Shady Grove Fertility

I believe Dr. Widra is very experienced, but I did not feel that my treatment protocol was particularly individualized and he did not have any interest in trying to uncover what could be causing infertility/miscarriage. As a result, I had several concerns with my treatment protocols that he did not address and our outcomes were different from what he had led us to expect. He also very rarely communicated directly with us and almost all interactions were handled by his nurses. I also felt that because we were likely to have a positive outcome eventually, my case was not prioritized and my treatment timeline was longer than necessary.

Ask as many questions as possible, and if something he says does not feel right, don't be afraid to raise it. I felt that he was not comfortable with having his treatment protocols questioned, but he was willing to explain his reasoning or make changes if you were persistent.

We did two medicated cycles with letrozole and timed intercourse that were unsuccessful. At the time, Dr. Widra thought I could have PCOS and it was unclear whether IUI would make a difference. Later, our diagnosis was "unexplained" and we did an IUI with letrozole that led to a pregnancy and miscarriage due to a chromosomal abnormality. This was my second miscarriage and at that point we asked to go to IVF with genetic testing. Dr. Widra agreed this would likely be the most efficient treatment. For my first cycle I was on fairly low doses of gonal-F and Menopur because he still thought I could have PCOS, but I ended up getting a fairly low number of eggs. We did a freeze-all cycle with PGT-A testing. After the retrieval we were encouraged to do a FET immediately, even though we had been very clear that we wanted to bank embryos for future pregnancies and we did not have enough embryos to achieve that. We ended up doing a second egg retrieval with higher levels of gonal-F and Menopur, which led to more eggs being retrieved but fewer making it to the blastocyst stage. The successful embryos were frozen and underwent PGT-A testing, and then we proceeded with a medicated FET that was successful.

My health insurance (Cigna, employer sponsored plan) covered all infertility treatment up to $25K after the deductible was met. Without insurance, the cost of each round of treatment without medications would have been between $15-18K. The clinic also offers shared risk and special rates for multiple rounds of IVF, including a refund if you do not have success.

Dr. Widra had a strong preference for eSET, and we agreed. He said that particularly since we were doing an FET with tested embryos that eSET was the best option.

We had issues with communication and did not feel supported when we had to make serious decisions. It would be difficult to get a complete overview of the facts of my case from Dr. Nair. She always seemed too busy and in a rush to answer our questions. She would often describe my result in vague terms, and we had to push her to get actual numbers - for example what my fsh/amh levels were. When she advised that we were going to be withdrawn from the shared risk program she joked, “now you guys can take the money and go buy a boat!” She meant it to be a joke, but it was quite hurtful in the moment and revealed that she didn’t seem to be really in touch with the pain that we were going through.

Try to work with a different Dr.

We were told a fresh transfer was the best way to go, and at the time we didn’t have the knowledge to question this. We tried clomid and I “over responded” once leading to a cancelled IUI cycle. We next tried IVF and when I asked why we didn’t try clocks in conjunction with this, it was brushed off. I now understand this is done by other clinics, so I’m not sure why it was disregarded. For two cycles of IVF, I was on Lupron, Gonal, and Menopur.

IUIs: approximately $10,000 IVF cycles: approximately $40,00

Dr Moon was great for the initial consult and we came to her from a recommendation. We never saw her again. She was thorough and explained things fine, but she felt more like a salesperson given that she never performed any medical operations.

Don't bother with Shady Grove - they are terrible. The doctors don't really matter in the end, you only deal with the clinical and administrative staff.

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$19k for egg retrieval $8k for drugs $1,500 for required social work $1,000 for genetic counseling $3,000 for miscellaneous fees

She allowed multiple embryo transfer but advised us against it.

In our initial visit, she made the complex topic of infertility and IVF very clear. She gave me her time, details, and sketched out diagrams, more than the two other fertility centers I had been to previously. With Brianna, I felt I would get the time and care you would expect given the nature and price tag of the treatment. She described how easy it would be to get plenty of healthy embryos with a Shady Grove egg donor. They had excellent and thoroughly evaluated egg donors. Just pick one of their fantastic egg donors and a sperm donor and voila! She was so confident about how easy it was to make healthy embryos with Shady Grove’s expertise and one of their egg donors. I saw very little of Dr. Schumacher after that appointment. I received a long list of items to complete and a few folks that were supposed to walk me through the process. It took me 6 months. I never really understood who to contact for what and at what point the doctor came back into the picture. One of the times I did see her, she said to work with her team, and they would handle everything and make sure I got what I needed. Working with her team felt very impersonal and confusing, and as it turned out, I was never getting all of the information I needed. And being handed off from one person to another with no crossover, essential checks and balances got lost. Ultimately, I lost 30K because of the lack of accurate information and the lack of attention to the process as a whole. Here are the details – I went with a 1:1 egg donor cycle with a 25-year-old Shady Grove egg donor. I had insurance for 2 transfers, and I planned on using it. All in all, it cost ~30K. And Shady Grove received about another 30K from my insurance company. The result: Instead of 18+ eggs retrieved, there were only 9. Only 4 were mature eggs. Those eggs resulted in 2 embryos with chromosomal abnormalities. 1 with Downs syndrome and 1 with Klinefelter’s (XXY). I was told to expect 8-12 mature eggs from a 1:1 pairing. This donor was originally a 1:3 that I asked to be converted to a 1:1. From that, they would expect 4-6 healthy embryos, worst case. Ideally, I could expect 6 or more. Dr. Schumacher was overly excited about the embryo with an AA rating (prior to PGS testing) and wanted me to be excited. She did not tell me the rating of the other one, even though I asked. I was not ready to get excited because most people who can do a simple internet search know that the rating does not correlate to the chromosomal health of the embryo. She should have counseled me to be cautiously optimistic until the results came back. Even in the beginning, she was advising me that I didn't have to do PGT-A testing because there normally weren't any problems with a 25-year old's eggs. I felt that Dr. Schumacher's advice, process, and attitude were reckless. She neglected our discussion that I am 47 years old, maybe had a chance left, and did not have any more money to try again. Had she considered that she would have been involved with the selection of a donor and advised me appropriately. I was never told that a 1:1 pairing “could go wrong.” They sold it to me as a guarantee. Hence, why I chose to spend the 20K for a 1:1. Nor was I told by the financial department or Dr. Schumacher that there is a guarantee with a 1:3 pairing of 4 mature eggs or your money back. When I asked, "So you can pay 10K and end up with nothing?" Heather’s response was, "Yes." This is incorrect. If you don't receive 4 mature eggs, you get your money back. If anything, the financial department’s job is to make sure you completely understand all the financial aspects of the contract. Prior to payment to secure my donor, I had several back and forth emails with Finance about how their documentation was confusing. There is no guarantee with a 1:1 pairing. Shady Grove just said - sorry we were wrong about this donor. It happens sometimes. And they accept no responsibility for requiring you to select from the egg donor list that they have hand-picked and evaluated. Shady Grove told me these details only after things went wrong. It took 2 weeks for Dr. Schumacher to call me with the PGT-A results. For 2 additional weeks, I did what she told me to do – be excited that there were 2 healthy embryos. She sent me an email with multiple exclamation points about how I should go out and enjoy the sun. “I just checked on your embryos and it looks like we have one BEAUTIFUL embryo frozen for you today (AA - the highest grade!). We have 2 more that we are still going to watch for 2 more days. :) Let me know if you have any questions!!!! Otherwise, have a great day! Enjoy this sunshine and warm weather - it's sooo nice out!” Finally, we connected so she could confirm that Shady Grove had set fire to my 30K. There were no healthy embryos. The AA rating embryo was found to have Down’s Syndrome. They have offered that if I pay an additional $38K, we can start over, and Dr. Schumacher will be personally involved this time. To be fair, this does include transfers. However, it means I won’t be able to use my insurance. She will review the donors with me to ensure that we are successful. We will only select from donors that have been used before and have produced healthy results. When I asked Dr. Schumacher why she didn’t review this with me the first time (I am 47, and this was the only 30K I had for treatment. I only had one opportunity with an egg donor.) She said, “ummm to be honest I normally do have this conversation with people .. it’s one of the first conversations we have when it comes down to selecting a donor, um I usually review all the donors and I have patients send them to me so I can go through them specifically, uumm I don’t remember specifically um the conversation that we had and it sounds like we didn’t have that conversation and so I apologize if it wasn’t um you know I mean usually we do have this conversation usually I’m very involved in the donor selection process, I’m not sure what happened um in your case.” In order to come up with that money, it will have to come out of my 401K. Take-Aways • DO NOT use an egg donor that is new and untested. With Shady Grove or any fertility center. Or you could end up in my situation. Choose an egg donor that has already been tested and ask what the results were. Know as many details as possible about the health of the eggs and embryos and living children from that donor. Let someone else play the lottery with a new donor. • Confirm with Finance and your doctor, your understanding of the contract and do it in writing. Make sure they reply back and confirm. • You are just a number with any center that you go to. It's up to you to make sure your doctor and your center are following an appropriate standard of care. • The profit margins on fertility treatment are significant. Do not accept a low standard of care. • Shady Grove is not any different than RMA or Main Line (Tangent – The most wonderful nurses in Dr. Gocial’s office.)

She will make you feel comfortable and explain everything in a way you will understand. She is very engaging and wants to get you excited about how amazing their treatment is and how easy everything will be in their hands. Unfortunately, to the detriment of the truth and reality. Then she will disappear.

We didn’t get that far since the 1:1 egg donor match from Shady Grove was unable to produce any healthy eggs or embryos.

21K for a 1:1 egg donor retrieval, 5K PGTA testing. 5K for storage, surgery and sperm.

Dr. Schumacher will not transfer more than 1 embryo at a time to my knowledge. Regardless of patient request.

As unexplained infertility patients, it was really a bummer that we didn't find any answers or did any extra tests to have a more accurate diagnosis. Although I really appreciated that we went into the IUI cycle in full immersion, trying everything from the beginning. I wish there was more interaction with him, also if it was just via email

expect no special treatment

we did day 3 to 7 of letrozole since I already tried clomid with my OBG with no success. It follow with Gonal f on day 7 and 9 and then we went in for blood work at day 11, when they realized I had too many mature follicles. The dr who saw the result (no Swelstad), called me and explain that there was a high risk of multiple pregnancy, so it was protocol to stop the cycle. If we decided to go ahead and have timed intercourse (IUI was out of the pics at this point), we should have consider the possibility of selective reduction in the future. We agree that that wasn't a problem and went ahead. We are now in the 2 weeks wait

we didn't pay for the first appointment, only for the meds (around $300 +/-), second ultrasound and blood work ($150 +/-)

Dr. Timmerick didn't seem to care about us as patients and was always very rushed. Her responses were passive at every meeting, which was only two or three times during my 3 attempts at Timed Intercourse.

Dr. Osborne's bedside manner isn't great, but it's not the worst I've ever seen. Fertility clinics seem to be extremely nervous about getting a patient's hopes up, which means they are so neutral that they veer into actually withholding information, and being obtuse. I found Dr. Osborne to be this way. For example, I couldn't get a straight answer from her about nutrition/supplements to before/during egg freezing. Overall I sometimes felt like I was talking to a customer service or sales rep instead of a doctor - she just was unable to be personable.

Come prepared with all your questions, and don't be afraid to press further if you don't get a full answer to a question, or one that you understand.

Age: 38, AFC: 18, AMH: 1.58. Doctor expected ~13 eggs per cycle, of which ~9 would be mature. First cycle was way less successful than expected, so they used the same protocol but increased the dosage significantly. Then 3rd cycle they used a different protocol. First 2 cycles: birth control, then antagonist protocol (Gonal-F, Menopur, Cetrotide, Leuprolide trigger). 3rd cycle, no birth control, estrogen priming instead, then same antagonist protocol, except HCG instead of Leuprolide trigger. 1st cycle: 5 eggs retrieved, 3 mature 2nd cycle: 12 eggs retrieved, 8 mature 3rd cycle: 14 eggs retrieved, 9 mature

$12,500 for an egg freezing cycle: 20 mature eggs or 4 cycles, whichever came first. For 3 cycle, I paid the pharmacy ~$15K. SGF also tried to bill me for blood tests and a consultation with the doctor in between cycles. I was nickel and dimed.

At first glance, Dr. Johnston is very intelligent and knows her stuff. However, when a doctor tells you any alternative treatments you're doing is not going to help, or it's as if a cancer patient is choosing herbs over chemotherapy when you take charge of your own fertility, they're belittling you as a patient and a person, as if to say it is poor judgement on my part. I think if she had chosen to be more empathetic and compassionate with her words, we might have continued our work together.

If you do not feel supported in your journey and you're given limited options, do yourself a favor and find a new doctor.

In the end, because we were disqualified from the shared risk program, our saved funds could only cover two cycles at Dr. Johnston's clinic. We decided to move forward with a different clinic for treatment.

12,000 per IVF cycle, not including meds, PGS, ICSI, cryo-preservation, OR multi-cycle discount for 18,500 (2 cycles) were what I qualified for, unless I agreed to donor egg IVF and I would have qualified for their shared risk program.

I am all around disappointed. Honestly, from the start I was a little put off by feeling like a number. It’s the closest clinic to my house, so, I stayed when I shouldn’t have. Dr, Khan did take the time to hear me out most of the time when we had a meeting. But, he was quick to wave off newer studies I’ve found. I let him because he’s the doctor, not me. My test came back with high FSH and possible clotting disorder. Otherwise “unexplained infertility”. I asked if I should take baby aspirin, “it’s not part of our protocol” I pushed back “will it hurt if I take baby aspirin. Since it could help prevent another miscarriage?” “no it won’t hurt anything”. Alrighty fighting for clarity and treatment as an individual and it was only the beginning. One medicated timed intercourse failed. Then I set up for an IUI, our insurance doesn’t cover it, in Northern VA fertility treatment is very pricey. I then went to my primary doctor who ran regular tests and found my thyroid was off (hypothyroid). A few days before IUI I told my clinic about my thyroid levels they “‘made note of it”. Went ahead with the IUI. It failed. I then discovered that my levels were way off for fertility and could be a reason for infertility and early miscarriage. When I brought this up to doctor Khan he said “yes. Your thyroid is not optimal for fertility. If you’d like, go and see an Endocrinologist”. That was the last contact I had with this clinic. I won’t be returning. They took my money and instead of holding off on the IUI that was perhaps destined for failure from the start and waited for my thyroid levels to regulate, they did the IUI. And I had to figure out for myself that my thyroid being off needed to be taken seriously. So frustrating and disheartening. You must be your own advocate. Ask questions. Do your own research!

Do your own research. Be your own advocate. Ask all of the questions. Be persistent. Also, don’t be afraid to go somewhere for a second opinion.

From my understanding for timed intercourse and IUI - its all the same. I did not do any IVF rounds or egg retrieval’s. For T.I and IUI - take clomid or letrozole starting day 3 of your cycle. Then around day 12 you go into the office for blood work and ultrasound to count follicles to see if you’re ready to take the trigger shot (ovadril). Trigger shot and two days later go in for the IUI. Then follow up with progesterone suppositories until negative blood test. Continue them if positive. My lining was thin during my T.I. and I had to take estrogen suppositories until negative pregnancy test.

My insurance covered the medication for timed intercourse. That price was under 70$ for the clomid, ovadril, and progesterone. My IUI was not covered my insurance, $1,800 for IUI then $175 for medications.

We didn’t do this.

I had one office visit with Dr. S and one telephone visit. Each time, it ended with me in tears. It was mostly because of his lack of compassion...if you need that from your fertility doctor, you will not get that from him. My husband was ok with his bluntness and lack of bedside manner, but it just elevated my already sensitive feelings. He made me feel worse than what I was already feeling due to my problems with infertility. He is also quick to jump to IVF which was also a problem for me. He never gave me a diagnosis which also troubled me since he was so quick to “prescribe” IVF. I can’t say it was anything I liked about him because I only had 2 visits with him. And those 2 visits were not pleasant. Nurses and other doctors completed my IUIs and I’m only allowed to communicate with him through his nurse. The nurses are not much better and blow off my questions I asked about non-invasive treatment options.

Don’t look for compassion...he is very blunt. So if you need that compassion, you will not get it from him.

Dr. S ordered the “regular” initial treatments for us. Without having a diagnosis for our infertility. He suggested 3 rounds of IUI with Clomid. After the 1 failed IUI with Clomid, when I went for the 2nd IUI, I had developed cysts (detectable via ultrasound). He then advised I skip that cycle and try another IUI cycle the following month. Since I don’t have any fertility diagnosis, I didn’t want to keep taking Clomid since my body was not reacting positively to it, so I asked him if I could do an non-medicated IUI. He complied and I did a 2 and 3rd cycle of non-medicated IUIs. Both failed and the of course the next treatment option recommended is IVF. Instead of trying to figure out what our issue is or at least taking the time to rule out issues, IVF is suggested. I just think it would be wise to attempt to find our issue so the IVF has a chance of being successful. I realize someone couples have unexplained fertility, but that means due diligence was given to find a diagnosis. I’m so confused how they would continue treatment on me not ever attempting to see if they can find my issue.

My insurance paid 50% and I would have to pay the other 50% at the end of each visit.

Dr. Bromer quickly and easily established a rapport with my husband and I! He has a happy and genuine personality that keeps the mood positive during a very emotional time. We have been thankful for his straight forward and thorough professional oppinions. He tends to encourage couple's to slow down for optimal outcome rather than rushing to treatments that haven't been fully thought through. We love Dr. Bromer!

Take his word and trust him because he truly wants to see you and your spouse become parents it just may take time to come up with the best plan for you and your family!

We were referred to Dr. Shin (urologist) to further asses male factor complications. We worked thoroughly with Dr. Shin for almost 8 months . Dr. Bromer continued to keep up on our file and check in. We are about to begin IVF after egg retrieval and a male microdissection due to azoospermia, with donor sperm as a backup to insure IVF is completed. Dr. Bromer and Dr. Shin have worked phenomenally together and with us!

$1900 for shared risk program, $8,500 microdissection, $1200 varicocele repair, $120 clomid, $3,000 genetic testing for me and my spouse, $1000 for donor sperm, this doesn't include thousands for copays for consultations, follow-ups and blood work.

Dr. Katz seemed compassionate but also seemed over focused on the donor egg option. We felt he treated us only because we wanted to be treated and that he did so with a very pessimistic viewpoint. He didn't seem to want to spend time understanding our unique situation and adapting the treatment protocol accordingly. He seemed to rush from our first treatment into the second and the second option was just larger doses of the hormones rather than trying a different approach. Needless-to-say, we had to cancel the second cycle because my body didn't respond to the hormones.

Do a lot of research ahead of time so you can be your own advocate. Know that his clinic does not adapt or try a lot of new protocols so if the ones they use don't work for you, you most likely will need to go somewhere else.

My protocol started with birthcontrol (Nuvaring) for about 20 days, then we went on lupron for 10 days, followed by menapur (350) and follistim (250). After testing, he increased the follistim. The rationale was to stop the body, and then to try and ramp up egg production so that we could retrieve as many as possible. I only retrieved 5 eggs, 3 fertilized, and none made it beyond day 3.

Thankfully, we did have insurance coverage. However, even with it we paid $35 per visit, had a $200 initiation fee, and had to put down $1,200 before starting IVF. After one and a half cycles, we owed the clinic an additional $1,000. We had put down $3,500 to do genetic testing (which we never did). When we asked for it to be refunded, they said they had to wait until all of our bills were processed with our insurance company before they would release it. We still have not received it - making the total (with insurance) around $5,700 (so far - I do not know if we will receive more bills).

He would only transfer one embryo at a time. He said multiples was too much of a risk.

Dr. Levens is soft spoken, but has a great bedside manner. He is not aggressive, so if you are looking for someone who will take a more proactive/aggressive approach, then he is not the doctor for you. He does explain things in great detail if you have any questions.

Since his methods are very much cookie cutter and slow/methodical... He is good for someone young and just starting out in the process. If you are older, I would suggest seeing a different doctor.

His approach is the typical cookie cutter approach from Shady Grove. Remember, you are just a number here.

IUI: $1,800; IUI with injectables: $2,400; IVF: $10,500; FET: $4,600

He is focused on getting one healthy baby at a time.

She is ready for retirement, you can tell she is tired and ready for a break. She is the only doctor at the Fredericksburg location and the level of care shows that. Her nurses make up for it, but you won’t feel like a priority with her.

Do your homework. Know what you want from a treatment cycle and be prepared to push for what you want. Ultimately she only decides the course of treatment and you’ll rarely if ever see her after that.

Lowest dosage of all medications and we quickly had to shift to a higher dose over a weekend which led to a poor retrieval count.

Efficient. Check in, get a blood draw within minutes. There was usually a good 15min wait for the ultrasound but all in all you were there for maybe 30 minutes.

100% covered by insurance

From what I understand, there is no option. They only allow eset

She was fairly rude, dismissive, and seemingly uncaring. I did not find out until much later that it is a company policy that they do not treat overweight women (based solely on BMI). Not upfront with information.

Know that you are treated as a walking BMI, not a person.

I could not have treatment because I did not fall under their BMI limit.

Pending

Very sweet and patient. Just didn’t want to change medications each negative beta. Other then that he was kind and explained everything. A little too nervous about having multiples so kept doing the same protocol. I think changing up protocol would of been nice. Maybe it would of worked. I felt listened to in the beginning but after the second IUI, I didn’t.

Go in with an open mind. Ask all of your questions up front. Especially with billing. They were horrible. Hidden fees or not explained charges. Make sure you let them know what YOUR plan is as well. Tell them what you expect up front. He does listen and understand. Just takes a bit.

Literally only an IUI with clomid and ovidrel. Over and over. I was t allowed to change protocol even after asking after each failed IUI.

Costs were horrible due to billing making mistakes. They weren’t sent to insurance correctly and were being double billed. Lots of issues. And it takes hours to get ahold of someone at billing.

Strengths are that she makes herself available to her patients. Weaknesses is that she doesn't review charts appropriately and has patients repeat the same tests multiple times. She also allows her personal bias to cross ethical boundaries. She essentially delayed my treatment because I refused to approve genetic testing. I am African-American they screen for sickle cell anemia at birth. She heard my husband say he has a history of it on his side of the family and took it upon herself to tell me she wouldn't select an embryo with sickle cell trait or sickle cell anemia for transfer. This is beyond medical advice and crossed into telling a client what they should and shouldn't do with their own embryos. At this point imaginary embryos that have not possibility of developing sickle cell anemia. I essentially was discarded to the side because I didn't sign a consent form for genetic testing.

Advocate for yourself.

Didn't make it this far. Dr. Li and her nurse gave me the runaround and then disappeared before the lab closed for quality assurance.

Initial workup was 2000 for the testing and repeated tests. Mostly covered by insurance. They quoted me 10000 for IVF.

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Dr levens was great. I wish we spoke more. When we did speak he was kind, helpful and full of answers to my million questions. But we only spoke before the process started. After that it’s onlu been 2 phone calls where he gave me results

Egg retrieval with genetic testing due to my many miscarriages

Thumbs up.easy In and out.

$6-$8k with insurance and genetic testing covered by participating with a study

I want the IUI procedure to be done by Dr.Browne.. she takes interest in doing the right way! My first 2 IUI’s were performed by a nurse in Fairfax hospital as my dates were on a weekend. The nurse did not care as much as Dr. Browne did. Dr. Browne was very specific to get it right. I could literally see the compassion between a nurse practitioner and Dr. Browne. I feel all my pain has gone waste for my 1st 2 IUI’s.

I want IUI procedure to be performed by Dr.Browne. She’s very particular and makes sure she’s doing it right. I couldn’t see the same thing in the nurse practitioner. The nurse did iui in <5 mins.. Dr. Browne was so specific while doing the procedure.

1200$

Dr. Katz has an awkward bedside manner, joking around inappropriately and just saying uncomfortable things sometimes. We would sometimes have a list of questions and he would just tell us to ask the nurses. At our very first visit he asked why we were even trying to use my eggs (I was age 38 at the time). We felt like he never really wanted to give us a chance with them and wasn't invested in the outcome.

I honestly wouldn't go to him unless you're just starting out with fertility treatments and are willing to try a bit without much on the line. If you've already been trying for some time, I'd go to somebody more compassionate and invested.

BCP for 3 weeks, Gonal F 200mg, Menopur 75-100 mg, Cetrotide at the end, IM trigger shot in the butt. Had 3 fertilized eggs at day 3, only 2 at day 5. We waited til day but neither was a blastocyst so they were discarded and there was no transfer.

Once I waited 2.5 hours.

Insurance covered most

Dr. Reh seemed competent and was friendly and good to talk to. I did feel at times like she was obligated to try to sell extra services. However, this is only based on one in-person meeting, one phone call, and one voicemail. Most of my interaction were with other staff at shady grove, which were not always as positive.

Try to get more time and check in more with Dr. Reh herself— she seemed like she knew what she was doing, but it got lost in translation being relayed through multiple layers of staff.

I did three unmedicated IUI which resulted in negatives. (One of these was monitored, with a trigger and prometrium after iui, but I’m not sure Dr. Reh had anything to do with that protocol choice— it seemed to come from the nurse.) the next planned steps were/are a medicated iui and then she suggested an IVF cycle with PGD.

With 50% coverage on my insurance, the cost for appointments was $105-$135. (However, when the insurance snafu happened, I became aware that the self-pay option was actually about 5-6 times that amount.

Please see my above comment about his bizarrely unprofessional behavior. He was awful. He made unprofessional "jokes" about punishing me, and wouldn't leave a room so I could get dressed.

Don't go to him.

I was scheduled with him by the clinic. I was completing a medicated IUI cycle.

Dr. Osheroff did not really do any of my procedures or monitoring. We only saw him when it came to an office visit and he did do my last IUI. Part of me believes he did the third IUI to basically say he believed it was done right since they have all failed. It is very discouraging when you get the negatives. I wish it was a little more personal and heartfelt, but Dr. Osheroff is very intelligent when explaining different things.

Dr. Osheroff gives the negative or positive when it comes to results/ next steps. Other than that just depend on your nurse to give you the information you need.

I have been prescribed clomid because I am an insulin resistant PCOS, I do not ovulate on my own. First approach was 4 months of clomid with intercourse, all unsuccessful. The IUIs were thought to work because my husband has only a 3% morphology, after the wash he has about 7-10 million usable sperm. We tried 3 months clomid with IUI, all unsuccessful. Dr. said we could continue doing a few more IUIs, but doesn't suggest it.

My insurance doesn't pay for anything infertility. Had to pay for all testing/ medications (don't remember costs- maybe over $1,000?) IUI was about $2,000 each with medications. ($6,000 total) If we do an IVF it is $15,000 for one procedure and that does not include any storing/ extras.

Dr. suggested we transfer one or two embryos, but no more because a risk for multiple pregnancies. If we have the option, the more the better-- two would be what we would want for a greater risk to have babies. Growing up you never think to yourself that you would love to have multiples, until you have infertility issues and then you think you can handle anything that is thrown your way!!!!

He’s very knowledgeable and makes sure you understand what he is saying and that you fully comprehend his treatment plan. That being said, he’s a little odd and I felt slightly uncomfortable the one time he did an ultrasound on me.

Make sure to ask all of the questions you have- he really does do a good job of explaining everything.

3 cycles of clomid, ovidrel, and preogesterone suppositories. I have PCOS and the clomid was used to stimulate follicle growth and the ovidrel was to ensure I ovulated within a certain timeframe. I’m on the third cycle now, but the first 2 ended up with negative results.

Timed intercourse was 100% by our insurance. We are discussing moving on to IUI next and that cost is $1800.

Dr. Levens is always very thoughtful in his approach. He explains everything as thoroughly and simply as he can and also takes the time to answer any questions. He keeps up with all of the latest research and gives his honest opinions about IVF treatments. We were slightly disappointed that he was so focused on the medicine side of things and didn't entertain any thoughts we had on a more holistic approach. Though he wasn't involved in all of our procedures, due to scheduling constraints, he was thoughtful enough to call afterwards. However, the calls usually came later in the evening, and if you missed one the only number given was the general office number, which made getting a hold of him frustrating. When our last cycle failed he set aside adequate time so that he could be sure to answer all of our questions and let us grieve. The only fault we found with this session was that he assured us that I had responded well to the updated protocol when we actually retrieved fewer eggs than the first cycle. When I asked what he would do with a third cycle, he responded that he would go back to the initial protocol and push the trigger medication at the end. This made us feel that the protocol didn't actually do what he had hoped, and it almost felt as though he was trying to save face.

Do your research and go in with questions. Make sure you find out everything that you need and want to know.

Antagonist - Vivelle Protocol. No birth control pills due to my Factor V Leiden's (heterozygote) disorder. Priming cycle: Vivelle patch, ganirelix First cycle: Follistim and Menopur; Pregnyl for "Trigger"; Zithromax taken day before retrieval; Progesterone in oil taken pre-transfer. This resulted in 10 retrieved eggs, 6 mature, 5 fertilized, 1 embryo. Embryo was biopsied for pre-genetic screening and came back normal. Embryo resulted in a chemical pregnancy. Second cycle: Gonal F, Menopur, and microdose Lupron (to hopefully aid in producing more eggs); Pregnyl for "Trigger"; Zithromax taken day before retrieval; This resulted in 6 retrieved eggs, 5 mature, 5 fertilized, 0 embryos. Dr. Levens commented that several of the follicles didn't have viable eggs to retrieve which is why if he did a third cycle he would attempt to push the trigger harder with Pregnyl as well as Microdose Lupron.

Because I was 39, I was ineligible for their shared-risk program. Our insurance doesn't cover infertility so we paid everything out of pocket. Precycle costs (hysterosalpingogram, sperm testing, genetic testing, blood hormone tests, etc): At least $2,000 2 cycles, unlimited transfers: $18,500 (we only had 1 transfer) $5,000 PGS for up to 6 embryos (we only tested 1 embryo) Sedated transfer: $500 Discounted medications for 2 cycles around $12,000