He [Dr. Jonathan Kim] personally called me when I called and asked the nurse a question. He told me no question was silly and if I have any concerns or questions to please call him...I do wish I saw him more at each appointment, but I was glad to be able to hear directly from him if we wanted after the appointment...he is really nice, honest, straightforward, smart, and will explain thing fairly detailed...I started bleeding after appointment later dr Kim called and said Hcg more then doubled progesterone had raised, but was still very low(3). He was now very concerned that it was ectopic. He had me come in a day or two later.
I think [Houston Fertility Institite is] clean, professional, accommodating and I believe they care. I trust the doctors and their knowledge to help families! I had one major issue with them in regards to insurance, the doctor and facility was covered, but the lab for the embryologist was not and that was a surprise bill of almost 8k. That was not told to me and unexpected. I wish they didn’t charge so much as many other places (not in Houston area) are more cost effective. With that being said I do believe they are good at what they do, helping families have children.
How was your experience with Jonathan Kim at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute?
I liked that he didn’t shy away from the realistic outcomes (sch, heartbeat being low, miscarriage) he was honest and up front about about sch and that it could be normal but it did increase miscarriage chance slightly. I saw another doctor there for an ultrasound that we found the heartbeat to be lower then the last ultrasound and I felt he skirted the obvious concern until asked several times and still wasn’t completely open. When dr Kim called he said the chances at miscarriage at that point was 85% but that it could be from the trauma of the sch. Of course I hate hearing bad news but I would rather not be blindsided and have a realistic expectation. I do wish I saw him more at each appointment, but I was glad to be able to hear directly from him if we wanted after the appointment.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Jonathan Kim at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute?
That he is really nice, honest, straightforward, smart, and will explain thing fairly detailed. You won’t see him every time since he is at different locations.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Jonathan Kim at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute?
He personally called me when I called and asked the nurse a question. He told me no question was silly and if I have any concerns or questions to please call him.
Describe the protocols Jonathan Kim used in your cycles at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute and their degree of success.
We did blood work first as I came in for baseline at cycle day 3. I was put on birth control To do a Hysteroscopy. Before I started B/C I took a pregnancy test. It was slightly positive. (Which was weird since I had a pretty normal period) I looked at blood work from a few days prior and hcg was very low and “not pregnant” I called and told them, doctor called and said it was likely a chemical since progesterone was less then one, but he had me come kind roe blood work. Hcg did not double and progesterone was still very low, less then 1. He called and updated me again saying it would be ectopic again. He had me come in 4days later. I started bleeding after appointment later dr Kim called and said Hcg more then doubled progesterone had raised, but was still very low(3). He was now very concerned that it was ectopic. He had me come in a day or two later. I was having pain and had fluid in my abdomen at the ultrasound. He then scheduled a laparoscopy due to likely ectopic and rupture. He went in and took his time he saw no rupture, my remaining tube was fine, but did remove blood from abdomen, he followed that with a d&c so that he could confirm if the pregnancy was in the uterus or if I needed the methotrexate to keep tube safe. He had me in a couple days later and hcg did not drop like he had hoped after d&c so it was confirmed ectopic and was proscribed methotrexate. Becasue of yet another loss(3), second confirmed ectopic, and one tube he concluded that there was likely a tubal functionality issue (nothing physically wrong with remaining tube and it was not blocked he looked at the hsg I had done with OBGYN previously) we did the eggretrival first before the Hysteroscopy. We were on gonal f(150), menopur(75), centrotide, and luprolide(sp?) . He did change is up a bit towards the end increasing menopure and lowering gonal. He also added a day or two. I had to order more menopure and centrotide. We were seeing about 20-24 sizable follicles on ultrasound. Egg retrieval resulted in 15 eggs, 15 mature, 7 made it blast and 5 pgs tested normal embryos. Hysteroscopy found a few small Polups they were removed, but everything else looked good. We had to wait a bit financially before transfer. I was on estrodiol 2mg tablets orally 3 times a day. The lining was not progressing as much as he wanted so he switched me to vaginaly 3 times a day. Started 2ml pio injections. I got a positive hpt at 5dp5dt. Blood test was at 9dp hcg was more then doubling on schedule. First ultrasound confirmed it was in the uterus, I started bleeding red blood 6w4days they had me come in the next day. Heartbeat was 91(a little low) and we were measuring a couple day behind and he saw a hematoma twice the size of the gestational sack. He told us it could be normal as 20% of IVF patients get them. He said once we see a heartbeat miscarriage drops to 5%, but the miscarriage rate raises to 15%. He said we just need to keep an eye on it and he increased my progesterone to 3ml for three days.
He did let me know that I may pass a clot. At 7w3d I started bleeding red blood and a rather large clot. They had me come in the next day this is wen we saw a different doc and heartbeat dropped to 75 and size wise it was only 6w3days. We asked dr Kim to call us and he said they it was not a good sign that likelyhood at this point of miscarriage was 85% but that it could be a trauma from the hematoma maybe why it dropped. Two days later there was no heartbeat. I was given the choice of d&c or meds to start contractions. I chose the medicine in hopes of seeing the baby. I was warned of the “pain” side effects from meds vs d&c process.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute. (Assigned nurse: There were three I spoke to often and received messages from on the portal. (Joy, Patrica, Connie))
The only issues I had was:
1) I loved joy, although at times (More so on the phone) it was harder to understand.
2) I believe Patrica switched the dosage of my gonal f and menopure when putting the prescription in the portal, therefor the wrong dosage was ordered. I was assured it would be ok and that the would start with that and change it if they needed to. I did end up needing to order extra menopur and had extra gonal f, but I think the results from egg retrieval went well, although I don’t know what the other outcome would have been.
I think they are all great and really sweet and kind.
Describe your experience with Aspire Houston Fertility Institute.
I think it’s clean, professional, accommodating and I believe they care. I trust the doctors and their knowledge to help families!
I had one major issue with them in regards to insurance, the doctor and facility was covered, but the lab for the embryologist was not and that was a surprise bill of almost 8k. That was not told to me and unexpected.
I wish they didn’t charge so much as many other places (not in Houston area) are more cost effective. With that being said I do believe they are good at what they do, helping families have children.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Jonathan Kim at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute.
Cash price 6900 for physician,
Lab 3000
Facility 2800
Anesthesiologists 250
Meds 4000-7000
Additional FET
Doctor 1750
Lab 725
Facility 1400
Meds 300-1000
Describe Jonathan Kim's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute.
I believe he mentioned and suggested 1 embryo and that one healthy baby, mother, pregnancy and birth was the goal. Although, I never had an doubt that I wanted to only transfer 1. Now I might consider using two, but unlikely.
What specific things went wrong at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute?
- Failed to call in prescriptions to pharmacy
- Provided conflicting information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Aspire Houston Fertility Institute.
I feel like I explained this before, but the dosage of my menopure and gonal f were switched when putting prescriptions in the portal to the wrong dosage was ordered. They assured me it would be ok and they would use that dosage and change it if they needed to. I did end up needing to order more menopure and had extra gonal at the end. But I believe the results of egg retrieval went well.
I believe one time when I needed to order extra menopur, they didn’t call before the end of the day Friday. I was able to get my beds in time, with a little extra stress.
With that being said they also called pharmacy extra times when pharmacy was being picky and complicated
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Clinic
Aspire Houston Fertility Institute
Sugar Land