Throughout my IVF treatment with Doctor Alyaa Elassar, I felt like a human rather than a number. This was because every time I went in for a scan to evaluate my ovaries and uterus lining, I was always seen by Doctor Alyaa Elassar. She always called me by my respectful name and knew my medical history, which put me at ease that I'm not just a number. The staff called me by my name as well and knew where I am in the process of my cycle so that appropriate tests can be done. I would like to mention that after my successful IVF treatment, I was no longer seeing Doctor Alyaa Elassar. However, she sent a warm email to me asking how I am doing in my pregnancy. That also made me feel human rather than a number.
The clinic [New York City IVF] is on 7th Floor and has a nice waiting area that is usually not packed. The clinic itself has a modern look and yet very simple... I met with Victoria [nurrse] the most and she is super nice and professional. There was a new individual named Michelle and I think she does the best demo when it comes to showing you how to do the injections. I wish she stayed with the clinic, she was nice, professional, and helpful. Alejandra and Haley on the billing side were helpful and worked with us to explain how things are going to work out with the insurance and all. The staff did their best to know each client by name. All are hard working despite some busy and hectic days.
How was your experience with Alyaa Elassar at New York City IVF?
I want to start by saying that Doctor Alyaa Elassar is very knowledgeable in what she does. I can say this because after every visit, my husband and I would spend time doing google research and find that Doctor Elassar was spot on with what she said. We had faith in Doctor Elassar's expertise, we were just a paranoid couple who were spending money on an expensive treatment and didn't want anything to go wrong so we did our own research.
I liked that every single scan of my ovaries and uterus was done by Doctor Elassar only. I only met with Doctor Elassar and no other doctor. It put me at an ease that I am seeing the same Doctor each visit and she knows where I am in my treatment cycle very well. Doctor Elassar has great bedside manner. I am a little shy with my body because I have so much body hair due to PCOS. I never felt like I had to wax/shave my legs for each visit. Doctor Elassar made me feel comfortable in my own skin with hairy hands and legs.
Doctor Elassar is flexible with the treatment option. We first met her in February of 2019 and wanted to do IVF. She recommended we try IUI since we have never tried it and if it is unsuccessful, we can just move on to IVF. Our IUI went great except my embryo never made it down the Fallopian tube so it ended in an ectopic pregnancy. Doctor Elassar went over the options with us and we decided to let my body end that pregnancy naturally rather than taking strong medications to end it (since ectopic pregnancy never goes to full term any way).
I decided to take a break after the IUI because I wanted to do some traveling and job hunting before the next treatment. Doctor Elassar never forced me to come in for appointments during those times. She gave me my space that I needed.
In January 2020 we met with Doctor Elassar and were ready to begin our first cycle of IVF treatment. She had preliminary bloodwork and sonogram done the same day to see where my hormone levels stand and from there, everything was a smooth process. I had a successful pregnancy by end of March 2020.
Doctor Elassar always wishes the best for her patients regardless of your racial/educational background. She does her best for her patients. She came in on weekends if I just needed a bloodwork or a sonogram done for monitoring purposes. Doctor Elassar works 24/7! A very hard working woman. She is also professional and does not stick her nose in your personal matters. Even when it comes to 'timed intercourse' during IUI, she does not want to know the details, she just wants to know if the 'timed intercourse' was done or not.
Doctor Elassar is great at what she does and I look forward to doing a 2nd IVF transfer from her when time comes.
In the end, I want to say that even though I started going to a different clinic after my 6 weeks of successful pregnancy, I always reached out to Doctor Elassar for any question that my clinic was not able to answer.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Alyaa Elassar at New York City IVF?
Doctor Elassar is an expert and will do her best to help you achieve your treatment goal. She will always be there with you at every visit (except bloodwork). If you want to be treated as a human and not just a number at a clinic, then this is the Doctor you SHOULD think about seeing.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Alyaa Elassar at New York City IVF?
Throughout my IVF treatment with Doctor Alyaa Elassar, I felt like a human rather than a number. This was because every time I went in for a scan to evaluate my ovaries and uterus lining, I was always seen by Doctor Alyaa Elassar. She always called me by my respectful name and knew my medical history, which put me at ease that I'm not just a number. The staff called me by my name as well and knew where I am in the process of my cycle so that appropriate tests can be done.
I would like to mention that after my successful IVF treatment, I was no longer seeing Doctor Alyaa Elassar. However, she sent a warm email to me asking how I am doing in my pregnancy. That also made me feel human rather than a number.
Describe the protocols Alyaa Elassar used in your cycles at New York City IVF and their degree of success.
In February 2019, we had a consultation visit with Doctor Elassar. She asked some screening questions and explained a couple of things about how conceiving works normally. We had our initial bloodwork, sonogram and genetic carrier testing done. In March 2019 we began IUI treatment. I took Clomid and Doctor Elassar monitored my ovaries to see how the egg was growing. Based on bloodwork and her scan, she confirmed I was ovulating and asked to come in for insemination. In between there was bloodwork done to monitor progesterone level. I was prescribed progesterone pills. Unfortunately the embryo never made it down the fallopian tube on its own so we let the body naturally end the pregnancy. If we had taken medication to end the pregnancy, it would add a 4 month wait before we could try conceiving again because the medication takes time to come out of the system.
After taking break, I met with Doctor Elassar January of 2020 and decided to do IVF as we did not want anything getting stuck in the fallopian tube again. Since all our genetic screening was done, I only needed a hormone checks through bloodwork and a sonogram check to see how my ovaries are doing as well as my uterus lining. I received a green light once bloodwork results came in. Gonal F was ordered and shipped to my house. In between, I would visit Doctor Elassar so she could do a scan to see how many eggs were growing in each ovary. In the middle, I was also prescribed Menopur along with Gonal F to pump my ovaries to grow those eggs. My ovaries were taking a bit too much time in growing them. The retrieval day was scheduled and 14 eggs were retrieved and fertilized. 10 lived up to day 5. We opted to do a PGS testing so our embryos were frozen and the PGS results came back in a week. Only 6 our to 10 embryos had normal chromosomes. I had to wait until my uterus lining was back in normal range. We began injections to ready my uterus and did transfer beginning of March. We continued with the injections as advised by Doctor Elassar. After 2 week wait, pregnancy test was done and I was pregnant! Injections for progesterone were continued until Week 9 of pregnancy.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at New York City IVF.
Doctor Elassar's staff team are great. I met with Victoria the most and she is super nice and professional. There was a new individual named Michelle and I think she does the best demo when it comes to showing you how to do the injections. I wish she stayed with the clinic, she was nice, professional, and helpful. Alejandra and Haley on the billing side were helpful and worked with us to explain how things are going to work out with the insurance and all. The staff did their best to know each client by name. All are hard working despite some busy and hectic days.
Describe your experience with New York City IVF.
The clinic is on 7th Floor and has a nice waiting area that is usually not packed. The clinic itself has a modern look and yet very simple. I do think each room can have an added TV screen so the patient can see their sonogram on TV. But the machine itself is big and if you tilt your head just enough, you can see your live scan there as well. I think a cabinet (or more hooks behind the door) can be added so the patient can store their clothes when they have to undress. For some reason, I always have more clothes because of winter and one hook can't fit all my clothes. The bathroom is decent. There are two, one is in the hallway before the receptionists desk and one is inside the clinic. The only thing missing is the seat covers. I would just use toilet paper since there were no seat covers attached to the wall. Other than that, the office is clutter-free and simple. I like to go to a Doctor's office and not be intimidated by big technical machines.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Alyaa Elassar at New York City IVF.
Doctor Elassar was out of network. There's cost of drugs which varies depending on your insurance coverage. Embryo retrieval process has it's own set of costs. The PGS/PGD testing has it's own set of costs as well. The last major cost was embryo cost, set by Doctor Elassar's clinic.
Describe Alyaa Elassar's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at New York City IVF.
We chose to transfer only 1 of the 6 normal embryos we had because did not want to have twins. We didn't want to choose gender so we let Doctor Elassar decide. The embryologist just pulled out the first normal chromosome embryo from our 10 frozen embryos (4 were tested as not good) and transferred that. It turned out to be a girl!
What specific things went wrong at New York City IVF?
- Failed to call in prescriptions to pharmacy
Describe the specific things that went wrong at New York City IVF.
One time I received only 2 needles with Progesterone. I had to take Progesterone injection for a couple weeks but I had very few needles. Since it was also my first time, I emailed Clinic to ask how many needles I would need for Progesterone and for how long I will need. I was able to get the needles requested by the clinic and ordered on time to have them available for my injections.
10
Clinic
New York City IVF
Manhattan