How was your experience with David Hoffman at IVF Florida?
Dr. Hoffman is old school, he'll tell you like it is and make sure you understand what your options are. I think that he knows that main goal is to get pregnant, and he does not want to waste your time with treatment options that don't have a high chance of being successful. He told us exactly what to expect, exactly what his expectations were, and called himself with any important updates. He was real and genuine, I appreciate the care he gave us and his honesty with what needed to happen to get pregnant.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of David Hoffman at IVF Florida?
Trust his suggestions. When he told us we would need to do IVF we thought he might be jumping the gun, going with the most expensive and invasive procedure right off the bat. I know now that the other options had such a smaller likelihood of resulting in a pregnancy, and although we tried Clomid and a trigger injection (without success), we ultimately trusted him and it worked!
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with David Hoffman at IVF Florida?
Dr. Hoffman always referred to me by name, actually, he used my nickname. He remembered by hobbies, he asked how I was doing with the adjustment of changing my exercise routine during hormone injections, and was candid about what I needed to do to have a successful pregnancy. When he first told us we would have to do IVF to get pregnant, I was upset, but the way he said it was truly hopeful, he told me we could get pregnant, we just had to trust him. We did and we're pregnant. It's a huge step to make, but I'm glad he encouraged us to do IVF when Clomid didn't work. I have heard women that have tried multiple IUI cycles and wasted precious time and money. I felt like he wanted us to be happy and made the suggestion that would make that happen.
Describe the protocols David Hoffman used in your cycles at IVF Florida and their degree of success.
Our first cycle was using Clomid to see if my hormone levels would increase to the point of ovulating (I was not ovulating, that was why I would not get pregnant). I took the Clomid and a trigger shot, however, my hormones plateued and I was not able to reach the level needed to ovulate and undergo IUI. The next cycle was IVF. We injected one hormone for about a week morning and the same hormone and another at night, for the second week we did the same injections and added another injection in the evening (Menopur and Gonal-F, then another one I can't remember). I went into the office once or twice a week for bloodwork to check that my hormones were responding to the medications. My cycle went exactly as planned, my husband gave me my trigger shot and then we went in for the retrieval. Dr. Hoffman thought I may have a frozen embryo transfer due to concerns that I may over-stimulate, however, after the retrieval I was slated for a day 5 fresh transfer and went back in to have my embryo implanted. It all happened so fast, we were so lucky.
Describe your experience with your nurse at IVF Florida. (Assigned nurse: Jackie, Beverly, and Brittany)
The nursing staff was amazing, they were so patient and always available. They responded to all my e-mails that day, and were available to respond to my messages regarding any concerns. They really went above and beyond my expectations making sure that I had all the information I needed and helped with anything that I was concerned about.
Describe your experience with IVF Florida.
The only weakness would be that some might consider it to be impersonal, it's very large and you tend to see a different nurse each specialized visit. The benefits of a large clinic vastly outweighed any negatives. I rarely waited past my scheduled appointment time, my results were often online the day of my visit, the nurses were on top of the voice messages and e-mails, never leaving me waiting long to get a response. Also, despite the size I had the same nurse do my blood work each time, as well as the same nurse do my ultrasound, they were both amazing and remembered me when I came back.
Describe the costs associated with your care under David Hoffman at IVF Florida.
$20,000
Describe David Hoffman's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at IVF Florida.
We only really discussed transferring one embryo, due to my age and the expectation that my embryos would be of good quality, he was confident that one embryo would result in a pregnancy.