Dr. Austin is always very personable and takes the time to address not just me, but also my husband which is nice. It is clear he is very well trained and efficient.... During my second retrieval I increased my FSH and HMG and did a micro-lupron protocol instead of the Ganirelex. This time I had 20 large follicles prior to trigger (HCG again) and they were able to retrieve 20 eggs! Of those, 16 were mature and 14 fertilized. We end up with 6 blasts this time and the PGT-a results on them were 4 "normal", and 2 abnormal. We transferred 1 of the normal embryos during a medicated FET and it was successful on the first try.
Sharon [a nurse at Fertility Ctr of OR] is great at answering my questions and knowing what is going on in my personal cycle even though she has multiple IVF patients a day.... Each IUI was around $400, If we needed an ultrasound baseline (if doing back to back ones) that cost increased to $1000. Our first IVF cycle ended up being approx. $18,000 out of pocket including the consultation, all tests, medications, monitoring, anesthesia, the retrieval, PGS testing, and a transfer. Our second round will be closer to $10,000 because there are less preliminary tests to do and we already paid for the PGS and transfer.
How was your experience with Douglas Austin at Fertility Center of Oregon?
Dr. Austin is always very personable and takes the time to address not just me, but also my husband which is nice. It is clear he is very well trained and efficient. We are still in our first trimester so it’s too soon to know if it has fully worked, but we have confidence in Dr. Austin to help us create our take-home baby.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Douglas Austin at Fertility Center of Oregon?
Write down all of your questions for the initial consultation and be sure you ask anything that concerns you. Also, as an infertility patient in general, take it one day at a time and try to not get overwhelmed with all the potentially scary or intimidating treatments that may come up. Be aware that you will likely have setbacks and things won't go as planned, but that you can get through them and Dr. Austin's team will help you navigate it all.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Douglas Austin at Fertility Center of Oregon?
They always took the time to answer my questions.
Describe the protocols Douglas Austin used in your cycles at Fertility Center of Oregon and their degree of success.
We did 1 round of Letrozol and timed intercourse, then we increased my letrozol feom 2.5 to 5 and did 4 IUIs. None of these were successful. We then moved on to IVF. Our first cycle I took FSH, HMG, Ganirelex, and the HCG trigger shot. Although it looked like I had quite a few good follicles (around 18) I only had 7 eggs retrieved and only 5 were mature, however all 5 fertilized. We ended up with 2 Day-5 blasts and performed PGT-a testing which resulted in 1 abnormal and 1 low level mosaic. Since we want two kids, we decided to do a second cycle. During my second retrieval I increased my FSH and HMG and did a micro-lupron protocol instead of the Ganirelex. This time I had 20 large follicles prior to trigger (HCG again) and they were able to retrieve 20 eggs! Of those, 16 were mature and 14 fertilized. We end up with 6 blasts this time and the PGT-a results on them were 4 "normal", and 2 abnormal. We transferred 1 of the normal embryos during a medicated FET and it was successful on the first try.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Fertility Center of Oregon. (Assigned nurse: Sharon Huff)
Sharon is great at answering my questions and knowing what is going on in my personal cycle even though she has multiple IVF patients a day.
Describe your experience with Fertility Center of Oregon.
They are the only fertility clinic in the area so I didn’t have much of a choice, however I am glad that they are who we ended up going to. The facilities are always clean and comfortable. Staff is nice and knowledgeable.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Douglas Austin at Fertility Center of Oregon.
Each IUI was around $400, If we needed an ultrasound baseline (if doing back to back ones) that cost increased to $1000. Our first IVF cycle ended up being approx. $18,000 out of pocket including the consultation, all tests, medications, monitoring, anesthesia, the retrieval, PGS testing, and a transfer. Our second round will be closer to $10,000 because there are less preliminary tests to do and we already paid for the PGS and transfer.
Describe Douglas Austin's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Fertility Center of Oregon.
Dr. Austin strongly recommends only transferring 1 embryo due to the risks that come to both mom and babies with twins, or multiples. We agreed that the risks were not worth it and only transferred 1 embryo.
What specific things went wrong at Fertility Center of Oregon?
- Failed to call with results
- Failed to order appropriate test
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Fertility Center of Oregon.
At my very first appointment they did bloodwork but ordered the wrong tests so that was frustrating but we got it cleared up eventually.
On Day 3 of my embryos growing someone was supposed to call to give me an update on their growth. My normal nurse, Sharon, was out of the office that day and somehow the message did not get sent to her fill-in to call me. This caused an incredible amount of stress on me as I waited for the results. I finally heard from the fill-in nurse at almost 6 pm and all she could say was “I didn’t know I was supposed to be checking on your results so I have nothing to tell you, we’ll call tomorrow.” It was a hard day.
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Clinic
Fertility Center of Oregon
Eugene