How was your experience with Deborah Wachs at Reproductive Science Center?
I really loved working with Dr. Wachs. The only issue is since she was out of the Los Gatos office, there were times my iui fell on a day where she wasn’t there to do the procedure or with IVF, I had to wait an extra week for transfer for her to be in the San Ramon office if I wanted her to be the one to do it (which I did). I trusted her implicitly and believe she had our best interest at heart and was rooting for us and wanted it as much as we did. She was always smiling and always encouraging and there if needed. She paid attention to our emotions and feelings, and made sure we always had all the information to make the best decisions and that we were okay with our course of treatment. She empowered us to know that we were in control of our treatment and we could change course at any time if we felt we wanted to do anything different.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Deborah Wachs at Reproductive Science Center?
Trust her. She knows what she is doing and she will lay out every option for you and what it means. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to understand the process. She is wonderful at being patient and explaining things so that you know what you are going through and what to expect.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Deborah Wachs at Reproductive Science Center?
She is very kind, remembers details, and is always available to chat or ask questions as needed. I didn’t feel like we followed a “this is what everyone gets” protocol but took the time to figure out our exact situation and how to change things to obtain a successful outcome. She was very positive and reassuring the entire way
Describe the protocols Deborah Wachs used in your cycles at Reproductive Science Center and their degree of success.
For our iui cycles, I took letrozole days 3-7 and then started going in for ultrasounds around day 12. Once the follicles were appropriate size, I was instructed to give myself the ovidrel shot to trigger ovulation, and iui was performed 36 hours later. My husband would go in 2 hours before the procedure to give his sample and then we would go together for the IuI. After, I would lay on the table for 10 min or so then leave and go about my day. 2 weeks later I was given a blood test to determine if we were successful. We attempted this 3 months in a row with no success. We decided at this point to take a break, then switch to IVF. I took gonal-F and menopur, then added cetrotide 5 days later. I also started monitoring appointments on day 5 and went every other day. At my third appointment I was found to have 24 follicles growing and my dr sat me down and explained that while this is a great response, it increased my risk of OHSS and I wasn’t a good candid for a fresh transfer anymore. Afterthat appointment I switched to daily monitoring for a day or two and then triggered with Lupron on a Saturday night for a Monday morning egg retrieval. 15 eggs were retrieved, 13 were mature, 9 fertilized with icsi. We chose icsi since we had secondary unexplained infertility and were unsure what was causing this - so wanted the best option for fertilization to occur. Of the 9, we ended up with 3 day 5 blastocysts and 3 day 6 to go into the freezer. We opted out of pgs testing as we’ve had a previous successful pregnancy and no known genetic issues. We performed one 5 day FET the following month. I took estrace 2mg 3x/day starting on day 2 or 3 of my cycle, and then started progesterone shots and vaginal progesterone 2x/day 6 days before transfer. I had my blood test 9 days later which revealed we were unsuccessful and the transfer failed. Dr wachs then believed we had a timing issue, so we did ERA testing the following month - medication all the same as the previous month. The test found I was more receptive for transfer on day 7. The following month we did everything the same except I started progesterone 7 days before transfer. We opted to transfer two embryos this time to give ourselves a higher chance at success. We had multiple conversations with dr wachs about the pros and cons of a dual embryo transfer and she agreed to go ahead with it once she knew we had thoughtfully considered the outcomes. We found out 8 days after transfer that we were successful (hcg 71) then another blood test 11dpt (hcg 314) and was told it was probably only one embryo that took. We just had our first ultrasound at 6 weeks 3 days and saw one perfect embryo with a flickering heartbeat. I am continuing all my medication until my next appointment 2 weeks later (at 8 weeks, 3 days) at which point I hope to be able to stop the injections and wean off all other meds and “graduate” back to my normal OB for the duration of my pregnancy.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Reproductive Science Center. (Assigned nurse: Lindsay Smith)
There will never be enough words to describe Lindsay. She was always so attentive, so positive and so helpful through this process. We wouldn’t have made it through without her. She was a source of information, and always available for crazy questions or just someone to talk to when everything became too much, or when I was feeling frustrated and emotional about the process. She became a confidant, someone who even talked to me late one evening after a failed iui and just let me cry and reassured me they were committed to getting us our baby. She was so very wonderful and Always quick to respond and happy. It made me feel so comfortable and confident in my treatment team
Describe your experience with Reproductive Science Center.
The biggest thing I would say is that it is very very convenient that there are multiple locations so that I wasn’t constantly having to drive an hour each way to every appointment. I was so grateful for this. However, this meant we did have to drive to the main facility in San Ramon (an hour away for us) for any major procedures as that is where the surgery suite was. (Iui could be done in the Los Gatos office, but egg retrieval and transfers were done in San Ramon). Also anything that occurred on the weekend had to be done in San Ramon - it was the only 365 days open clinic. The other thing was that, in order to have my doctor be the one to do my transfers (which I wanted and chose) - she was only in San Ramon every other Thursday, which meant my cycles were longer as I had to time things to wait until she could be at that office for the procedures. In the end, it was totally worth it and I am grateful for everyone. Everyone at both facilities (Los Gatos and San Ramon) were so friendly and you felt comfortable going there. You truly get a sense that everyone is rooting for you and will do anything they can to help you along the way and try to make this process less painful
Describe the costs associated with your care under Deborah Wachs at Reproductive Science Center.
Around $1200 per iui
$14,100 for IVF with icsi
$4062 per frozen transfer
$2000 ish for ERA testing (half to clinic, half to lab where testing was sent)
Describe Deborah Wachs's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Reproductive Science Center.
So for the first transfer, my doctor only ever transfers one - especially in my case of secondary unexplained infertility as she was confident the transfer would work. After the first didn’t take, and we did the ERA testing, we had a conversation where I brought up the prospect of transferring two as I read it increases your odds of success. My doctor stated she usually didn’t go to multiple until she was doing the same treatment that hadn’t worked prior, but if we wanted it and were ok with the possibility of having twins , and if having twins was better to us than having zero, she was okay with us transferring two. I appreciated her honesty and candor and I felt like she really listened to us and heard our perspective and agreed