time and efforts here.

Dr. Pavone required lots of testing, all of which were normal so I was determined to be unexplained fertility. She required 3 IUIs before she would do IVF. She did not perform the IUI, did not review anything after my bloodwork. In fact after she set the initial plan, I never heard from her again and was left in the hands of a bunch of angry and frustrated nurses.

Insurance covered

Dr. Kazer told my on two occasions that given my age (41), that having a child would be a long shot. He advised against IUI in favor of going straight to IVF given my age and "average fertility". To me, it seemed that he was concerned with his "hit rate" or number of successful pregnancies and that he wasn't that interested in facilitating a "geriatric" pregnancy. He was too blunt, and his bedside manner was off-putting. I requested a new doctor, started IUI and got pregnant on the very first try despite Dr. Kazer's misguided prognostication. If you are looking for someone who is uber direct and blunt, Dr. Kazer may be the doctor for you. He was not for me.

Be prepared to leave discouraged if you are an older patient

Not applicable

While I like Dr. Kazer, there are many physicians at this practice, and so decisions regarding my treatment plan have not always been made by him. I'm not confident that they reviewed my chart prior to making their recommendations.

He has a dry sense of humor

So far we are doing medicated IUI cycles.

IUI's are $585 Parking is $11 Psych Consult was $375 HSG was $1092 Each ultrasound is $286 Each day of labs are $$251

unknown

Dr. Pavone is very intelligent and does everything by the book. I met her during my initial visit and then did not see her again, however, we did speak on the phone. Dr. Pavone seems to be socially awkward. Like she wants to say something but then censors herself and reverts to only using clinical language to answer a question. She does not think outside of the box and would only consider one approach with my case. When I had asked for additional bloodwork or supplements to take her response was "sure, if you want to". I really just wanted her opinion based on her experience rather than what a study said. She may have too many patients or just not enough experience.

Do your own research and don't expect her to find creative solutions. Always ask to talk to her over the phone -- she is very short over email.

During my first appointment, Dr. Pavone quickly diagnosed me with PCOS based on one ultrasound and 3 long cycles. This diagnosis took me by surprise as I have never had any hormonal issues. She quickly moved forward with her plan. 3 cycles of letrozole (better for women with PCOS) and timed intercourse, 3 cycles of letrozole and IUI, and if those were unsuccessful, move on to IVF. I ended up doing 5 rounds of letrzole and timed intercourse because I missed ovulation (I ovulated before day 14) twice. Despite not ever trying IUI, she said she would advise only one cycle of IUI then moving to IVF. At this point, being only 30 and feeling like it was moving too quickly, I sought out a 2nd opinion.

Insurance covered just about everything. For 10+ ultrasounds, HSG test, 10+ bloodwork panels, I've paid about $150.

Dr. Barnes did not seem interested in actually seeing me as a patient or making sure that I was taken care of. I only saw him for the initial consultation and then once I was finally pregnant (before miscarrying). Once he determined that I was likely miscarrying and could potentially have a tubal pregnancy, he fell off the radar and left me hanging without confirming if I did or did not have a tubal pregnancy.

I am unsure of how Dr. Barnes is as an IVF doctor, but if you are going to see him for anything less, I would be prepared to see very little of him.

In my initial consultation, Dr. Barnes' assistant doctor diagnosed me with PCOS based on my ultrasound. (I had gone a significant amount of time without menstruating). I then met with Dr. Barnes and he determined that I should start on letrozole to encourage follicle growth, then once I had sufficient follicles, I would take a trigger shot to induce ovulation. I was able to get pregnant twice, but miscarried both times. I do believe that the treatment strategy was effective an appropriate.

I actually liked Dr. Pavone initially quite a bit and found her good at accepting suggestions and letting me pursue some more testing that a second opinion doctor had given me when we weren't making progress. She was open to trying knew things, up to a point, but we finally had to move on when she refused to try any other protocols and was convinced we should be moving onto DE (donor egg). I have DOR and was responding poorly to her protocols----she tried EPP with high doses of follistim/menopur and threw in ganirelix at the end, and when two rounds of that yielded very low follicles, she then tried clomid, followed by follistim/menopur/ganirelix when I commented on how I seemed to respond much better to clomid than I did all the expensive injectables. I did better on the clomid, but still not that great, yet she wouldn't try anything else, not even a micro-dose lupron protocol. If we wanted to proceed with her, it would have to be with the clomid protocol, which could only be done a few times due to limits on clomid exposure, and even then, she was pushing us to consider DE or adoption, which we had told her wasn't an option for us at this time. I do think that compared to the other docs at NW, she's one of the best and she's the most liberal (besides Dr. Marsh) and aggressive. She just gave up on my quicker than I think she should have, especially since I am only 37 (young for IVF, I keep being told).

Be proactive and keep doing your own research. She is not going to give lots of suggestions or think outside the box for you, but is open to trying things if you want to (ie, she let me have a laparoscopy after my 3rd failed attempt at ER when I asked about it and also did a huge panel of immunology testing at my request even though I hadn't had recurring miscarriages---I wanted testing b/c I wanted information preemptively in case it could prevent a miscarriage should we ever get pregnant).

for IUIs---clomid CDs 2-6 and then ovidrel trigger, used ultrasound monitoring. IVFs---1st and 2nd attempts, did estrogen priming then started follistim/menopur once menses started, then added in ganirelix towards the end. Pavone felt this was the best approach for women with DOR. Both of these cycles yielded very low follicle development; 2 mature eggs the first round, and then the second was converted to IUI (and only then b/c I insisted I wasn't wasting an insurance-covered ER on 1-2 follicles). First round had nothing to transfer. Obviously BFNs both those rounds 3rd and 4th IVF attempts: clomid 150mg CD 2-5, then added on follistim/menopur/saizen/ganirelix. Better follicle recruitment, 3rd round poor egg quality, but 4th round, finally with 3 perfect embryos to transfer. For the 4th attempt, it should be noted that I had started to use a ton of antioxidant supplements recommended by a 2nd opinion RE and had also started seeing a chinese medicine practitioner and was using chinese herbs and acupuncture weekly). BFNs both those rounds. Pavone like the response to clomid and didn't want to change anything up if we proceeded with her.

See earlier comment about the clinic. Monitoring hours are 7a-7:45 M-F and 8a-8:30 on Sat/Sun. If you weren't there before 7 and standing in line, it could take up to an hour to get out, but it's faster than trying to get monitoring done at FCI.

IUIs were about $1200 each with the ultrasounds, meds, and actual insemination. IVFs were covered under insurance once I changed plans, but would've been 8-9K for the package, not including medicine costs. Office visits were $250-350 and the labs were expensive, too, since they were through Northwestern.

Dr. Marsh is friendly and seemed very knowledgeable, but the appointments felt rushed. My biggest issue with her was there no protocol in place for what to do when I got a negative pregnancy test. It was me who had to call the clinic frantic that my period had started and I didn't know what meds to take for the upcoming month.

Be prepared to never be able to reach her. You can only directly call the 2 gatekeepers (receptionists) whose sole function is to take a message to pass it on to a nurse. Get ready to have your phone with you at all times so when the nurse calls you back 48 hours later you answer. If you don't answer, you have to start the process all over again of first calling the gatekeepers. The one time I asked for Dr Marsh specifically it took her 2 weeks to call me back because she was in Italy, but the staff never let me know there would be a delay.

We did 3 months of IUIs with chomid or femara. She suggested doing 3 months of IUIs before IVF mainly because insurance requires it. She admitted if chlomid doesn't work in the first few months it probably won't work. She was very knowledgeable. Were going to move on to IVF but I switched before then because Northwestern had a low success rate for IVF for women aged 38-39.

I was referred to Dr. Pavone by a co-worker who had a good experience with her. I unfortunately did not have a single positive interaction with her and regret not switching doctors sooner. I understand that infertility is a very indepth and complicated area of medicine to practice. I respect doctors that can be blunt and straightforward, but also appreciate empathy and heartfelt support. Dr. Pavone acted like a robot at each appointment. She never asked how I was feeling or asked for my opinion. Because I suffered from eating disorders in the past, I felt that Dr. Pavone blamed me for my infertility problems. While they may have contributed to it, I went into early menopause at 25 and that was unrelated to any previous issue I had. Dr. Pavone did do an HSG to check for issues but should have also checked my uterus with a hysteroscopy, but she didn’t. Because of that, I had three unsuccessful medicated IUI’s that never could have worked because of polyps and scar tissue on my uterus. I believe Dr. Pavone was quick to write off many of my symptoms and didn’t look into things as much as she should have. She decided on a route of treatment very quickly and didn’t seem to take my opinions or that of previous doctors into account. I was a poor responder to my first round of medication. She upped my Menopur dosage so much and so quickly that I suffered from ovarian hyper stimulation. I called her office for days saying I was in a lot of pain and she said it was normal and brushed off my complaints. I finally told a nurse I needed to be seen and they said they would try to squeeze me in. I ended up waiting for 4 hours in the waiting room before they remembered I was there. Dr. Pavone was not apologetic about my wait. Once she realized how swollen my ovaries were, she did apologize but didn’t change my dosage.

I would never recommend that anyone work with Dr. Pavone. However, if they decided to, I would recommend that they act as a strong advocate for themselves. I wish I had stood up to Dr. Pavone and fought for myself. Dr. Pavone is very quick to make judgements and is not very open to other opinions. She does not care about her patients on an emotional level, so someone who needs a caring doctor should not work with Dr. Pavone.

She did 3 medicated IUIs and upped my dosage each time. She never did a scan of my uterus. Had she done so, she would have known that polyps and scar tissue blocked an embryo from implanting

Dr Barnes is incredibly warm as a person, though is bedside manner is a bit old school. I felt that once I had 1 failed cycle, my protocol was not changed prior to my second cycle. In between my 2 cycles, he discovered I had anemia. Anemia is perhaps the FIRST thing that should be tested for anytime you give blood so it was frustrating that it took an entire IVF cycle to discover this. Due to the anemia, Dr Branes wanted to do further testing to rule out internal bleeding since I showed no signs of anemia. This resulted in a colonoscopy and endoscopy which both came back clear. From there, Dr Barnes didnt have any other explanations as to why my first cycle failed so we moved forward with my second cycle - which also resulted in an early miscarriage. After 2 failed cycles I decided to move on to another clinic. We transfered our 1 frozen embryo when we left.

Be your own advocate. This would be my advice with any Dr, but especially with doctors at NW who barely know your name let alone your case.

I started my protocol with 3 months of timed intercourse on Clomid. Each month resulted in a negative pregnancy test. I then moved onto IUI. The first 3 cycles were on Clomid. Each resulted in a negative test. Each month on Clomid Dr Barnes bumped up my dosage, yet I only had 1 or 2 viable follicles each month. After 3 cycles of IUI on Clomid and little reaction, Dr Barnes put me on Femara. We did 2 cycles on Femara, both resulting in a negative pregnancy test. Dr Barnes wanted me to do a 6th cycle of IUI, but we insisted we move to IVF. We did our first round of IVF which resulted in 2 quality embryos. My husband and I had decided in advance of our fresh transfer that we wanted to put 2 embryos in, however at NW their Dr's rotate and on the day of my transfer, a Dr Kazer was on rotation. He came into the room prior to transfer to confirm we had 2 viable embryos and when we let him know we wanted to transfer both, he basically used his scare tactics to force us into only putting in 1 embryo. I feel like this is a result of both his bedside manner, and the fact that NW does not like multiple pregnancies and look down upon transferring more than one embryo. We felt almost bullied and defeated and when I got pregnant, then quickly had a miscarriage, we regretted not following our hearts and transferring two. During our second IVF cycle, we insisted they allow us to transfer two. Again, Dr Barnes was not the Dr that did the procedure. This time it was Dr Robins who also tried to convince us to transfer one, but we stuck to our guns and transferred 2. Dr Robins is also a fan of 3-day transfers which did not sit right with me, but at the time of transfer, being hormonal and vulnerable, unfortunately you often listen to the Drs as opposed to following your gut.

Cattle call with numbers

IVF was $10k per cycle. IUI was $700. This was the out of pocket (cash) cost.

Dr. Barnes is a nice man, but I have always preferred female doctors. It was hard to get an appointment and he was the only one available when I could come in. He seems a little shy so I had trouble talking to him at times, especially after the miscarriage. He is very competent and knowledgeable.

Make sure you ask lots of questions and understand every fully during all procedures. Get support from a therapist or a support group from the beginning of your fertility treatments! I wish the doctors and staff had talked to me about this from my first appointment.

I did one IUI with him with 50 mg of Clomid.

Insurance covered almost all of it luckily.

She did not have a warm bedside manner. She did not meet with us often. Even after setbacks or bad news we had to request conference calls. She went on maternity leave and we had no idea we had been transferred to another doctor.

You have to be a good self-advocate in order to gett all of your questions answered. Don't look for a lot of support with the emotional piece of fertility.

We did pgd and pgs, which we got the sense she preferred we didn't do. When we didn't get a lot of embryos on our first cycle we tested our embryos on day 3 rather than day 5, which in retrospect is not what we would do now. That cycle was unsuccessful.

It was pretty efficient. I always made sure to get there early so I could be seen the soonest. The techs were always very nice.

My insurance covered most costs.

Kind and has good bedside manner, but not willing to change protocol or try new things. Did not want to look into endometriosis as a possibility for our troubles (which I had suspected I had since age 11), said my husbands morphology and motility were fine (wasted our time with 3 IUIs) when another clinic said otherwise and did not want to work with a reproductive immunologist. I ended up leaving her and finding out I did indeed have immunological disorders and stage III endometriosis. Went on to have a successful ICSI cycle with a new clinic after 3 failed IUIs and 1 failed ICSI cycle at Northwestern. I also was told I could get up right after our fresh transfer at Northwestern and didn't need to wait. Dr. Pavone never once performed any of my IUIs, egg retrieval or transfer.

I would look elsewhere and seek a RE that is more flexible and finding out what is wrong and treating those issues. I felt a lot of my concerns weren't addressed or looked into. Once I went to a new RE that was willing to look into possible immune issues and endo and treat them I had a successful ICSI cycle.

Cattle call, but I assume most clinics are like that. The second clinic we changed to was the same.

I only met the dr once or twice witch is normal but I never felt like she was hands on with my care. She also did not call after to discuss my results I had to be proactive with the appointment. It’s hard to rate the dr when we had little contact and poor results.

You have to be proactive in your own care. Do not expect hand holding.

Agnostic protocol. Gonal F ansmenopure.

Cattle call. They won’t give you results until they call late in the day. Other clinics will tell you while you are on the table.

Insurance paid for most appointments.

We did not transfer the embryo. We froze it for future use.