J. Ricardo Loret de Mola

Dr. LDM gave us our twins in 2014. We only had two embryos from our retrieval so we transferred both. We were due with a boy and a girl but unfortunately they came early at 23 weeks. We lost our daughter after 17 hours but now our son turned 4 and we have been trying for the last 3 years to give him another sibling. We had no doubt that returning to SIU for another cycle of IVF would do the trick. We did a fresh cycle/transfer and had six embryos. We were so excited - but over a years time not one of those six embryos and 4 transfers later turned into a successful pregnancy. We had one miscarriage but all the rest were failed transfers. After all this he said we could "try again" but did not mention what to do differently or how we could increase our odds. Just try again doing the same thing that resulted in six lost embryos and a year of our time. Needless to say we are not returning but now looking for a new clinic with a different approach. We did have success our first round and I also know a handful of women who had successful pregnancies with him as well.

Do labs and ultrasounds early in the morning! Less wait time then. :)

He does a very good job of reaching you on your level. He will sit and talk/explain until you have an understanding. Also what stood out-he gave a hug or touched your hand during the hard times.

Their staff has gone through so many changes! Over our year of treatment the nurses, aids and ultrasound techs all changed. The one constant was Mayjen. She coordinated everything at the desk and knew what was going on and how to help you.

It's a good clinic in the central IL area. It has better statistics than the dr's in Peoria which is why we choose to drive the hour and a half to come here. It's weakness is that there is only one doctor and one embryologist. So there is no team experience. What they think is what they do. I would prefer to have a bigger clinic next time.

A fresh cycle of IVF was about $10,000 plus meds $5-6,000. Every FET was $4,000 plus meds $1,500-2000.

Because of our previous history with 23 week twins, we did eSET for the first three transfers in 2017/8. And then for our last transfer we put in two because there were only two embryos left and our history of failed transfers. Again, it didn't work.

I liked Dr. Loret de Mola. My experiences with the clinic as a whole would deter me from recommending him to anyone. I had multiple problems with others. I felt he was very educated and had a great bedside manner. I just needed more time to understand the process because I do have a healthcare background. There was just not enough time to explain things to me as I needed them explained and other than the appointment times, I could not get questions answered by Doctor or other staff. See staff/nurse comments. I will say that things did get better once a PA was added to the staff.

Have your questions written out and make sure you are able to ask them at appointments because you may not get another chance to ask them.

I had a lot of trouble with the clinical staff more than once I was able to see Dr. Loret de Mola.

I had dysfunctional/occluded tubes (Hydrosalpinx dx) and had to have them removed before I could even start IVF procedures. Hydrosalpinx tube contain embryo toxic fluid. Once removed I started meds for egg retrieval, folicle and blood level monitoring, and had egg retrieval. I only had 3 eggs (1 mature and 2 immature). They fertilized the only mature egg and implanted 2 days later. The procedure was unsuccessful.

I was not at all confident in the nursing staff. I had a lot of trouble with the nurse not calling me back even if I left multiple messages. I also had an issue with the nurse scheduling my HSG without verifying that the insurance will cover the procedure. I do not know if this was a breakdown in communication between the insurance personnel and the nurse or what, but I have the procedure done and then got a denial from the insurance company AFTER I have the procedure. I am not confident in the nursing staff to refer a friend to this facility.

The clinic is attached to a hospital. It is a teaching facility, which I am pro teaching as I have been a healthcare student. The staff gradually improved, but I did have to send a letter to Quality Management before I saw an improvement. The Embryologist was the QM and I had to refer to him multiple time during my treatment to get questions answered or to get a call back. The improvements continued with the addition of a PA. I felt trapped into staying with the facility since there is no other close choices. I live in Woodson, IL and the other two options I found where Chicago (4 hr) and St. Louis (2 hr) from my residence.

There was an IVF "package" of $9500, Egg Donor/Surrogacy/Donor Clinic are extra, Genetic Testing Facility are extra, Embryo Bx are extra, Meds are extra, ect. We spent close to $20,000.00 and I only produced 1 mature egg that was not even optimal. I was told there was no indication by my blood work that would indicate the results I got. If we can raise the funds to try again, I will have to have an egg donor which will increase our costs $14,000-$20,000 more.

I did not have multiple embryos, so this does not pertain to me.

He didn't try to sugar coat things, recommended treatment but allowed us to make decisions for ourselves. We achieved the results we were hoping for within an acceptable time frame. He personally called to let us know our beta was positive.

Go into it with an open mind. Write down questions you may have before seeing him.

Staff was personable, he always answered my questions.

He recommended that we move straight to IVF due to my husband's diagnosis. Because our first was conceived after my husband having surgery, he hoped we would get lucky again. My husband insisted we try one IUI. He allowed us to do just that with clomid and an Ovidrel trigger. When it wasn't successful, we moved on to IVF with icsi. Due to my diminished ovarian reserve, he told me he was expecting around 5 eggs at harvest. I stimmed with follistim, menopur, and ganarelix. My trigger was 2 Ovidrel. I took Doxy after retrieval, and then doxy and prednisone after transfer. My beta was 15 days after retrieval. I had multiple blood draws and ultrasounds during swimming to monitor my progress.

Holly did all of my ultrasounds (except Dr. Lower Dr Mola did one on a Sunday which was the day before retrieval). She was always very good and easy to talk to. The nurse practitioner did our IUI and went over consents and information before IVF.

You may have a wait before no being able to get an appt. If needing IVF, then you may have another wait once you are put on th IVF calendar. Don't be afraid of needles, because you will be stuck a lot. It's all worth it.

We did have insurance coverage, but still spent approximately $10,000 over the years with our appts, treatments, and medications.

He is very respectful and detailed. He is personable. He is frank. It mattered to me that my physican was also spiritual and I learned he was by the fact that he was going to mass after he finished doing monitoring during a Sunday visit I had to the clinic.

He is frank and it's hard to get an appointment because he is the only doctor in town.

He was very personable. When I learned that there were some issues with a pregnancy and the OB wasn't personable, he called me. When I wanted to give up and move to a donor egg he said to try PGS because he thought it would work.

The weakness is the time to get an appointment. Another weakness is that there wasn't a patient advocate to give you their real life experience of going through the process. I am an attorney so I need details and am very organized. Before the clinic started secure emailing details it was difficult to take institutions over the phone.

Health insurance coverage

He always explained everything in a way that I could understand. He was very optimistic making the journey much more relaxed, which I attrIbute to one of the reasons that I was able to get pregnant. He was kind and compassionate.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

He was very caring and took the time to explain every step.

I took the daily shots & clomid

Very compassionate & optimistic

Always answered my questions in a timely manner. Being able to go to some of my appointments in Champaign was very helpful. They made me feel like a person instead of a number. I felt Like they were rooting for me just as much as i was.

My insurance covered about half

Transferred 2 for a higher chance. 1 was successful

The nurses were very kind and helpful. I felt like I grew to know each nurse with my time spent at SIU clinic. If I had any questions, big or small, they always got an answer back to me.

Dr. Loret de Mola's office was always available. Nights and weekends I was provided with an after hours number in case I had a question or problem. A majority of the time it was Dr. Loret de Mola himself that returned the call. He's very involved in each patient's treatment.

Great! Explained everything thoroughly.

Be open and ask questions

He had a great bedside manner and really cared for me as a person.

Everyone was very helpful and showed compassion