Jessica Spencer

Dr Jessica Spencer is an amazing Doctor. She make sure she listens to you when you have questions and concerns and also answer accurately. She doesn't rush you in and out like some doctor so. She makes sure your are satisfied with whatever you come I for. She is an incredible Doctor and I would recommend her to friends and family.

I will tel them to be patient and make sure the ask all the questions needed and if they are not satisfied with the answer they should asked for in-depth answer because sometimes the doctor thinks you know everything like the terminologies that are been used during discussions.

I was treaded like a human because she took her time to explain the necessary steps and procedures I will end up doing. Even tho I didn't get to see her during all my visit, she always respond to my emails when I message her. She was great.

She prescribed me clomid/Letrazole and told me to use it on day 3-7, then come in on day 12 for ultrasounds. The clomid/Letrazole did give me good size follicles which was awesome. I was also prescribed ovidrel to use per Doctors order.

The front desk personal was absolutely wonderful. She had great personality. The nurses are also awesome. They listen to whatever you have to say and also get the right answer to whatever questions you have. They treat you like family.

The only problem I had with the clinic was the financial department. She hardly return your calls/email. Make sure you don't get rushed in that department because that's what they always do. Also make sure you have the necessary questions answered and also the necessary document needed to either apply for a loan or bet on financial assistant.

The visit is usually covered by my insurance. The only thing I had to pay for was my copay and payment for the two IUI services

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Dr. Spencer is extremely knowledgeable! She was able to fully answer mine and my husband's questions on the spot and in terms we could easily understand. She took the time to meet with us and discussed all our diagnoses and options fully. We never felt rushed, and her bedside manner is impeccable. Dr. Spencer personally performed and oversaw all of my procedures, and we received a positive outcome following our first cycle and frozen transfer!

Ask a lot of questions to set expectations because Dr. Spencer will provide complete and honest answers.

Dr. Spencer and her team were extremely responsive to my needs. All my questions and concerns were answered and alleviated quickly, and my care and outcome were top notch!

Dr. Spencer was careful tweak my dosages little by little to prevent over-stimulation during my initial IVF stimulation cycle. I underwent additional monitoring to ensure any changes in medication dosage took the desired effects. My stimulation cycle took a couple days longer than initially anticipated, but her careful attention to detail ensured that she was able to retrieve 18 mature eggs from which to work while also keeping me healthy throughout.

The nursing staff was very compassionate and responsive to my needs. All questions and concerns were answered and addressed within a business day or less.

Most visits were quick and easy. I did experience one mishap with scheduling, though the doctor and nursing staff were able to accommodate me anyhow. The team is fairly organized, and it's clear they abide by strict routines and policies to make certain day-to-day operations run as smoothly as possible. Billing was sometimes slower than I would have liked, but we received detailed invoicing and plenty of time in which to pay our bills.

Monitoring appointments were held during the same window of time each day, however, each patient was provided with their own specific appointment time, so I never waited more than 5 or 10 minutes to be seen. Once I was called back, my ultrasound and bloodwork procedures were completed immediately. My monitoring appointments were nearly always completed in 15 - 20 minutes or less.

I paid roughly $25,000 out-of-pocket for IVF treatment, including all anesthesia, procedures, and additional monitoring. My various prescriptions costs were about $3,500.

Dr. Spencer is always open and available to listen to my concerns and make necessary changes to my protocol after listening to me. For example, the last doctor that treated me never listened to my concerns about how the medications affected me in a major way. The meds would cause me not to ovulate properly and so when I finally went to Dr. Spencer, I informed her about this situation and she listened and made adjustments to my meds and protocol. I was sooooo happy she listened because after the medication changes I got pregnant, but it ended in a miscarriage that wasn’t Dr.Spencer’s fault. If I was ever uncomfortable during a procedure, she would even hold my hand and calm me down. I am very satisfied as a patient at Emory. Its more than excellent. Dr. Spencer is professional, patient, and kind. She takes the time to explain my care fully and also asks if I understand, if not, she fully explains until I get it. She gives me the time I need to make sound decisions and never pushy. Again, I can’t stress enough about how awesome my experience is every single time I go in for a visit at Emory with Dr. Spencer.

I would say to not be afraid to talk to Dr.Spencer. i would tell someone to let their guard down and just be open-minded and listen because ahe gives good advice and won’t lead you astray. I’d also advise them that they should set-up one on one appointments with her often to get more time to talk to her.

I was treated extremely well like a human by Dr. Spencer and her nurse staff. Emory Reproductive has a portal where you can sign-in on a computer and/or mobile device and directly contact their staff and Dr.Spencer at any single given time. This direct communication gave me a sense of security that I have always wanted from any medical doctor and facility. If I ever had a problem with my perscription, appointment dates or times, bleeding heavily, or aches and pains.... Someone was available and rady to answer my call or questions 24/7 and 365. I have never had such a caring staff and medical doctor ever before. Dr. Spencer listens to my concerns and even gives me personal advice on my medical treatment and orther situations, for example, I wanted to stop treatment, but she knew that I was just having a hard time since my embryo transfers kept failing. Dr. Spencer would give me tge mkat encouraging, sweet, and motivational speeches that would lift my spirits and help me to contine the fertility cycles. She is a very personable and lovable person and I’ll forever appreciate her and how she cares for her patients like me. She also rescheduled and made changes to her own personal schedule to make sure she is in the office to do my treatments since I have been so scared to let another doctor treat me. She is so awesome!

The long lupron protocol was done on my last cycle. I started tge lupron shots approximately 6 or 7 days before my expected period. I also would place on estradiol patches daily. Once monitored by my ultrasound shows my follicles have matured, then it was time to move into the final process. Secondly, Dr. Spencer found that I can ovulate perfectly on my own and that I would only need to do a natural FET. So we wait until my cycle came on and on a certain day of my cycle I go in for and ultrasound and look at my follicles. After they get to a certain point I have a Ovadriel trigger shot. Four days after I have a embryo transfer.

The nursing staff is absolutely amazing and always on top of my care. They are always prompt in responses about my kab results as well. If I have a question or concern, they always tell me that they would first consult with my doctor. This showed that they truly care about accuracy of advice and care that was given. I don’t see any weaknesss with the staff at this moment. They always have open availabilty and I they work around my personal schedule. For example, if I want to come in earlier than my scheduled time for an appointment, the nurse always says that fine. They are very accommodating and nice. I really appreciate this because my personal schedule can be very unpredictable from week to week. Also, when I had a miscarriage, Lisa would give me a call and check on me to just see how I was feeling. This was very touching and I appreciated the concern.

The clinic overall is very organized. The only thing I had a small problem with was getting in touch with financial advisor to speak directly yo her about my billing. But I would say that they are on top of the financial side behind the scenes, meaning they are working really hard and getting all your claims covered as faat as possible. The financial advisor is very sweet and helpful, but just a little difficult to get in contact with if you have questions. They do get back to you, but probably not as soon as you would like, but thats understandable because she handles hundreds and thousands of patients files. The front desk people are very cordial and awesome. They greet you with a smile and are very helpful if you need to anything. For example, they would hunt down a nurse or doctor if you need them right away. Overall, the clinic is great!

The cost of the ivf cycle was $12,000 and the embry transfers was $2700.

She had a string preference for the number transferred since most of them failed, so she recommended two per embryo transfer. She said my chances would be better. I had yet to get pregnant until I started treatment with Dr. Spencer and since taking her advice with the transfer of two.... I got pregnant with twins the last transfer, but they ended both as blighted ovums. So her recommendation to transfer two actually worked.

Dr. Spencer was a great choice for a doctor. I loved her bedside manner and how she explained everything thoroughly. She is a really good doctor and really cares for her patients! She would run all the proper test on me. Nurses would call me the very next day to give me the results.

Along with Dr. Spencer, you will meet with students, but all of the students I met with were just as nice and explained everything thoroughly. If there was something that they could not answer, they would go and get her and she would speak with me directly if necessary.

I was definitely treated like a human. Everyone has excellent bedside manner. Dr. Spencer was WONDERFUL!!! She even spoke with my husband about his health (smoking) and how important it is for the fertility process as well as his overall health. She was very informative and took great care of me!

I took clomid 50 mg, Ovidrel 250 mcg/0.5ml, Gonal-F and Prometrium 200mg. If I can remember correctly, I took clomid starting on day 3 for 5 days. I had to give myself the Ovidrel shot (I don't remember on what day). I had to go in on day 12 to get an ultrasound and they called me to tell me when to do the trigger shot (Gonal-F). Then after that, I had to come in for insemination. Then starting 2 days afterwards, I had to insert the Prometrium pills 3 times a day for 2 weeks. Take a pregnancy test on the 15 day.

The nursing staff was very supportive and helpful. They would always give encouraging words and tell me they are praying for me. They give the best hugs! They were very informative and if they didn't know they would definitely find out the info I needed.

The clinic's strengths are an excellent medical staff, the technology they offered to run test or ultrasounds, and they are always available to speak with me to answer questions. The clinic's weaknesses is that a person may not like dealing with the residents, which may be someone different each time. I was fine with it, but some people may be very emotional and need the steady relationship with the main doctor.

My health insurance covered 50% of IUI so they allowed me to pay later. The finance department was great to deal with and didn't treat me like a number either. So one IUI was $300 and the prescriptions were $80 each time. I had Humana.

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There are so many positives about Dr. Spencer -- let me list them: -She is up to date on the latest research - explaining every study and how much stock I should take in it given the population in the study, the size of the study, etc. -I NEVER felt rushed. I had multiple 2.5 hour meetings with her and not once did she say, "I need to get to another patient." -She would explain all the options - and they were often complicated with many unknowns given the research is so inconclusive. If I really couldn't decide what to do, she'd say "if you were my sister, I'd say x." She was taking into account the medical, financial and emotional aspects of my decision. -If I wanted to talk with her, the nurses/staff would get the message to her and she'd call me. She was always available when I needed her. -She is "real." She didn't take on a medical/defensive persona. When things didn't work out she would say she was sorry and hug me and we'd walk through the protocol and what she might have done differently and could do differently if I wanted to try again. She is crazy empathetic. I have no idea how she is so empathetic given all the patients and how often the news is negative -- she is a very strong person! -The only negative and it's not even a negative, is that she couldn't do all my procedures. But over 5 years and more than 20 procedures that cannot be timed to a certain day, there's no way a doctor could do that.

If you've had an experience at another clinic, share that. And explain all your concerns, hopes and fears. She's really good at addressing all of that and isn't afraid to go into the details on anything.

I can't say enough good things about Dr. Spencer. She always knew my complete medical history -- even from before I came to Emory. She was willing to have long conversations (1-2 hours!) to help me figure out what my next steps should be during cycles as well as after failed cycles. She seemed to truly understand the stress involved in IVF and would help me weigh emotional, practical and financial factors in making decisions. Whenever I had a failed cycle she would call and tell me how sorry she was -- and she seemed to be almost as upset as I was, which made me feel like she really cared. I also appreciated that she was constantly bringing in new research that might impact my particular situation. Not once did I feel like I was "a number" or that I was just being given generic advice/protocols.

For all of my cycles with Dr. Spencer I used an antagonist protocol. With a prior clinic they had me on a micro-dose flare that was timed with birth control. Dr. Spencer was worried the birth control was making it to hard for my ovaries to recover from the suppression of birth control and so we used natural timing for every retrieval. I also used Ganarelix before the my cycle started to help prevent a leading follicle. I was on the highest dose of Bravelle (later Gonl-F) and Menopur for all retrievals. A few times we added in human growth hormone but on the last (and successful) cycle we dropped it b/c we didn't think it was doing enough to outweigh the high costs. I was also taking DHEA and CoQ10 for my last 4 cycles. (Dr. Spencer shared that there is no evidence that CoQ10 has a positive impact on human eggs but that it wouldn't hurt anything so if I wanted to take it I should go ahead). On many cycles we weighed the pros and cons of PGD. We did it for 2 cycles mainly as a way to reduce the chances of miscarriage given I had had many. The last, successful cycle we decided to change up everything - still an antagonist protocol, but we didn't do PGD (we started getting concerns that the biopsy, freeze and thaw could do damage to the embryo and so agreed to risk the miscarriage), and we did a clomid-antagonist cycle. So I did clomid for the first 7 (?) days of the cycle and then started with the injections. We did a Day 3 transfer (I had a couple of experiences where embryos did not survive until Day 5). On this last one the embryologist came out to see us right after the retrieval and asked to NOT do ICSI as we had done 7 times before. I had some eggs not quite mature and she wanted to give them the extra 24 hours to mature by just letting the sperm find the eggs in the petri dish, rather than do ICSI and "arrest" development and potentially lost an egg because it wasn't mature.

The nurses at Emory are amazing! They are crazy knowledgeable about every protocol and drug and why the doctors are doing what they're doing. At a prior clinic every time I had a question about a drug or the protocol the nurse would have to go ask the doctor and then just repeat what the doctor said without really explaining. At Emory you are assigned a primary nurse but given the need for care and support to be available 365 days, you're bound to talk with multiple nurses if you do more than 1 cycle. While I had a primary nurse, all the nurses were familiar with my specific protocol and me personally (they knew I was emotional and anxious to do everything perfectly). I should've been an expert on this given I was at it for so long, but still called them constantly with questions and concerns. The nurses always happily walked me through things and reassured me if I was nervous about being off on timing of a shot. Michelle, in particular, is incredible. She works way longer than she is supposed to because she wants to make sure every question gets answered and you feel secure -- so phone calls with her can be long! It just makes you feel all the more like a unique human rather than just #10 on her list of calls. On my last positive pregnancy test a bunch of the nurses and staff gathered in the room to all call me and tell me the news. I couldn't stop crying. They really make you feel cared for.

The only true weakness I can think of is financial/billing. I did not feel like the people who handle the financial end of things were equipped to explain my bills to me or deal with insurance issues. Luckily Emory Hospital's billing department handles all of it in the end, but I wish the Clinic itself had a stronger financial team. On top of that, it's not a lavish place! It's a teaching hospital and so it's bare bones (none of the spa like atmosphere at the private clinics) -- but I'll take that with high quality services over all the bells and whistles of a so-so clinic.

I had great insurance that covered almost all of my meds and 80% of procedures once I met deductible. I probably spent around $2k per cycle when you average everything out.

Given my low ovarian reserve and age (I was getting 4-6 eggs...and we presumed most were abnormal), I was thankful that Dr. Spencer was willing to transfer multiple embryos. Usually I transferred 2-3 embryos b/c that was all that I had but the last two times I transferred 4. She would walk through the risks with me and it was my decision in the end.

As stated before, Dr. Spencer always made me feel welcomed. She was polite, courteous, gentle, and always showed compassion. Her staff also were wonderful to deal with. My experience overall with her as a doctor was positive.

Beware of Emory and their lack of communication, lack of billing communication, and nurses not always knowing what medicines you are prescribed.

Dr. Spencer was wonderful. She made sure to give details on what was going one, why she chose the meds she did, and what she thought our outcome would be. The reason we left her practice was due to other issues dealing with Emory.

When seeing Dr. Spencer, I was undergoing IUIs. From what I can recall, I was on Clomid, Clomid's sister drug, but can't remember the other medicines prescribed. I also can't remember much about the protocols. It was a couple of years ago and I have moved past this experience.

The nursing staff was nice. However, they never remembered our names (I can sort of understand this, there are a lot of patients), they messed up our appointments multiple times, and gave us wrong information about the medications I was supposed to take and when. A few times, I had to call Dr. Spencer personally to get correct information. Very frustrating.

Strengths: Dr. Spencer is a good doctor and her interns/fellow were fantastic! Weaknesses: Emory's billing department, front desk management, and nurses lack of communication and not knowing which patient you are and mixing up important, details regarding appointments and medication.

I do not remember the costs.

Just that when the doctor thinks it right to transfer two, go with it.

She thoroughly went over my history with me to determine the best course of action. She let me know the chances of doing the IUI successfully were slim due to the fact that I have endometriosis. She let me know that IVF would probably be best to do but due to the cost I decided to try out the IUI

Be patient and ask questions if things are not clear.

The instructions I was given was specific to me and not generic. The fact that I have endometriosis was taken into consideration

I was initially given Clomid but I asked for it to be changed to Femara due reviews of it not working for Endo patients. I believe I was also prescribed Follistism, can't remember what else.

The nurses were always nice and patient. They would always come back and reitierate what the doctor had gone over and also answer any additional questions

What I like about Emory is that they were up front with the costs. I was not left in the dark not know what my bill would be. The only issue I had was waiting to get labs done, this took a very looooong time as the waiting area was always jam packed

Total cost was about $4000. This was for consultation, full panel bloodwork, IUI

Emory clinic's approach is to do eSet

She did a great job of explaining the process and answering our questions, and setting our plan. We did not see her very often though. She did not perform any of the check ups, just some of the procedures, and the initial consultations.

Write down your list of questions so you don't forget anything

She took the time to talk to us when formulating a plan, but we did not see her often.

I don't remember specifics, but I know that she adjusted my clomid with each attempt.

It would have been nice to see the same nurses consistently, but they did a good job.

There are long waits. You have to pay for parking after a short period, you do not see your doctor often. The reception staff is not always discreet. The ultrasound technicians sometimes spoke before they should have, worrying me unnecessarily. There is free coffee/tea in the waiting room.

I believe each IUI was around $1,000.

We did not end up needing IVF, but during the consultation, she explained that she wanted to transfer a single embryo to reduce the risk of multiples.