How was your experience with David Grainger at Center for Reproductive Medicine in Kansas?
What I really liked about Dr Grainger was his compassion and his curiosity and willingness to help me understand the cause of my infertility so we could then try to treat it. Before meeting with him, I was thinking that I would like to have laparoscopic surgery to check for endometriosis. During our conversation, he concluded that that was his recommendation without me bringing it up. He also did my initial ultrasound himself, and tried to locate one of my ovaries which had eluded many ultrasound techs. He was pretty sure he found it, but a month later I had surgery and there was no 2nd ovary there. Dr Grainger was also very curious whether I have a genetic condition that causes my fertility problems. He recommended genetic karyotype testing, which I was willing to do, I was just waiting for the clinic to tell me what to do. A month later I had laparoscopic surgery, then took a few weeks to recover, and then was ready to start a medicated timed cycle. When I called the nurses, I was told that I could not be treated until I had the genetic test, because pregnancy could be life-threatening if I did have the genetic condition. Needless to say, I was very angry that I had to wait another month to start any treatment while I waited for results when the test could have been done 2 months ago. I don't know if this was a communication problem between the Dr and the nurses, or if someone in the office dropped the ball somewhere. I also don't feel like Dr Grainger explained that if I had that condition it could be life threatening to get pregnant - I think I would have remembered that and wanted to know right away. Luckily, I do not have the condition. After my surgery, I had one short follow-up appointment with the Dr to discuss the surgery results and the plan going forward - 2 rounds of medicated (Letrizole) timed intercourse, and if that didn't work, he recommended going on to IVF (which their clinic doesn't do, I would have to go to KU Med in Kansas City). After the follow up appointment, I only had contact with nurses and the office staff. We did two months of medicated timed intercourse and then decided to move on.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of David Grainger at Center for Reproductive Medicine in Kansas?
They close early on Fridays, so make sure to not have your "day 1" on a Friday afternoon. I know you can't control that - it just seems like everything happened to me on Fridays and it was always so stressful trying to rush to get a bloodtest and get the results send to their office by 11am. I live 2 hours away from their office, so I couldn't just go there for tests and ultrasounds.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with David Grainger at Center for Reproductive Medicine in Kansas?
Dr Grainger took time to sit down in the office with me (not the exam room) and listen to my concerns and my history. Whereas I felt another clinic wanted to rush me into the routine steps of fertility treatment, Dr. Grainger understood my desire to figure out why I was having the problems I was, and how they might play in to my fertility challenge. He offered the option of surgery and genetic testing based on my story. I appreciated his caring manner. He is also very straight forward and up front with realistic expectations. He also performed my first ultrasound himself, which is done by nurses or technicians at most other clinics, so that made an impression on me. He offered to perform my surgery, but I opted to go to a different hospital and he was ok with that.
Describe the protocols David Grainger used in your cycles at Center for Reproductive Medicine in Kansas and their degree of success.
The first timed medicated cycle was with 2.5mg Femara. It should have been taken on days 3-7, but because of timing hiccups, I didn't get them until day 4, so I took 2 pills/day on days 4-7. Their protocol would have me do a day 12 ultrasound, and then give myself an Ovidrel trigger shot. Well I was out of town on day 12 and they would not authorize me to have an ultrasound out of town on a weekend, so I don't know how the medication worked on me, and I did not give myself the trigger shot. That cycle was a negative.
The second timed medicated cycle was with 2 pills/day of 2.5 mg Femara on days 3-7. I had an ultrasound on Day 12 in their office. I usually don't ovulate until day 16, so I did not bring the trigger shot with me. I had one 22mm follicle and two smaller follicles. I should have triggered that night, but we had hotel reservations that night (being that my clinic is 2 hours away from home). The nurse said don't worry, you're going to ovulate anyway, so just have intercourse. That cycle was a negative.
Dr Grainger never followed up with me for either of the cycles. I didn't know if this was normal, or what. But since we didn't do an ultrasound for the first cycle, I feel like we didn't even know if/how my body responded to Femara, so we wouldn't have known how to adjust the protocol.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at Center for Reproductive Medicine in Kansas.
In person, I felt like the nurses I met were very sweet and compassionate. However, I did feel like I met a lot of people in the office in the beginning and I was confused as to who was a nurse, who was my nurse, who was the insurance person, and who was the financial person. Once I started doing the medicated timed intercourse cycles, I think I was working with the IVF nurse at first. They seemed to know their stuff, but maybe weren't very compassionate or patient on the phone when I was confused about how/where to get a blood HCG test, and how I could get ultrasounds for monitoring when I wasn't coming 2 hrs each way for them. Maybe we should have discussed all this in the office when I was there in person? I guess I just didn't know what questions to ask and logistics to work out - and I would have liked the nursing staff to have brought that up while I was in office.
Describe your experience with Center for Reproductive Medicine in Kansas.
Strengths: Dr Grainger was very kind and compassionate. Nurses seem knowledgable.
Weaknesses: They close early on Fridays. If you live far away, they didn't explain the logistics you'll need to work out for monitoring if you don't come to the clinic. Especially if your day 12 happens to fall on a weekend. Nurses don't seem very compassionate on the phone and through email. I felt lost in the shuffle, and didn't know if there was a certain person I could call to just talk and discuss the game plan. I talked to one nurse and requested a copy of my records for myself and she said she would MAIL them to me and they couldn't be emailed. After weeks went by, I called again and spoke to a different person and she was able to scan and email them to me that day.
Describe the costs associated with your care under David Grainger at Center for Reproductive Medicine in Kansas.
Monitoring Ultrasounds $160
IUI $250
Specimen Prep $250
Professional Fee for Physician to interpret ultrasounds done in other practices/locations... $50
What specific things went wrong at Center for Reproductive Medicine in Kansas?
- Failed to call with results
- Failed to order appropriate test
- Failed to send your chart to another clinic
- Failed to convey critical information
- Canceled a cycle due to clinic error