Dr. Simckes is a very down to earth doctor, he goes to the point on what I need to do and/or change in order to accomplish what we need to do next. He doesn't sugarcoat the comments or results, but always being professional....The downside of him is, since he is a good doctor he has many patients, and by being only him as the doctor his time of being with me on an appointment visit gets small and always on a hurry.
The clinic [Fertility Partnership] is really nice, it's in a good location, all the staff is really friendly and seem to care about us. I don't see no weaknesses so far. Every time I go I get treated with respect and when doctor has a few minutes comes and checks the front desk to make sure nurses and receptionist are up to date to what ever is needed. Only once did I saw when there was no receptionist in the front desk when he needed to ask something for us, he just went and got her and told her she needed to be there because she is the first on line for patients to need.
How was your experience with David Simckes at Fertility Partnership?
Dr. Simckes is a very down to earth doctor, he goes to the point on what I need to do and/or change in order to accomplish what we need to do next. He doesn't sugarcoat the comments or results, but always being professional. In every visit he talks with my husband and I on what next steps to take and makes sure we understand them, he evens takes time to make a little chat with my husband about his job and asks him if he's not being stressful about it, saying he need to be well fed and with energy, since he plays a big role in the process.
When we started the IVF he told us every step we were going to do and made sure we had copies of what ever we needed.
The downside of him is, since he is a good doctor he has many patients, and by being only him as the doctor his time of being with me on an appointment visit gets small and always on a hurry. He does explains everything we need to know, but he's always with that sense of a hurry that makes me think sometimes I'm taking his time away.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of David Simckes at Fertility Partnership?
My advice would be that when seeing Dr. Simckes be open minded, because he tells you the things as they are, he doesn't sugarcoat it or tries to treat you like a baby. He goes straight to the point and finds solutions fast. Where we as patients see as walls, he sees as a new point of him learning and helping us out to get our dream of building our family.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with David Simckes at Fertility Partnership?
I felt and feel like a human, every time I see and speak to him because he makes sure to focus on me and find solutions to the problems. Instead of blaming me or saying I'm not doing enough, he focus on him trying to find a way to solve the problems that get build up from one moment to another, again without blaming me or my husband, he makes sure he answers all my questions and my husbands. Checks with all the nurses that they are in the same page as to what he means and says.
Describe the protocols David Simckes used in your cycles at Fertility Partnership and their degree of success.
When we first started in 2018, he told us we were going to start step by step to see what works. At first he prescribed me metformin 1000mg twice a day and various vitamins, to see if that helped me regulate my cycle. Then he put me on Clomid, which it did help me ovulate, but unfortunately it didn't help me get pregnant. After that my husband and I decided to go ahead and do IVF. In February 2019 we started IVF I was on Prednisone 10mg tablet every morning, Follistim 150un in mornings and Menopur 75un vials 2 of them, 150un in the afternoons. for 9 days for a few days I did Ganirelix 250mcg all this I did, not many side effects only I started getting bloated. On every monitor visit I had my blood drawn. I took Antibiotics- ZPac and I did a trigger shot, Ovidrel to have my egg retrival. On my egg retrival day I arrived changed to a gown and had an IV inserted. The anesthesiologist asked questions I met my Dr. to go over everything. Had me egg retrival with a list of dos and don'ts, I got super bloated after the retrival for 2 weeks. On the day after my retrival I had the Endocrinologist call me and told me how many eggs were retrieved, but unfortunately none made it. 2 weeks after I went for my follow up visit, which I talked with my doctor about what happened. There was no answer as to why my eggs didn't make it, so we contacted via phone the Endocrinologist and he said probably my body had reaction with the meds, but he feels more sure that another round of IVF will work on me, since my body already had the feeling of all the meds. So now we're in the waiting for May IVF.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Fertility Partnership. (Assigned nurse: Denise Graham)
She was super helpful on everything I needed. I got to text with her on every question or thing I needed to let her know at what ever time of day. She didn't keep me waiting a long time for answers.
She was with me on every monitor visit and had a plan set up already there and explain everything I needed so good. She made a list on how to keep my meds organized and how to do them. She showed me how to inject the meds and gave me videos of how to do it and made sure I understood. In overall kind, friendly, patient.
Describe your experience with Fertility Partnership.
The clinic is really nice, it's in a good location, all the staff is really friendly and seem to care about us. I don't see no weaknesses so far. Every time I go I get treated with respect and when doctor has a few minutes comes and checks the front desk to make sure nurses and receptionist are up to date to what ever is needed. Only once did I saw when there was no receptionist in the front desk when he needed to ask something for us, he just went and got her and told her she needed to be there because she is the first on line for patients to need. Which that made me like him more, since he cares for his clinic to be up to good standards as to care about patients.
Describe the costs associated with your care under David Simckes at Fertility Partnership.
The cost for the visits I had to pay out of pocket, because of me not having insurance, which they gave me a better price. For the IVF, they do keep their prices low and to help out with meds he told us to get them from overseas since it's half of the cost if getting them from here, US.
I had to pay IVF, medications, monitoring visits, blood work, retrival, freezing, transfer. For the procedure I had to do a down payment to get in, once I went for my first monitor visit I had to paid the full amount in order to continue. If I wanted PGS testing, that would be a different price.
Describe David Simckes's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Fertility Partnership.
We did talked about this before we started IVF and during the process. He told us they did single transfer, but if we wanted to do 2 and if I was able to carry multiples he could, just that we needed to sign papers for him not to be at risk. That he has many patients that have had twins with no complications, but when we gotten to that point of deciding we talked more about it.
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Clinic
Fertility Partnership
Saint Peters