REACH

Dr. Wing is the expert. It’s so apparent in the way he explains and reviews all things related to infertility. Not only is he the expert, but he is compassionate and understanding. He takes his knowledge and skills and meets you where you are to ensure you feel confident in your understanding of what he is reviewing.

Take your list of questions. Dr Wing will answer them all and thoroughly. He is patient and kind and truly cares.

Dr Wing recommended IVF with ICSI due to male factor fertility with both of our IVF cycles. Our first cycle, we did a fresh transfer which resulted in a live birth and the most perfect beautiful daughter. Our second cycle, we did a fresh transfer and miscarried. We then did a frozen transfer that failed. We still have 2 frozen embryos and are awaiting to meet with Dr Wing to determine next steps.

Monitoring appointments can be intimidating especially because at these appointments you can be made to feel like more of a number than a human. They are very rushed and in and out for the most part. It’s like Black Friday and everyone is fighting for the pair of shoes at the top of the tower or in better terms first in line for when the doors open at REACH.

Total for 2 cycles: $45k

Dr Wing was adamant about only doing a single embryo transfer due to my younger age and embryo grade.

He is blunt and gives you details without sugar coating which is appreciated. We have been seeing him since Covid so all of our visits with him have been virtual but have still felt personal. I know we were probably difficult patients because we couldn’t come to terms with needing IVF. Dr. Whelan walked us through the process and was patient with us.

Listen to what he has to say. Even if it isn’t what you want to hear, process it and know that he does have your best interest in mind.

We are at the beginning of our treatment but he already got us set up with a genetics lab to create a probe for the genetic condition my husband and I have.

We have only spent some fees but we are estimated to spend $12,000-$20,000 in total.

None.

I'm happy we found Dr Katz, Someone recommended me to see him after being disappointed with my other experiences, Best recommendation ever! He is honest, helpful and works with you for what you need. I'm not pregnant yet but we are working together on it.

listen and trust him.

Pcos and male factor (low morphology) We agreed about to start letrozole 2.5mg two of them each day for 7 days starting the third day in my cycle, 6-8 pm every night. The letrozole helped me to ovulate and I had normal cycles (3) but we didn't get luck. I'm about to have my next appointment to talk about the next steps in our treatment.

$1000 Ovulation induction

I really like Dr. Wing, he is kind and has a good bedside manner. He answers questions in a very straightforward manner. He is very busy and sometimes was late for appointments, or our meetings seemed rushed. Most visits are with the nurses or the PA, you have to make a separate appointment to see Dr. Wing.

Make a list of questions to take with you ahead of time. Don't be afraid to ask for specific numbers, such as statistics on the outcomes within the clinic. It can be very overwhelming and difficult to remember everything you need to ask.

I started with two courses of IUI - once with letrozole, which I did not respond well to, and once with Clomid, which had a better response. Neither resulted in pregnancy. I then did Clomid only (without IUI) for 2 months before moving on to IVF. We did one round of IVF but we knew going into it the chances weren't good, as I have very low AMH. It was not surprising when we had very few eggs retrieved and no viable embryos to transfer. Dr. Wing offered another round of IVF, but we decided against it because of the cost and low chances of success.

Monitoring appointments were a breeze! They are from 7-8:30am, so I would show up around 7:45 and almost always was out of there by 8:15, usually sooner. I was never late for work which made the treatment more manageable for my schedule. Everyone at the Lake Norman location is incredible friendly and welcoming, starting with Wendy at the front desk!

Each IUI was about $1000, plus the cost of meds. IVF was about $13,000 plus meds, which for me was almost $4000. Unfortunately I have terrible health insurance that didn't cover any of it - but many insurance plans provide some coverage. REACH also offers a multi-cycle program that reimburses you if you do not conceive, however I did not qualify due to low AMH.

Dr. Katz is clear and direct. He tells it like it is but not in a way that's scary for me. I can tell he wants the best for us and wants us to be pregnant. He is willing to work with me to find the best option.

Trust your doctor, don't expect warm and fuzzy but do expect honestly and truthfulness.

1. Stimmed for IUI/TI with letrozole and gonal F - overproduced 8 follicles so switched to a egg retrieval + invocell cycle (with Dr. Wheelan) -- Retrieved 8 eggs, 5 eggs went into the device, 3 fertilzed day 5 embroys, fresh transfer (failed) 2. Lupron protocol for FET, estrogen pills, PIO shots, day 5 blast failed 3. ReceptivaRX test positive for endometriosis 4. Stimmed for egg retrieval, GONAL F etc.. full stim cycle, only retrieved 4 eggs, 3 fertilized, 2 were normal, 1 made it to day 7 blast 5. PGS test on 1 frozen day 5 embryo and fresh day 7 embryo - both genetically abnormal 6. Looking into donor eggs at this point, will do Lupron Depot protocol for endo treatment before FET at some point 7. Since we are benched due to COVID at this point I am doing an unmonitored medicated cycle with 5 days of letrozole

No problems, sometimes it was busy but they ran everyone though well

I have spent almost 40k so far and I am not pregnant yet

Dr. strongly recommends ESET at this point but will discuss multiple if appropriate

Dr Johnson was great. I feel she listened to my concerns and worked with the other doctors to come up with a plan for me. My situation was very unique and took several months to resolve. I do wish that we had skipped IUI's and went straight to IVF.

Give her a chance, she is very knowledgeable. Trust her judgment.

First IUI we used Clomid, next IUI was a cancelled Femara cycle, third IUI attempt was Femara and Estrogen cycle but was cancelled, last (2nd) IUI was injectables.

The monitoring appointments works as a well oil machine but it does move quickly and you will feel like a number. The monitoring is completed by the on call doctor for that day and you won't get specific instructions until later that day. The good news is, it does move quickly so you do not waste hours of your day at a Doctors office.

IUI's were 1200-1400 a piece. We were fortunate to have Insurance coverage for IVF but the retrieval was roughly 16K and transfer was 4K. A cancelled transfer (paying for the monitoring and testing) was 1200

Embryo transfer numbers are directly related to your specific situation. If you are young, healthy, and have no other risk factors they highly suggest only transferring one embryo as a multiple pregnancy comes with risk factors.

While I didn’t see Dr Wing often during treatments I loved his team. He was very thorough in the consults and data results meetings. It would have been nice to have him do the treatments instead of a doctor I didn’t know at all. I understand that’s how it’s done but that wasn’t explained upfront.

I would explain to them that he is going to try to explain everything going on but you probably won’t see him for your actual treatments. I would also tell them that he has a great nursing staff.

Each iui was about $500 plus medications.

Dr Wing is a great doctor. I felt like he answered all our questions particularly in the first consultation and did not rush. When I did get pregnant he did both my ultrasounds and again answered all my questions. I really do not have a lot of negative things to say about him.

Ask questions about both IUI and IVF and request different medications if IUI does not work the first time especially if you have unexplained infertility

The first two IUIs I did chlomid and trigger shot. I had a chemical pregnacy first IUI and miscarriage the 2nd. The next 6 IUIs we tried different medications and added in injectible meds. I am about to do IUI #9 before moving on to IVF and we are going back to just chlomid and trigger shot.

the first few IUIs were covered by insurance but once we maxed out our benefits they were $1062 each

I found Dr.Katz to be very warm and understanding. He was very compassionate to the issues we had been having and our fears. We brought a long list of questions to our consult and he answered everyone without ever making us feel rushed. He also was very LGTBQ friendly.

Make the most of your time with him and don’t be afraid to ask to speak with him when you are having issues. He will fix whatever problem for you.

We went to Dr. Katz for our second IVF cycle after being diagnosed with poor egg quality and not liking our previous doctor. He was wonderful and decided to do a very aggressive med protocol to try and get us as many eggs and possible. We didn’t do birth control like our previous cycle instead we did Lupron. We did gonal f, Omnitrope, low dose HCG, cetrotide and HCG trigger. We ended up with 15 eggs, 11mature, 9 fertilized, they all grew slow after that so we ended up with one day six and one day seven. We sent for pgs because we had no pgs normal our first retrieval. This time the day seven ended up being pgs normal. We transfer it in October! Dr. Katz felt the Omnitrope would be the big help with pgs results being improved so I am hoping that is what made the difference.

Long wait times depending on when you arrive in the monitoring window of 7am to 830 am. Efficient once you are seen.

The cost ranged quite a bit because I had medical coverage.

Dr. Katz was clear he would only transfer one embryo at a time.

L. Johnson is very is very knowledgeable. She reviewed all of my lab results and why she chose initial plan of treatment. She also brought me back in to talk about next steps after cycle failed. I don't know why L. Johnson has a lower score. As a doctor she was great.

Ask questions if you don't understand

stimulation involved gonal F 450, land low dose HCG, then added cetrotide , then lupron trigger. Had to stimulate an extra day due to follicles on one side not growing as big. Then progesterone in oil prior to transfer. 4 eggs retrieved, 3 mature, 2 fertilized via ISCI. 1 embryo arrested on day one. 2nd embryo slow to develop and arrested on day 6. Transfer cancelled.

1 ivf cycle was $12,295 plus about $5,500 for medications. Had to order an additional gonal F pen because ran out with unforeseen additional stimulation day added

after failed cycle, I was told to try vitamin supplements and testosterone cream to help with egg quality due to being at advanced age I wish this was suggested prior to first cycle to see if it would have made a difference.

He is very thorough and knowledgeable. He will take the time to explain things. He will explain your options and give you time to decide what you want to do. He is very matter of fact and blunt, but does want the best for you. He isn't present at every monitoring visit and occasionally it may be hard to get a response.

Don't expect the warm and fuzziest, but expect honesty and answers.

I have done monitored medicated cycles with Clomid 50 mg and an Ovidrel trigger shot. We chose this due to our budget. Currently in my second cycle. My body has responded and follicles have grown after the Clomid. My first round I did take a progesterone test and confirmed that I did ovulate which means the trigger shot did it's job. However, we did not result in a pregnancy. So far this round, I had two mature follicles before triggering and now we're waiting for results. The doctor told us it may take 3-5 rounds to get pregnant using this method.

It's been about $220 plus $220 for meds each monitored medicated round. That includes ultrasound and copays. Before treatment, my HSG was about $2,000 because I had to do it at a hospital.

He was a well trained and experienced doctor who I feel did all he could to help us have a baby. He was very straight forward and informative on what to expect. He did exactly as he said he would. We would use him again!

Be ready to hear exactly what is going to happen and although he can be very forward he is a knowledgeable and well trained.

Two egg retrieval’s after rounds of fertility drugs. Had embryos frozen to take Lupron from enrodemetrosis for three months then did embryo transfer and had a full term healthy baby boy. :)

They were fast and you knew what to expect. They were respectful of your time.

25,000

My experience overall with Dr. Johnson has been good. I wish that she had performed all my IUI’s but only did 1 out of the 6. She was good at explaining the treatments but I really felt like she was not good at maneuvering through every Tilly treatment and that is not going according to textbook. I had polyps growing in my uterus that they were monitoring during the first 3 IUI’s and I think a lot fell through the cracks because it took 3 IUI’s to determine if the polyps were growing or not. I feel like we wasted those 3 IUI’s. She also didn’t mention anything about an injectable IUI till we had done 5 IUI’s and were discussing with her about moving forward with IVF. I feel like some things fell through the cracks because she wasn’t there performing all my IUI’s. I see now how important that was to me. I think things would have been caught and resolved a lot sooner. She is very thorough when it comes to explaining all that the fertility treatments will entail. I would t say that she’s compassionate but more to the point. Very type A personality. During one of our appointments we had to wait for 2 hours because someone misscheduled our appointment with her to discuss IVF. They kept giving us he run around for 2 hours saying that she’s almost ready for us but they were just stalling us. I feel like that was more fault on the clinic and not the Dr. but it would’ve been nice for her to offer to not have us pay for our appointment since we had to wait so long.

Do your research before going to see any RE because I feel once you know what the fertility treatments are all about then you can ask the right questions. I feel like I went in not knowing much and wish I did so that I could ask more targeted questions.

For the first 5 IUI’s we did the following protocol: clomid (only for the 1st IUI because both my husband and I had horrible dry eyes from it — they switched me to letrozole and my husband to anastrozole. I haven’t noticed any severe symptoms on these medications.) We both came into the clinic for bloodwork and I did an internal ultrasound. I came back into the clinic 2 more times for bloodwork and internal ultrasound before the actual IUI procedure. I would take the letrozole for 5 days and then do an ovidrel injection (trigger shot) 2 days before the IUI. They would call and tell me based on my bloodwork and ultrasound when I would need to come in for the IUI. For our last fertility treatment we did an injectable IUI. It’s like a regular IUI but with more injections. We had very similar monitoring but I had to keep coming back every other day for them to monitor my follicles because they were growing a little slower. They originally said that I would have 4 injections total but did 7 total because my follicles were growing slowly. I did 6 gonal-f infections at 50mg each and one ovidrel injection. All my IUI’s were unsuccessful.

IUI — $1000 Ovidrel — $100 Letrozole — $10 or under Gonal-f — $300-400

She is a good balance of candid and compassionate. She maintains good eye contact and she really listens to what you are asking. The only drawback is usually they were running behind schedule.

She is one of the more balanced providers at REACH, meaning not too blunt, but not too soft in her approach.

We tried several IUIs and none of them resulted in pregnancy, but she was open to whatever we wanted to try- IUI or IVF.

IUI is 1,026. Plus meds.

We have not done IVF yet (we will in a few months), but she said we will do a single embryo transfer for the first 2 attempts.

I'm so lucky that I was paired with Dr Whelan at my first visit to REACH! I honestly felt like I had done a ton of research on my PCOS condition before meeting with Dr Whelan, but he provided so much more information than I was able to find on my own online. I was so grateful that he was able to provide me with exact causation, through blood panels, to explain the physiological changes I had undergone since I had stopped taking my birth control . My regular OB wanted me to just keep trying naturally to have a baby, even after diagnosing the PCOS, but luckily I used my gut instinct and made an appointment at REACH because we found out that we also had a male infertility factor at play, and some of my hormones were so off the chart, that conceiving naturally just wouldn't have been an option. He has a great way of explaining things in such detail that you can tell he's really knowledgeable on the subject, but also isn't throwing jargon at you to make it confusing. I have had a pretty lengthy period of just getting from my first visit at REACH to the start of the stimulants for IVF, so I have seen Dr Whelan a decent amount of times, but not each visit is with him personally, which is okay because he doesn't necessarily need to be by my side for each ultrasound. Anytime we met with Dr Whelan, I never left feeling confused about our next steps.

He loves to talk. So make time in your schedule. Don't be rushed.

IVF with Frozen egg transfer and ICSI Prescribed Gonal-F (150units to start then upped to 225 for the last 3 days), Cetrotide (used 6 boxes), and HCG (20ml). Ended up with 31 eggs retrieved, 15 mature, 8 fertilized with ICSI procedure.

The monitoring portion experience was really hit or miss. Sometimes I'd go in right when they'd open and have only a few people in front of me in line, and sometime's I'd go in and there'd be 25 people there. They only see people from 7-9 (sometimes I was quoted 8:30) to ensure they get same day results back (which I understand), but they should have more staff available to get people in and out. With my job, sometimes I didn't have the option to be at work past 8am, which made it difficult. My first visit I got there around 7:20 (as I thought they opened at 7:15) and didn't make it to work until 8:40am. They do things so quickly that I wish they had a little more time to be more personable about your visit. On my 13th day of stimulants,I was greeted by the same limp-wristed handshake of a PA and her standardized questions ("How are you today? I'm ____ and I'll be doing your ultrasound today. How are the medications going?"), and at that point, I just felt like crying. I didn't feel like a person but a number, and I was already stressed and uninformed about why I was not ready for my trigger shot for egg retrieval, and the fact that she didn't even pretend to remember who I was, since I had just seen her less than 24 hours before, was frustrating.

My insurance coverage is 90/10 after a $1500 deductible. I spent almost $1200 out of my HRA account for all of my visits before even starting the first IVF cycle. I was originally quoted around $2900 for my out of pocket portion, including a $1K non-billable piece. However, what I was quoted as my coinsurance and remaining deductible was not correct. It should have been more around $1900. At this point, instead of correcting it before making the payment to start my treatment, they told me to just pay the $1K non-billable and they'll bill the rest, so I'll just owe a balance at the end. I was encouraged to pay for my medications out of pocket versus using insurance as they'd likely jack up the price on the meds, and I only have a $15K lifetime maximum on infertility treatments. The total cost of my medications was $2400 purchased from SMP Pharmacy.

I love doctor Johnson, she is always compassionate, positive, and knowledgeable. She is very careful to move your treatment along in the least invasive but thorough fashion possible. She helped us conceive our son, and is currently working with us to conceive another. My only complaint is that I don't see her often in the course of treatment and scheduling a meeting with her can take awhile.

Schedule ahead of time if you need a consultation! She's very busy!

Our over all strategy for treatment was to be as minimal as possible because my partner and I are not high income. We did several medicated and monitored cycles with letrozole and clomid (during different cycles) we also used an ovidrel shot for each of those. When they didn't work we moved up to IUI with Clomid and Ovidrel. Our first try did not work, nor the second. Our third was cancelled because I only developed an egg on a blocked tube, but I actually got pregnant that cycle! This time around I tried 4 medicated cycles, then we moved up to IUI with letrozole, Gonal F, and Ovidrel. The first was a fail, the second we added progesterone and a higher dose of Gonal F. It resulted in a chemical pregnancy. We took a month off after, and are planning to do one more IUI before moving on to IVF because of my age.

We were completely out of pocket with cost. A medicated cycle cost $675 I think, plus the cost of medication which added another $200 or so. IUI was about $1200 with about $600 in medication. There's also bloodwork that may be covered by insurance and the cost of HSG test which was covered by our insurance.

Dr. Katz was personable and positive. He was ready to answer all questions and layout our plan and made changes as we went. I was a little disappointed in the lack of follow up. After discovering I had a fibroid and removing it, I was unsure of next steps but had planned to start medication and never heard back from Dr. Katz.

Ask all the questions you want and be prepared to reach out when needed.

After confirming my PCOS diagnosis, Dr. Katz started me on Metformin, got me prenatal vitamin samples, set up testing for my husband and saw something on an ultrasound so he set me up for an HSG. The HSG confirmed a fibroid in my uterus. He performed surgery to remove it and spoke of starting letrozole on my next cycle. He said that letrazole had better results for people than clomid.

HSG was about $750

Dr. Katz has always answered my questions and put me at ease. He is good at what he does even if it's not always what you want to hear. I felt more comfortable knowing I was in capable hands whether it was just monitoring or my surgery.

Go in with an open mind and trust him. He will not stear you in the wrong direction.

Cycle monitoring $700. Laparoscopy $1200. Copay $55.

He has been great to work with and I would recommend him. However, there is so much uncertainty in my treatment plan to say if we will become successful. We are in another diagnostic phase due to having to failed transfers.

Be patient

Last protocol was mini stim

Again, I wish I could have seen my dr more frequently.

Around $50,000 since we have begun.

She is excellent at communicating and making sure you understand exactly what you can expect. We felt very comfortable with the knowledge we walked away with. She wanted to make sure we start with the best choice for us given our unexplained diagnosis.

Utilize the patient portal.

Clomid 50mg for the first 2 IUIs. The first one I responded well with 2 follicles but only produced one good follicle with the second one. For the third IUI she upped my Clomid to 100mg days 3-7.

$750 per session of iui

Na

Dr. Wing is very professional and knowledgeable. He was not always sympathetic, but was always very honest. My husband and I always felt like we knew exactly what to expect, even though it was not always what we wanted to hear.

That he will always be honest with you, but he will not give up.

I cannot remember the first 2 cycles, which I know used Lupron. The 3rd and 4th cycle were antagonist cycles, as well as the addition of omnitrope.

I hated these appointments. I felt like a person on welfare waiting in line to receive their money. I had to arrive at the clinic at least 45 minutes early to ensure I was either 1st or 2nd in line in order to make it to my job on time. This was one of the worst things about IVF.

I don't have an exact number, but we are somewhere around $95,000 total.

He would always ask. We always did 2 embryos as until the last round, that is all that made it to transfer day.

She was kind but initially commented that my weight was the reason I couldn’t have a baby. I was 200lbs at the time and had already lost weight. It made me feel dismissed and judged. When I told her that and she did some more testing she became more understanding and kind in her treatment.

Be clear about what you want and need.

We did a medication that started with an L, letrosol I believe. Did ultrasounds until I was ready ovulate and then did a trigger shot. After the first two failed IUI I told her we could not afford to have more than one more cycle so she added gonal f to the protocol and I got pregnant and had my son.

Each IUI was roughly $1000 for the treatment and ultrasounds but the medication ranged from $300 to $600 on top of that cost.

Not applicable

My experience was kinda of a lot due to the fact of a lot of patients were there at one time. Also my experience was rushed. Each appointment was rushed. Or I was just giving my chart and told to go somewhere to give blood. I was always giving blood and nothing else. I only saw Dr. Wing a total of twice. But I saw other people as well so the information was all confusing. The clinic was large. Two floors. A lot of workers.

Take all notes each appointment and get all the information you can about financial information if you need extra help. Get every bit of clarification.

There was no treatment. All I did was keep giving blood, never giving meds to start my treatment, wasn’t even told when to start anything. I was just paying for stuff I wasn’t sure about. I was asking what I’m paying for but people wasn’t telling me much.

More then I felt it should be. It seems like I was payin for stuff I didn’t have done yet also double for things as well.

We honestly didn’t talk about this. We only talked about IUI and IVF treatment when I met Dr. Wing the first day. Other then that he didn’t tell me anything about eSET or multiple embryo transfer.

Dr. Katz was very thorough in his explanations, and what the next steps would be if I made choices to proceed with treatment. He was a good listener to my concerns and answer any questions that I had, or questions my husband had. I never felt rushed at any of the office visits.

Come prepared with questions.

Dr. Katz suggested laparoscopy in order to make a diagnosis for the infertility. Results were blocked fallopian tubes.

Cost was expensive. The bill I received did not reflect final insurance payment, so I had to call and discuss to get it refiled again.

He gave his opinion that multiples were high risk, and the babies could be very sick. And that his clinic is actually "docked" (or would be in the future) for multiple transfers, since the medical cost after birth far exceeds single transfers.