Jessica Spencer

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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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I had a very positive experience with Dr. Spencer. As a current student I came prepared with millions of questions spanning from the whole process, what my journey would be like, and how important finances are. She answered all questions to the best of her ability and made sure I understood her. She took all of my client specific concerns and addressed them realistically. I left fully understanding what my next steps needed to be.

Take her bluntness with a grain of salt because she is only giving realistic expectations instead of painting an unobtainable picture for you. She tells you what you need to hear, not what you necessarily want to hear.

AMH testing and maintaining a close watch over me.

Without insurance, freezing eggs is $10,000. Freezing embryos is $20,000.

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Dr Spencer is patient, kind, compassionate and just a loving professional. And full of knowledge. Absolutely love her. Her planned out course for me and concern for me gives me so much hope for this chapter of my life.

Trust her

My treatment is on going

My care is ongoing. My insurance covers most of my care.

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 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.

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.