Sound Fertility Care

Dr Lin is terrific! I never felt like I was in a baby making factory, like I've heard my friends describe their clinics. She was warm and friendly, candid, honest, and full of information. We were treated like humans who were dealing with a sensitive topic. I always felt like she took my opinions seriously as well, which was really important to me.

Make sure to ask lots of questions if there is anything you don't understand!

We started with a typical antagonist protocol, as on the surface I seemed like a straightforward patient. Young, no obvious problems, etc. Our first IVf cycle was kind of a disaster, because all our embryos dropped off after Day 3, after having had a good start. The second cycle, we tweaked things to deal with that Day 3 drop off. We did a long lupron protocol, and froze all Day 1. Later, we transferred on Day 3 and were able to save some additional embryos on Day 5. After a second failed transfer, we started to investigate my uterus and found inflammation. Our next transfer was a chemical. But, now we were out of embryos. This time, we decided to do a little embryos banking as we finally had insurance. For our 3rd egg retrieval, we went back to an antagonist protocol but added in human growth Hormone, and we were able to freeze 6 embryos! The following cycle, we did the same thing and froze an additional 5 embryos. We were able to do PGS testing this time because of that insurance, and we found that only 3 were normal, which is pretty typical of endometriosis patients. Now that we finally had some quality tested embryos, we did a course of Lupron to quiet any endometriosis before attempting another transfer- this time which was successful!

The billing was murky in the beginning because of changing staff, but I believe I paid roughly $35k for two egg retrievals, 2 or 3 transfers, one IUI, and initial testing. The rest of my treatments were under insurance. Also, my medications were roughly $5k per egg retrieval, and $2k per FET.

She takes time, I never felt rushed in raising one more concern. I brought papers and studies to her and if she didn’t know the authors, which was often the case, she dug into them with me. I truly felt like a participant in my own care.

Be patient, she is usually running behind, but you will be thankful she takes all the time that’s needed with you when it is your turn. Best to go with a little bit of work to do or a book. Her staff take it all in stride and make waiting bearable.

She recommended DuoStim because of my age (42) and we used donor sperm for the first cycle and my husband’s sperm for the second. Up until that point, RE’s has told me ours was an egg quality problem. We knew we had male factor and my eggs had to undergo ICSI so she suggested we try donor sperm which did not require ICSI, and we got a genetically normal embryo out of that strategy.

Her IVF cycles are more expensive (we are out of pocket) than SRM and PNWF but the amount of her undivided attention is far and away more than I experienced at those other clinics. She is 100% with it

She supported, maybe even preferred genetically screening embryos and she and I agreed that transferring only one of those at a time was prudent.

Dr. Lin has a wealth of experience in female and make factor infertility. She wanted to get to know us, not just our fertility history. She provides straightforward information and is compassionate when needed. I have felt very well cared for.

I recommend taking notes from the beginning. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or communicate when if there are issues with your protocol, billing or clinical experience.

IUI #1: Clomid (100mg for 10 days), Ovidrel (250mg). Post IUI: Endometrin (100mg daily). Results: negative pregnancy test. *Polyp discovered mid-cycle and removed after. IUI #2: Clomid (100mg for 10 days), Ovidrel (250mg). Post IUI: Endometrin (100mg daily). Results: positive pregnancy test, misscarried at 10w (unknown cause).

Per cycle: IUI $895 (included visits, ultrasound, insemination) Semen testing & prep: $175.00 Meds $300

If you are looking for a Doctor (and nurses and staff) who will go through the emotional infertility journey with you and has a genuine interest in learning about you and your body and what’s going on, Dr. Lin with Sound Fertility is wonderful at just that. I wanted a place where I felt comfortable and cared for since this can be a very hard time. I was used to waiting in Doctor’s lobbies for far too long and then feeling rushed once I got to see the Doctor because they were so busy. With Dr. Lin, I never felt that way even though I know she is busy. She always listened to my concerns, answered my questions thoroughly (and multiple times in different ways when I didn’t understand), and even challenged me when I wanted to do things one way but she recommended other ways (which worked out to our benefit and I’m forever grateful to her for this). Along the way we had multiple set backs but Dr. Lin and her staff always kept me and my husband informed and calm and focused on the end goal. This was beyond helpful because it’s hard to not lose hope but as cheesy as it sounds Dr. Lin and the nurses helped us not stay in that place for long and held our hands through this. It was great to go somewhere where I could laugh (and cry multiple times) with genuine people. In my humble opinion, this is necessary with something as fragile as infertility. Another positive is that Dr. Lin is the only Doctor you will see which creates a consistent, well informed relationship where she can make the best decisions because she knows your situation in and out which is hugely valuable in an emotionally stressful time. I just had my first baby and my husband and I will be going back to see Dr. Lin and staff so they can help us once again, when the time is right, for baby #2.

Be patient with the process, trust Dr. Lin and don't give up

I did 5 rounds of IUI. I was supposed to do 6 before insurance would cover a round of IVF but Dr. Lin didn't want to do another around because she was confident it wouldn't work again and didn't want to put me through this, so she wrote a letter to my insurance. A couple weeks later we got approval to move forward with IVF. With the egg retrieval we got 8 eggs, 2 made it to day 5 and did a fresh transfer with one and froze the other. Originally my husband and I wanted to transfer both (we were open to having twins if that happened) but Dr. Lin sat us down to walk through the potential risks associated and ultimately we decided to take our chances with one and it was a success.

I was lucky in the fact that the insurance with my job covered infertility.

I trusted Dr. Lin but pushed back on her with this decision. She welcomed my reasoning and really wanted to understand why. From there we had a meeting going through everything associated with a multiple embryo transfer versus a single and discussed both our view and why we wanted multiple and she discussed her view and why she thought a single for our situation the first time was best.

Dr. Lin is incredible. She is very obviously brilliant and exceptional in her field. We have always felt so confident in her abilities as an RE. On top of that, she is personable, relatable, kind, and compassionate. She takes time to build relationships with her patients, even though I don't understand how she could find the time (or the brain space!). We always felt like she cared about us and listened to us. After our second round of IVF that resulted in our very first pregnancy, I had some bleeding at 6 weeks. I called her after hours, crying and scared. She was so reassuring and calm. She even called me several hours later to see how I was feeling - both emotionally and physically. This was a Saturday night! She has always gone above and beyond to make sure we feel cared about and because of that, we trust her wholeheartedly.

Be patient, ask questions. Know you are in the best hands possible with Dr. Lin.

I don't totally remember (sorry!) but generally - I had both of my fallopian tubes removed due to blockage. Dr. Lin helped me through that surgery. Then we did a round of IVF with a single embryo fresh transfer. The birth control I was on prior to the cycle really suppressed my system so we had a hard time with the stimulation phase - which came as a surprise to all of us. The embryo transfer did not result in a pregnancy. So for the next round, Dr. Lin made several adjustments and I ended up over stimulating! Which was actually a better outcome, as we were able to freeze three embryos for later transfer while my body healed. Our frozen transfer was so easy, no surprises, and had no complications. We transferred two frozen embryos and I got pregnant with my daughter! I am currently under the care of Dr. Lin for an FET, hoping for a sibling!

Cost was a major factor for our first round, as we were paying out of pocket. Dr. Lin's clinic is one of the lowest IVF costs in Seattle.

At first, because I was only 29, we elected to transfer one fresh embryo. That cycle was not successful. So the following round, we transferred two (FET) and that resulted in a singleton pregnancy. For our current round, we also plan to transfer two embryos, since that seemed to work last time! She did originally encouraged us to only transfer one the first time - but we all made adjustments after that cycle failed and moving forward we plan on transferring two whenever possible.

Our experience with Kat Lin differs from other patients because we are long distance patients. After numerous failures on her part, we ended up switching doctors. If others were a patient living in Seattle, she might be completely different. I found her to be extremely intelligent but very busy. She always seemed a bit rushed and a little stressed.

Do not choose her as a doctor if you are needing long distance treatment.

We never got to a treatment plan. Once we had finally decided to pursue IVF, Dr. Lin stopped attending scheduled phone conversations.

The projected cost of treatment was MUCH more expensive than our other clinic.

I felt well cared for under Dr. Lin. She explained procedures and possible outcomes thoroughly. I felt like she cared about me as a person and would be there every step of the way through the IVF process.

Dr. Lin herself is great. However, it is the disorganization of the other staff, both in office procedures and in financial management, that ultimately made me go back to another clinic for my fertility care.

I can't remember the specifics of treatment.

It was hard to get a straight answer but it seemed comparatively more than the other major clinic in town.

strongly recommended single Embryo transfer only

Dr. Lin is a wonderful, brilliant doctor who genuinely cares about her patients. I loved that I saw her every visit and could always reach her. But she's the only doctor at Sound Fertility, which comes at a cost. I know some think she has a bad bedside manner, but I disagree. She treats me like I'm a smart person and she's not there to be my therapist - she's too busy for that.

Ask lots of questions and be patient.

Everything Dr. Lin did felt specific to my condition. She frequently asked me about what I wanted and let me contribute to my treatment decision-making.

Dr. Lin is a little more expensive than other places. $3500 for FET, $11K basic IVF cycle without meds, transfer, anesthesia, genetic testing, etc., $1200 IUI

Dr. Lin follows the guidelines, so she favors eSET, which I appreciate.

We saw her for every visit. Wait times for appointments were sometimes long but she is thw only doctor there. Takes her time with each patient and is very understanding. She even saw us after hours for our first natural cycle iui because I ovulated over the weekend. Her approach to treatment was so different from our last doctor and I liked thag.

She books up quickly and appointments can run late

We tried 3 natural cycles. First 2 using opks with no trigger. The 3rd cycle using opks and a trigger. All negative cycles. We tried natural cycles first because I didn't have any issues ovulating or producing a mature egg each month. 4th cycle was a combination of letrozole and folistim which produced 2 mature follicles resulting in a positive beta. We tried medicated cycle to increase our chances with 2 eggs vs. 1.

Around $3000. Everything went through insurance.

Dr. Lin made us feel at home from the start. She did a great job analyzing my husband and my communication styles and adapted her style to fit ours. She took on my fairly complicated history of losses and was basically like “I don’t know what has caused this in the past, but we’re going to do everything we can to get you a healthy baby.” She was optimistic and reassuring from the start. Also she’s ridiculously smart and a great doctor!

Be totally honest from your first meeting.

Started with IVF, conventional treatment. I had 44 active follicles so we dialed back the stims. I still had 30 eggs retrieved, 28 were mature, 12 made it to freeze, 7 were PGS normal. I’m in the middle of a medicated frozen embryo transfer, estrogen and progesterone supplements. I just got my first positive pregnancy test!

I’m terrified of twins, Dr. Lin encouraged me to only transfer one due to my age and possible complications with twin geriatric pregnancies.

She is very straightforward about the options and ways to work around some of the challenges we’ve had. She is also very good about connecting us and helping to facilitate the larger treatment team within her clinic

Be open about your questions and concerns. She’s open to looking up impacts of medications or past conditions, and honest in sharing her thoughts on risks/impact on fertility

We are wary on and after not finding any particular issues with our fertility, has recommended IUI.

Too early to tell

She considers multiple births to be a failure, so to us that’s a very clear approach and aligns with our overall hopes for family growth.

Other fertility doctors could learn a thing or two from Dr Lin. She is compassionate, honest, caring, and seems to honestly want to figure out the reason for our unexplained infertility. The other clinic I went to (pnwf) seemed to look at me like a number, or a dollar sign. The more ivf transfers the more money they get. But Dr Lin seemed to genuinely want our transfer to work on the first try. She did an ERA test beforehand, pnwf didn't do that. The PGS testing was done at a clinic that tested for many more abnormalities then the clinic pnwf uses. And everything she did worked, because I have a beautiful 5 month old son now thanks to her! I owe her everything, she's changed our lives forever in the best way possible.

If Dr Lin doesn't get you pregnant, do not think it was for lack of effort. She will do everything she can to make it work.

An ERA test was done 1/2/18 to determine the best day of the month to transfer an embryo (this was never done or thought of at pnwf). Pre egg retreival: End of Feb 2018 started estrogen patches. 3/3-lmp. 3/5-u/s and blood work, start Gonal-F and menopur injections. 3/7-stopped estrogen,continue Gonal-F and menopur. 3/9-u/s and blood work looked good, start Cetrotide injections. 3/10-have intercourse (out with the old sperm:). 3/13-appt w/dr lin..can't recall what for and i didn't write it down. 3/14-Gonal-F boost of 600 units, tonight trigger at 12:30am. us showed approx 11 good follicles. 3/15 egg retreival day postponed to 3/16 to give ovaries one more stim day. started doxycycline 100mg. 3/16-egg retreival day, got 10 eggs. 3/17-call from Poma there are 6 embryos. 3/22-day 5, two of the embryos made it to blastocyst. Biopsy (PGS testing) of the two done. 4/6-appt w/dr lin to go over results. We got ONE healthy embryo. FET: 5/1 started bcp. 5/8-mock transfer. 5/9-start vivelle estrogen patches, change every 2 days. 5/16-u/s and blood work, everything looking good. Started estrace pill vaginal insertion. 5/28-Transfer day! Progesterone used was crinone vaginal suppositories. This all resulted in a beautiful normal baby boy we are so in love with!!! I did use castor oil packs (ordered from amazon, not at the direction of dr lin but something i had read about) before the transfer, every night. I had never done this before, did it help give my uterus strong blood flow? Maybe. We'll probably never know.

ERA test $870 out of pocket. Monitoring for the ERA (u/s and blood work) -$540. Matrix anesthesia for egg retrieval-$650. Meds (for egg retrieval and transfer)-$9837.24. Coopergenomics(pgs testing)-$1050. Dr charges-two check payments made to sound fertility of 13,325 and 4,180. The self pay package for one IVF cycle is 13,325. I’m not sure what the 4,180 was for. So out of pocket roughly $30,452.24, may be more, but this is all I have documented in my notes,

I only had one healthy embryo to work with!