Estil Strawn

Dr. Strawn is smart, very smart, and it shows. He is straight forward but has good bedside manner. We saw Dr. Strawn over the course of four years. While we didn't achieve pregnancy, I would still recommend him as a physician. My diagnosis and not being able to get pregnant was no fault of his. The only time I came away questioning treatment is when our 5th embryo transfer didn't work, we were told to move to donor eggs without any real discussion if there were other medications or procedures we could try first. Maybe there weren't any, but that conversation wasn't had. We wanted to fully understand what was happening and we got a blanket answer.

Have patience and realize that the road ahead may not go the way you think it will - good or bad.

After my initial blood panel, we were told this was unexplained infertility. All of our blood work, semen analysis, and diagnostic tests came back perfect. There was no reason two people at our age and in good health shouldn't be able to get pregnant. Our hopes were up! First step was IUI. I said no to clomid I was on letrozol. First round didn't work. We missed ovulation on the second, tried again the following month and a third time after that. All resulted in negative pregnancy tests. No adjustments to medications. From there we were urged to move to IVF. No other option. More blood tests, everything looked good with the exception of my vitamin D level which was a little low. I started taking over the counter supplements. We agreed to try IVF. This process proved to be very, very expensive for us. The medication doses continuously had to be increased. The first egg retrieval only got 4 eggs, 3 turned into embryos, 1 was discarded. We used one for a fresh transfer and one for a frozen transfer. The first tested negative, the second was positive but turned out to be a chemical pregnancy. I "miscarried" 2 days later. Dr. Strawn and his office said that was hopeful. I could in fact get pregnant. A year or so later we decided to do a second egg retrieval. This time my blood work showed a decrease in my AMH levels so they started me on high doses of injectables. This proved to be even more expensive but we we're hopeful! This time we got more eggs - 10! We got 7 embryos, 3 were discarded, 1 was transferred fresh, 3 were frozen. We followed up with another single frozen transfer and our last transfer was two embryos. All tested negative. All of our embryos were graded A or B. After this heartbreak we couldn't afford to do IVF any longer. Dr. Strawn said we could move on to donor eggs but we just couldn't afford it.

Blood panel after insurance: $502.39 IUI was $1300 per cycle HSG: $1500 For IVF we we're part of the AttainIVF program which gave us a package of retrievals and transfers with guaranteed money back if we were not successful. That package was $27200. The cash price was $12000 without medications. Letrozole was $10 per prescription Crinone progesterone gel: $201.20 for 18 doses, $515.20 for 40.5 doses Gonal-F: $444 for 450units Menopur: $760 for 75 units Leuprolide: $145 qty 1 Chorionic Gonadotropin: $90 qty 1

Dr. Strawn was adamant that we should only do one embryo at a time. It wasn't until we has several unsuccessful transfers that he agreed, semi-reluctantly, to allow us a transfer with 2 embryos.

He was very straightforward about our diagnosis, test results, and what he believed out next steps should be. At the same time, he was very open to avenues and options we wanted to investigate. He was very knowledgeable and able to answer nearly every question we had. Only complaint we have is that he doesn't do the more invasive IVF procedures where we consulted with him so we had to change reproductive endocrinologist for logistical reasons.

Do research beforehand and have questions ready! He wants to answer them.

Considering we have a dual factor problem, he was confident that our best route would be IVF. We immediately stopped Clomid and worked towards that. It was great he was so straightforward about the idea that other drugs just for me and IUI likely wouldn't work. Saved us time and money. He also did tons of diagnostic labs which made us feel confident we were choosing the right option for us.

High dollar up front consultation, but it went towards my deductible. Whenever possible, they billed services as something other than "infertility so insurance would cover it.

Dr. Strawn did not seem like a big fan of double transfer, at least initially in our scenario. He said that since we were young and otherwise healthy (no hx of miscarriage), there were more potential risks. That being said, if we felt strongly about doing a double transfer, he would've been okay with it. The exception to that being of embryo testing was performed...no double transfers of known chromosonally normal embryos.

My IVF was successful with Dr. Strawn and I’m totally satisfied with that. However from my first appointment with him he really pushed IVF when I wanted to try other options first like IUI or surgeries. And while he was right in the end (IUIs and surgery failed for me) I still would have appreciated a little more understanding that jumping right into IVF is daunting and expensive and just not the first step many couples want to take.

Do not be offended by his bluntness.

I did 3 rounds of IUI with letrozole (because of a clomid allergy). The first was completed but didn’t result in a pregnancy, while the other two weren’t completed because the best follicles were on the side where I had a suspected blocked tube. IVF I was on stim injections for 14 days. Before my egg retrieval he told me it would be best if we froze all resulting embryos because i was at high risk of hyper stimulation syndrome. The egg retrieval was super successful - over 20 eggs and 12 embryos that made it to day 5. Dr. Strawn had me rest my body for a cycle, then started me on progesterone for a frozen transfer. The transfer was done, then I waited 10 days for a blood test. It was positive so I continued on progesterone for 6 weeks.

I believe IUI was about $1200 per try. IVF was about $10,000 plus another $6000 or so in drugs.

They recommended a single since I had a high number of embryos and I was still young.

At times I felt a bit rushed at the routine appointments, but I still felt the quality of care was exceptional and I knew I could count on Dr. Strawn and the staff to answer my questions and be available when needed. I’ve recommended Dr. Strawn to several others and their results have also been positive.

If you don’t understand something, don’t be afraid to ask for more information or a more basic explanation.

After my regular OB-GYN had conducted the basic tests and couldn’t find a reason for us not conceiving a second child, i went to Dr. Strawn & Dr. Paul Robb to step things up. They repeated a few of the tests, checked other things and ultimately diagnosed secondary infertility of unknown cause. They felt we were good candidates for IUI, and given my age (36), decided to use Clomid. We started with a myomecromy to remove a uterine polyp and when I was healed, began Clomid. I had two cycles of IUI on Clomid that did not result in pregnancy. I had really bad headaches on Clomid and wasn’t fond of how I felt on it, but persevered. The third cycle on Clomid, I ended up developing a rare and disturbing visual side effect midway through and called Dr. Strawn’s office. They immediately had me stop taking Clomid and we opted not to move ahead with IUI that cycle so as to avoid wasting an IUI without the full course of Clomid. As I was then unable to continue on Clomid, we had to look at another option. He suggested Femara, a medication used to treat estrogen-related breast cancer, because it had a strong unintended fertility side effect but a much better side effect profile than Clomid. I took Femara for my third IUI - I felt great on it and it resulted in a pregnancy! Unfortunately I miscarried before 8 weeks, but Dr. Strawn felt very good that we could achieve a successful pregnancy with that combination, so once the miscarriage was done and I had two normal cycles, we started Femara again and the fourth IUI was a success. My daughter is now almost 7 years old!

Our insurance covered up to six IUI procedures and covered both the Clomid and Femara. I don’t recall what the out of pocket costs were.

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There was a reason we were with Dr. Strawn for many years and many cycles, he was great. We liked his straight forward answers to our questions. He didn't treat us as a number, he remembered us every time we were in and when we did become pregnant he was just as excited as we were.

Look into the multi cycle packages

I don't remember details but I do remember being monitored closely and the doctors making decisions based on the ultrasound and blood work. I even had a cycle stopped once because of polyps and the doctor felt I had a better chance with IVF with them removed.

It was many years ago so I am sure they have changed or I could be wrong....1 fresh cycle was $18,000 + the cost of medication. 2 fresh and 2 frozen cycles were $30000 + the cost of medication + the cost of anesthesia.

I think they wouldn't do more then 2 embryos but we never even though of doing more then 2. We did 1 and 2.

Dr. Strawn is an intelligent physician and is very attentive to answer any question you may have. His bedside manner is warm and he is never rushed.

Advocate for yourself. Ask as many questions as you can come up with.

Our first IVF we used the antagonist protocol which we were happy with. Our second IVF we tried the Long Lupron protocol and it yielded four times the embryos.

IVF with ICSI is $12,000. The clinic partners with Attain IVF that offers discounted IUI and IVF multi-packages. We purchased a 2 IVF cycle package with a 50% refund for $23,650, plus medications.

Was realistic about chances and fast to diagnose and correct fertility problems. Skilled surgeon. Approach was not as customized as it could have been and PGS testing was not as well explained as it could have been. Main problem was lack of follow up because he changed clinics at the end of my failed FET

Make sure you are an advocate for yourself and ask questions. He is open to listening.

Antoginist protocol with Gonal-f 300 and Menopur 150. Second time around less Gonal-f at 200IU, not sure why but got more eggs.

$12K IVF plus medicines

Dr. preferred 2 embryo transfer when I was more interested in a eSET and two attempts

I have had 4 embryo transfers, 2 fresh and 2 frozen. Different doctors did each of my fresh and the both failed. Strawn did both my frozen and it was successful both times, for a total of three children over 5 years. He has performed 2 egg retrievals with results that were better than expected, and one surgery that went well without complication. I trust him without question and I owe my family and the lives of my beautiful, perfect children to him.

Trust him.

Dr. Strawn was honest with me from the start about what he saw as the pitfalls of the course of treatment I was seeking. With my second embryo transfer, after a miscarriage with my first, Dr. Strawn made sure to tell me that he knew how difficult my process had been and how important it was for me to be successful. I felt like he was genuinely excited for me when I reached the point of being able to be released to my OB's care.

Ask questions and at the same time trust in the process.

Given that my only reason for seeking fertility treatments is that I am a single mother by choice when it came time for me to try IVF (vs my 6 unsuccessful IUIs), my numbers all pointed to there being no reason to transfer more than one embryo.

He will give you as much information as possible in an easy-to-understand way. He is kind, even when sharing news that is less than ideal. He has the same goal as you, but also needs to keep things realistic.

Go in with questions. The consult appointment is long so that he can set aside the time needed to ensure you’re walking out of the office confident in your decision.