Poma Fertility

As I mentioned before, Dr Beesley has extraordinary communication skills. Hands down, I have never had a doctor like him! He is very kind, compassionate, and respectful and at the same time trustworthy and knowledgeable. He always took time to answer my questions thoroughly even if he was busy. Even after the unsuccessful embryo transfers during cycle reviews (that's the apt when we discuss the unsuccessful cycle and further steps), Dr Beesley somehow managed to make me feel better and optimistic. I also felt he was completely honest with me - for example, he wasn't afraid to tell me that when it comes to reproductive medicine, some questions don't have answers (yet) and further research is necessary. I have to mention that he is very gentle and skillful while performing all kinds of procedures - from simple ultrasound to biopsy and transfer. Some may say this aspect is not important as long as there are results, but as a woman I disagree. I think Dr Beesley is a rare combination of wonderful personality and professionalism.

Dr Beesley works in a team with Dr Opsahl, so if somebody decides to become a patient, they should know that. I never know who is going to perform the transfer or any other procedure, if that matters. All Poma fertility patients work with both providers.

This was my Frozen Embryo Transfer Protocol - Lupron until the start of Progesterone; after Suppression check start of Estrogen injections, gradually increasing from 0,05ml to 0.25ml; Progesterone in oil 1 ml for 6 days until the day of the transfer; continuing the progesterone every day after the transfer and estrogen every third day. I didn't question or discussed the protocol with my provider, I believe that was a standard protocol for FET and I trusted Dr Beesley would make the right decision.

I lost the track of the costs, I have been a patient for too long. Except for the initial screening, nothing else was covered by my insurance. Their prices are competitive, similar to SRM and less expensive than some other clinics in the area.

Dr Beesley strongly recommends eSET. I think that they allow 2 embryo transfers at the clinic under some circumstances and if that's the patient's desire, but I didn't discuss that with Dr Beesley as it wasn't my desire.

Dr Opsahl is definitely more on the blunt end of the spectrum. I have had three early miscarriages while under his care, and each time he was 'nice enough' but quickly walked out of room or ended phone call, etc. This is my main critique with his bedside manner. On the strengths side, he truly cares, and is up to date on research. He's invested in our family and supportive and encouraging of our path.

Be prepared for fast talking. Ensure you're understanding what he's telling you.

After first egg retrieval almost failed (resulted in only 2 eggs being able to be retrieved), determined it was due to understimulation due to method of injection. Switched from sub-q to ALL IM injections. Had much better success with retrievals 2 and 3. Added hgh for 3 cycle. For first FET after my live birth, did 3 months of Depo-Lupron suppression for endometriosis management.

FET was about $3k, and IVF was around $11k. They give all line items and bill insurance when they can (eg OB ultrasounds post-transfer, etc).

Very strong advocate of eSET, almost not even discussed.

He is experienced and intelligent in what he does. He would give us upfront and honest info and advice which I appreciated but he always let us decide. I didnt feel any pressure to do it their way if I didnt want to. He was very encouraging.

He is honest about your chances and what to expect. I appreciated this. Sometimes a little rushed.

I cannot exactly remember the meds we used but it seemed pretty standard. We did PGS testing on all the embryos except the first. We did a fresh transfer with the first bc they said they can usually tell which one is best. Unfortunately that one didn't take but we got 1 pgs normal of the 6 others we sent for testing. That one took and I am now 32 weeks pregnant 😊

We did pomacare which ensured we take home a baby. 11,000 ivf/ 2500 PGS/ 600 anesthesia, meds not included. If we needed another egg retrieval it would cost 5000 but luckily we didn't. If it didn't work they would refund us 50% of the ivf cost.

With our fresh cycle they preferred to do a single embryo transfer bc research shows there is a lot less complications with a Singleton. However they were open to doing 2 if we really wanted. We only had 1 pgs normal after that to transfer.

Dr. Beasley feels like a wonderful, wacky fertility genius. He explained so many options for us. For some people, this may be too much information--he's so knowledgable, you can see the wheels spinning when he's explaining things. For us, this showed he was really holding us in his thoughts through the process.

Dr. Beasley will be straightforward and honest about the options, but he will also let you explore them on all on your own. He is probably best for a patient who knows something about the IVF process before walking in the door.

We are doing reciprocal IVF with Dr. Beasley. We have not yet begun our process. So far, we can done Ovarian Reserve Testing.

We haven't been billed yet. They work hard to make sure insurance is looking at all the claims before billing.

He is strongly on the side of single transfer, unless there are a few quality embryos to work with.

I ask a lot of questions each time I am in there. For example, I wanted him to go into detail the reality of multiple IUI cycles. Dr. Opsahl took the time to show me examples and scenarios similar to mine and how things were adjusted to make a difference in body response for each cycle. I have never had a bad experience with him.

Write down your questions and take notes during the appointment.

Dr. Opsahl didn't like the results of the regimen my old fertility doc had me on for multiple IUI cycles so the IUI cycle I did with Dr. Opsahl bumped my Letrozole from 5mg to 7.5mg and my numbers were the best ones yet!

My insurance now covers nothing. My last IUI had some coverage so I think total out of pocket for that was around $600 plus medication, $1,000 total. We just started treatments again in 2018 and I did 3 round of Letrozole ($30 total) with no other interventions. My baseline testing was around $1,100 because insurance paid nothing. To do an IUI treatment it will cost around $1,300 total this time around. POMA offers several options for IVF. One round is $11,000 before medication. They do offer multi cycle discounted rates.

Dr. Opsahl's goals are to start with one. I agree with that approach.

Dr. Opsahl takes the time to explain everything in simple terms. He greets and takes the time to say hello every time even if he isn't the one that you are going to see today. He has a calm demeanor which takes the stress out of everything. When I concerns, he addressed them immediately and had a plan.

Put your trust in him, he knows what he is doing. He will guide you through each step. Things may get confusing along the way. Don't hesitate to ask questions, even when he is busy. He always gets back to you in a timely manner.

The egg retrieval meds were very well throughout since this was my second retrieval. Unlike the prior clinic I went in weekly, for follicle ultrasound. They kept close eye on my growth and adjusted meds as needed. I had 23eggs retrieved, prior to this at the other clinic I only had 5. I've had 2 failed FET cycles and now we are prepping for an ERA under anesthesia as the regular ERA didn't work. He takes everything one step at at time, but has been explaining everything every step of the way.

I had to tell the nurses only once that the earliest appointment is always best for me because of work. They have always scheduled me right when they open for monitoring appointments. I have never had to reschedule the time because they remembered what works best for me.

I think with everything including meds, monitoring,etc we have paid about 20k.

Dr. Opsahl recommends I only transfer 1 embryo at at time due to the risk of multiple pregnancies.

We are still in the pre-IVF stages with POMA, but it has been positive so far. He takes the time to really sit there with you and explain and make sure he understands. This type of care is something you can really only get at a smaller clinic like POMA.

I would do your intake appointment with Dr. Opsahl rather than the PA there. She was wonderful, but I wish we had waited a few more weeks to meet with him initially.

Since I have PCOS, I was prescribed a lower dose of Gonal-F to start off with, and we are hoping I will respond well to that. Also, since I have a higher than average BMI (but still within their guidelines) all of my medications are going to be intramuscular rather than SubQ. I asked if that was the reason and they nicely explained that they see better absorption that way, which was good enough for me!

Around $18,000 (This is an estimate. Pre-IVF testing, IVF medications, Egg Retrieval, PGT-A testing, Anesthesia...etc. Subsequent frozen transfers are $3000+ more.)

I don't believe they consider multiple embryo transfer unless you are 35+ and/or have a history of recurrent pregnancy loss. I agree with and support this.

Dr. Opsahl and Dr. Beasley provided treatment for our 1st and 2nd IVF cycles, I have since moved to new clinic for treatment. Overall, the doctors and nurses at POMA are very kind and supportive, but we decided to move clinics because we were not 100% confident in the treatment decisions. After our first IVF cycle at POMA we were excited that we had made one fertilized egg which was frozen at a 2PN stage. The recommendation was to complete a few more IVF cycles, batch more eggs and then grow and genetically test all of them at the same time. I later learned that freezing at the 2PN stage is somewhat unusual and was more for cost savings associated with batching eggs. Moving on to the 2nd IVF cycle, we never had a formal review with our doctors to discuss how the cycle went and if they would recommend modify our treatment plan. Instead, we hastily discussed if we would change the medication dosages at the end of our Day 3 suppression check appointment. The team even asked my opinion if I wanted to lower the hormone dosages. I appreciated that they wanted to consider my input but I'm not a RE expert so I thought it was a little odd. In the end they lowered my Gonal F dosage and the 2nd cycle ended unsuccessfully with no fertilized eggs.

I would encourage patients of POMA to be their own advocates. If you don't feel like you are getting enough information reach out and the team is good at responding. If you are confident in the treatment you're getting, consider a second IVF opinion, that was really helpful for us.

Cycle 1 (8 days of stimulation): Lead in with birth control. Day 5 started Menopur 150IU, Omnitrope 0.5ml, and Gonal F 300IU. Result: 4 eggs retrieved, 2 mature, 1 fertilized. Cycle 2 (7 days of stimulation). Lead in with birth control. Day 5 started Menopur 150IU, Omnitrope 0.5ml, and Gonal F 225IU. Result: 2 eggs retrieved, 0 mature, 0 fertilized. Update: I moved clinics and switched protocols for diminished ovarian reserve. Cycle 3 (12 days stimulation). Lead in with 2mg estrogen 2x daily. Day 3 started with Clomid 100mg, Gonal F 450IU, mini-HCG 20 units. Result: 10 eggs retrieved, 4 mature, 2 fertilized, 2 blastocysts.

IVF including meds and ICSI $25,000

We started out seeing the nurse practitioner at Poma for initial consultations and began working with Dr. Opsahl further along during treatment. He was warm, knowledgable, and easy to work with. He was optimistic and positive and easy going. He seemed skilled at what he does and very thoughtful about choosing different protocols/procedures. I felt that he tailored his approach to what he thought would work best for me (IVF vs. ICSI for fertilization). He listened to our desires for a single embryo transfer and was supportive and didn't push us to transfer the additional fair embryo in addition to the good quality one. I felt like he was looking out for our best interests and what we wanted. He seemed a little uncertain how to acknowledge my emotions when most of our embryos arrested and died unexpectedly between day 3 and day 5 (from 12 embryos to 1-2 embryos).

Share your concerns and ask for what you want - he will listen and be supportive.

Dr. Opsahl had me take birth control pills for 1-2 weeks at the beginning of the cycle. Then I used Follistim, Cetrotide and Menopur with regular monitoring of my hormone levels every other day and then eventually daily. He had me trigger with an HCG trigger shot. He recommended regular IVF fertilization (rather than ICSI) with a belief that nature picks better sperm than humans can given my partner's adequate sperm count and effective acrosome reaction test. We retrieved 21 eggs (20 of which were mature), 13 of the eggs fertilized, we had 12 day-3 embryos (8 high quality), and 1 good quality day-5 embyro and 1 fair-poor quality day-5 embryo, and zero embryos that could be frozen. The one good quality embyro was transferred and led to a healthy pregnancy, live birth, and "take home" baby born at term on the due date.

We paid approximately $20,000 for IVF with Poma Care (qualifying for 70% back if we did not get a take home baby at the end of treatment), approximately $4,000 for medications, and $600 for the anesthesiologist, in addition to some initial testing and consultation costs.

Dr. Opsahl was supportive of our desire for an eSET. He offered to transfer the other poor-fair quality day-5 embryo as well, but we declined. He did not have a strong opinion nor did he push us in either direction.

Dr Opsahl is caring and understanding. He does rush through appointments sometimes it feels like he is always in a hurry. He is a busy doctor, I understand but due to infertility as a super sensitive journey, I feel like he is always in a rush. Overall, he is a good doctor. He will listen, and explains the procedures.

Just to be prepared for anything that can happen in your journey. Mine was not easy, and am still going through it. But Dr Opsahl will remember you, and has a smile on his face every time he sees you, which is comforting while you're going through this uneasy journey.

We started with fertility boosting meds to see if I can ovulate more and get pregnant by myself. Then we tried IUI's, which failed. Then we decided to do egg/embryo retrieval due to some cervical cancer issues. We proceeded with that treatment, and froze our embryos. Now I am working with Dr Opsahl on IVF cycle, with some complications of my cervical surgery, we are starting round two of injections and pills to prepare for the first IVF cycle soon.

They are usually done early in the mornings of specific days, which is pretty convenient due to work schedules of most people. No problem with those appts at all.

Very expensive, since my medical insurance does not cover any infertility, we have to pay everything out of pocket. We have spent around $15,000 already for treatment provided by Dr Opsahl.

Dr Opsahl strongly suggested due to our age to use single embryo transfer instead of multiple for a safer healthier pregnancy.

My husband and I went for a consult with Dr. Opsahl when it had been almost a year after the miscarriage of our first pregnancy. I had expressed my concerns even thought my situation didn't fall into a typical type of patient that fertility doctors would start seeing. He was very informative and reassuring that he could help speed up the process to conceive with less aggressive treatment. He did not pressure us with IVF right away. Unbeknownst to us, we were actually pregnant during that consult but it was too early to know. Although it was a spontaneous pregnancy, Dr. Opsahl continued to monitor the pregnancy closely due to my history with miscarriage. Unfortunately, it did not work out and ended in a miscarriage again. He had recommended a d&c so that we could do testing on the tissue and recommended I go back to my OB and consult the surgery due to his tight schedule for the upcoming week. I expressed how I did not want to see my previous OB again and was in the process of switching. He went above and beyond, and somehow got me into his schedule a couple days out. The care that I received at Poma was far surpassed my first experience with a d&c from my previous OB. Even afterward, they monitored me to make sure I would get back to "normal" for 8 weeks post op. I was left in the dark with my first miscarriage with the OB and had no idea what was happening to my body. Dr. Opsahl helped educate me and helped me understand what I was going through. Now that I fall into Recurrent Pregnancy Loss, he has done absolutely all the testing he could possibly do to give us an explaination. Although we have not found the answer, we know we are in good hands with Dr.Opsahl.

I would give the advice of being your own advocate to any patient, not just ones who I would recommend see Dr. Opsahl. I've been in that type of situation where you just need to be firm about what you're feeling and your concerns. It shouldn't be shrugged off or ignored. Don't just take 100% , your doctors word for it. Express your concerns and why you feel a certain way about a certain thing. Communicate.

After an array of testing had been completed ranging from testing tissues from both of my previous miscarriages to auto immune, karyotype, mthfr, and blood clotting disorders, we finally got to a point where we could start trying again. Dr. Opsahl had prepared us on what to expect, treatment wise, if genetic testing of the pregnancy tissue or ourselves came back abnormal. It would mean we would need to do IVF to better our chances. All of my testing came back normal except for my thyroid. My TSH was elevated to a 3.8. My clinic wants you to be between 0.5-2. I was placed on a small dose of synthroid for hypothyroidism and was recommended to start with medicated IUI cycles. Because the tissue and our karyotype came back genetically normal, he explained IVF would not necessarily resolve the issue that could have caused the miscarriages. We first tried clomid 100mg, cycle days 5-9. I did not respond well. Only 1 mature Follicle that took much longer than the typical day 12 and my lining wasn't great. On day 18, Dr. Opsahl gave us an option to go ahead with the IUI or take the trigger shot and try on our own with timed intercourse to be more cost effective. We opted for the latter. That cycle was unsuccessful. Next we tried a natural cycle with an IUI due to some confusion. This too was unsuccessful. However, my husband's sample was abnormally low and we had only 2.7million motile sperm to work with. Our 3rd cycle comes around the holidays and we missed our window yet again, due to another confusion and delay. Our 4th cycle finally came and we changed the medication to letrazole/femara at 7.5mg, the max dose, for days 5-9 again. This time I did respond great. Two and a half mature follicles on day 12 and a great lining measurement. We triggered that night and went in 36 hours later for the IUI. My husband's sample was great this time at 88million motile sperm before wash and 12.4 million progressive motile sperm at 80% after wash. That cycle, unsuccessful again. Deflated, I needed to take a break but not a complete break. Our current cycle is going to be the same dose of the medication letrazole without a trigger and timed intercourse on our own. If we're not pregnant by April, we will try another medicated IUI.

The first consultation is $350 but was covered by our insurance as an office visit. So we only paid our co-pay. Clomid and femara were covered by our insurance but the trigger shot was not covered. They ordered in the prescription to a specialty pharmacy based out of Arizona. It cost $135 each time. Our first IUI was fully covered due to our out of pocket max being met. But looking at the claims, it cost roughly about $300 including the sperm preparation and the IUI itself. He did not charge for the specific ultrasound scan during the procedure but all other monitoring ultrasound scans were charged. Costing just under $200 each, but after our insurance coverage, it was $25.

Dr. Opsahl is compassionate and kind. He makes sure he's present for almost all your ultrasounds and definitely for all your procedures. As the clinic got busier, we did notice that he'd be in and out of the room faster, answers got shorter and I felt like I was bothering him if I had to ask questions. They hired an ARNP to help out but since I've been with the clinic for so long, I felt so comfortable working with Dr. Opsahl the most in every step of cycles.

Dr. Opsahl can be very blunt or forward with your diagnosis and treatment suggestions but he wants you to succeed in your goal. If you truly feel a certain way about treatment or your plan, make sure you discuss all options with him. Don't be afraid to be your own advocate as well.

It's really hard to remember each cycle's protocol. My follicles did not want to respond to meds each time so Dr. Opsahl would max my dosages to get the most we can out of them. One of my best cycles was when we used growth hormone as Dr. Opsahl had done some research that it helps with egg quality. After the first cycle fail, Dr. Opsahl suggested me use donor eggs but my husband and I were not ready yet to go that route. He respected and worked out on our decision to still try with my own eggs. After 2 fails, we are now ready to start the donor route.

Poma is considered one of the more affordable clinics in the area. On top of their lower cost, they also offer a discount when using cash for IVF. Our insurance does not cover any of it so it's all very expensive anyways but we feel we get the best deal with Poma.

He knew the quality of the embryos I was producing so transfering more than one was usually the option we took.

I was mostly seen by Megan Palazolla PA, and she was gentle, kind, and very blunt. Dr. Opsahl did my procedure, but when it came to the consult and who I spoke with more it was Megan, and she was treasure.

I would say be on time and ask lots of questions, and push for a cohesive working environment. Megan listened to and worked with me on treatment plans and meds. She listened to what worked.

He wanted to do a low stimIVF focusing on quality over quantity, and I had insurance trouble so we switch to a low stim IUI and I got pregnant. The biggest advice they gave me was to switch sperm banks, and I truly felt that made a huge.difference.

The billed insurance for everything before billing me.

I did not experience this

What I liked about Dr Opsahl was that he was brutally honest. He told me how things looked without sugarcoating it. Sometimes this can scare away people, but in my case that was what I wanted to hear, so I could plan my next step if I would need it. I believe he did what he thought was best for my situation and for that I will always be great to him for helping me conceive my twins.

To be prepared for real honesty. This doctor is not really warm and fussy, but he is good at what he does and he listens to you if you have any concerns.

I did the antagonist ivf protocol. I have diminished ovarian reserve. The first medication I took was called estrace. I took the medication twice a day. After couple of days later I even started with the first antagonist injections. This prevents premature ovulation. I took this for 2 days I believe. When I stopped taking the injections they told me to call the office after I get my period. They made me an appointment for suppression check bloodwork and ultrasound. Everything looked good and after this I started my stimulation medication. I had to take injections daily between 4-7 PM. My meditications list included: menaopur 150 iu, follistim 450 iu ( the dose changed day 5 to 375 on day 8 it went down to 150 iu. Also, I took omnitrope 0.5 ml. Omnitrope is a human growth hormone. In ivf this is used to improve follicle development, estrogen hormone production and egg maturation. I did this protocol for 8 days. They got 4 eggs out. After the egg retrieval, the next steep was to take Medrol 16 mg, Doxycycline 100mg, Estrace 2mg. Also, I took Crinone one day after egg retrieval. I think I covered almost everything. Thankfuly, this protocol worked for and it resulted with my twin boys.

We could go in with our schedule for monitoring, unless it was time passed monitoring.

All the blood tests, ultrasound and IVF costed us around $15.000.

I transferred 2 embryo because dr told me I would have a better chance. I think this approach was right for me.

The few times we met with Dr. Opsahl he was very helpful. My husband is a science nerd so he wanted all of the information possible and statistics and was given all of that information. If we had questions he answered them thoroughly. He was confident that IUI would work for us and never pressured us to spend any more money on other things. When our first two IUI's didn't stick because of a thin uterine lining he switched my medication and we were successful.

Trust that he is there to help you conceive and not just to make money.

My first two cycles of IUI, I took chlomid for 5 days around my fertile time, then I went in and got a wand utlrasound to see how many eggs I had produced and if they were ripe. Then we were given an at home trigger shot and told what time to do the shot. My husband gave me the shot and then two days later my husband would go in the morning and give sperm that they washed and put in a different solution. That day we went in and they did a stomach ultrasound and inseminated, my husband always choose to push the plunger. The first round I got pregnant but the numbers were very low and the baby didn't stick. The second time was nothing. The third time we changed from chlomid to Letrozole. This time I ended up pregnant with twins. We did lose one twin at 9 weeks.

We purchased a 3 pack for $1500.

Dr. Opsahl is a kind doctor with lots of compassion. He has a sense of humor but is also professional. My husband is a numbers guy and the stats that Dr. Opsahl gave didn't sit well with my husband. It's hard for me to say whether one was right over the other but they kind of talked in circles. My husband ended up just letting it go because they were never going to see eye to eye. In this regard, I felt like Dr. Opsahl didn't do the best in explaining things and making my husband feel comfortable spending tens of thousands of dollars. I felt like my husbands questions made him uncomfortable and not confident. He was never unkind, but the interaction was confusing and uncomfortable. Dr. Opsahl didn't explain too much to me during each appointment and I felt like he was a bit rushed at times so I had to rely a lot on the nurses to answer my questions. During the retrieval and transfers, Dr. Opsahl was happy and encouraging and made us feel confident and comfortable. If I saw him during a beta appointment, he was hopeful for us and encouraging. Overall, I was happy to work with Dr. Opsahl.

Have your questions written out and keep pushing till you get the answers you're looking for. At times, it can seem like he's talking in circles and not shooting straight.

The first cycle was kind of like being a Guinea pig. We were just trying to see how my body would react. We did birth control, then menopeur, follistim, cetrotide, estrogen patches and estrogen pills. This cycle ended up with a negative after all was said and done Next, we did a FET. I believe we did birth control, lupron and I'm not sure what else. Ended in a negative. Second cycle was similar to the first but we suppressed for a shorter time, and with stims we added in human growth hormone to try to grow my eggs and make them as strong as possible. This cycle ended with a positive and a live birth.

The appointments were generally quick and painless. In and out within a few minutes. Dr. Opsahl generally did them but sometimes Meghan, the other doctor / MA did them. Dr. Opsahl wasn't always the gentlest, so I actually preferred to see Meghan sometimes.

I don't remember specifics.

Dr. Opsahl is friendly, smart, and makes you feel like he genuinely cares and wants to help you start a family. I loved the atmosphere of he office. If he see’s you in the waiting room he will come and say hi and call you by name. I also like his nurse practitioner Megan.

Give him and his office a chance. They all genuinely care and want this to work for you. He has a great bedside manner. Try not to stress when you go in for your appointment and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

He gives you a list of supplements to take if you would like and they really helped my egg production. I used menopur, gonal- f, pregnyl, progesterone vaginal tablets, birth control. I am getting older so each time a did a cycle my egg count went down a little bit but not horrible. I usually used two bottles of the menopur a day and gonal -f was about 350 units to start and taper down at the end of stim.

Very willing to work around my schedule since I lived four hours away. As long as I was there in time to get my lab test results back in time to change med doses if needed.

We talked about what the embryo quality was he day if the transfers and then decided on how many to put in at that time. He ask your opinion and then he also gives you his. We did multiple each time we did a transfer.

Very compassionate doctor. Explained our procedures and was very friendly and professional. Very lgbt understanding which is what we were looking for. Made sure our questions and concerns were addressed

He isvery very busy, tou have to be patient and make sure you jave good communication with your whole team, he is the last one to talk to you but when he does everything goes smoother. Be understanding that he has a lot of women in the same shoes as you

We did Reciprocal IVF. My wfe went through egg retrieval with no fertility issues. I was under suppression meds in preparation of embryo transfer, no fertility issues.

They checked insurance coverage and sent us the estumated amount we would owe.Elwe had to pay that amount up front before beginning the he procedures. Once they were done refunds and adjustments were made

Multiple due to quality of embryos

I felt like a number and did not receive personalized care. Bedside manner was not good. I do feel he knows what he is doing however I mentioned concerns at our initial meeting which were not further looked into and later found out my concerns were true after having undergone multiple treatments. Discovery of this blockage sooner would have saved years, thousands, and miscarriage potentially.

Be warned of his bedside manner and delivery of words are very blunt. Not a great listener.

$30K total for IVF including “Poma care” and all expenses $2K for IUI

Very pro eSET and pushed us towards it initially. Until our results were not what he thought and he ended up transferring 2.

Dr. Opsahl is a doctor whom is sought after and often has a long list of patients waiting to see him. When we initially began at the clinic, his appointments were booked out about a month in advance. After meeting with him, we have never felt like he is too busy to meet with us and have been pleasantly surprised to have him remember names and specific information from prior appointments. As others have mentioned, he can be brief in some appointments but if asked specific questions or want to know more information he does open up. While we have not had the success that we went in hoping, we are now beginning the IVF process and will be working with Dr Opsahl on a more regular basis.

Don't give up! While it is an emotional process, Dr. Opsahl and his team are there to help and work with you. I have truly appreciated the small clinic feel and while I am spending thousands of dollars, I believe that Poma is working their hardest to help us achieve our dreams and not charging above and beyond.

I had started at a local ob/gyn after a referral from my family doctor. After several rounds of oral medications, she recommended I seek additional guidance from Dr. Opsahl. We scheduled our initial appointment, where Poma reviewed previous medical records and used these to make a plan. We opted to begin with an IUI cycle, as all tests returned normal and there was nothing obvious causing our infertility. Poma offers a package of 3 IUIs for a reduced rate, so we opted to give them a try. During these three rounds, I took Clomid. The first cycle I took 50 mg, but for the 2nd and 3rd we increased to 100 mg. We have now completed the IUIs and all negative results. Poma provided us the information and statistics for continuing with IUIs or moving to IVF and ultimately left the decision up to my husband and I.

There was an initial appointment meeting price of a couple hundred dollars to meet and discuss options with Dr. Then initial bloodwork and ultrasounds. IUIs had a package if you pre-purchased 3 together. This ended up being about $600 a piece (medications and trigger shot were additional and purchased outside of the clinic). IVF has a couple different options - an all-in one price for about $11,000 or an insured price through the clinic which offers a percentage pack. Unfortunately, my insurance does not cover anything associated to infertility. I have had to pay 100% out of pocket.

Pros: 1. Always available to perform my surgeries, procedures, etc. Made sure we were comfortable and had no questions and concerns m ocing forward. If we did, we were taken care of immediately. 2. Positive. He would always say "failure is not an option" Always have his fingers crossed for us. 3. Knowledgeable 4. Not wanting to overtreat. Example, for the egg retrieval he sis not want ohss to occur as that can cause pain and setbacks. It was all about the quality of my eggs vs.the quantity. 5. All testing had to be done prior to IVF round. Example, tested sperm to make sure we did not have to go through icsi. I hear of stories where couples do all of this after a failed round. He wants the best chances of getting it right once. Pro or Con depending: 1. He can be blunt. I liked knowing all options and what we were looking at and this may not be good for everyone. He gives you the true picture

They are a smaller clinic trying to accomdate more and more couples. Cycle times may be hard and they do a 5 week cycle system where as large places can be more flexible of if tou see different doctors. Example:I missed the frozen transfer cycle by a few days and had to wait a month until they were back in that transfer cycle vs retrieval cycle. He can be blunt; this may not work for everyone. We liked it. And example: talking about our options after our first fresh cycle transfer. We had success, embryo too but I miscarried for the second time. Talking about next steps were transfers and then he brought up surrogacy. That shocked both of us! But he was trying to give us a larger picture of if this continues to happen, we run all tests, make a changes and and carrying still happens. It was probably silly odbhin to bring up burbhe was trying to say there are options. We have a healthy growing baby now.

Egg retrivals were the Gonal F, trigger, estrogen, something else. Progesterone suppositories and estrogen pills after transfer and through 10 weeks if successful. FET was with low doses of lupron depot, nenopur, progesterone in oil, patches. I SWEAR BY THE PIO!

The best part is they offered essentially a la carte or poma care. They ran your health, age, etc. information into a system that gave you information on the likelyhood of success with a round of ivf and following transfers. You got a number. We had a 90% chance of bringing home a baby. This allowed us to decide if we wanted to so a la carte... pay for one round of IVF and a transfer then additional would be any added FETs, etc. This includes ultrasounds associated with procedures. Or poma care, pay more but if you don't have success with every one of your transfers (for how ever many embryos you have), you'd get whatever percentage of your money back based on the system they ran your numbers with. So we did poma care and if we didn't walk away with baby, we got 90% of our money back.

He did not let us do more than one embryo due to risks foe mom and baby. This was non negotiable and I asked all of the time! We knew we had healthy pgs tested embryos too.

Dr Opsahl is a very thorough doctor. He's great at looking at the big picture of every patient and adjusting treatment as necessary. He was usually very kind and patient, but sometimes he gets a little stressed during the months where many people are going through IVF cycles at once.

Don't waste your time going to other Fertility specialists if you need IVF!! I went to another local fertility clinic before Poma, and I had a terrible IVF cycle there. Poma's lab is phenomenal, and Dr Opsahl is an incredibly intelligent man. Dr Opsahl takes amazing care of his patients.

I used an estrogen priming protocol with both of my egg retrievals. I have low ovarian reserve and high FSH, and this protocol seemed to really help me! I also didn't use birth control before my cycles because my body doesn't handle suppression well. I used high doses of stimulation drugs, and I think it hurt the quality of my eggs. I had a lot of embryos between my two retrievals (around 25), but at 5 days I only had 5 were good quality. If I were to go through another egg retrieval with Dr Opsahl, I would ask to do lower doses of stims.

I believe our IVF cycles were $10k a piece. I also spent $6500 both times on medications. We spent another $3,000 on PGS testing. I think for two cycles it was around $35,000.

De Opsahl recommended I transfer two of my 'fair' embryos because they weren't going to make it to freeze. I was able to PGS test and freeze my 'good' embryos. I ended up pregnant with a singleton.

We have been told by all our doctors that IVF was not something we had to even consider, that our tests looked good and just needed to looked at by a fertility specialist. He was 20mins late to our appointment, and when we told him we were not interested in IVF, he immediately said that is what we needed to do. He was dismissive of our questions and made us feel completely blindsided. He also said that all my tests would likely show worse results because I was about a year older than when they were taken. Said we should start IVF right away and sent us to finance. Felt like we were buying a car. The nurses all remarked that there was no way we could get pregnant because "vasectomy reversals require IVF"...TOTALLY FALSE. It all felt very rehearsed and the doctor has clearly drank the koolaid and is in this for money. We left in tears, completely traumatized. I did go back to do bloodwork and ultrasound. Wouldn't you know, some of my tests IMPROVED ornstayed the same. The doctor and his office are absolutely awful, lack professionalism, and give out incorrect information. My naturopath and acupuncturist had other women around that same time go to Poma and report similar experiences and as a result, stopped referring women there. It was just a terrible experience all around and the lack of compassion was disgusting.

To go elsewhere or at least get a second opinion.

He said that due to the vasectomy reversal and sperm analysis, 9ur ONLY option was IVF. They do an extra test on sperm called the 'AR' test...which I later found out is unreliable and other clinics do not use it or have heard of it.

Most was covered by our insurance with the exception of the sperm analysis...which was more due to an added test that other clinics do not recognize as valid (AR test)

Dr. Opsahl was recommended by a friend-of-a-friend who conceived under his care with her own eggs and sperm as an older, first-time IVF patient (38). We had come from another clinic in the Seattle area and were hesitant about changing clinics. Our first meeting with Dr. Opsahl did not go well. He is not overly warm, very direct. As a teacher, I may need a little more "hand-holding" than he is capable of offering. He was very clear in his expectation that we would have almost less than a 7% chance to carry a child to term (age 42, own eggs). My husband felt that he did not want us as clients due to my age. Although Dr. Opsahl's information and delivery was off-putting, I thought about the reference we were given: that this doctor would handle each step of our treatment personally--each ultrasound he would complete, each mock transfer, and the transfer itself. This was a deciding factor in proceeding with Dr. Opsahl at POMA Fertility in Kirkland, Washington. A specific example of our experience after our frist of two egg retrievals for insemination: I was hopeful and we were discussing the embryo quality in his office after retrieval. I was told that we had, "...one quality embryo...and one poor quality embryo." With a quick smile I said, "So they are all rockstars, right!" And he repeated, "...one quality embryo...and one poor quality embryo." My heart sank. I realize now, especially since he was the second doctor we had worked with for treatment, that he did not want to raise our hopes beyond a realistic expecation. However, his delivery, although accurate I'm sure, felt void of feeling and I left worried and disappointed. Dr. Opsahl never mentioned donor eggs for our treatment. I never mentioned donor eggs, either. I find this surprising now, after being a part of so many support groups. It seems many women of my age are not offered treatment due to their age and doctors do not want to work with the eggs of a woman over 40. Positively, I never found that to be the case with Dr. Opsahl. He relayed clear expectations of our chances to conceive, even though they were bleak. I was not at a point to discuss donor eggs and I appreciate his willingness to work with us. He recommended two retrieval cycels, one frozen and one fresh. These combined cycles would be allowed to grow together for the best results and greates number of transfer since it was not expected that our embryos would make it to genetic screening. We followed his advice and had two retrievals that resulted in one transfer of 5 untested embryos. One resulted in a healthy, bright, bubbly baby boy who just turned 13 months old!

The advice I would give to a prospective patient of Dr. Opsahl's is: prepare to be "low-balled." I think he will work with the worst-case scenario so as not to raise expectations. This can be painful to hear. However, the personal care you will recieve will outweigh the discomfort of the moment. He will know your case, your body, your goals and work with you!

Second Treatment for fresh retrival (age 42): 10 days of injectable hormones Day 1: Menopur 150 iu in the am Gonal F 450 iu in the pm Day 3: estrogen and bloodwork Day 6: ultrasound and bloodwork Trigger shot: 10,000u (Pregnyl @ 5,000iu) Ganirelix.25mg, Crinone 8% gel, baseline ultrasound, and baby aspirin My fertility treatments began with a uterus hystogram (not sure if that is the right terminology). The mapping of my uterus and tubes for blockage. No blockage was found. Many find this procedure painful but I did not have any growths or blocked tubes and so I found it pretty akin to a regular pap smear. Secondly, I underwent an ultrasound for a baseline measure of uterine lining. I was then placed on injectable hormones for a period of 10 days. My injections were in my stomache and daily. I was able to self-inject all medications. I have heard of inter-muscular shots and they sound horrific and many needing help to complete their injections. These were never discussed or prescribed. Although my stomache became a little bruised and tender, it was well worth the discomfort. I used a trigger shot for my egg retrieval. I went to the clinic so that my last ultrasound and mock transfer could be completed. I was placed under anesthesia and my eggs were retrieved. Our first retrieval included sperm injection. My husband began taking supplements and sperm injections were not needed for our second retrieval. Five of six surviving embryos were transferred on Day 3 of lab growth. Our embryos were not pgs tested. Our last remaining embryo did not survive the night. We were successful in carrying one child to term with a low positive blood test of 38.

First retrieval, frozen transfer: $10,610 (cash discount from $10,875) Second retireval: $6,275 (cash discount from $6,430) $305 thaw of first retrieval embryos $5,000 per cycle (not paid to POMA Fertility) $2,290 PGS (refunded) $650 Anesthesia labs $350

Due to may age, 42, eSET was not an option. It was highly unlikely that any of my five transferred embryos would take and quite possible that we would need another transfer of any surviving embryos. We agreed to transfer the maximum of untested embryos for my age--five. This is the MAIN REASON we chose to change clinics and proceed at POMA Fertility--our other clinic would not transfer more than two embryos, regardless of the age of the patient or quality of the eggs/embryos.

Dr. Opsahl was wonderful, hands down. If money wasn’t an issue, I’d run back to him today! Even though our IVF failed, he allowed me to be pregnant, even for a short while. He showed compassion through the tough days, he listened to our concerns and gave exceptional care

Write down all your questions before your first consult

I don’t remember much... Fresh transfer we used crinone and Lupron. The other 3 transfers I opted out of crinone and use the progesterone shots. I had severe OHSS after our fresh transfer. I had to be drained every other day for 2 weeks. All transfers we used estrogen patches and 2 of them we used estrogen pills vaginally.

$16,500 plus meds. This was a guaranteed route. We had as many transfers as embryos and once we ran out and didn’t have a “take home baby”, we were refunded 90%

We did single transfers up until we failed twice. We decided to transfer two to double our chances but it failed too. Dr. Opsahl was always cautious about multiples because the pregnancy could be hard