Juan Alvarez

Dr. Juan Alvarez is great. He is very caring and compassionate and you can tell that he loves what he does. He is very thorough and makes sure that you are aware and understand all of the steps involved in the process. He is very positive and upbeat and made me feel super comfortable with both of my transfers. Our first FET resulted in a blighted ovum. I was devastated and in tears. He had me come into his office to explain what exactly a blighted ovum was and assured me that it was nothing that I did. Hearing that made me feel a little better because it’s so hard not to blame yourself. He asked if he could give me a hug and did so. You definitely do not feel like just a “number” when in his care. I highly recommend him.

That he is very knowledgeable and has your outcome in his best interest. His goal is to help you achieve your dream of having a family.

Dr. Juan Alvarez was very compassionate and caring. I did not feel like jus another “number” with him. He took the time to look over my history and when my first FET resulted in a blighted ovum he was very comforting and has me come into his office. He made sure that I was aware that it was nothing that I did.

I did two FET’s with Dr. Alvarez. My fresh cycle that resulted with my twins was done under the care of Dr. Hirschfield whom transferred to another location. My first cycle with Dr. Alvarez I was on oral estrace, baby aspirin, POI and medrol and doxycycline a few days before transfer. My lining wasn’t thickening in the beginning so he had me insert the estrace vaginally for a few days which did the trick. My progesterone was also increased once I had a positive pregnancy test because it was low. He also added oral progesterone as well. That cycle ended in a blighted ovum. Second cycle I was on the same protocol but he made sure to check my progesterone level the day of my transfer and a week later. I was taking oral progesterone and an increased dosage of POI shots as well. Everything else was the same.

Michelle was great. She was prompt with calling back and answering any questions that I may have. She was very caring and compassionate and made sure that I understood the process.

Strengths: The doctors and nurses are very compassionate and caring. They are very organized and pretty prompt. I have never had to wait more then 15 minutes .The facility is very clean. Great about calling back. Weaknesses: Front desk staff isn’t always bad the friendliest. You would think that they would be extra nice considering the patients that they are dealing with. Tinley Park facility isn’t open on the weekends so if you are scheduled for a monitoring appointment you have to go to the River North office. Retrieval’s and transfers are done at River North facility as well.

Out of Pocket (insurance doesn’t cover fertility treatment) Saline Sonogram $450 FET: $3500 x 2 = $7000 Meds: $150 x 2 = $300 Consultation: $225 Total: $7975

Dr. Alvarez would only let me transfer one embryo at a time since we already had twins. He said that we had a higher chance of that happening again and that twin pregnancies pose a higher risk. We were okay with this since we already have our twins.

He was very knowledgeable and was able to explain everything at a level that I could understand and ask questions He made sure that I knew what was happening, why and when. He reached out personally to develop plans for continuing IVF in the hopes of a healthy baby.

Ask questions, be patient and trust that he is working towards the same goal as you.

He looked at my case specifically, reached out personally and made sure that the goal was a healthy baby

We first started with a testing. Making sure everything was where it needed to be. We then did a monitored clomid cycle. We met and discuss what he saw and what the next steps would be. We did 2 IUI next at 50mg clomid. After the second he suggested trying 100mg clomid. After that didnt work he wanted to consult and go over the results. He allowed me to choose between 2 options. We chose 1 more IUI at 100mg clomid. After it failed we discussed IVF and proceeded. He called the day before egg retrieval to go over my levels and discuss what would would happen next. We just had out egg retrieval and have 20 eggs, 11 mature and 8 fertilized.

They would call every evening after an appointment to go over results and next steps from dr. Alvarez. They would always return phone calls and walk me through any questions I had.

They are very organized and keep the appointments in a timely manner. They are very clear about what needs to happen and when. They return phone calls and treat you as an individual not just another patient.

Dr. Alvarez took the time to answer my many questions during each consultation. With each failure we had, he always give us hope that the next round will work. He has tweaked the treatment plan with each round of IUI or IVF. We did 3 round of IUI before we started IVF. It was our choice to start IVF, Dr. Alvarez didn't try to push that treatment on us. When my husband and I did get pregnant, he genuinely seemed excited for us.

To be straightforward with him, let him know that you want to get pregnant right away, and that to be aggressive with the medication. Ask as many questions as you want, he will take the time to answer all your questions. You will never feel rushed in his office.

Dr. Juan Alvarez is a very caring and straightforward doctor. He thoroughly explained the treatment for IUI and IVF to my husband and I, as we didn't know much about fertility treatments when we started. After our failed rounds of IUI and IVF, he would go over the new treatment plan continuing to give us hope. He reached out to me after a failed IUI round to make sure I was doing ok and gave me encouragement that the next round would work. I have never had a doctor do that before! It was extremely kind and welcomed.

Our first round of IVF we used Follistim, Menopur, and Ganirellix to help us get the most eggs. After a failed first cycle, Dr. Alvarez changed our treatment to help us get more eggs to make it through day 5. Our second round was more successful, we had 2 eggs make it through day 5. We are still currently trying to get pregnant.

Dr. Alvarez's nurse Tori is amazing! She is compassionate and kindhearted. I have reached out to her many times with questions and she takes the time to go over every little detail with me. She responds to her emails and phone calls in a timely matter.

FCI has been my second home, I feel like I live there with all the appointments I have had! The staff has always been friendly! The IVF surgery nurses, anesthesiologist, ultrasound techs, and phlebotomist are great. The Chicago office is always busy but I have never waited long to see the doctor or nurse. The nurses call back with the results the same day and are friendly on the phone. Dr. Alvarez is a great doctor!

Appointments for monitoring are convenient for people who need early morning appointments due to work. You can get an appointment as early as 6:30am and you never wait more than 15 minutes to get in. Most appointments I would be out within 15 to 20 minutes with ultrasound and bloodwork.

Dr. Alvarez genuinely cared about my treatment. He was always willing to answer questions and provided me with his full attention during consultations. He would followup post retrievals to ensure that I understood what the next steps in the process would be. He gave his recommendations and was clear in his explanations without making me feel like I was under pressure. I felt safe under his care and knew that my protocols were carefully chosen and individualized for me.

To educate yourself fully and trust the advice of your doctor.

Dr. Alvarez was very proactive in changing my protocols in order to maximize my results. He would personally followup following egg retrievals to discuss my results. I always felt like he was very actively involved and genuinely cared about my treatment.

I used the testosterone and estrogen priming protocol. I needed this to increase the number of mature eggs I was producing. After a failed first cycle, Dr. Alvarez immediately changed my protocol in the hopes of producing more mature eggs. This dramatically changed my outcome in the next egg retrieval. A change in protocol became necessary and my doctor knew immediately what he needed to change in order for me to have a more successful cycle. The end result are four embryos and a current pregnancy.

My nurse was very actively involved in my treatment plan. She was very thorough when calling with results and made me feel very comfortable to reach out and ask questions. She was very encouraging and made me feel like there was always hope to continue.

The clinic was organized and it was easy to get appointments. The staff was friendly and provided a nice environment. I feel like the billing department was a bit of a mess and it was hard to understand some of the statements. When I would call I would often have to leave a message and I felt as though my questions weren't being answered. I was left to sort through and make corrections going through my insurance. It was my least favorite part of being a patient at FCI.

Insurance covered treatments.

My doctor followed the guidelines based on my age and quality of embryo produced and decided an eSET was in the best interest.

I think that his strengths are everything previously described as why he treated me like a patient and not a number. He was very open and honest, flexible, understanding, compassionate, and helpful! He was interested in my thoughts and suggestions, never condescending, and was very open to trying anything we wanted without being pushy toward one treatment or another

Ask questions! Do not be intimidated thinking that you have any "stupid questions", because Dr. Alvarez will NEVER make you feel that way. He is so caring and honest and listened so so well!!

Dr. Alvarez was very straight forward with our potential from the start. He listened to every single concern that we had and elaborated well when we asked questions. He didn't dismiss my thoughts and suggestions, just being a novice (although I am in the medical field, just not a reproductive endocrinologist). He actually took things that I said and asked seriously and was willing to work with us and didnt push any treatment over another.

Dr. Alvarez was super excited about us trying Invocell for our first attempt before traditional IVF because we were concerned about cost of regular IVF and we were unexplained and fit all of the criteria for Invocell. He was very hopeful and produced exactly the amount of eggs we expected. We ended up with only one or two of our 7 eggs even fertilizing inside of the Invocell device and he was very clear that there was obviously an issue with fertilization (something you can't really test for with labs or ultrasound). When we had our chemical pregnancy from our one resulting embryo, he was very straightforward that due to poor fertilization, IVF with ICSI would be our best option. He never pushed us into it, or made us feel as though he was forcing us to choose right away. He gave us the option of taking our own time to decide, but was still honest about the time frame in which we should move forward if we wanted the best results, due to me already being 32 and having these fertilization issues. We took everything he gave us, and we made the decision to move forward with IVF with ICSI a few months later and our results were phenomenal. We had 12 eggs retrieved, and we made one expanded day 5 blastocyst, and six expanded day 6 perfect grade blastocysts. We could not be happier with our results. We are currently pregnant from our first transfer of our day 5 embryo!

Michelle was typically good at responding to my emails in a timely fashion. I do not think that any of the weaknesses were directly hers so much as the clinic itself. There are only 2 nurses that work at my particular clinic and some days there is only one, or there will be several days where there is only one if one is on vacation. During those times when there is only one nurse, communication would fail. Calls wouldn't be returned or emails would go unanswered. There were several instances in which medications were not ordered correctly, and if I weren't the type of person to triple check everything, I could have been short meds for my cycle, or given the wrong meds.

Dr. Alvarez is great all around! I loved my experience with him and I think he is very knowledgeable and trustworthy! The short staffing of their nurses was a definite downfall during my experience, and I hope that they can better staff their Tinley Park clinic in the near future!! I am not sure if this is an issue at any other clinic. I had my retrievals and transfers at the River North campus and they were always wonderful!! They called with updates when they said they would, they were friendly, and very helpful. I also loved my ultrasound tech and phlebotomist that I typically worked with at Tinley Park! Kathy in ultrasound and Crystal in the lab (blood draw) were always amazing so early in the morning for all of my monitoring appointments, I actually looked forward to our random conversations! They kept me positive and kept my mind off of the current situation and never made it feel like I was at the doctors office. It was a joy to work with them!

Most of the time it was pretty easy to get in at the times I needed! I would be in and out in 15 minutes on 95% of my appointments. There was ONE appointment throughout two cycles (I cant remember if it was monitoring or follow up beta draws) that I waited over an hour for some reason and no one ever explained to me why I waited that long. But overall,it was a pretty well oiled machine for monitoring!

I dont remember a TON of specifics with a breakdown, but Invocell cycle was $6500, my medications were quoted at $3000 I believe. IVF with icsi fresh transfer, was $11,500. Egg freezing for one year was $1200. Medications for full IVF cycle were approximately $5000.

I am in the medical field, and I know the risks already to carrying multiples, so an elective single transfer was the only option for me personally anyway. Dr. Alvarez was very clear on the data and the risks and also the protocols set forth by the ASRM, though and I fully agreed with it!

Dr.Alvarez was great!! From day one when we met up with him he was very welcoming and easy going.very helpful and caring throughout our journey, which has kept me relaxed and calm. Explained the whole preocess in detail to us as my husband and i were new to all of this. He was very explanatory towards our specific plan of action.

Before seeing him or any doctor, make a list of questions/concerns you may have. And ask them ALL

I love my clinic, dr. Alvarez was great every time and the nurses were even better. Following up with great check in assistants

We did 2 iui and neither worked so next plan of action was IVF. We did 2 retrieval’s with one transfer that didn’t stick. Because of my age we are doing more aggressive

She was exceptionall and would go out of her way to help me, very compassionate

I always looked forward to going in for my appointments, staff was always welcoming and warming. Felt like family since i would be there every other day. They really do get to know you and know you by name and what doctor you were there to see.

Out of pocket i think it was under 3k

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