How was your experience with Carol Wheeler at Women & Infants Hospital?
When I first met with Dr. Wheeler, she made sure we underwent all tests to make sure we could find out why I wasn’t getting pregnant, and also paid attention to what my insurance required to pay for fertility treatments (at the time it was covered 100%). We did 3 unsuccessful IUI’s and said we’d probably be a better candidate for IVF. We didn’t do ICSI because it wasn’t covered, and had 12 eggs retrieved, 9 of which fertilized. She likes to do fresh transfers, (thinking getting the baby back to where it belongs quicker is better in her opinion) and I had a 3 day fresh transfer that ended up in my first pregnancy and live birth of my son. No other embryos made it to Dave five to be frozen, so I am currently waiting to do another IVF cycle and egg retrieval in the next couple months.
Many may not see Dr. Wheeler as warm and fuzzy, but she is caring and knows her stuff. She told me she’d get me pregnant and did. Unlike the other review, she did change up my protocol often, and because I only had 12 retrieved last time, I will be using a new protocol this time as well. It’s been 3 years, so she has changed some prescriptions to more up to date ones. She stays current with her knowledge, and even though she isn’t into holistic treatments, she had no problem with me changing my diet and getting acupuncture during my IVF cycle. All in all, I would recommend her in a heartbeat. She knows what she’s doing, and will help you achieve a pregnancy.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Carol Wheeler at Women & Infants Hospital?
Don’t expect hugs, and tears when things don’t work out. She’s very systematic and if one thing doesn’t work, she doesn’t let you get discouraged, she instead tries a new approach.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Carol Wheeler at Women & Infants Hospital?
Dr. Wheeler made sure to follow up with me on various occasions. Instead of just talking to nurses, I often would have in person or telephone conversations with her. She even called the hospital to congratulate me on the birth of my son. She may not come off as warm and fuzzy, but she knows what she’s doing and is definitely kind.
Describe the protocols Carol Wheeler used in your cycles at Women & Infants Hospital and their degree of success.
I used clomid with each of my IUI’s and would call the morning of a positive ovulation test and have two consecutive days of inseminations.
With IVF, (2015) I first started with birth control for 5 days and Lupron injections staring day 3. I also used Gonal-F and had a trigger shot 46 hours before retrieval. She’s also not a fan of PIO shots (thank goodness) and instead gives you progesterone suppositories.
My next IVF cycle this year (2018) will be birth control for two weeks, menopur instead of lupron, and still using Gonal-F, but in a higher dose to give me more eggs.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at Women & Infants Hospital.
Nursing staff was easy to get in touch with, and very precise with their information.
Describe your experience with Women & Infants Hospital.
This clinic runs like a well oiled machine. They are always on top of the next step and help guide you in the process.
The only thing I would change was the protocol for IUI. They have you do an ovulation test every morning and call the clinic when it’s positive. Although this saves on trips to the doctors every morning, I feel like I would have had better results had hey preformed ultrasounds up until ovulation to see when the perfect time would be. For me personally, I think I ovulate very soon after a positive ovulation test, so by the time I would get there, I probably missed the opportunity.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at Women & Infants Hospital.
They tried to space out appointments in the morning, which was hard for us working women who all wanted to be seen at 7:30 to make it to work for 8:00. Even though there were st appointment times, it was more like first come first serve with a sign in sheet. If they found out you were significantly early though, they would make you wait until all the earlier appointments were finished. It was pretty quick though, because they would do your blood work while you waited, or right after your ultrasound.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Carol Wheeler at Women & Infants Hospital.
At the time, I had insurance that covered IVF at 100%. I still had copays for procedures, but not monitoring or blood work. Now my insurance covers 80%, so it will cost me a little over $3,000 for IVF with ICSI.
Describe Carol Wheeler's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Women & Infants Hospital.
Because I am younger, the chance of having multiples with a multiple embryo transfer is higher, and therefore results in a more high risk pregnancy. If I were 35+ she would be more likely to transfer more than one.