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.

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.

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.

Dr Alvarez is very kind and understanding. I needed a polyp removed and my regular obgyn did not want to do it. Since I felt comfortable with Dr Alvarez he made all the arrangements to perform the procedure on me. When our 2 cycles of IUI did not work, we had another consultation to discuss our options. He suggested either conventional IVF or clinical trial IVF. I felt like we were given options and he did not push any particular one at us throughout the course of the treatment. He answered all my questions, no matter how minor they were. He was very kind , and patient oriented. I understand that not every result is pregnancy, but even during the negative results for us, I felt how compassionate he was.

This whole process is an emotional roller coaster. Things don't move in a time frame that one may expect. You have to remember that Dr Alvarez takes over your natural body process, but somethings he cant even speed up.

We did 2 cycles of IUI, with higher dosages of clomid - and both came back of negative pregnancy test. When it come to IVF , I was on higher dose of injections to obtain the desire results. We only had one embryo transferred since Dr Alvarez stated that due to my age this gives me highest chances of pregnancy. he also recommended ICSI since we had failed IUI. After IVF i was placed on higher dose of progesterone IM and oral , since my body had low production.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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!

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

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

Out of pocket i think it was under 3k

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