Jon Proctor

He is very straight forward which I like, always knew me & my history when I arrived. Sort of surprising with so many patients. I’ve seen him over the course of 4 years with a 3 year gap and he is exactly the same now as when I saw him 4 years ago. Great doctor, straight forward and very knowledgeable. It’s a good fit for my personality, I don’t need sympathy - just the facts please.

Be patient, they are booked out for months. If you are in a hurry, I would not recommend.

Lots of references about my particular situation and history. He took a lot of time to review and discuss my history and what he has seen in similar patients. He is a great balance of matter of fact stats and how sometimes the human factor is even more telling of what the possible outcome will be.

Have not started medication yet. I fully trust he will develop the correct protocol. We did a HSG, saw tubes are blocked and decided to skip IUI and go directly to IVF right there in radiology.

So far everyone has been really helpful, knowledgeable and very good communicators.

For me it is very convienent , all of the labs, radiology etc are located close to each other and since it is all Kaiser the billing is also very centralized. This office is very busy, not that I see a lot of patients when I go, but after referral my initial consult was scheduled over a month later. We booked IVF and were scheduled for 4.5 months later. In review: I really love the convience of everything being connected, love the doctors and staff, but it was a very long wait to do every step because they are so booked.

Fresh transfer cycle with ICSI and assisted hatching. $14000 HSG $400 Saline sono $400

He suggests 1, except for my age allows for 2. I agree with him.

Dr. Proctor was knowledgeable, compassionate and very responsive whenever I contacted him. He coordinated well with my husband’s male factor infertility specialist (Dr. Turek). Dr. Turek is picky about providers that he will coordinate with and he was happy to work with Dr. Proctor and his team. His faith in Dr. Proctor speaks volumes.

Appointments are quick because of the volume at the clinic. Come prepared with questions and do not expect long conversations. Dr.Proctor is very knowledgeable and responsive but does not have all the time in the world to sit and talk at every appointment.

Dr. Proctor took a personal interest in our journey and always made us feel important and cared for.

We used a standard stimulation protocol (follistim, Menopur, ganirelix). I was allergic to follistim and dr proctor was very responsive and quickly switched me to gonal-f. I had an excellent response and 30 eggs were retrieved (25 nature). My husband has severe male factor infertility causing only 4 eggs to fertilize normally. Of the 4 embryos at day 1, 3 made it to freeze (we had to do a frozen cycle because my husband’s Soren retrieval surgery occurred weeks after my egg retrieval due to his doctors schedule). We transferred one embryo in December 2017 and I am now 15 weeks pregnant with a baby girl and we have two more high quality embryos on ice for later.

They were always compassionate and helpful. No negative experiences at all.

Strengths: knowledge of clinicians and success rates are excellent. Can’t argue with miracle results! They were also very responsive to any questions or immediate needs. Weaknesses: the clinic is very busy which makes appointments feel rushed at times. Wait times can be quite long. Also the ohlone kaiser pharmacy the clinic works with is awful. I switched to Walgreens discorx and had a much better experience AND my coverage was maintained even though it was Walgreens and not kaiser.

It was efficient, but busy! They recommended I get there early and as long as I did the wait wasn’t bad at all.

We had 50% coverage for one cycle, so the IVF cycle cost $6500 (without medications, including ICSI but no PGS). Our FET was full price and cost $4000 without medications m. However, since we did eset, we would get additional transfers of single embryos for free until a live birth.

Dr. proctor explained the risks and benefits of each thoroughly. Because I have no known fertility issues and we wanted to try and avoid multiples, we went with eset, which resulted in my current pregnancy (1st FET was a success).

He always answered questions, at appointments or by e-mail. He was pleasant, down-to-earth, and realistic. I didn't wait for long in the waiting area. I also didn't feel rushed during appointments. Everything went smoothly. When I experienced some side effects, he was able to adjust the medication. I was very pleased, of course, to get pregnant and have my baby.

I remember signing a form regarding the risks of IVF, and there was a wrong statistic on there. It said that 10% of babies from IVF would have birth defects, and it really scared me. When I contacted the doctor, he said that it was incorrect, and the risk was much lower, but they hadn't changed the wording on the document yet. Jeesh. I hope they have since changed it, but if not, consider this your heads up.

Answered all my questions. Had a pleasant demeanor. I didn't wait too long in the waiting area. Doctor was open to my feedback about side effects and made some medication changes as a result.

I did a single-embryo transfer from a frozen embryo that was retrieved at another clinic. He was unsure of how to predict success given that the embryo came from elsewhere, but the cycle was ultimately successful.

Things were mostly good with the nurses. Two exceptions, though. One was that they didn't warn me when in the cycle I would get my period. Maybe that should have been obvious to me (?), but I really didn't understand that I was going to get it right then, and it came when I was at the airport headed on a flight. Quite annoying. I wish they would have just explained that to me. The second was that I had a lot of pain injecting into my buttox. I had done these shots before without much pain. They really didn't help me figure out what was going on. They said apply hot, they said apply cold, they said massage. But it was really painful; I was limping around, and it hurt to sit and stand. Then, a friend suggested that the needle might not be the right size for me. That fixed it. But I was really in pain for a while, without help from the nurses (I asked them for help with this more than once).

They messed up a billing thing. When I contacted the doctor about it, he said he would let their billing person know, and that she would get back to me. That never happened. I still need to deal with the billing issue. Other than this, and what I have already described, everything was good. (Much better than my previous clinic!)

He was open to my preference.

I ended up with Dr Proctor because in 2012 when I went to the Kaiser clinic, he had a cancellation in his current cycle and they offered the slot to me. It turned out to be a great decision. We had cycled with a doctor at Stanford a couple of years prior and the difference was night and day. Dr. Proctor remembered my info from visit to visit. I got complete explanations about what was going on without even having to ask. He was kind in his delivery of news, but never overly optimistic or creating false hopes. The IVF cycle was successful. We went back in late 2015 hoping to do a FET with our one frozen embryo; it didn't survive thawing. Dr. Proctor told us himself and he and the embryologist explained what had likely happened. I felt that he handled it quite well.

I think he is a great doc, but he might not be for you if you need a lot of sugar coating on things. Also, the wait is currently long.

I liked my doctor, the couple of other doctors that I've met, and the nursing staff and care coordinators. The biggest weakness is the wait time which has hovered around 6 months for years. Also, the billing folks occasionally have issues (although in my case that tended to be forgetting to charge me for things).

Monitoring appointments are go to the lab across the street when it opens, then come in for monitoring. If you don't want to wait, you have to be early (7am). Not my favorite method, but I get that it is designed for people who have to get to work.

Base cost for the IVF was just over $9000; my meds were another almost $5000; ICSI was $1000. This was in 2012.

I remember being told that they would not transfer more than 2 embryos in a patient my age (I was 30 at the time). They gave me the option of eSET and a thorough explanation of the risks, but I elected to transfer 2 and given my history didn't get any pushback.

My husband and I liked how Dr. Proctor was honest in his approach and was not trying to sell us on additional treatments. He was honest about the success rate and he was also straightforward about whether genetic testing was worth the extra costs or not (for us, we ended up not seeing the added value for how much more money it was but it all depends on the circumstances). Other clinics we went to during our research, really tried to sell people on the genetic testing but Dr. Proctor was not like that. During my visits, as I mentioned, I felt he was a bit overworked at the time but he was always present. When the cycle was not going so well at first, he made adjustments and I could see that he had to make a decision based on a gut feeling & probably prior experience on whether I should take meds for another day or not. I had no idea what to do in that situation so had to trust him, which I did, and I ended up getting pregnant. I didn't have a very emotional connection with him but I got that with the nurses so I felt fine about that. Having gone through a lot before this point, I understand that the doctor being skilled and experienced is more important than him/her being my emotional support. I can get that elsewhere. I am paying for a professional, skilled IVF doctor; not a therapist.

When going to this clinic, see it as a whole team. What you may not get from Dr. Proctor (emotional support, touchy feely etc.), you can get from the nurses, family/friends, etc. He is skilled and honest and we had a good experience with him.

I felt that Dr.Proctor was friendly & personable but he also seemed to be a bit overloaded & tired at the time. He was working A LOT during the time I saw him. I saw him after he took a two week vacation and I definitely saw a difference in his energy level & emotional connection to me. I was also confirmed as pregnant at that time so I think he was also happy that we had a successful cycle and felt accomplished.

I unfortunately don't remember all of the specifics of what type of meds/dosages I took. But probably a third of the way through, he increased my dosage to the maximum since I was not producing eggs on the right side (I had ovarian cyst removal on that side so not surprising). This did help with the egg production but I still didn't produce a ton of eggs. Towards the end of my injection cycle, I had 4 really good eggs on the left side and he wondered if we should do one more day of injections in order to see if the right side would catch up... but in the end, he decided to NOT do this in order to not risk compromising those 4 eggs that were ready and looking good. In the end, we ended up with 4 great embryos (one of which is due to be born in two weeks!), and although we can't prove this, Dr. Proctor believes that those 4 embryos were most likely from those 4 great eggs. This is a decision he made that could have gone the other way- he could have decided to go another day of meds and those eggs could have been compromised. Even though I did not produce a ton of eggs (7 total), 5 fertilized and 4 became embryos which is a really great outcome considering the low amount of eggs.

I felt that the nursing staff was great and very supportive. They were always friendly and compassionate. There was one day in particular that I was upset and started to cry since my cycle was not going well at the moment. I was standing in the hall so she had me go into one of the offices and her & another nurse let me be emotional and they comforted me. What I liked the most was that they didn't give me false hope or the opposite. One of the main coordinators said, "You only need one good egg. Just stay hopeful but grounded" and I thought that was very good advise. I really appreciated their support especially in that moment.

The clinic is in a nice building and was clean and comfortable. It's a little confusing on how to enter the building sometimes. If it's before the actual building is open, you have to be let in through an intercom and that was strange sometimes.

I didn't love this aspect but in the end it worked fine. There was just one day that I got there a bit later and I had to wait almost two hours. Luckily it was a day I didn't have to work so it wasn't as bad. But even when you had to wait, there was a nice waiting room with seating etc.

$15,000

Dr. Proctor did say that someone my age (39 at the time of transfer), would normally put 2-3 eggs in. My husband and I had done research and decided to just put one embryo in for this first transfer. If it hadn't of worked, we may have done two the next time. But for this first transfer, that is what we did. Dr. Proctor left the decision to us and did not try to convince us otherwise. I told him our rationale (riskier pregnancy for babies and mom, very hard and expensive to have two babies especially where we live, we don't have family nearby to help us, etc. ) and he agreed those are major factors to consider when deciding. He respected our decision.

My experience had some great times but also some frustrating and sad moments. There were times when looking over test results or images when I was told over and over again what a unique case I had and I wish I could give you more information. Dr. Proctor was willing to explore different tests and procedures and was honest with the fact that they may not give us any new answers.

To be open to suggested tests and procedures but at the same time be prepared that the answers you receive may not be the ones you want to hear.

I feel that every test was run that needed to be run. The doctor tried different tests and procedures to help us get answers or diagnose the problem for our infertility journey.

I remember starting with the basic blood work and a couple imaging tests, mri, ultrasounds and some other stuff. From there seeing as there was a blockage somewhere surgery to explore and see if they could find the source was done with no real answers found.

The nursing staff was great and communicated well with me.

I feel that the clinic was a nice clinic with a great seating area in the waiting room to help you feel comfortable.

The cost ranged from visit to visit depending on what was going on and what tests needed to be run. My insurance covered 50% of the cost for most of the visits and tests. I did have to pay some of them fully out of pocket.

Dr. Proctor was very responsive. Even when I got a second opinion outside of Kaiser or cycled outside, he was willing to run whatever tests and suggestions the other doctors provided. Whenever I had a cycle outside of Kaiser and I asked him to run the beta so my insurance would cover it, he personally called me with the results.

Worth the wait? (Last time I heard it was 4-6 months to cycle). Very possibly.

Even though there was a wait to get in, people promptly returned emails and calls.

Both cycles were high dose antagonist protocols. One detriment of Kaiser is that you work with their cycle, not yours.

One nurse could be negative, but overall they were very informed. Whenever I called or emailed with a question, they answered promptly. When I received my medical records from them, they logged every email or call.

The wait is insane. I have heard that billing can be funky for non-Kaiser patients. (Yes, you absolutely can go here and not be a Kaiser patient.

Cost with ICSI was probably around $11000-12000

Dr. Proctor listened. He was our second RE and let us tell our full story from start to finish. We are a very severe male factor infertility couple, so Dr. Proctor relied heavily on another male specialist to give the "ok." Once that was cleared up, we moved right ahead. Dr. Proctor was responsive, clear and exhibited no judgment or personal bias in any way.

Come armed with information and ask the questions you need. He may not solicit the information from you.

Dr. Proctor is personable and kind, but not overly so.

IVF with ICSI. We debated about using ICSI, but Dr. Proctor said this was absolutely paramount in our situation. Our IVF cycle is currently in progress.

Kaiser is big business, so they have a ton of resources and people and information. I liked this approach after being turned away from a small, boutique RE office.

$13,200 for IVF with ICSI. Medications about $3,000 additional.

Very professional yet friendly. He was a very busy doctor but I never felt rushed with him. He was quick with all appointments and procedures, but thorough. He was amazing at getting back to any questions via email; he was very prompt and fully answered the multiple questions I had.

Don’t hesitate to email him with questions.

I saw many nurses. They were all friendly but i never really got to know them. They were helpful on the phone if I called with a question.

Very busy clinic but well organized and clean. I was initially scheduled for my consultation with another doctor but was told last minute that it was actually Dr. Proctor. It worked out at the end with him being the doctor but I was given no warning about the switch.

Very quick but thorough

He seemed to generally suggest that women under 32 or so should have a single transfer.

Infertility is such a personal, isolating, difficult struggle, but Dr. Proctor really understood me and he “spoke my language.” He put my options into terms that made the most sense to me and for my specific situation. He was amazing!

Trust him. He knows what he’s talking about and he will advise you in your best interests.

Dr. Proctor really “spoke my language.” He understood where I was coming from and gave me choices (in a way that directly applied to me) on how to proceed. Throughout the entire process, I always felt like he “got me” and was my advocate. I have nothing but positive things to say about Dr. Proctor.

Excellent

I had a very positive experience in this very difficult situation. I have nothing but excellent things to say about Dr. Proctor and the nurses at Kaiser Fremont. Everyone was honest, compassionate, and incredibly helpful.

Dr. Proctor said to me, “What would be worse—not getting pregnant with this cycle of IVF or getting pregnant with twins.” I decided that I needed to get pregnant that cycle, I chose to transfer 2 embryos, and I got pregnant with twins.