Dr. Ayers never attempted to find the cause of our low sperm count, despite my requests to cure the problem, not just the symptom (that we couldn't get pregnant). He saw the sperm count test result and went immediately to IVF.... Dr. Ayers is well experienced and always seemed knowledgeable. No matter what happened throughout our cycle, he was always confident. I think he attempts to be compassionate; he said all the right words when our cycle failed,
The clinic's [IVF MI] scheduling is difficult. They are open M-F from 8-4, closing for lunch 12-1. These hours make it difficult if you also work M-F and don't want to take time off work for appointments. They also schedule appointments in sequence - if you want/need an appointment on Thursday, you get the first time slot available on that day. If they have an opening at 10, that time will be your appointment, even though their afternoon schedule is still open.
How was your experience with Jonathan Ayers at IVF Michigan Fertility Centers?
Dr. Ayers is well experienced and always seemed knowledgeable. No matter what happened throughout our cycle, he was always confident. I think he attempts to be compassionate; he said all the right words when our cycle failed, but it always felt very insincere to us and lacked a true feeling of empathy. His lack of interest in correcting the cause of our infertility made us feel like it was all about the money. We continued to see Dr. Ayers in spite of all this because of his extensive experience and success rates. I can recommend him not because I enjoyed being his patient, but because he helped us achieve the dream against all odds.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Jonathan Ayers at IVF Michigan Fertility Centers?
If you need someone to make you feel better, or to feel like you're their only patient, or to feel like they do this job to actually help you achieve your goals instead of for success rates and money, this is not your doctor. But if you don't care about the process but more about the results, like we did, I never doubted Dr. Ayers knew exactly what he was doing every step of the way. I actually took some comfort in feeling a little like a number with Dr. Ayers; he clearly sees hundreds of patients so he has experience and I wouldn't want my cycle to be someone's first practice round.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Jonathan Ayers at IVF Michigan Fertility Centers?
Dr. Ayers never attempted to find the cause of our low sperm count, despite my requests to cure the problem, not just the symptom (that we couldn't get pregnant). He saw the sperm count test result and went immediately to IVF.
Describe the protocols Jonathan Ayers used in your cycles at IVF Michigan Fertility Centers and their degree of success.
We did IVF with ICSI. ICSI was necessary due to the extremely low sperm count. Beyond that, no other strategies were discussed. Our fresh cycle produced 17 follicles, 14 mature eggs, 11 fertilized, 6 survived to day 5. We transferred 2 (although Dr. Ayers never offered to transfer any other number and we did not ask) with no pregnancy. We did a frozen transfer 5 months later. They had to thaw all 4 remaining embryos to transfer 2, one implanted and became our healthy daughter.
Describe your experience with your nurse at IVF Michigan Fertility Centers. (Assigned nurse: Cathy Bamrick)
Nurse Cathy is my favorite. She has the compassion Dr. Ayers seems to lack. I even asked her if she could be at the egg retrieval surgery, which was done at another location. She has a positive energy, without being unrealistic and feeding you false hope. She has such a calming presence and does a quick and clean blood draw. She was always patient with questions, injection training and even the after-hours calls.
Describe your experience with IVF Michigan Fertility Centers.
The clinic's scheduling is difficult. They are open M-F from 8-4, closing for lunch 12-1. These hours make it difficult if you also work M-F and don't want to take time off work for appointments. They also schedule appointments in sequence - if you want/need an appointment on Thursday, you get the first time slot available on that day. If they have an opening at 10, that time will be your appointment, even though their afternoon schedule is still open. We could not book an appointment later in the day when they had an earlier opening. Their hours and appointment times were highly inconvenient.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Jonathan Ayers at IVF Michigan Fertility Centers.
Fresh cycle (not including meds) was $11650, including ICSI. The frozen cycle was about $3500.
Describe Jonathan Ayers's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at IVF Michigan Fertility Centers.
Dr. Ayers never offered or discussed eSET. He recommended transferring 2 and having done research on our own, I agreed.
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Clinic
IVF Michigan Fertility Centers
Ypsilanti