Sound Fertility Care

Great doctor, great clinical staff, and scheduling is easy. Appointments are often behind, because you see Dr. Lin in almost every visit. Billing and financial counseling need improvement. Billing is slow and estimates are not always accurate. We have provided Dr. Lin with feedback, which she appreciated, but I’m not sure how much it’s improved.

Dr. Lin took the time to get to know me and my husband. I see her every visit and she provides clear information specific to our cycles, not generalized. She also handled our pregnancy loss with compassion.

The clinical staff are great. They are helpful, provide great information and support and, like dr. Lin, are very compassionate.

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

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 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.

I became close with most of the staff at Sound Fertility. I became so close with one nurse, Juniper, that she was my Montrice when I gave birth to my baby girl. The staff was always so kind and helpful throughout the process.

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.

The primary strength of Sound Fertility Care is that it is a one doctor practice. It makes all the difference to have Dr. Lin at every appointment, doing every procedure. Weakness would be nursing staff turnover, parking (its $7 every time I visit the clinic, which adds up!), and I hear there is a waitlist, although that has never applied to me.

Kat has an incredible memory. She remembers details we told her in passing. I have always felt like she is listening to everything we say and cares about how we are feeling. I feel like she takes time to know us, as people and as a couple. The whole reason we went with Dr. Lin is because she treated us like a human and not a number. She truly cares about her patients and their success.

There seems to be a lot of turnover with the nursing staff - so I am not sure what that means about the practice. That said, she has been hiring amazing nurses and a lot of them are actually midwives so the compassion and bond we have with them is incredible. Dr. Lin has hired a staff of very smart, compassionate females.

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.

Kat Lin is very accomplished and the office is nice. She also has the added benefit of being certified in both male and female factor infertility. However, be cautious if you are a patient that does not live close as you may get shoved to the side during her busy schedule.

My husband and I have been long distance patients throughout out infertility journey. During our initial visit, we underwent a TON of testing and she informed us that she would set aside time to speak with us once all of the testing was complete. During our follow-up, we asked if we could speak with her, she seemed frustrated that we were asking but reluctantly gave in, then and she was rushed and annoyed during the conversation. After traveling thousands of miles to see her, I expected better. Then, she missed phone appointments four times within the course of a month (September 12 at 1:00, September 21 at 3:45, September 22 at 1:15, September 22 at 4:00). Each time I had to call the clinic and let them know she had failed to call in. Only once did the clinic apologize. After the last appointment, I stopped trying and found another clinic. It is my opinion that her practice grew too big too quickly and she is unable to adequately cover the number of patients under her care.

Compared to the nursing staff at the other clinic we used, this nursing staff is positively abysmal. When pursuing IVF, you would expect them to answer portal messages but sometimes it would take a week or two for them to get back to me. With my other clinic, I could expect a response within 24 hours, no matter what.

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 absolutely hated the clinic and office manager / Financial Coordinator. Nothing was transparent. I couldn't get a straight answer in terms of how much I would have to pay out-of-pocket. The office manager also made.me feel terrible that I couldn't get pregnant. It seemed like she thrived on sadness. She also wrote all the costs out by hand while I was meeting with her, resulting in a disorganized, hard to understand mess of how much certain cycles would cost. I had to have her explain the different options multiple times because it was so unclear. I ultimately went back to another clinic because they had organized, itemized print outs of how much everything would cost. I cannot recommend the clinic based on that woman's demeanor and lack of clarity regarding financials.

She seemed very involved with her practice and patients. She made it clear she would be the one handling most of the procedures.

Seemed somewhat inexperienced. I didn't fully feel comfortable with her.

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

Strengths: It's a small clinic so everyone knows your name. Weaknesses: Wait time is terrible because it's small, billing is absolutely horrific. It's also frustrating to have to rely on labs and certain tests at other clinics because this office is so small.

Dr. Lin genuinely cares about every one of her patients. She remembers most everything about my care, is always prepared, and always has answers to my questions.

Some of the nurses are incredibly helpful, kind, funny, thoughtful, sympathetic. Others are terrible, with zero bedside manner and borderline incompetent. It's hard to rate them as a group.

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.

Location is difficult to find parking, although convenient if using public transportation. She is busy and can book up quickly and appointments often run late so wait times can be long. Staff and everyone was great. We have had somr confusion with the finance department thete but it was just a lack of communication. We did not have this issue until we stopped seeing her.

So caring but yet realistic about treatment.

Evertone was great. Communicated test results same day and everyone was very understanding and caring.

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.

Billing office responsiveness is a bit slow. Even though they have a portal messaging, billing office does not seem to respond except from requests from front office. I’d recommend removing billing office from being able to send portal messages if they’re not going to check them.

She’s been honest with us about the risk factors and recommendations regarding treatment

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.

Even though Dr Lin is the only doctor, she will be there for you if needed any day of the week. They dont treat you like a number at Sound Fertility, you feel like family. The only weakness I can think of is seattle parking, it gets expensive.

Dr Lin was wonderful. She did not see us like a number, she recognized us and remembered things we talked about and always was upbeat and positive. I cannot say enough good things about Dr Lin.

Very caring and thoughtful. Didn't feel like a "patient" but more like a family member.

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!